Phrynium hirtum Ridley (1899: 181)

Niissalo, Matti A., Khew, Gillian S., Webb, Edward L. & Leong-Škorničková, Jana, 2016, Notes on Singaporean native Zingiberales II: revision of Marantaceae, with a new generic record and notes on naturalised and commonly cultivated exotic species, Phytotaxa 289 (3), pp. 201-224 : 206-209

2. Phrynium hirtum Ridley (1899: 181)

Type:— MALAYSIA. Johore, Gunong Panti, December 1892, H. N. Ridley s.n. (lectotype SING! [ SING 0049873], first step designated by Holttum [1951], second step designated by Turner [2000]).

= Phrynium inflatum Merrill (1922: 164) . Type: MALAYSIA. Sabah, Batu Lima near Sandakan, September–December 1920, M. Ramos 1488 (lectotype US! [ US 00093128], here designated, isolectotype K! [K000292226]).

Rhizomatous, rosulate terrestrial herb to 1.2–1.3 m. Leaves ca. 6 per shoot; sheath 30–34 cm, green to yellow-green, hirsute; petiole 21–35 cm, green to yellow-green, glabrous; pulvinus 6–8 cm; lamina oblong to elliptic, 35–55 × 12–16 cm, apex acuminate, acumen 1.5–2.0 cm, rounded, upper leaf surface dark green, glabrous (including midrib), lower surface light green, flushed with pink when young, maturing purplish green (only green in old leaves), glabrous except for a pubescent midrib. Inflorescence terminal on a leafy shoot, on top of a 60–70 cm long stem, with a single large vegetative leaf (sheath 9–14 cm, petiole absent to ca. 5 cm, lamina 34 × 11 cm); peduncle largely obscured by an enveloping leaf sheath, 2.0– 4.5 cm, thickly covered in long hirsute, sometimes flocculose hairs, light yellow-green; synflorescence bract 8.5–9.0 × 2.8–3.0 cm, dry and light brown at flowering time, hirsute; synflorescence capitate with overlapping bracts and branches, spiral, 3–5 cm long; first order branches 2–5, capitate, spiral, 3–4 cm long (mostly composed of bracts, stems very short, ca. 1.5–2 cm), further branched (order of branching is difficult to follow due to complex branching and a compressed inflorescence), fertile bracts 2–4 per terminal branch, spiral, highly lacerate, somewhat elliptic and mildly cupulate, tip usually decayed at flowering, 2.5–3.0 × 1.5–2.0 cm, pale to yellow-green at base, but quickly decaying at apex, hirsute; flower pairs 2–3 per special paraclade, associated prophylls 18 × 10 mm, with two distinct keels on the abaxial surface, interphylls 1–3, linear, 12–15 × 5 mm, sometimes with a minute interphyll close to the prophyll, 7 × 3 mm; flowers sessile, each with a very thin, transparent bracteole, ligulate, 19 × 3 mm. Flower 2.2–2.5 cm long, not fragrant at least during the day; sepals three, free to base, subulate, 14–16 × 2.5–3 mm, semi-translucent cream-white at base, light brown towards the tip, hirsute; floral tube 14 mm, cream white; petal lobes elliptic to oblong, obtuse, 10 × 4 mm, semi-translucent pale orange, less translucent at the centre of the lobe, reflexed to a tight curl that is difficult to force open; staminodial tube as long as the corolla tube; outer staminodes two, slightly unequal in size, both narrowly elliptic, obtuse, apparently crumpled in bud, but opening almost smooth, slightly recurved, soon drying upon collection, white with a few semi-translucent lines at base, sometimes with a faint pale yellow tinge towards the apex (visible especially once the flowers start to dry up), with a free part of 9 × 2.5 (smaller) or 10 × 4 mm (larger); hooded staminode cucullate, curved towards one side, cream-white, yellow towards apex, the free part 5–6 × 4.5–5.0 mm, appendix petaloid, 1.5 × 2 mm, light yellow; fleshy staminode almost tubular, cannot be spread open without destroying, cream-white, pale orange towards apex, with a free part of 5.5–6.0 × 3.0– 3.5 mm, glabrous unequally bilobed at apex, lobes recurved, staminode with two appendices, one sail-like, 2.5 × 2 mm glabrous, the other (more basal) callose, hirsute, 4 × 1.2 mm; fertile stamen small, almost fully reduced to a single thecae, 5 × 2 mm, appendix reduced, only present as a flap on the side of the stamen, 1.2 × 0.8 mm; style with a free part ca. 4 mm long, heavily curved inwards, partially fused with the fertile stamen, stigmatic cavity ca. 0.8 mm in diameter; ovary cylindrical, ca. 2 mm long, straw yellow, sericeous. Fruits irregularly globose with finely rugose surface, ca. 12 mm in diameter, with a few long hairs, maturing from green through orange-yellow to almost brownblack; seeds 1–3, light brown, arillate, aril cream-white, composed of base and two subulate (but folded at base) appendages, ca. 4 mm long.

Provisional IUCN conservation assessment:— Least Concern (LC). The species has a broad distribution in northern Malesia, ranging from Peninsular Malaysia to Sumatra and Borneo, but it appears to be restricted to primary forests and its range may be declining rapidly due to reduction in area of suitable habitat. Aside from two recent collections from Singapore, we know of 12 collections from the past 20 years, all collected from Borneo and deposited at AAU and SING. The number of collections suggests that the species may be locally common, though more information of its abundance and range is needed. The species is likely to be under-collected in Sumatra and Peninsular Malaysia, but we may have missed collections as we were unable to visit local herbaria during this project.

In Singapore, the species is nationally Critically Endangered (CR) under criterion D, as only ten individuals are known from a single location.

Specimens examined:— SINGAPORE. MacRitchie : 23 November 2012, Y. S. Yeoh SING 2012-499 ( SING) ; 1 June 2016, J. Leong-Škorničková et al. SNG-348 ( SING, incl. spirit material) .

Notes:— This species has not been reported from Singapore in previous literature. We discovered the only known population of this species during our May 2015 surveys in MacRitchie, in the Central Catchment Nature Reserve, Singapore, when it was in fruiting stage. It flowered in June 2016, after unusually dry preceding months. There is an older collection from MacRitchie, collected in 2012, which lacks further field notes and it is not clear if it comes from exactly a same spot, or if it represents a second population. The population from where our collection originates is in well-preserved primary forest with an unusually high concentration of native Zingiberales ( Elettariopsis latiflora Ridley [1899: 154] , Globba leucantha Miquel [1860: 612] , Hornstedtia leonurus Retzius [1791 : VI /18], H. scyphifera [Retzius, 1971: III/68] Steudel [1840: 776], Stachyphrynium latifolium , Zingiber puberulum Ridley [1899: 130] and the recently described Singaporean endemic Z. singapurense ), healthy populations of other very rare forest herbs (Codonobea platypus [ Clarke, 1883: 94] C. L.Lim in Kiew & Lim [2011: 267] and Staurogyne kingiana Clarke [1908: 637] ) and no introduced herbaceous species. We therefore have no doubt that the species is native to Singapore. Its discovery in Singapore fits well in the previously recorded distribution range of this species.

Because Phrynium has only been previously reported for Singapore by mistake (see notes for Phrynium villosulum below), Phrynium hirtum is a new native generic record for Singapore, a very rare occurrence in this very wellcollected tropical country ( Niissalo et al. 2014).

Typification:— Phrynium inflatum Merr. : Clausager & Borchsenius (2003) identified the A. Ramos 1488 specimen at K as the holotype of P. inflatum , but as there are at least two specimens of this collection (K and US). We have designated the US specimen as the lectotype for this name, as it has the note “Type” in Merrill’s handwriting. Merrill was based in Manila (PNH) while writing the protologue, but the type material has probably been distributed later as there are no remaining specimens at PNH.