Morella integrifolia (Roxb.) Vashi, Shankar & Misra, 2017

Vashi, Chipem, Shankar, Uma & Misra, Arvind K., 2017, A reinstatement and a new combination in Morella subgenus Morella (Myricaceae), with typification of Myrica integrifolia, Phytotaxa 299 (2), pp. 211-222 : 214-215

Morella integrifolia (Roxb.) Vashi, Shankar & Misra comb. nov. ( Figs. 1 , 2 A–F )

Basionym: Myrica integrifolia Roxburgh (1832: 765)

Lectotype (designated here): — INDIA. Roxburgh Icon No. 2555 (digital image!) (Image of the lectotype available at http://apps.kew. org/floraindica/home.do, Fig. 3 ).

Epitype (designated here): — INDIA. Roxburgh s.n. (BM [BM000608073] image!) (Image of the epitype at BM available at http://plants. jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.specimen.bm000608 073, Fig. 4).

Myrica esculenta auct. non Buch.-Ham. ex D. Don: Balakrishnan, Flora of Jowai 2: 455. 1983, pro parte; Haridasan & Rao, Forest Flora of Meghalaya 2: 851. 1987, pro parte: Yanthan et al in Fuctional Plant Biology 38: 738–764, fig 1b & c, 2011.

Description: Trees, evergreen, dioecious, up to 15 m tall, branches irregular and bark dark gray. Branchlets and buds subglabrous when young with straight hair and golden peltate trichomes, when matured have numerous lenticels. Many leaves clustered at the apex of twigs, alternate polystichous, ascending to inclined and recurved sometimes squarrose. Petioles are 0.2–1.2 cm long, subglabrous on abaxial side and pubescent on adaxial side with golden peltate trichomes. Leaves simple, leaf blades 3.6–9.9 × 1.3–4.4 cm, abaxially punctated with golden peltate trichomes, lanceolate, elliptic, leathery; base cuneate; margin entire or serrate in apical half, often revolute occasionally plane; midrib prominent pubescent above and subglabrous beneath with golden peltate trichome, pinnate, 8–18 prominent lateral nerve on either side, semicraspedodromous; apex acuminate or acute, rarely obtuse. Staminate inflorescences panicles, pendulous, 2.8–7.0 cm long; 11–25 secondary axes from the axils of reniform or cordate primary bracts, 0.3–0.7 cm long bearing 6–9 staminate flowers subtended by secondary bracts; primary and secondary bracts abaxially dotted with golden peltate trichome and secondary bracts at the apex smaller than those at the base. Staminate flowers perianthless, axillary; stamens 3–6, usually 4, red or green, filaments fused only at base; anthers dithecal, sub-basifixed, dehiscence by longitudinal slits; pollen isopolar, triporate, apertures at three angles. Pistillate inflorescences simple spikes, 1.0–2.0 cm long, axillary, erect and bracteated; bracts reniform or cordate, abaxially dotted with golden peltate trichome, persistent, one or two perianthless flowers intermixed with small scales, ovary gynobasic, style short, stigma red, hairy and bifid. Fruit drupes, 3.0– 3.5 cm long, light green or cheese colour with reddish tinge. Flowering and fruiting from late November–June next year.

Distribution and habitat: M. integrifolia is endemic to Meghalaya, India. This species grows in sub-tropical pine forests and temperate broadleaf forests. This species is often cultivated in Meghalaya for edible fruits.

Nomenclatural notes: Myrica integrifolia Roxburgh (1814:71) was first published as a nomen nudum in ‘Hortus Bengalensis’. Roxburgh (1814) mentioned that the specimens for this name were from Silhet and were donated to him by Smith in 1812. Roxburgh (1832) while describing M. integrifolia in ‘Flora Indica’ did not cite any nomenclature type for M. integrifolia . It was known to him as a dioecious species and he placed it in Dioecia Tetrandria following Linnaeus’s system of classification. However, he did not describe male plant in his protologue. It is thus inferred that the element(s) originally associated with M. integrifolia and relevant for typification of this name is only the female plant. Sealy (1956) and Forman (1997) enlightened that herbarium specimens and Roxburgh’s ‘Flora Indica’ drawings are two different sources from which nomenclature type can be selected for the names of Indian plants originally published by Roxburgh.There is a herbarium sheet (Barcode BM000608073, digital image available from JSTOR Plant Science) of female M. integrifolia in the Natural History Museum (BM) and a colour drawing of female M. intergifolia (Roxburgh Icon No. 2555) at Kew (http://apps.kew.org/floraindica/home.do). The Roxburgh Icon No. 2555 at Kew can be undoubtedly linked with the description of M. integrifolia in ‘Flora Indica’ ( Sealy 1956). Roxburgh Icon No. 2555 depicted a twig with entire leaves, inflorescences at the axils of leaves, flowers, fruit and dissections of flower, fruit and ovule. These morphological characters illustrated elaborately in Roxburgh Icon No. 2555 and their corresponding descriptions in the protologue of M. integrifolia are in agreement. Roxburgh Icon No. 2555 is hence designated here as the lectotype for the purpose of interpreting taxonomic meaning embodied in this binomial name, M. integrifolia . Roxburgh Icon No. 2555 lacks specific characters such as one fruit per infructescence and golden peltate trichomes, however, some materials mounted on BM000608073 showed these diagnostic characters. Hence, the herbarium sheet is designated as an epitype to render precise identification of the species.

Figures

FIGURE 1. SEM micrographs of comparative morphology between Morella integrifolia (A–F) and Morella esculenta (a–h). A, a, C, c. indumenta on abaxial foliar epidermis; B, b, d. peltate trichomes; E, e. primary inflorescence branches; F, f. dehisced anther lobes. Scale bar: E, e = 500μm; A, C = 200 μm; a, c, F, f = 100 μm; B = 50 μm; b, d = 10 μm.

FIGURE 2. Comparative morphology between Morella integrifolia (A–F) and Morella esculenta (a–c). A, a. pistillate inflorescences; B, b, D. infructescences with fruits; C. young staminate inflorescences; c, E. matured male inflorescences with dehisced anthers; F. persistent staminate inflorescences. Scale bar = 1 cm.

FIGURE 3. Lectotype of Myrica integrifolia.