Garcinia virgata Vieill. ex Guillaumin

Munzinger, Jérôme, Bruy, David & Pignal, Marc, 2021, Novitates neocaledonicae XI: A new endemic species of Garcinia L. (Clusiaceae), with an emended description of G. virgata Vieill. ex Guillaumin, Adansonia (3) 43 (6), pp. 49-60 : 55-58

Garcinia virgata Vieill. ex Guillaumin

( Figs 3 ; 4 ; 5 )

Bulletin du Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Série 2, 14: 149 (1942).

— Type: New Caledonia, Wagap , 1861-67, Vieillard 2362 (lecto-, P [ P04667134 ]!, here designated ; possible isolecto-, K [ K000677836 ] photo seen, P [ P04667133 , P04667135 , P04667138 ]!) .

Garcinia virgata (Vieill. ex Guillaumin) Govaerts , comb. superfl., Skvortsovia 4: 83 (2018).

ETYMOLOGY. — At the time of its description, Garcinia virgata was the New Caledonian member of the genus with the smallest leaves and twigs, and it may have been named based on this aspect, one meaning of virgate being “with long, slender twigs’” ( Short & George 2013). Alternatively, the author may have noticed the black lines often present on the leaf-blade (especially on the type) and used virgate in its other sense, i.e. “streaked or striped” ( Short & George 2013).

DISTRIBUTION. — Garcinia virgata is known from Haute-Ouenghi in the south to Forêt Frouin in the north of Grande-Terre ( Fig. 3 ).

HABITAT AND ECOLOGY. — This species can be locally quite common in dense humid forest, especially along forest edges, but it also grows in drier conditions, in what some authors call “mesic forest” ( Munzinger & Gâteblé 2017), currently included within dense humid forests sensu Jaffré et al. (2012), which still need to be more clearly characterized ( Jaffré et al. 2008). Garcinia virgata occurs from 50 to c. 650 m in elevation, on non-ultramafic substrate, and is probably under-collected.

PHENOLOGY. — Buds were collected in October-November, and flowers in (end of October-) November and December, while the end of fruiting was observed in March-April.

CONSERVATION STATUS. — Garcinia virgata is known from 12 subpopulations, three of which occupy two adjacent 2 × 2 km grid cell, and one of which occupy three adjacent grids. The calculated EOO is 2604 km ² and the AOO is 68 km ². In North Province, one subpopulation occurs in the “ Réserve de nature sauvage du massif de l’Aoupinié ” and another one is found in the “ Réserve de nature sauvage du mont Panié ”. In South Province, one subpopulation occurs in “ Parc des Grandes Fougères ” reserve. The other 9 sub-populations fall outside protected areas. The plant can be locally very abundant (Mandjélia, Katalupaik, Farino) and, although some sub-populations may be threatened by bushfires and/or introduced browsers, we counted 12 locations (sensu IUCN). Since the number of locations is a few more than 10 and the species is threatened in some sites, we assign Garcinia virgata a preliminary status of Near Threatened (NT) using the IUCN Red List criteria ( IUCN 2012).

VERNACULAR NAME. — Unknown.

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL EXAMINED. — New Caledonia. Koindé- Canala , 21°36’S, 165°58’E, 600 m, 24.XI.77, buds, P. Bamps 5828 (NOU[ NOU018088 ]) ; Mandjélia , 20°24’16.711”S, 164°31’1.265”E, 545 m, 24.IX.2019, bt., D. Bruy & A. Pagenaud 1437 ( MPU312913 , NOU[ NOU106906 ], P) ; Farino, parc des Grandes Fougères , 21°36’27’’S, 165°44’15’’E, 561 m, 21.X.2008, buds, G. Dagostini, C. Grignon, W. Nigote & V. Apiazari 1620 (NOU[ NOU050015 ], P[P04899873]) ; Aoupinié , route d’exploitation forestière à gauche, au niveau de l’esplanade, [21°9’34”S, 165°20’17”E, 422 m], 10.VI.2002, st., V. Dumontet, Y. Blanchard & P. Maituku 151 (NOU[ NOU090550 ]) ; Parc des Grandes Fougères , 21°37’20”S, 165°45’55.81”E, 8.XI.2012, bt., V. Hequet 4076 (NOU[ NOU082835 ]) ; Mandjélia, 20°24’15.1”S, 164°31’13.38”E, 15.X.2016, bt., V. Hequet 4420 (NOU[ NOU085463 ]) ; Aoupinié, [21°10’40”S, 165°18’12”E], 14.X.1999, bt., M. Litaudon, M. Adenot & P. Maituku 182 (NOU[ NOU090542 ]) ; Col Amieu: Route du Col Toma , [21°36’45”S, 165°47’54”E], 400 m, 19.IV.1965, old fr., H.S. MacKee 12464 (P[P04898220]) ; Col Toma , 400 m, [21°35’17”S, 165°46’36”E], 6.X.1967, bt., H.S. MacKee 17613 (NOU[ NOU018065 ], P[P04244754]) ; Haute Diahot: Tendé ( Expl. For. Frouin ), 500-600 m, [20°24’37”S, 164°31’18”E], 12.XII.1968, fl., H.S. MacKee 19986 (NOU[ NOU018066 ], P[P04666034]) ; Cascade de Ciu to Koindé and La Foa , c. 650 m, [21°35’44”S, 165°57’54”E], 10.XII.1983, male fl., G. McPherson 6122 (MO, NOU[ NOU017914 ], P[P04666749]) ; Along old lumber road south from road leading from Cascade de Ciu toward Koindé and la Foa , 650-700 m, [21°35’44”S, 165°57’54”E], 13.III.1984, green fr., G. McPherson 6402 (MO, P[P04666762]) ; Mandjélia , 20°24’17”S, 164°31’1”E, 558 m, 25.XI.2019, fleur jaune, J. Munzinger, G. McPherson, D. Bruy & D. Fleurot 8107 (MPU[ MPU312620 ], NOU[ NOU090662 ], P[P00864946]) ; Mandjélia , 20°24’17”S, 164°31’1”E, 558 m, 25.XI.2019, fleur jaune, J. Munzinger, G. McPherson, D. Bruy & D. Fleurot 8103 (MPU[ MPU312621 ], NOU[ NOU090663 ], P[P00864963]) ; Amieu , [21°53’54”S, 165°49’58”E], 16.XI.2007, st. (but fruits collected on the ground 26.III.2007), J. Munzinger 4818 (NOU[- NOU029080 ], P[P04788067]) ; Haute Ouenghi, prop. Hugo Gérard , 21°48’4’’S, 166°5’46’’E, 475 m, 12.IV.2014, fr., J. Munzinger et al. 7258 (MPU[ MPU312294 ], NOU[ NOU052208 ], P[P01044673]) ; Flanc sud du Ka [n]talupaik, 20°50’49’’S, 165°0’37’’E, 390 m, 29.X.2017, Lisière de forêt humide, male fl., J. Munzinger, D. Bruy & M. Pignal 7982 (MPU[ MPU311516 ], NOU[ NOU090343 ], P[P01073357]) ; Flanc sud du Ka [n]talupaik, 20°50’49’’S, 165°0’37’’E, 390 m, 1.XI.2017, Lisière de forêt humide, male fl., J. Munzinger, D. Bruy & M. Pignal 8015 (MPU[ MPU311510 ), NOU[ NOU090342 ], P[P01073381]) ; Flanc sud du Ka [n]talupaik, 20°51’7’’S, 165°0’34’’E, 300 m, 2.XI.2017, male fl., J. Munzinger, D. Bruy & M. Pignal 8034 (MPU[ MPU311515 ), NOU[ NOU090344 ], P[P01073372]) ; Piémont (versant sud) du Ka [n]talupaik, sommet de la chaîne de l’Inédète, 20°51’7”S, 165°0’28”E, 320 m, 28.X.2017, fl., M. Pignal, J. Munzinger & D. Bruy 5177 (MPU[ MPU311517 ) ; Col d’Amieu, forêt de Pembaï , [21°35’27”S, 165°50’33”E], 14.XI.1980, buds, B. Suprin 904 (NOU[ NOU017917 ]) ; Chute de Tao ,, [20°34’13”S, 164°48’9”E, 50 m], 14.XII.1965, st., J.- M. Veillon 561 (NOU[ NOU018087 ]) ; Plateau de Tango: Haute Tiwaka , [20°57’59”S, 165°1’5”E], 20.X.1981, bt., J.- M. Veillon 4639 (NOU[ NOU018089 ], P[P04666744]) .

NOTE

Guillaumin’s mention of “ C. virgata Vieill. ex Guillaumin ” ( Guillaumin 1942: 149) was interpreted as Clusia virgata by Govaerts, who recently published the combination Garcinia virgata (Vieill. ex Guillaumin) Govaerts ( Govaerts 2018) . But Guillaumin clearly used the delimitation of the species and the choice of Vieillard’s epithet, as all duplicates of the type material, “Vieillard 2362” (viz. K000677836, P04667133, P04667134, P04667135, and P04667138), are annotated by Vieillard’s hand as “ Garcinia virgata, Vieill. ”. Moreover, in this paper, Guillaumin (1942) lists many species in different families, spelling out the genus name in full for the first species listed and then abbreviating it with its initial for all subsequent species, including for new species or combinations. Thus, it is clear that the “ C. ” in Guillaumin’s protologue is nothing more than a typographical error that is to be correct (as per Article 60.1. of the Shenzhen Code; Turland et al. 2018). As a consequence, the new combination published by Govaerts (2018) was superfluous.

As the material is heterogeneous, we have selected a lectotype, choosing P04667134 which includes a hand drawing of a dissected flower.

Prenylated xanthones and tocotrienols were isolated from the stem bark of Garcinia virgata ( Merza et al. 2004). The voucher for this analysis is Dumontet 151, wrongly cited as collected in the forest of Frouin in Mandjélia by Merza et al. (2004), whereas the specimen label indicates Aoupinié. We were able to verify the specimen and confirm that it was correctly assigned to this species.

AMPLIFIED DESCRIPTION

As the species newly described in this paper was previously included in the little-known G. virgata , we propose to emend the description of the latter, in order to clearly distinguish between the two species.

Trees up to 8 m tall, bark pale brown to grey, sapwood pinkish, young branchlets flattened to quadrangular, slightly channeled, pruinose; latex yellow in trunk and twigs; all parts glabrous. Leaf blade obovate, narrowly obovate or elliptic, (33-)39-62(-75) × (5-)13-19(-34) mm, chartaceous to slightly coriaceous, dots or longitudinal black lines (up to 3 mm long) usually present in sicco.; base cuneate to attenuate, forming an angle of (19-)39-50(-71) degrees; margin flat to slightly revolute; apex acute to rounded, forming an angle of (49-)66-79(-106) degrees; midvein flat above, prominent below, lateral veins obvious on both surfaces in sicco., 8-10 pairs, the basal veins strongly ascending (to half or more of the blade length); petioles flat above, rounded below, (1.9-)3.1-4.3(-7.6) × (0.6-)0.9-1.3(-1.8) mm. Flowers solitary or grouped in axillary fascicles, mostly just under the leafy part of the twigs, corolla cup-like, yellowish on both sexes. Flower bracts round to narrowly elliptic, 1 × 0.5-1 mm. Male flowers 1-7 per inflorescence; pedicel 2-2.5 × 1 mm. Sepals 4, glabrous, two external ones slightly oblate, 2.5-3 × 3-3.5 mm, margin membranous, two internal ones elliptic, c. 2.5 × 2 mm. Petals 4, elliptic, 2-2.5 × 1.8-2 mm, fleshy, apex obtuse. Stamens c. 30, not forming a distinct column, anthers c. 0.5 mm wide; rudimentary pistil conical, c. 1 × 0.5 mm. Female flowers 1-3 per inflorescence, sessile or pedicel up to 2 mm long, 1 mm in diameter. Sepals 4, pale green, two external ones orbicular, c. 3-3.5 × 3-3.5 mm, two internal ones elliptic, c. 3 × 2 mm, margin membranous. Petals 4, 3 × 2 mm, fleshy, connate in basal half. Staminodes 0-2, slender, sagittate, filament to 1.5 mm. Ovary globose, c. 2 × 2 mm, glabrous, 4-locular, vertically grooved; stigma 4-angled, lobes warty, pale yellow. Fruit narrowly obovoid, 11-18 × 8-12 mm, smooth, dehiscent apically by four valves, pale brown when opening, the pericarp 0.5-1 mm thick. Calyx persistent. Peduncle c. 2-4 × 3 mm. Seeds 1-4, ellipsoid, sometimes slightly compressed laterally, 8-11 × 3-5 mm, surface ruminate, brown-blackish.

Figures

FIG. 3. — Distribution of Garcinia urceolata Munzinger, Bruy & M.Pignal, sp. nov. and G. virgata in New Caledonia. Areas filled in grey indicate ultramafic substrate; dotted areas indicate protected areas; crosshatching indicates dense humid forests (from Jaffré et al. 2012). The collection localities of types specimens are indicated by a white “T”.

FIG. 4. — Garcinia virgata Vieill. ex Guillaumin: A, flowering branch; B1, B2, adaxial surface of leaves; C, abaxial surface of leaf; D, flower and aspect of twig; E, male flower (in herb.);F, inner and outer surfaces of sepals; G, pistillode;H, stamen;I, androecium;J, fruit opening by four valves; K, dorsal and lateral surfaces of the seed; A-I, McPherson 6122 (NOU); K, Munzinger et al. 7258 (P, MPU). Drawings by Laurence Ramon. Scale bars: A-C, 1 cm; D, J, K, 2 mm; E, F, I, 1 mm; G, H, 0.5 mm.

FIG. 5. — Garcinia virgata Vieill. ex Guillaumin: A, habit; B, trunk; C, pruinose twig with one leaf removed, showing yellow latex; D, sapwood; E, male flower; F, female flower; G, fruit; H, fruits, seed, adaxial surface of leaf; A-D, G, H, Munzinger et al. 7258; E, Munzinger et al. 8015; F, Munzinger et al. 8015bis. Photos by J. Munzinger.