Garcinia stipulata T. Anderson ( Anderson 1874: 267 )

Ranjan, Vinay, Kumar, Anant & Krishna, Gopal, 2022, Second-step lectotypification of Garcinia stipulata (Clusiaceae) and its recollection from Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya, India, Phytotaxa 577 (1), pp. 118-124 : 120-122

Garcinia stipulata T. Anderson ( Anderson 1874: 267)

Lectotype (first-step, designated by Maheshwari 1964):— INDIA. “Hab. Sikkim. Regio trop.Alt. 2−3000 ped”, J.D. Hooker & T. Thomson 17. ( CAL, barcode CAL0000005830 − CAL0000005831 !). (second-step, designated here):—INDIA. “Hab. Sikkim. Regio trop. Alt. 2−3000 ped”, J.D. Hooker & T. Thomson 17. (CAL, barcode CAL0000005830!).

Tree, 15–20 m high; bark brown, smooth; branchlets, glabrous, slender, terete, faintly striated, exude yellow latex. Leaves 15−30 × 4−9 cm, elliptic-oblong or lanceolate, entire, thickly coriaceous, dark green above, pale green beneath, base obtuse or acute, apex acuminate; lateral veins 10−15 pairs, alternate, distant, incurved, nerves obliquely transverse, simple, furcate or laxly reticulate; petioles 1−2 cm long, sulcate above, with 2 adnate scale at each side and articulation at base; stipules narrowly triangular, paired, 5−6 mm long, caducous. Male flowers: shortly pedunculated, axillary cymes, 4−6 flowered; pedicels 12−16 mm long, stout; bracts scale-like, concave, 2−3 mm long; bracteoles 2, concave, near the base of pedicels, 2−3 mm long; sepals 4, suborbicular, concave, outer pair ca. 8 mm long enclosing inner pair of ca. 6 mm long, pale green or yellow; petals 4, narrowly ovate, ca. 1.5 cm long, creamy-yellow or yellow; stamen numerous in a ring around rudimentary ovary with conspicuous pistillode, filament inconspicuous, anther globose, less than 5 mm. Female flowers: bracteates, shortly pedicellate, axillary, 1–3-flowered cymes; pedicels columnar, 10–13 mm long, glabrous; bracts 2, triangular-ovate, 1–2 mm long, acute; bracteoles 2, ovate, 1–2 mm long, acute, connate at base and completely covered the pedicel, glabrous; sepals and petals same as in male flowers; ovary columnar, terete, ca. 5 mm long, bilocular; stigma peltate, flat-topped, unlobed, almost sessile, warty. Berries 3.5−4 × 0.8−1.5 cm, oblong-ellipsoid, smooth, bilocular, locules 1-seeded, yellow, pulpy with yellow gum, with persistent sepals and peltate stigmatic head.

Flowering & fruiting:—August−February [fruiting up to May]

Habitat:—Grows in the valleys of moist subtropical forests up to 1600 m near streams.

Distribution:— INDIA: Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Sikkim, West Bengal; BHUTAN.

Local uses:—The local people of terai area of Darjeeling use the tender leaves as fodder for the cattle. The pulpy and yellow fruit is sometimes eaten by Lepchas.

Other specimens examined:— INDIA: Sikkim. Lebong , 5500ft, 1862, T . Anderson 789 (2 sheets, CAL); 2000ft, 2 October1876, G . King s.n., acc.no. 46600 ( CAL); 2500ft, 28 August 1877, G . King 4933 ( CAL); Ryaug, 1500ft, 2 October 1877, Dungbu 4943 ( CAL); S . Kurz s. n., acc. no. 46590 ( CAL) . Arunachal Pradesh. Daphla hill, Forufatu 4500ft, 19 January1875, J. L . Lister 187 ( CAL); Abor hill, near the Dihong , 800ft, 19 January 1912, I. H . Burkill 36124 ( CAL); Abor hill, south slop of Bapu , 4800ft, 7 March 1912, I. H . Burkill 36917 ( CAL); Abor hill, above upper Rotung , 4500ft, 3 March 1912, I. H . Burkill 38198 ( CAL); Kameng F . D., 13 November 1951, G. K Deka s.n. (ASSAM); Kameng F . D., Boha hill, 10 May 1958, G . Panigrahi 15350 (ASSAM); Kameng , F . D., 16 September 1964, J . Joseph 39777 (ASSAM); Subansiri district, Palin to Nyapin , 15 November 1964, A. R. K . Sastry 40641 (ASSAM, L); Subansiri district, Begi−Amjee , 12 May 1966, A. R. K . Sastry 45205 (ASSAM, ARUN); Lohit district, Glow village , 11 December 1969, J . Joseph 48629 (ASSAM). Meghalaya. Khasia , 2500ft, 14 November 1871, C. B . Clarke 14609 ( CAL) . West Bengal. Darjeeling , 5000ft, August 1881, J. S . Gamble 9760 ( CAL, [ L2417907 , L2417908 ] ( L); Ashaley camp to Neora river , 27˚01 ̍51.0̎ N , 88˚45 ̍ 46.0̎ E, 965m, 30 Mar. 2019, V . Ranjan , G . Krishna & A . Kumar 83705 ( CAL00000212302 ); Darjeeling, Puttabong , 5000ft, August 1881, J. S . Gamble 9670 [ K000677613 ] ( K); Darjeeling, 3500ft, 21 May 1923, J. M . Cowan s.n. [ E00839540 ] ( E) .

Notes on Lectotypification:

Garcinia stipulata was erected by Anderson (1874) based on collections made by Hooker f. & Thomson from Sikkim (Herb. H. f. & T., 17 Garcinia ) and Bhotan, Griffith (Kew. Distrib. 860). Herbarium specimens studied by Anderson are distributed at K, CAL, BM, L, MEL, E, GH, S, G−DC ( Stafleu & Cowan 1976, Stafleu & Mennega 1992). We searched virtually and requested to all the above mentioned herbaria and able to locate 12 duplicates of Hooker f. & Thomson 17 from Sikkim (E00438016, GH67476, S11-35381, and 83, G00458404, L2417909–10, K000677611, BM013719103, MEL2437107, CAL0000005830–31) and three duplicates of Griffith from Bhutan (K000677612, GH67477, CAL0000005832). All the specimens of the gathering considered as original material and syntypes (Art. 9.4, 9.6 of the ICN; Turland et al. 2018).

However, Maheshwari (1964) in his work on Indian Guttiferae cited “Type: India, Sikkim, Hooker f. & Thomson 17 Garcinia, CAL ”, thereby designated the Hooker f. & Thomson 17 material in CAL as the lectotype (first-step). But authors noticed that there are two specimens of the same gathering at CAL. Hence, the authors narrowed down to a single specimen by second-step lectotypification (Art. 9.17, Ex. 14 of the ICN). According to protologue, Anderson described male flowers elaborately than female flowers. The sheet (CAL0000005831) has detached leaves without male and female twigs as incomplete specimen, so cannot be considered, while the other sheet (CAL0000005830) has leafy twig along with detached male flowering twig and single fruit is complying with the protologue. Hence, the specimen (CAL0000005830) is the best choice for second-step lectotype and we designated here the same ( Fig. 3 ).

Figures

FIGURE 3. Lectotype of Garcinia stipulata T.Anderson housed at CAL (CAL0000005830, Image).