Gossia ouazangouensis N. Snow 2020, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Snow, Neil
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Plantae
Tracheophyta
Magnoliopsida
Myrtales
Myrtaceae
Gossia
Gossia ouazangouensis

description: Gossia ouazangouensis N. Snow, sp. nov.
(Figs 17; 18F-I)
The species can be distinguished by its thin whitish calyx lobes, glabrous hypanthium, and a mostly terminal to subterminal infloresence that significantly exceeds the length of the leaves. It somewhat resembles Gossia kaalaensis sp. nov., but the adaxial leaf surface of the latter is glossy and has prominently raised secondary veins and an acute apex, and thicker and greenish calyx lobes. In contrast, the adaxial leaf surface of G. ouazangouensis sp. nov. is matte with flush secondary veins and an obtuse apex and thin, whitish or whitish-green calyx lobes.
TYPUS. — New Caledonia. Grande Terre, North Prov., pente Ouest de Mt Ouazangou, 20°44’47.00”S, 164°27’56.16”E, 19.VI.1967, MacKee 16927 (holo-, P [P00751831]; iso-, BISH[fragment], NOU[NOU030913]).
PARATYPI. — New Caledonia. Grande Terre. North Prov., Poum, 30 m, 27.IV.2004, G. Dagostini 843 & Nigote (NOU, P[P05121896, P05121897], WELTU n.v.); Mont Ouazangou Pente Ouest, 20°44’47.00”S, 164°27’56.16”E, 300-500 m, 4.III.1972, MacKee 25123 (NOU [NOU029637], P[P02089986] with dups [n.v.] to distribute to BISH, CHR, G, MO, NSW, RB, TNS]); Kaala-Gomen, Massif Onajiele, 20°46’07.02”S, 164°27’44.65”E, c. 100 m, 16.V.2015, Munzinger 7592 (leg. Scoptera) (MPU [MPU620439]). — South Prov., Vallée de la Tontouta, 21°56’36.99”S, 166°17’35.99”E, 0-50 m, 22.III.2006, Pillon 329 et al. (NOU [NOU011598], P[P06668689]).
REPRESENTATIVE HERBARIUM SPECIMEN. — P00751831.
ETYMOLOGY. — From the type locality.
DISTRIBUTION, HABITAT AND PHENOLOGY. — Known from the western peak of Mont Ouazangou (Massif Onajile) and Poum in the northwest, and Tontouta in the southwest (Fig. 17); in maquis on ultramafics from near sea level to 500 m. Flowering approximately April through June; fruiting unknown.
DESCRIPTION
Tree-like shrubs
To 2- 5 m.
Bark
Light reddish or grayish and craking longitudinally.
Branchlets
Terete; internodes> 5 mm.
Leaves
Coriaceous, 2 per node; petioles 1.5-3 mm, sulcate; blades (2.5-)6.0-7.5 × 1.2-3.3 cm, ovate, base cuneate, surface flat, margin slightly revolute throughout, apex obtuse, midnerve sulcate in lower half, secondary veins mostly flush above, oil glands of lower surface common but faint.
Inflorescence
1.5-4.5 cm, mostly of 3-flowered cymes (infrequently of monads), axillary or terminal; extrafloral bracts absent or scale-like.
Bracteoles
0.9-1.2 mm, linear to narrowly elliptic, sparsely sericeous.
Hypanthium
2-3 × 2-3.5 mm, obconic, surface smooth, glabrous.
Calyx
Lobes 5, 1.1-2.8 mm, broadly rounded, glabrous above but ciliate on margins, glabrous below, drying whitish.
Petals
6.0-6.5 × 5-6 mm, glabrous above but ciliate on margins, glabrous below, whitish.
Filaments
4-5 mm, pinkish to the base; anther sacs c. 0.5 mm.
Style
5-6 mm, sparsely villous, especially in lower half; ovary apex hairy at base of style.
Fruits
Unknown.
REMARKS
The inflorescence branches on MacKee 25123 are somewhat shorter and more gracile, and the branches more reddish and with a flakier epidermis, but the leaf morphology, locality and substrate of the two collections otherwise match well. An uplaced 4-merous specimen (Munzinger 7890 [MPU640674; P020290978]) may be this species.
description: Published as part of Snow, Neil, 2020, A revision of New Caledonian Gossia N. Snow & Guymer (Myrtaceae), pp. 131-177 in Adansonia (3) (3) 42 (7) on page 166, DOI: 10.5252/adansonia2020v42a7, http://zenodo.org/record/3877392