Pterisanthes polita M. A. Lawson 1875
Creators: name: Parnell, A. N.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2014
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Plantae
Tracheophyta
Magnoliopsida
Vitales
Vitaceae
Pterisanthes
Pterisanthes polita

description: Pterisanthes polita (Miq.) Lawson (1875: 663).
Vitis polita Miquel (1863: 95).
P. coriacea Korth. ex King (1896: 693). nom. superfl.
Lectotype (designated here):— INDONESIA. Sumatra, in fruticetis prope Pao, Korthals s.n. (lectotype L! (electronic image with barcode L0013706); isolectotypes L! (electronic image with barcode L0013704, L0013705, L0013707)).
Pterisanthes sinuosa Merrill (1907: 423). Lectotype (designated here):— PHILIPPINES. Mindanao, Lake Lanao, Camp Keithley, November 1906, Clemens 647 (A! (electronic image).
Pterisanthes parvifolia Merrill (1917: 76). Lectotype (designated here):— MALAYSIA. Sarawak, Baram District, Marudi, 26 October 1894, Hose 231 (K!; isolectotypes, A! (electronic image with barcode 00051640), BM, L! (barcode L0672034).
Pterisanthes gladiata Van Steenis (Van Steenis & Bakhuizen Van Den Brink 1967: 388) Holoype:— Sabah, Mount Kinabalu, 1200–1500 m, 15 February 1933, J. & M. Clemens 31582 (L! (electronic image with barcode L0013703)).
Tendrils branching from the inflorescence peduncle, mostly simple, sometimes bifurcate, slender or tendrils unrelated to the inflorescence, simple, robust, leaf-opposed. Leaves simple; petiole 3–6.5 cm long, glabrous; leaf blade cordate, deltoid to ovate, to 18 × 10.5 cm, base cordate, margin entire with minute teeth at the end of the venations, apex acute to acuminate, coriaceous to frequently chartaceous, both sides glabrous, shiny with numerous veins protruding; 6–8 main veins growing from the midrib and numerous secondary veins and venules all extremely conspicuous. Inflorescence 10–28 × 1–3 cm, narrowly rectangular to gladiate, green turning reddish when mature; peduncle 5–15 cm long, slender, glabrous; lamellate flowers present; pedicellate flowers, pedicel 1– 2.5 cm long.
Distribution. — Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia (Kalimantan, Sumatra), Malaysia (Peninsula, Sabah, Sarawak), Myanmar (Peninsula), Philippines (Mindanao), Singapore, Thailand (Peninsula) [specimen lost]. Fig. 4.
Ecology. —Forest border, mixed forest, tropical rainforest. 15–3300 m elev. Flowering and fruiting all year.
Specimens examined. — BRUNEI DARUSSALAM. Tutong, Rambai, Ladan Hill Forest Reserve, Bukit Bedawan, Southern of LP-263, 4° 29’ 33’’ N, 114° 48’ 52’’ E, 485 m, 26 March 1997, Kalat et al BRUN 18076 (K); Temburong Distr., Subd. Amo. Upper Belalong river west of Bukit Belalong, 4° 30’ N, 115° 08’ E, 130 m, 24 March 1991, Johns et al. 7021 (K); Belait, Melilas, Ulu Sungai Belait, along trail from Ingei to Melilas-Sukang, 4° 10’ N, 114° 42’ E, 25 m, 25 August 1995, Kalat et al. BRUN 17075 (K); Nelait Labi, ukit Teraja, ridge running N from summit, 4° 18’ N, 114° 26’ E, 350 m, 18 October 1991, Simpson with Marsh 2124 (K). INDONESIA. Kalimantan: G. Bentuang area, 5–10 km NE of Pontianak, W Kalimantan province, beside Sembawang river, 0° 52’ N, 100° 26’ E, 150 m, 8 June 1989, Burley, Tukirin et al. 2351 (K); East Kalimantan, PT. Limbang Ganeca, Ulu Mahakam, Belayan river area, 0° 12’ N, 116° 02’ E, 50 m, 15 June 1999, Sidiyasa & Ambriansyah 1656 (K). Sumatra: in fruticetis prope Pao, Korthals s.n. (L (L0013706, L0013704, L0013705, L0013707)); N Sumatra, Bt. Lawang, Bohorok, Langkat, 200 m, 25 February 1973, Dransfield 3331 (K); old jungle near the Aek Kanopak, Loendoet concession, Koealoe, 1–17 April 1927, Bartlett 7321 (K). MALAYSIA. East Malaysia: Sabah, Mount Kinabalu, 1200-1500 m, 15 February 1933, J. & M. Clemens 31582 (L! (electronic image with barcode L0013703)); Sabah, Tenom district, HS. Kalang, Summit of Kalang hill, 3300 m, 18 September 1991, Gambio et al. 133697 (K); Sabah, Beluran district, West of Bt. Luminitong, 11 March 1982, Gibot SAN94482 (K); Sabah, Sandakan district, Sg. Ruku-ruku, Telupid, 6 August 1981, Gibot SAN94034 (K); Sarawak, Baram District, Marudi, 26 October 1894, Hose 231 (K, A (electronic image with barcode 00051640), L (barcode L0672034); Sarawak, 1865-68, Beccari 1333 (K); Sarawak, Bkt. Kelaby, Ulu Dapoi, Tinjar, Marudi, 4 th division, 122 m, 3 April 1965, Pa’ie S22945 (K); Sarawak, Gunong, Api, ulu Melinau, Tutoh, Baram District, NE flank of mountain, 4° 07’ N 115° 15’ E, 850m, 1 October 1971, Anderson S30870 (K); Sarawak, Gunong Gading, Lundu District, 2st division, 683 m, 22 September 1974, Mamit S35129 (K). Peninsular Malaysia: Perak, Taiping, March 1894, Scortechini 111 (BM); Perak, Blanjo?, 30.5 m, L. Wray 150 (K). MYANMAR. Moulmeine, Lobb s.n. (K). PHILIPPINES. Mindanao: Lake Lanao, Camp Keithley, November 1906, Clemens 647 (A! (electronic image)). SINGAPORE. Chanchu Kang, November? 1889, N.H.R. s.n. (BM).
Nomenclature notes. —This species was first described as Pterisanthes coriacea by Korthals, however this was never published and thus the name remained invalid. At the time Miquel (1863) was writing the account for these species using Korthals’ specimens, he did not recognise Pterisanthes as a genus but a section within Vitis, so he had to find a new name for this species. Since the name “ Vitis coriacea ” was already in use as Cissus coriacea DC and Vitis coriacea Miq., Miquel (1863) gave the species the new name Vitis polita Miq. Independently, in 1896 King validated the name Pterisanthes coriacea.
A total of four P. polita specimens labelled as isotypes and likely to have been used by Miquel (1863) were found at L. We have selected the specimen with barcode L0013706 as the lectotype as we believe it is the most representative for this species. Although this specimen could be the holotype for this species, we cannot be completely sure since neither the first description, nor the label indicate any distinctive data and therefore a lectotype status is more suitable here.
Merrill described two new Pterisanthes species (P. sinuosa (1907) and P. parvifolia (1917)), both of which have since been synonomised under P. polita (Latiff 1982). Pterisanthes sinuosa was described from a specimen from the Philippines collected by Clemens. It is known that the top set of Clemens’ collections from Mindanao were generally stored in PNH (Van Steenis-Kruseman 1950), but as Manila was almost completely destroyed in 1945 during World War II, it is quite likely that the holotype was lost. An isotype was found at A and it has been selected as the lectotype. Pterisanthes parvifolia was described from a specimen from Sarawak (Malaysia) collected by Hose. Duplicates of the type collection have been found in several herbaria and we have selected here as the lectotype the one that represents best the taxon.
We have only been able to find one record of a specimen belonging to P. polita occurring in Thailand. This specimen was reported by Latiff (1982) as being located in K and has the same collection details as another specimen in SING that Latiff (1982) identified as P. eriopoda in the same publication. We have been able to confirm the identification of the specimen in SING but it seems that the one held in K has been lost and therefore we are unable to confirm its taxonomic status. However, records of P. polita have been reported in localities close to the southernmost Thai provinces in the Malay Peninsula such as the state of Perak. Hence, we think P. polita is extremely likely to occur in Thailand and therefore it has been included in this account.
Morphological notes. —The species P. polita and P. eriopoda are in fact very similar, with the main difference being the presence/absence of the pedicel in the flowers, which is the character used by Latiff (1982) to separate Pterisanthes into two sections. P. polita has pedicellate flowers along the margin of the lamella, while P. eriopoda does not have pedicellate flowers associated on the lamella. These two species together with P. cissioides are the most widely distributed and also have the most intraspecific variation within Pterisanthes (Latiff 1982). The morphological difference used to separate P. polita from P. eriopoda could be explained by this wide range of variation within species, thus suggesting that they are in fact the same species. However, upon examination of several specimens we have noticed the following additional differences: 1. Petiole length in P. eriopoda is shorter (under 3 cm), while P. polita is longer (over 3 cm); 2. Leaves in P. eriopoda have a hairy margin covered with wavy ferruginous hairs, while leaves in P. polita are glabrous. Due to all these observations we have decided to maintain them as separate species.
description: Published as part of Parnell, A. N., 2014, A taxonomic revision of Pterisanthes (Vitaceae) in Thailand and a new Thai record for Pterisanthes cissioides, pp. 95-104 in Phytotaxa 159 (2) on pages 101-102, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.159.2.3, http://zenodo.org/record/5128482