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

description: Gossia angustifolia N. Snow, sp. nov.
(Figs 3; 4A-C)
Leaves narrowly elliptic, cuneate at base, the margin slightly sinuous, about three times longer than broad, abaxial surface glands dense, placentation basal.
TYPUS. — New Caledonia. Grande Terre, North Prov. Entre Tao et Ouaième: Vallée Pouai, 20°35’33.00”S, 164°49’12.00”E, 11.IX.1961, MacKee 15612 (holo-, NOU [NOU053037]; iso-, BISH [leaf fragment], MO[MO-5906585]).
PARATYPI. — New Caledonia. Grande Terre, Haute Diahot, Paala, 600 m, 15.VII.1977, MacKee 33461 (BISH [fragment], NOU [NOU053245]); Col d’Amos, 20°17’60”S, 164°25’42”E, 13.X.2002, Munzinger 1489 et al. (MO [MO-5841144], NOU [NOU002733], P [P00354502]); Col d’Amoss, 20°18’22”S, 164°23’48”E, 14.X.2002, Tronchet 387 (K n.v., MO [MO-5906585], NOU [NOU003170], P [P00354930]); Vallée de Néouna (Goapin), entre Aoupinié NW et Forêt plate, 165°13’35.1”S, 21°8’38.3”E, 31.VII.2012, Vandrot 597 & Chambrey (MO, n.v., MPU [MPU028535], P [P02089718]).
ETYMOLOGY. — In reference to the relatively narrow leaves, compared to most congenerics in New Caledonia.
REPRESENTATIVE HERBARIUM SPECIMEN. — P00354930.
DISTRIBUTION, HABITAT AND PHENOLOGY. — Gossia angustifolia sp. nov. occurs on the edge of the Massif du Panié and at Col d’Amoss (Fig. 3), sometimes common locally; in gallery forests over micaschistes, c. 100-600 m altitude. Flowering November (material scant); fruiting July through October.
DESCRIPTION
Shrubs or trees
3-8 m, sometimes densely branched.
Bark
Brownish and somewhat rough.
Branchlets
Terete to laterally compressed; internodes> 5 mm., emerging reddish.
Leaves
Coriaceous, 2 per node; petioles 1.2-3.5 mm, terete; blades 5.0-9.0 × 1.9-3.3 cm, narrowly elliptic, base cuneate, surface flat, margin flat to slightly wavy, apex acute, midnerve above sulcate, secondary veins slightly raised above, oil glands of lower surface dense but faint. Inflorescence 2-2.5 cm, of few-flowered racemes or panicles, terminal and axillary; pedicels 0.3-1.4 cm; extrafloral bracts lacking or scale-like.
Bracteoles
1.5-2 mm, narrowly oblanceolate, sparsely sericeous.
Hypanthium
2.5-3.5 mm, campanulate or urceolate, width in flower unknown, surface smooth, sparsely sericeous; ovary apex glabrous.
Calyx
Lobes 5, 1.2-1.5 mm, broadly rounded, glabrous above, sparsely sericeous below, greenish.
Petals stamens and style
Unknown.
Berry
6-8 × c. 7 mm, globular, base rounded, whitish to reddish; seeds 2.
REMARKS
Gossia angustifolia sp. nov. is recognized by its narrowly elliptic leaves with slightly undulate (in sicco) margins and (usually) dense but small oil glands on the lower surface. It can resemble G. ramiflora sp. nov. based on the slightly undulate leaf margins and their overall shape, but the margins of G. ramiflora sp. nov. typically are significantly more undulate. It also can resemble G. vieillardii, but that species has fewer oil glands on the lower leaf surface. Preliminary results suggest this species is atypical in the genus by virtue of its basal placentation in a single locule (Fig. 4C). The laminar oil glands are less dense on one specimen (Vandrot 597).
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 pages 138-139, DOI: 10.5252/adansonia2020v42a7, http://zenodo.org/record/3877392