Tinospora singapura I. M. Turner 2023, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Turner, I. M.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Plantae
Tracheophyta
Magnoliopsida
Ranunculales
Menispermaceae
Tinospora
Tinospora singapura

description: Tinospora singapura I.M.Turner sp. nov.
urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:77329783-1
Figs 5–7
Diagnosis
Similar to T. sumatrana Becc. and T. macrocarpa, but differs in having leaves with the base rounded to cuneate, rather than cordate, and 3-nerved, rather than 5-nerved, with no glandular patches in the axils of those main nerves adaxially, and the fruit endocarp being densely verruculose rather than with scattered warts.
Etymology
The specific epithet consists of the Malay name for Singapore, the type locality of the species. The epithet should be treated as a noun in apposition.
Material examined
Type
SINGAPORE • Jalan Kampong Chantek to Bukit Tinggi Road, 15 Sep. 2016, H. K. Lua & R. Lim SING 2016-152; holotype SING [SING0253451, SING0253452, one specimen mounted on two sheets]!.
Paratype
SINGAPORE • Jalan Kampong Chantek to Bukit Tinggi Road, 15 Sep. 2016, H. K. Lua & R. Lim SING 2016-154; SING [SING0251968]!.
Description
Woody climber with abundant descending aerial roots. Twigs drying red-brown or brown, glabrous, shiny, irregularly longitudinally wrinkled, wrinkles narrow and quite sharp-edged with scattered raised pale lenticels, and leaf scars as raised, slightly concave, discs. Leaves chartaceous, glabrous, drying pale grey­brown, not peltate, 3­nerved at base, domatia absent, main nerves more or less flush above in dry leaves, raised beneath; lamina ovate to narrowly elliptic, 5–13 × 2.5–5.5 cm, base rounded to cuneate, apex acuminate, reticulations visible from both surfaces; petiole 2–4.5 cm, ca 1 mm wide at midlength, drying yellow­brown, finely and uniformly longitudinally striate, not notably swollen at ends when dry. Male inflorescences and flowers unknown. Female inflorescences from axils of fallen leaves, mostly solitary, main axis 10–16 cm long, ca 1 mm wide at base, glabrous, drying brown, finely longitudinally striate, slightly zig-zag, bearing on short lateral protruberences regularly spaced fascicles of 3–4 subsessile flowers or very reduced branches bearing 2–3 flowers. Female flowers sessile to subsessile, sepals 3 + 3, outer sepals ovate, ca 0.5 × 0.5 mm, drying brown, glabrous, minutely verruculose-papillate outside, inner sepals ovate, ca 1.5 × 1 mm, drying dark brown, minutely verruculose-papillate outside, apical margin minutely ciliate, carpels 3, clavate, ca 1 mm long, 0.5 mm wide distally, drying yellow, stigma sessile. Fruits ovoid, 4.5 × 3 cm smooth, ripening orange­yellow, fleshy, drying brown and coarsely wrinkled with surface shiny and minutely rugulose, pericarp ca 4 mm thick, yellow in vivo, mesocarp thin and translucent; endocarp white, 3–3.5 × 1.5 cm, prominent narrow basal keel, very slight ventral groove, dorsal and lateral surfaces with a dense and more or less uniform covering of small, short conical warts, endocarp wall thin but quite stiff, splitting longitudinally from ventral groove and along middle of basal keel.
Distribution
The species is only known from Singapore.
Notes
The leaves and endocarps of the Singapore specimens are very distinctive and not readily confusable with any other known species of Tinospora. The stems and female flowers are typical for the genus, so there is no doubt about its placement.
Why a species in a much-collected locality as Singapore should escape detection until now is a matter for speculation. A possibility is that the plant or population at the Kampong Chantek site represents a relict of cultivation of a species brought from some distant place, perhaps Sumatra or Borneo.
description: Published as part of Turner, I. M., 2023, Revision of Tinospora (Menispermaceae - Chasmantheroideae - Burasaieae) in Singapore, pp. 180-193 in European Journal of Taxonomy 900 on pages 188-191, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2023.900.2311, http://zenodo.org/record/10088441