Diospyros multimaculata C. Puglisi 2022, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Puglisi, C.
name: Jimbo, T.
name: Hagwood, A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Plantae
Tracheophyta
Magnoliopsida
Ericales
Ebenaceae
Diospyros
Diospyros multimaculata

description: Diospyros multimaculata C.Puglisi, sp. nov. <i>Diospyros multimaculata</i> is vegetatively most similar to <i>Diospyros rostrata</i> (Merr.) Bakh. and <i>D. pulchra</i> Bakh. It differs from the former in the fruit with a nearly smooth epicarp (markedly colliculate in <i>Diospyros rostrata</i>) and in lacking the pronounced apical projection, and from the latter in the trimerous calyx and the prolate to fusiform fruit (calyx tetramerous and fruit globose to oblate in <i>D. pulchra</i>). It also resembles <i>D. janowskyi</i> Bakh. in the overall habit and fruit shape but differs in the conspicuously glandular and subcordate base of mature leaves (leaf base inconspicuously to not glandular and obtuse in <i>D. janowskyi</i>). <i>Diospyros multimaculata</i> is characterised by the large, mature leaves with subcordate base and acuminate apex; numerous dark glands at the leaf base and alongside the midrib; the hairy leaves; and the prolate to fusiform fruit subtended by a small, trimerous calyx. – Type: Papua New Guinea, Sandaun (West Sepik) Province, Vanimo District, Ossima, 30 m a.s.l., 30 i 1969, <i>Streimann &amp; Kairo</i> NGF 39283 (holotype K [K00618534]; isotypes E [E01014580], L [L.2667453]). <b>Figure 1.</b> Small tree 6–8 m tall; bark black, stems hairy. <i>Leaves</i> simple, alternate; petiole 6–8 mm long, hairy, terete; lamina dark green above, paler beneath, ovate, elliptic or slightly obovate, 11–20 × 3.5–8.5 cm, base subcordate (obtuse to rounded in younger leaves), apex acuminate; indumentum simple on both sides, adaxially denser (although brittle and caducous) and more abundant along the midrib, abaxially also including T-shaped hairs on the lamina, young leaves with ciliate margin; black (at least in herbarium specimens) pitted glands along the midrib throughout its length, densely clustered at the leaf base and peculiarly visible on the adaxial side; on the adaxial side midrib raised at the base and then becoming sulcate, secondary veins flat or slightly raised, tertiary veins almost inconspicuous, on the abaxial side midrib raised throughout, secondary veins raised and visibly anastomosing near the margin in loops, tertiary veins raised and scalariform. Male inflorescences and flowers not seen. Remnants of female inflorescences axillary, to 2.5 cm long, 4- to 10-flowered. <i>Flowers</i> not seen, reported as yellow for both sexes. <i>Fruiting calyx</i> very small, tube reduced, lobes 3, divided almost to base, broadly acute, 1–2 mm long, spreading or slightly reflexed, hairy outside, glabrous inside. <i>Fruit</i> fleshy, prolate to fusiform, light green when immature, orange to red when ripe, sparsely hairy to nearly glabrous, 3.5–5.6 × 2–2.5 cm, acute at the base and acute at the apex, epicarp smooth to slightly irregular. <i>Seeds</i> up to 6, usually 5 or 6, dark brown, smooth. <i>Distribution</i>. New Guinea (<b>Figure 2</b>). <i>Habitat and ecology</i>. Lowland swampy or seasonally inundated primary forest, on clay soil. <i>Etymology</i>. This species is named after the numerous glands at the leaf base and throughout the lamina alongside the midrib. <i>Vernacular name</i>. <i>Usrapai</i> (Kemtuik [Kamtuk] language). <i>Other specimens examined</i>. INDONESIA. <b>Papua Province</b>: Jayapura, Sekoli, South of Lake Sentani, 110 m a.s.l., 7 viii 1957, <i>Kalkman</i> BW 3767 (K, L). PAPUA NEW GUINEA. <b>Sandaun (West Sepik) Province</b>: Vanimo District, near Poar River, 30 m a.s.l., 22 vi 1975, <i>Katik</i> LAE 62262 (E, K, L); <b>Madang Province</b>: Wanang Village, 115 m a.s.l., 29 x 2008, <i>Ctvrtecka</i> 2971 (K); Josephstaal FMA area, 160 m a.s.l., 5 viii 1999, <i>Takeuchi</i> et al. 13764 (K, L).
description: Published as part of <i>Puglisi, C., Jimbo, T. &amp; Hagwood, A., 2022, Two new species of Diospyros (Ebenaceae) from New Guine, pp. 1-10 in Edinburgh Journal of Botany 79</i> on pages 3-4, DOI: 10.24823/EJB.2022.1879, http://zenodo.org/record/7374245