Dicksonia munzingeri Noben &amp; Lehnert 2013, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Noben, Sarah
name: Lehnert, Marcus
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2013
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Plantae
Tracheophyta
Polypodiopsida
Cyatheales
Dicksoniaceae
Dicksonia
Dicksonia munzingeri

description: <i>Dicksonia munzingeri</i> Noben &amp; Lehnert, sp. nov. (Figs. 2C, 3C) Type:— NEW CALEDONIA. Province du Sud: Forêt des Sailles, just before Mount Pwénari, 21°36'58''S, 166°14'49''E, 1200 m, 8 December 2001, <i>J</i> <i>. Munziger, B. Suprin &amp; F.</i> <i>Carriconde 1306</i> (holotype MO, isotype P). The new species <i>Dicksonia munzingeri</i> is most similar to <i>D. thyrsopteroides</i> in the morphology of the lamina, but differs strongly in petiole characters (white to grayish, matted wooly hairs, falling off in flakes and white to brownish undercoat of appressed hairs in <i>D. munzingeri</i> vs. spreading reddish brown, setiform hairs and sooty undercoat in <i>D. thyrsopteroides</i>). <i>Trunks</i> to 5 m tall, 12 cm diameter, with persistent petiole bases, frond scars not visible, with a thick layer of adventitious roots to 2 m up the trunk; adventitious buds not observed. <i>Fronds</i> to 350 cm long, almost patent, weakly ascending, stiffly planar; fertile fronds hemidimorphic, basal pinna pair sterile, following ones fertile up to the middle of the laminae; dead fronds persist at the trunk, forming a skirt. <i>Petioles</i> to 60 cm long, covered with a white to brownish undercoat of appressed hairs and white to grayish, matted woolly hairs, falling off in flakes. <i>Petiole hairs</i> ciliform, to 2 cm long at the petiole base, becoming more and more ephemeral in upper parts. <i>Laminae</i> to 290 × 110 cm, tripinnate-pinnatifid with gradually reduced apices, adaxially deep glossy green, abaxially paler, coriaceous. <i>Frond axes</i> [rachises, costae and costules] yellowish in fresh material, light brown in dried material, smooth. <i>Pinnae</i> to 15 pairs per frond, subsessile to sessile, the lowest pair patent to weakly reflexed; sterile pinnae to 60 × 22.5 cm, ovate-lanceolate, fertile pinnae to 43 × 16.5 cm, lanceolate, bases truncate to rounded. <i>Sterile pinnules</i> to 11.6 × 2.3 cm, lanceolate, auriculate, subsessile, sometimes slightly stalked at the base of the pinnae, becoming more sessile towards the tip. <i>Fertile pinnules</i> to 8.5 × 1.8 cm, elongate-lanceolate, subsessile to slightly stalked at the very base of the pinnae. <i>Fertile segments</i> reduced to thin strands along the veins, subsessile to sessile. <i>Sterile segments</i> weakly lobed or dissected, sessile, margins serrate. <i>Indument</i> consisting of multicellular, ciliate hairs, completely whitish or bicoloured with brown tips, relatively stiff, antrorse and persistent. <i>Costae</i> and <i>costules</i> abaxially hairy, woolly and glabrescent, becoming more and more spreading and persistent from costae to midveins; lateral veins usually lacking hairs on both sides. <i>Sori</i> 1.6–2.0 mm wide, marginal, at the end of unbranched lateral veins, oblong to slightly kidney shaped when closed, circular when open; indusia bivalved, outer one greenish to dark brown, with a thin cartilaginous margin, inner one light brown or pale green with subentire to weakly lacerate margins; <i>paraphyses</i> of the same length as or longer than sporangia. <i>Spores</i> not examined. <b>Distribution and habitat:</b> —Restricted to central New Caledonia (Massif de Tchingou to Forêt de Saille, with an outlier at the Rivière Bleue), in dense mountain rainforest at (200–) 1000–1260 m. <b>Etymology:</b> —Dedicated to Jérôme Munzinger (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Marseille, France), who collected the type specimens, in recognition of his contributions to the knowledge of the New Caledonian flora. <b>Paratypes:</b> <i>—</i> NEW CALEDONIA. Province du Nord: Massif de Tchingou, 20°53'94''S, 165°00'45''E, 1260 m, 4 April 2001, <i>J</i> <i>. Munzinger &amp; G.</i> <i>McPherson 672</i> (MO, P); Mont Aoupinié, 21°10'35''S, 165°16'03''E, 1000 m, 3 Oktober 2009, <i>J</i> <i>.</i> <i>Munzinger et al. 5949</i> (MO, NOU n.v., P). Province du Sud: Mount Ningua, forest beside road, before Virgin Pass ["forest of the different trees"], 21°44'44''S, 166°09'19''E, 1080 m, 29 September 2012, <i>L</i> <i>.</i> <i>Perrie NC2012-77</i> (NOU, WELT). <b>Additional specimens examined (digitalized):</b> <i>—</i> NEW CALEDONIA. Province du Sud: Dogny, 600 m, 28 October 2007, <i>J</i> <i>.</i> <i>Munziger et al. 4620</i> (NOU); "Col Amieux" [= Col d'Amieu, ca. 21°37'S, 165°47'E], Juli 1907, <i>A</i> <i>.</i> <i>Le Rat 3</i> (P); Rivière Bleue, borde de la piste a la tranchée, 22°08'S, 166°42'E, 200 m, 1 June 1994, <i>J.- C</i> <i>.</i> <i>Pintaud 56</i> (P); " Ninga "[= Mont Ningua], versant NE, [ca. 21°44'44''S, 166°09'19''E,] 1200 m, 8 July 1972, <i>J. M</i> <i>.</i> <i>Viellon 2612</i> (NOU); Massif de la Ouenghi [= Kuenthio, near Pic de Ningua?], ca. 1000 m, 4 April 1969, <i>M</i> <i>.</i> <i>Schmid 2811</i> (MO, P). <b>Discussion:</b> — <i>Dicksonia munzingeri</i> was included in <i>D. thyrsopteroides</i> because of shared morphological characters of the lamina (e.g., the hemidimorphism of fronds, the sessile pinnae and the reduction of fertile segments). However, <i>D. munzingeri</i> differs in the persistence of dead fronds on the trunk that build a skirt (vs. only bases persistent in <i>D. thyrsopteroides</i>), the form of hemidimorphism (lowest and upper pinnae sterile, central fertile in <i>D. thyrsopteroides</i> vs. only the lowest pinnae sterile in <i>D. munzingeri</i>), as well as the characteristics of the petiole, with its whitish matted, woolly hairs (vs. spreading to appressed, reddish to pale brown setiform hairs in <i>D. thyrsopteroides</i>) and the lack of a sooty undercoat. Furthermore, <i>D. munzingeri</i> retains a line of matted hairs abaxially along the costae (vs. glabrescent with few persistent spreading hairs). <i>Dicksonia munzingeri</i> is found together with <i>D. baudouinii</i> on Mont Ningua, with both species occurring in large numbers (L. Perrie, personal communication).
description: Published as part of <i>Noben, Sarah &amp; Lehnert, Marcus, 2013, The genus Dicksonia (Dicksoniaceae) in the western Pacific, pp. 23-34 in Phytotaxa 155 (1)</i> on pages 29-31, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.155.1.2, http://zenodo.org/record/5100915