Diospyros callmanderi G. E. Schatz & Lowry 2020, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Schatz, George E.
name: Lowry II, Porter P.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Plantae
Tracheophyta
Magnoliopsida
Ericales
Ebenaceae
Diospyros
Diospyros callmanderi

description: Diospyros callmanderi G.E. Schatz & Lowry, sp. nov.
(Figs 5; 6)
Diospyros callmanderi G.E. Schatz & Lowry, sp. nov. is distinguished from D. squamosa Bojer ex A. DC. by its very large leaves (17.7- 27.7 × 6.4-10.4 cm) and very large bracts enclosing the female flowers (to 10 × 17 mm).
TYPUS. — Madagascar. Diana Region [Prov. Antsiranana], Ambilobe, Beramanja, Anketrabe, forêt de Kalabenono, pente raide en bas de crête, sol profond, 13°38’13”S, 48°40’07”E, 244 m, 18.XI.2006, fr., Callmander et al. 519 (holo-, MO [MO6449179]!; iso-, G [G00443323]!; P [P02091758]!; TAN [TAN001880]!).
PARATYPES. — Madagascar. Diana Region [Prov. Antsiranana]: Ambilobe, Beramanja, Anketrabe, village le plus proche Antanambao Belinta, versant NW du Kalabenono, source de rivière Androkaroka, 13°38’58”S, 48°40’27”E, 744 m, 26.XI.2007, bud, Rakotovao et al. 3809 (G [G00443324], MO, P [P00722709], TAN); Ambilobe, Beramanja, Anketrabe Belinta, forêt de Manongarivo-Kalabinono, 13°38’16”S, 48°40’21”E, 425 m, 29.IX.2013, fl., Razakamalala et al. 7570 (MO, P [P00580500], TAN).
ETYMOLOGY. — This species is named in honor of our good friend and colleague Martin W. Callmander, who worked for the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Madagascar Program from 2005 to 2015 before taking a position at the Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de la Ville de Genève, and who has contributed so much to our knowledge of the Malagasy flora through his research on Pandanaceae and the multi-year field program he coordinated focusing on the Northern Mountains Complex, among many other endeavors.
DISTRIBUTION AND ECOLOGY. — Diospyros callmanderi, sp. nov. occurs in subhumid forest in the Diana region, wholly within the Galoko-Kalobinono protected area (Fig. 2), from 244 to 744 m elevation.
PHENOLOGY. — Diospyros callmanderi, sp. nov. has been recorded in flower or bud in September and November, and in fruit in November.
CONSERVATION STATUS. — Diospyros callmanderi, sp. nov. has a geographic range in the form of an EOO of 0.265 km 2 and a minimum AOO of 0.265 km 2. All three collections were made within the protected area of Galoko-Kalobinono. However, two of them, which are situated within 400 m of each other, are less than 200 m from cleared pasture land, whereas the third collection is over a kilometer away within dense forest. Therefore, with respect to the threat of projected additional forest clearing, which will result in continuing decline in EOO, AOO, habitat quality, the number of locations, and the number of mature individuals, D. callmanderi, sp. nov. exists at two locations, and can therefore be assessed for its risk of extinction as Endangered [EN B1ab(i,ii,iii,iv,v)+2ab(i,i i,iii,iv,v)] (IUCN 2012).
DESCRIPTION
Shrub to tree 4-7 m tall, to 7 cm DBH. Young stems initially covered with very sparse scattered appressed short trichomes, glabrescent. Lamina 17.7-27.7 × 6.4-10.4 cm, ovate to oblong, coriaceous, glabrous above and below, base obtuse to rounded, margin revolute, apex acute to rounded, midvein deeply impressed and channeled above, prominently raised below, venation weakly brochidodromous, secondary veins 11-15 per side, with occasional intersecondaries nearly as prominent, flat to slightly raised above and below; petiole 11-20 mm, terete to slightly flat topped, 3-4 mm diam., glabrous, drying black. Male flowers not seen. Female flowers solitary in the axils of leaves; pedicels 4-6 mm long, 3-5 mm in diam., bearing 8-12 distichous, overlapping, scale-like bracts, 3-10 × 5-17 mm, enclosing the flower in bud, broadly obovate, becoming progressively larger from the base to the apex of the pedicel, apex emarginate, glabrous both outside and inside except densely covered with golden appressed trichomes at the exposed apex, the margins ciliate, the pedicel densely covered with erect golden trichomes at the base of the bracts and crowned by a ring of erect trichomes at the apex; sepals 4, fused into a short tubular calyx, 20 mm long, the free lobes arranged in two decussate pairs, 12 × 14 mm, apex acute, densely covered with appressed golden trichomes. Pedicel in fruit crowned by the bulbous, rounded accrescent receptacle, 4.5 mm tall, with bract scars clearly evident. Fruit 27-32 mm tall, 27 mm in diam., globose to slightly cubical, the apex flat, with the stylar remnant 2-3 mm tall, glabrous and somewhat glaucous, the calyx persistent and accrescent, 22-26 × 18-22 mm, densely covered with appressed trichomes, distinctly 4-ridged, the ridges formed from the margins of the two outer sepals.
NOTES
Diospyros callmanderi, sp. nov. is easily recognized among members of the Squamosa group by its very large leaves (17.7-27.7 × 6.4-10.4 cm) and very large bracts enclosing the female flowers (to 10 × 17 mm). Indeed, when we first saw specimens of D. callmanderi, sp. nov., we immediately referred to it as “ D. squamosa on steroids”.
description: Published as part of Schatz, George E. & Lowry II, Porter P., 2020, Taxonomic studies of Diospyros L. (Ebenaceae) from the Malagasy region. IV. Synoptic revision of the Squamosa group in Madagascar and the Comoro Islands, pp. 201-218 in Adansonia (3) (3) 42 (9) on pages 206-210, DOI: 10.5252/adansonia2020v42a10, http://zenodo.org/record/3953000