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

description: Gossia bourailensis N. Snow, sp. nov.
(Figs 4; 6)
Resembling Gossia diversifolia but differing by its terete branchlets and the leaf blade, which is conduplicate only at its base.
TYPUS. — New Caledonia. Grande Terre, South Prov. Bourail, dans les bois, III.1869, Balansa 1516a (holo-, P [P00724290]; iso-, BISH [fragment], P[P00402718, P00402755]).
PARATYPI. — New Caledonia, Grande Terre, South Prov. Bourail, 1868- 1970, Balansa 416a (Z[Z-000050855]); Peya (Bourail), 14.IV.2011, J.-P. Butin 58 (P[P02089712]); Montagne des Sources, 21°08’09.96”S 166°36’10.80”E, 19.II.1982, Veillon 5958 (NOU [NOU0534329]).
REPRESENTATIVE HERBARIUM SPECIMEN. — P00724290.
ETYMOLOGY. — Derived from the town of Bourail.
DISTRIBUTION, HABITAT AND PHENOLOGY. — A poorly understood species as presently known and collected only from the vicinity of Bourail (in 1869) and more recently (1982) from Montagne des Sources (Fig. 6); in woods, c. 50 m. Flowering February and March; fruiting through August.
DESCRIPTION
Shrubs
4- 5 m.
Branchlets
Terete; internodes> 5 mm.
Leaves
Coriaceous, 2 per node; petioles 1-3 mm, rounded; blades 2.0-3.7 × 1.3-2.3 cm, ovate, base rounded to cordate, surface flat to slightly wavy but somewhat conduplicate above petiole, margin flat to slightly undulate, apex broadly acute to obtuse, midnerve above flush, secondary and tertiary veins slightly raised throughout, oil glands of lower surface sparse and indistinct. Inflorescence
1.4-1.8 cm, of monads, terminal, axillary, or from naked internodes; extrafloral bracts absent or scale-like.
Bracteoles
0.5-1 mm, narrowly ovate to ovate, glabrous to sparsely sericeous.
Hypanthium
1.5-2.2 × 2.5 mm, obconic to campanulate, surface smooth, glabrous; ovary apex hairy.
Calyx
Lobes 4 or 5, 0.5-2 mm, broadly rounded, glabrous above and below, green.
Petals
4 (or irregularly 5-8), 4-5 × 2.8-4.5 mm, glabrous above and below, minutely ciliate on margins.
Filaments
3.5-5 mm; anther sacs 0.3-0.5 mm.
Style
4-4.5 mm, sparsely sericeous to tomentose throughout.
Fruits
Green 4-5.5 × 4-5 mm, globular, base rounded, mature color unconfirmed; seed number 1.
REMARKS
Gossia bourailensis sp. nov. resembles G. diversifolia but has terete branchlets, a somewhat narrower petiole, and the base of the leaf blade is more or less conduplicate. It also resembles G. conduplicata sp. nov., which has much more pronounced folding of the leaf blades, and Gossia katepahiensis sp. nov., which has a more broadly rounded leaf apex and glabrous ovary. Some petioles of G. bourailensis sp. nov. are twisted and bent away from the axis of the midrib, but this is a subtle character. Some flowers of Balansa 416a have eight petals, which probably is a developmental anomaly. The distribution as currently understood, from the type specimen in 1869 near the west-central part of Grande Terre and Montagne des Sources in 1982 is anomalous; further study is needed.
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 142-143, DOI: 10.5252/adansonia2020v42a7, http://zenodo.org/record/3877392