Piper abbreviatum Opiz

Gardner, R. O., 2013, Piper (Piperaceae) in New Guinea: the climbing species, Blumea 57 (3), pp. 275-294 : 277

1. Piper abbreviatum Opiz — Fig. 1a

Piper abbreviatum Opiz (1828) 157; Quisumb. (1930) 59, pl. 20; Chew (1972) 1; (2003) 14; R.O. Gardner (2006) 579; (2010) 4. — Type: Haenke s.n. (holo PR n.v.), Luzon.

Distribution — Borneo, Philippine Is., Java, Celebes, Molucca Is., New Guinea, Solomon Is.; Australia (?).

Habitat & Ecology — In forest, 0– 500(–1650?) m altitude.

Notes — Recognized especially by its chartaceous, symmetrically ovate leaves, and short, stout, fully concrescent fruits. The leaves are generally glabrous but there may be a few slender, pale, patent hairs on the stipule, petiole and nerves below. A denser bristly to subvillous indument is seen in a number of specimens from West New Guinea, e.g. BW 7367, Vogelkop Peninsula.

The species seems to be uncommon in the Bismarck Archipelago. It is absent from the Highlands Region, and I am sure of only one New Guinea collection made from above c. 500 m: LAE 58792, New Britain, Mengen Massif, 900 m. (Another collection, NGF 8485 (Morobe District, Skindewai, c. 1650 m), may be P. abbreviatum – its inflorescences are too young to be informative – but its 9 4.5 cm leaves seem too large for it to be credible that the stated altitude is correct).

The New Guinea plants are not nearly as conspicuously red-glandular as those from the Philippines.

Borneo is included in the species’ range solely because of the citations of Quisumbing (1930: 62) and Beaman & Anderson (2004: 253).

A recently described species P. fungiforme ( Spokes 2007: 234, 457), endemic to northern Queensland, resembles P. abbreviatum in some respects, notably in its short, fully concrescent fruits (as illustrated by Cooper 1994: 223, under the tag-name Piper sp. ‘Leo Creek’). It is puzzling though that males are said to have their anther locules separated by a swollen connective, just as in P. celtidiforme . An re-examination of P. fungiforme needs to be undertaken to resolve whether it might represent a mixture.

Figures

Fig. 1 Specimens of Piper species. – a. P. abbreviatum Opiz. – b. P. cf. amboinense (Miq.) C.DC. – c. P. arfakianum C.DC. – d. P. betle L. (a: Brass 28658; b: Kanehira & Hatusima 11500; c: Sleumer & Vink 4433; d: Craven & Schodde 858, all A).