Freycinetia nonatoi A.P.Keim & C.C.Tan, 2020

Keim, A. P. & Tan, C. C., 2020, A new species of Freycinetia (Pandanaceae; Freycinetoideae) from Luzon Island, the Philippines, Blumea 65 (2), pp. 102-103 : 102-103

Freycinetia nonatoi A.P.Keim & C.C.Tan , sp. nov. — Fig. 1

Climbing pandan of moderate size; auricle lobed with conspicuous spines on margin; colour of bracts bright yellow. — Type: C. C. Tan 002 (holo BO; iso USTH), Philippines, Luzon, Quezon, Llavac , N14°29.247' E121°30.966', 14 May 2013 .

Etymology. We name this species in honour of Professor Maribel G. Nonato of the University of Santo Tomas (Luzon, Philippines), who has been conducting research on the phytochemistry of pandans for decades. She is the adviser of the second author.

Climbing pandan up to 10 m high. Stem stout, greyish green, glabrous, c. 1 cm diam; internodes 1.5‒2 cm long; climbing roots present at the nodes. Leaf blades long lanceolate, 60‒65 by 1.5‒2 cm, apex acuminate, without adaxial ventral pleats, margin with minute spines on terminal and basal parts; adaxial surface green, glabrous, without ventral pleats; abaxial surface light green, glabrous; adaxial and abaxial surfaces of leaves on terminal part of stem green with conspicuous, deep purplish pink tints; leaf sheath deep purplish pink, glabrous; auricle c. 2 cm long, persistent, apically lobed, margin with conspicuous, brown spines. Staminate inflorescences terminal, ternate, with 3 separate elongated flowering parts, in an umbel, juvenile (in the type still enclosed in bright yellow bracts); peduncle short, brown, c. 1 cm long; pedicel c. 4 cm long, glabrous, brown; flowering part c. 4 cm long. Staminate flowers minute; anthers pale creamy brown. Pistillate inflorescences and pistillate flowers unknown. Infructescences unknown from the type; based on field photos: apparently ternate (with 3 cephalia). Cephalium unknown from the type; on field photo apparently immature, green, elongate-lanceolate. Berry unknown.

Distribution — Malesia: Philippines (endemic to Luzon).

Habitat & Ecology — Lowland tropical rainforest, along forest trails and very close to a stream with local lemon grass plantations nearby. Altitude: c. 465 m.

Conservation status — This species is known only from the type and should be assessed as Data Deficient ( IUCN 2017).

Notes — 1. The presence of a lobed apex of the sheath auricle indicates that this taxon of the section Auriculifoliae B.C.Stone ( Stone 1968); however, prior to this current publication species in the section with conspicuous spiny lobed auricles were unknown.

2. In the field F. nonatoi looks very similar to F. sumatrana Hemsl. , which also occurs in the Philippines ( Keim et al. 2013), especially regarding the colour of the bracts and the possession of lobed auricles. Nevertheless, the presence of spines on the margins of the auricles distinguishes F. nonatoi from F. sumatrana . Freycinetia sumatrana always possesses auricles with entire margins.

Figures

Fig. 1 Freycinetia nonatoi A.P.Keim & C.C.Tan.a. Lobed auricle with spines on the margin (black arrows);b. dried leaf;c. climbing habit,up to about 10 m high; d. staminate inflorescence of showing the separated flowering parts (i.e., ‘staminate cephalium’) and numerous minute anthers. — Scale bars = 4.5 cm. — Photos by C.C. Tan.