Boehmeria virgata var. austroqueenslandica, (Domin) Friis & Wilmot-Dear

Wilmot-Dear, C. M. & Friis, I., 2013, The Old World species of Boehmeria (Urticaceae, tribus Boehmerieae). A taxonomic revision, Blumea 58 (2), pp. 85-216 : 159-160

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.3767/000651913X674116
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03D987B7-FF8C-5154-FFBA-595BDC0BF842
treatment provided by	Felipe
scientific name	Boehmeria virgata var. austroqueenslandica
status

Treatment

d. var. austroqueenslandica (Domin) Friis & Wilmot-Dear View in CoL , comb. nov. — Fig. 23a–c View Fig ; Map 22 View Map 22

Basionym: Boehmeria platyphylla D.Don var. austroqueenslandica Domin in Bibliotheca Botanica 22,Heft 89 (1921) 576. ― Type: Domin s.n. (holo PRC or PR,n.v.), Australia, Queensland, Tamborine and Beech Mts [Beechmont], March 1910. – See Note 1 .

Shrub, 1–2 m tall. Stem with hairs (sparse-)abundant or dense, adpressed, stiff, straight. Stipules 6 –8 mm long, hairy like stem on outside. Leaves moderately dimorphic in size with length of ‘larger’ lamina up to 2 × length of ‘smaller’, narrowly elliptic-ovate, (6–)11–22 by (2.5–) 4–7 cm, length 2.5–3.5 × width, marginal teeth distinct 1–1.5 by 2.5–5 mm, not or slightly up-curved; leaf apex gradually attenuate to indistinctly short-acuminate, mostly toothed to tip but sometimes terminated by a single tooth slightly longer than the width of marginal teeth; base slightly asymmetrical, narrowly rounded to narrow-cuneate; basal veins often extending almost to apex, slender; adaxial surface with abundant hairs like the stem but very fine and inconspicuous, abaxial surface with shorter hairs, sparser mostly restricted to veins or sometimes almost absent; petiole very variable with respect to leaf-size, 0.2–0.5(–0.75) × lamina length. Inflorescence-bearing axes unisexual or sometimes bisexual with male clusters near base, pendulous, unbranched, 8– 25 cm long, flower-clusters often contiguous, sometimes spaced 2–3 mm apart; female clusters 2–3 mm diam, with c. 20– more than 30 flowers. Fruiting perianth ellipsoid to ovoid, 1–1.5 by 0.5–0.7 mm, scarcely laterally flattened or more so with marginal rim or indistinct wing and abundant hairs, these fine, minute and hooked.

Distribution ― Australia (south-eastern Queensland, north-eastern New South Wales).

Habitat & Ecology ― Montane rainforest understory and forest margins and clearings, often on steep-sided river valleys; 300–800 m altitude.

Conservation status ― Least Concern (LC). This well-circumscribed variety has a restricted distribution and is known from only c. 40 collections from a relatively small area with an EOO of 7 429 km 2. However, its habitat (rainforest) in eastern Australia is now well-protected and not greatly subject to disturbance. Several recent collections of this plant exist and it is reasonable to assume that its populations remain fairly stable.

Notes ― 1. The type of B. platyphylla var. austroqueenslandica was not traced by either us or Chew (1989: 85), but there is no doubt about its identity and, apart from cultivated and escaped populations of B. nivea , this is the only Boehmeria which has been collected in Australia.

2. Distinguished on indumentum, leaf shape, number and proportions of marginal teeth, male and female inflorescence-bearing axes long, unbranched and fruiting perianth littleflattened. See detailed discussion under the species as a whole (Note 4-iii). It is allopatric to the rest of the species and very localised, restricted to low altitude rainforest in north-eastern New South Wales and south-eastern Queensland and often noted as ‘rare’ or ‘occasional’ by collectors.

ii. subsp. macrophylla (Hornem.) Friis & Wilmot-Dear , comb.

& stat. nov. — Fig. 23d–o View Fig , 24–29 View Fig View Fig View Fig View Fig View Fig View Fig ; Map 24–30 View Map 24 View Map 25 View Map 26 View Map 27 View Map 28 View Map 29 View Map 30

Basionym: Boehmeria macrophylla Hornem., Hortus Regius Botanicus Hafniensis,Vol. 2 (1815) 809,non B. macrophylla D. Don (1825) ,nec B. macrophylla (Thunb.) Siebold & Zucc.(1846) . ― Type: Hornemann s.n. (holo C; photo E, K), cultivated in Copenhagen Botanic Garden.

Non B. macrophylla D. Don (1825) View in CoL nec B. macrophylla (Thunb.) Siebold & Zucc. (1846) View in CoL .

Erect shrub, subshrub or woody-based herb, 0.5–2 m tall; ultimate stems with widely varying indumentum, hairs sparse,stiff or fine, inconspicuous, adpressed and short or dense, soft, spreading and longer. Stipules mostly rather small and inconspicuous, 4–6(–11) by 1(–2.3) mm, chartaceous. Leaves not or slightly dimorphic with length of ‘larger’ lamina up to 1.5(–2) × ‘smaller’ and relatively narrower but petioles of ‘larger’ leaves often up to 5 × length of ‘smaller’ ones, ovate to rhombic-ovate or elliptic, with wide range of size and relative proportions, (5–)10–24 by (3–) 7–16 mm, length (1.2–)1.5–2(–3.5, Africa only) × width; margin regularly dentate throughout length, teeth 10– 60 either side, (1–)1.5–3(–5) mm long, these acute ± mucronate at apex and usually slightly (to markedly) up-curved; leaf apex attenuate or more often narrowed into distinct acumen sometimes markedly sideways-curved and often consisting mainly of a single long terminal tooth; base slightly or markedly asymmetrical, cuneate to narrowly or broadly rounded, rarely ± truncate or slightly cordate; basal veins extending into distal half or well into distal third of lamina, upper lateral veins 1–2(–3) either side, not markedly dissimilar on two sides of lamina, lowermost arising at or below middle of lamina ( var. tomentosa View in CoL in distal half), usually inconspicuous adaxially, these and coarser tertiary reticulation visible abaxially; texture usually relatively thin-chartaceous, rarely thicker and leaves bullate or rugose; adaxial surface rarely glabrescent, usually with abundant indumentum similar to that of stem, hairs inconspicuous, adpressed often stiff, or conspicuous soft and spreading; abaxial surface with adpressed or spreading indumentum often restricted to veins; petiole very variable between or within varieties (0.1–)0.25–0.7(–1.3) × lamina length. Inflorescence-bearing axes erect short or pendulous, medium to long, (5–) 10–40 cm long, usually unbranched, sometimes, especially male ones, with a few long lateral branches near base (in var. scabrella View in CoL male axes may be branched throughout length); axes mostly unisexual; flower-clusters well-spaced or crowded; male clusters up to 2 mm diam, with few–10(–15) flowers, female clusters (1–) 2–4 mm diam, with (10–)20–more than 50 crowded or rather loosely-arranged flowers; bracteoles inconspicuous, linear-oblong or spathulate, 0.3(–0.5) mm long. Male flowers: tepals with dorsal appendages usually prominent, knob-like, sparsely to densely adpressed- or spreading-hairy. Female flowers fairly narrowly ovoid tapering to indistinct beak, small, up to 0.5 by 0.2 mm; stigma usually fairly short, 0.6–1.5(–2) mm long. Fruiting perianth 0.7–1.5(–2) by 0.3–0.5(–1) mm, extremely varied in form and indumentum, sometimes ovoid-conical, scarcely laterally flattened with narrow marginal rim and achene ± filling fruiting perianth, densely minute-pubescent throughout; sometimes ellipsoid to obovoid ± inflated in distal part, scarcely laterally flattened and with sparse coarse pale hairs near apex, sometimes ovoid to obovoid or spindle-shaped markedly laterally flattened with a narrow thick-textured wing and achene not filling fruiting perianth, glabrescent or with coarse or fine pale hairs at apex or throughout.

Distribution ― As for the species west of Wallace’s line.

Habitat & Ecology ― Lowland rainforest,riverine forest, montane evergreen or seasonal forest, secondary scrub,open areas; 100–3500 m altitude.

Conservation status ― Least Concern (LC). Widespread, in a wide range of habitats and presumed often abundant. Well over 1 000 collections, many recent, have been seen from the subspecies as whole. Formal assessment is given separately for the widespread varieties var. macrostachya, var. minuticymosa , var. molliuscula and the well-circumscribed varieties var. longissima and var. sumatrana .

Notes ― 1. The name ‘subsp. macrophylla ’ was created as an autonym by Panigrahi & Murti (1999) who were the first to publish a subspecies ( subsp. canescens ) under B. macrophylla Hornem. Since these two subspecies are united here, the autonym takes priority according to the Vienna Code (art. 11.6) and the authority is to be cited according to Art. 26.3 and Ex. 6.

2. Relationships within subsp. macrophylla and between it and subsp. virgata are discussed under the species as a whole (Notes 2, 3, 5). Various varieties of subsp. macrophylla are also frequently confused with other species, as follows.

3. Boehmeria pilosiuscula (partly sympatric but more widespread) has often been confused with var. scabrella due to the similar leaf shape and short erect inflorescence-bearing axes with crowded clusters but can always be distinguished by its stem indumentum of mixed minute and long hairs, its distinctive inflorescence-bearing axes with male flowers mostly in small clusters near the apex of an unbranched mainly female inflorescence-bearing axes and its female flowers obconical-truncate and extremely densely congested in the cluster. Boehmeria pilosiuscula var. suffruticosa is the easier of its two varieties to distinguish, with its leaves soft-hairy, thin-textured, markedly asymmetrical, and its female and bisexual axes extremely short (<2 cm long) and densely congested. The material of var. scabrella vegetatively most similar to B. pilosiuscula (leaves thin-textured and markedly asymmetrical) occurs in Assam and Bihar, from which B. pilosiuscula is absent. See under B. pilosiuscula (Note 8) for detailed discussion of differences.

4. Broad-leaved opposite-leaved forms of the widespread and highly variable B. clidemioides are often similar in leaf shape, texture and fruiting perianth shape to some variants of var. macrostachya, var. rotundifolia and var. scabrella and incomplete specimens lacking the diagnostic apical leaf-tufts on inflorescence-bearing axes can be misidentified as these varieties. ( Var. scabrella also rarely has an apical tuft of leaves on occasional axes, causing further confusion.) Boehmeria clidemioides can usually be distinguished by leaf base ± symmetrical, female axes often with many lax branches and male and female clusters often mixed throughout the same axis; the above-mentioned particularly similar forms of B. clidemioides can usually also be distinguished by relatively narrower leaves with relatively narrower marginal teeth which are increasingly long and increasingly up-curved towards leaf apex and some leaves alternate.

5. Thai collections of B. zollingeriana var. zollingeriana with long unbranched female inflorescence-bearing axes and scattered hairs on the adaxial leaf surface have often been misidentified as ‘ B. platyphylla ’ ( = subsp. macrophylla ) but are distinguished (besides the diagnostic male flowers in axillary clusters and long-pedicellate) by stems entirely glabrous, leaf margin very shallowly crenate rather than dentate (teeth <1 mm long) and adaxial surface ± shiny often glabrous, lowermost upper veins also sometimes arising in basal third of leaf.

6. Boehmeria ternifolia can sometimes be confused with var. strigosa (allopatric, China), var. macrostachya , and often with var. rotundifolia whose leaves with terminal tooth long and tail-like and distal marginal teeth markedly in-curved are often almost identical in form to B. ternifolia var. ternifolia . However, B. ternifolia is distinguishable by its hairs on stem and often also on leaves spreading, dense, minute (≤ 0.3 mm long) and velvety, marginal teeth often fewer and from var. rotundifolia additionally on its shrubby habit, its inflorescence-bearing axes never branched throughout length and its habitat, forest (rather than more open areas) and at low altitude.

7. In India and China thinner-leaved forms of B. polystachya may be confused with var. rotundifolia or var. scabrella but B. polystachya is distinguished by its scalariform venation distinctive, prominent, its inflorescence-bearing axes (often bisexual) branched throughout its length and with 2nd-order branching; male axes of var. scabrella and var. rotundifolia may also be branched throughout length but without 2nd-order branching. Var. scabrella also differs from B. polystachya in hairs on stem and leaf coarse conspicuous (rather than fine inconspicuous).

8. Var. minuticymosa has sometimes been mistaken for B. ourantha (sympatric in the Himalayas) which has similar erect female inflorescence-bearing axes with congested clusters but which differs in indumentum long, soft usually dense, leaves often truncate and marginal teeth usually rounded and especially in its inflorescence architecture with male clusters located at the apex (rather than base) of mainly female axes.

9. Boehmeria conica , a species of very restricted distribution (south-western China, north-east Himalaya) has been confused with broad- and thin-leaved forms of var. macrostachya with branched male axes; B. conica can be distinguished by ± glabrous leaves and a distinctive ‘conical’ branched inflorescence architecture.

10. Chinese material of var. macrostachya with large leaves has been confused with the allopatric B. holosericea ( Japan, South Korea) which differs in leaves with marginal teeth larger and broader and hairs conspicuous, long, curved, stem with hairs spreading, dense, short (up to 0.2 mm long) (rather than stem and leaves both with hairs inconspicuous short, adpressed), also in female inflorescence-bearing axes robust erect thick with large contiguous clusters, 4–7 mm diam. Var. strigosa can have similar leaf shape to B. holosericea but differs in adpressed silky indumentum.

11. Var. macrostachya and sometimes also var. strigosa and var. densiglomerata can be confused with some variants of the partly sympatric and rather variable species B. japonica ( China, South Korea, Japan), which is distinguished from all three varieties by its marginal teeth progressively markedly larger towards leaf apex, those close to the leaf apex up to 15 mm long (rather than <5 mm), with length (2–)5–10 × that of lower ones or so large as to form a broad 3–5-toothed apex; B. japonica can be distinguished additionally from the latter two varieties by its leaf base often cuneate and never cordate, from var. densiglomerata on female clusters never tightly congested along axis, and from var. macrostachya by its marginal teeth relatively few, only up to 25 even on large leaves, rather than usually over 25, often 30–50 on large leaves.

12. Unidentifiable collections from Taiwan (from which subsp. macrophylla has not been recorded), Taipei; Hsie s.n. (UC) and Hsie s.n. 15 Aug. 1988 (NY), conform to B. sieboldiana in leaves glabrous very thin textured and absence of dorsal appendages on male tepals, but to B. virgata subsp. macrophylla in its ovate rather than rhombic-ovate leaves.

13. Var. macrostachya is strongly reminiscent of the New World species B. caudata Sw. in general appearance, with its leaves often large, close-serrate with ± uniform teeth and its inflorescence-bearing axes long, pendulous, although B. caudata is often densely spreading-hairy and has fruiting perianths more than twice as large, c. 2.5 by 1.5 mm, wide stipules and longer stigma.

14. Material of subsp. macrophylla of uncertain identity intermediate between var. macrostachya and other varieties (discussed in Note 5-iv under the species) includes the following types:

Boehmeria massuriensis Blume (1857) View in CoL 216. ― Type: Hugel 49

(holo L; iso W), Himalaya, Massuri [Mussoori], etc. – Intermediate with var. scabrella View in CoL .

Boehmeria huegeliana Blume (1857) View in CoL 218. ― Type: Hugel

1935 (holo L; iso W), eastern India. – Intermediate with var.

scabrella.

Boehmeria cuspidata Blume (1857) View in CoL 216, non Wedd. (1856)

345, nec Boehmeria platyphylla var. cuspidata Wedd. (1856) View in CoL

365. ― Type: Unknown collector in Herb. Blume s.n. (holo

L), Nepal. – Intermediate with var. rotundifolia .