Boehmeria depauperata Wedd.

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 : 102-105

2. Boehmeria depauperata Wedd. ― Fig. 2 ; Map 4

Boehmeria depauperata Wedd.(1854) 202. ― Boehmeria malabarica Wedd. (1856) 355,nom. illeg. superfl.,Weddell cites B. depauperata in synonymy. ― Boehmeria malabarica Wedd. var. depauperata (Wedd.) Wedd. (1856) 356.― Type: Zollinger 977 (holo G; iso BM,K,U, Z), Indonesia, Jawa [Java]. – See Note 1.

Boehmeria glomerulifera Miq. in Zollinger (June 1854) 101, 104. ― Type: Zollinger 977 (holo Z; iso BM, G, K, U), Indonesia, Jawa [Java], humid woods near Tjikoya. – See Note 1.

Boehmeria subperforata Wedd. (1856) 383. ― Type: Gaudichaud s.n. in herb. Wallich s.n. (holo P; iso G, L), India.

Boehmeria neglecta Blume (1857) 200. ― Boehmeria comosa Wedd. var. neglecta (Blume) Wedd. (1869) 206. ― Type: Blume s.n. (holo L; iso U), Indonesia, western Jawa [Java] .

Boehmeria monticola Blume (1857) 227. ― Type: Korthals s.n. (holo L; iso U), Indonesia, Sumatera [Sumatra], Myrapa .

Boehmeria travancorica Bedd. (1873) 225. ― Syntypes: Beddome s.n. (K), India, Travancore Mts , southern Canara Ghats (male specimen); Beddome s.n. (not traced), Brumagherry Hills, Wynaad.

Boehmeria ramiflora Bedd. (1873) t. 27, f. 2. ― Name in error on figure of B. travancorica , not Boehmeria ramiflora Jacq.

Pipturus mindanaensis Elmer (1910) 898. ― Type: Elmer 10520 (iso K, LE), Philippines, Mindanao , Todaya.

Boehmeria cypholophoides Merr. (1913) 368. ― Type: Wenzel 35 (iso A, BM, F, G, L), Philippines, Leyte, Dagami , 20 May 1913.

Boehmeria klossii Ridl.(1920) 117. ― Type: Boden­Kloss 6903 (not traced), Thailand, Tasan, near boundary between Ranong and Chumporn .

Boehmeria glomerulifera Miq.var. leioclada W.T. Wang (1981a) 318. ― Boehmeria malabarica Wedd. var. leioclada (W.T.Wang) W.T.Wang in Wang & Chen (1995) 326. ― Type: Exp. compl. Yunnan 7817 (holo PE), China, Yunnan, Puwen, 17 Apr. 1957.

Boehmeria leiophylla W.T. Wang (1981a) 318. ― Type: Exped. Luchun 275 (holo PE), China, Yunnan, Luchun .

Boehmeria oblongifolia W.T. Wang (1981a) 319. ― Type: H.Y. Liang 66619 (holo IBK), China, Guangxi, Lungzhou, 30 Apr. 1974.

Subshrub to small tree, evergreen, erect or ± scrambling, (0.5–) 1–8 m tall; ultimate stems fairly robust and often slightly zig- zagged between nodes, (1–) 1.5–1.8 mm diam, indumentum very variable, some hairs dense or sparse, quite long (up to 0.2 mm), curved, half-adpressed or spreading, minute fine hairs (less than 0.1 mm long), spreading often also present, but stem often soon glabrescent. Stipules variably short and thick-textured to long, with broad hyaline margin, 4–7 by 1.5–2 mm, hairy outside. Leaves opposite, subopposite or alternate, slightly dimorphic with ‘larger’ leaves 1.5–2.5(–3) × length of ‘smaller’, usually ± symmetrical (or sometimes outline of two sides slightly dissimilar), elliptic or elliptic-ovate, or sometimes obovate, with wide size range but usually fairly large, (7–)12–20 by (2.5–) 7–10 cm, length 2–2.5(–3) × width; ‘smaller’ leaves of similar shape; margin shallowly and broadly crenate-serrate, teeth (15–)30–40 either side, short, broad, up to 1(–1.5) by 4.5 mm, width (3–)4–5 × length (but sometimes progressively less distinct or absent towards base or margin only indistinctly irregularly undulate throughout length); leaf apex gradually attenuate-acuminate or with abrupt acumen, this long, ± untoothed, base broadly rounded to slightly cuneate; basal veins extending to middle of lamina or on one side slightly further, upper veins 2–3(–4) either side, similarly arranged or on one side one more (arising lower down) than on other side, lowermost arising near middle of lamina, inconspicuous adaxially, finely prominent abaxially; tertiary venation very finely prominent abaxially; texture thin- or thick-chartaceous and leaves sometimes slightly bullate; adaxial surface grey-green or glossy dark green in living state, glabrous (rarely occasional scattered hairs or ( Philippines, Thailand) hairs more numerous, bulbous-based) and with abundant but minute cystoliths and with hydathodes often conspicuous; abaxial surface paler and with red-tinged veins in living state, with hairs sparse, extremely short, fine, spreading, restricted to veins or abundant on whole surface; petiole variable but often rather long, (0.1–)0.25–0.5 × lamina length, up to 10 cm long. Flower­clusters partly in leaf axils on upper part of stems but also along partly-leafless lower, often woody part of stems and subtended only by a single bract, each branch usually entirely unisexual, less often both male and female flowers occurring in same cluster; male clusters (3–)4–6(–10) mm diam, with 20–50 crowded flowers, mature buds usually so densely congested as to appear a solid mass; female clusters 2–5(–8) mm diam, with (1–)10–30(–50) flowers; bracteoles often conspicuous and almost as long as flowers, broadly ovate, (0.5–) 1 mm long. Male flowers 4-merous, subsessile or on pedicels 0.5(–1) mm long, mature buds ± globular or sometimes ovoid, 1–1.5 mm diam, tepals with long flap-like dorsal appendages, densely adpressed-hairy. Female flowers c.1 by 0.3 mm, ± obovoid with short beak; stigma very variable in length, (1–)1.3–3(–4) mm long. Fruiting perianth 0.8–1.2 by 0.6–1.2 mm, often as wide as long, broadly ovoid or obovoid, often ± asymmetrical, several-angled and/or moderately laterally flattened, always abruptly narrowed at apex, often only with minute apical teeth and without distinct beak, but sometimes with abrupt asymmetrical or symmetrical beak up to 0.5 mm long, sparsely hairy or glabrous. Achene 0.8 mm long and wide, ± filling fruiting perianth, red-brown, slightly asymmetrical with slightly eccentric style.

Distribution ― Widespread from the Indian subcontinent ( Pakistan, India, Bangladesh), Bhutan and Sri Lanka, eastwards to Burma, south-western China and in Indochina ( Thailand, Vietnam), Malaysia, Indonesia (Sumatera, Jawa, Borneo, Papua), Philippines and Papua New Guinea.

Habitat & Ecology ― Shade in the understory of moist evergreen or mixed primary or secondary forest or forest edges,often riverine, often calcareous rock, on banks of rivers and streams; scrubland limestone at cliff base; 100–1700 m altitude.

Conservation status ― Least Concern (LC). The species is known from several hundred collections, and occurs in innumerable locations and in a wide range of habitats, with an EOO of 1 656 800 km 2.

Notes ― 1. Boehmeria depauperata was independently described in the same year as B. glomerulifera and based on a different duplicate of the same collection. The exact month of publication (and therefore priority) cannot be ascertained for either name, but B. depauperata is maintained here to maintain consistency with our decision on exactly the same situation within B. zollingeriana (see Note 1 under that species).

2. This species does not closely resemble any of the other species with variably alternate to opposite leaves, axillary flower-clusters and eccentric style. It is distinctive within the genus in its thick, soon-woody stems often zigzag between nodes and with leaves often fallen from most flowering axils except near stem apex, its leaves often elliptic or slightly obovate rather than ovate, drying very greyish green mostly glabrescent, its large male clusters closely-adpressed to stem with densely congested flowers and its fruiting perianth broad, many-angled, very smooth glabrescent with achene dark red-brown.

3. Boehmeria depauperata shows a wide variation in size, shape and indumentum of leaves, with some regional variation. Subshrubs less than 1.5 m tall (rather than shrubs or trees) with leaves oblong or oblong-ovate, greyish hairy abaxially, marginal teeth relatively large and a distinct fruiting perianthbeak were stated (Yahara 1981) to occur only in Malaysia, Indonesia (Jawa) and Thailand and in low altitude secondary rather than primary forest or at forest margins. Yahara regarded these (which he considered to be B. glomerulifera (= B. depauperata s.str.) as distinct from the remaining variation, shrubs or trees 2–4 m tall with leaves ovate or elliptic often sparsely long-hairy abaxially with less distinct teeth, fruiting perianth without beak, occurring in dense primary forest (which he recognised as B. malabarica ), an entity more widespread both in Thailand and Indonesia and extending to Himalaya. However, collections seen especially from Thailand and Himalayas did not show such clear correlation between greyish indumentum, tooth size and habitat, and many Himalayan (primary forest) collections had leaves without greyish indumentum abaxially but large marginal teeth as in secondary forest material. The collections were therefore not separable into two distinct groups without intermediate material. Some of this variation may also be habitat-induced.

Collections with leaves conspicuously hairy adaxially have only been seen from Thailand and Philippines, but Yahara (1981) does not mention this aspect of the variation.

4. Boehmeria depauperata was hitherto not recorded from the Philippines and material was described under two other names, firstly as Pipturus mindanaensis with leaves hairy adaxially, and secondly as B. cypholophoides , a depauperate specimen with very small leaves but otherwise conforming to this taxon. The latter epithet highlights the similarity of this taxon to the genus Cypholophus in its clusters closely-adpressed to the stem with densely congested flowers, and style eccentric and often short. Cypholophus is distinguished on its consistently opposite leaves, tightly recurved style and fleshy fruiting perianth.

5. Boehmeria depauperata was not hitherto recorded from Indonesian Papua or Papua New Guinea and only two collections of certain identity have so far been seen ( Indonesia, Papua, Ramu Flusse, Jan. 1902, Schlechter 13868 (G); Papua New Guinea, Central Dist., Sogeri plateau, 1 Oct. 1962, Schodde 3137 (G). Another collection of uncertain identity has also been seen ( Papua New Guinea, Bourawarri, Sayers in herb von Mueller s.n. (L)). It appears to be either a regional variant of B. depauperata or a distinct but morphologically similar species, differing in leaf proportions, venation and appearance of male flower-clusters but the material is inadequate for a formal description, lacking female flowers and with most of the ‘larger’ leaves being incomplete. It differs from B. depauperata as follows: Stem hairs only c. 0.1 mm long, leaves markedly dimorphic, length of ‘larger’ leaves 3–3.5 × width and 3 × that of ‘smaller’ leaves; veins on two sides of leaf very dissimilar, on one side all arising near apex, on the other with an additional 2 arising lower down; petiole relatively short, c. 0.1–0.2 × lamina length. Male clusters only c. 4 mm diam, not densely congested. Female flowers not seen.

Figures

Map 4 Distribution of Boehmeria depauperata Wedd.

Fig. 2 Boehmeria depauperata Wedd. a. Branch with axillary male flower-clusters (inflorescences); b, c. leaves; d. leaf, detail of adaxial surface and margin; e. stipule; f. part of stem with male flower-clusters (inflorescences); g. male bud; h, i. detail of glabrous (h) and densely hairy (i) stem and female flower-clusters (inflorescences); j, k. fruiting perianths of different form (from different plants) (a, f, g: Haines 1066, K; b–d: Tadong 250, BO; c, i, j: Eyma 2535, K; e, k: Balansa 2514, K; h: Hooker & Thompson s.n., K). — Scale bars: a-c = 2 cm; d-f, h, i = 2 mm; g, j, k = 1 mm.