Boehmeria clidemioides Miq.
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publication ID |
https://doi.org/10.3767/000651913X674116 |
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persistent identifier |
https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03D987B7-FFDA-5100-FD70-5E7BDC8AFE2D |
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treatment provided by |
Felipe |
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scientific name |
Boehmeria clidemioides Miq. |
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8. Boehmeria clidemioides Miq. View in CoL — Fig. 7 View Fig ; Map 8 View Map 8 , 9 View Map 9
Boehmeria clidemioides Miq. (1851) 34. ― Boehmeria platyphylla D.Don var. clidemioides (Miq.) Wedd. (1856) 366. ― Type: Junghuhn s.n. (holo L; iso A, CAL), Indonesia, Jawa [Java], Mt Merapi .
Boehmeria platyphylla D.Don var. cinerascens Hook.f. (1888) 579. ― Syntypes: Booth s.n. (K), India, Arunachal Pradesh, Duphla Hills; Wallich 4591 (K-WALL), Nepal, 1821. – See Note 6.
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Herb to shrub; woody-based, erect and few-branched or prostrate and ascending, laxly branched, 0.4–3 m tall; ultimate branches fairly slender, up to 1 mm diam, with fine hairs, these sparse short (c. 0.2 mm long) and adpressed or conspicuous long (up to 1 mm) and spreading. Stipules narrowly triangular, acuminate, 3–5 by 1 mm, pubescent outside on midrib. Leaves opposite, subopposite or alternate, (mostly alternate in var. diffusa ), usually markedly dimorphic (opposite leaves sometimes isomorphic) with both lamina and petiole of ‘larger’ leaf 2–5 × length of ‘smaller’ lamina and relatively narrower but otherwise of similar shape, ± symmetrical, narrowly linear-ovate, ovate, ovate-elliptic or rhombic-ovate, rarely broadly ovate to almost orbicular, very variable in size and proportions (3–)4–16(–19) by (1.5–)3–7(–12) cm, length (1.1–)2–4 × width; margin up-curved-serrate or dentate, size and number of teeth very variable, mostly 15–30(–35) either side, ± uniform in size, (1–)4(–7) by 3–5(–7) mm, but in broader-leaved variants sometimes few (5–15) and markedly larger and increasingly up-curved towards apex, up to 15 mm long; leaf apex ranging from abruptly acuminate or caudate, with a single long tooth and 1–2 smaller lateral teeth to deeply laciniate with several long teeth giving irregularly bilobed or trilobed appearance; base symmetrical or slightly oblique, narrowly rounded or short-cuneate; basal veins extending to middle of lamina, upper lateral veins 1–3 either side, lowermost arising at or below middle of lamina, finely impressed adaxially, finely prominent abaxially; tertiary venation often visible both sides; texture membranous to thin- or (some small-leaved forms) thick-chartaceous, leaves sometimes slightly bullate; both surfaces with sparse or abundant hairs, these adpressed or spreading, fine, very long (≥ 0.5 mm), cystoliths prominent adaxially; petiole very variable in length compared to lamina, 0.1–0.3(–0.5) × lamina length. Flowerclusters partly axillary on main stems and partly well-spaced or almost contiguous along modified lateral branches which are short or fairly long, 5–15 cm long, partly or almost entirely leafless, mostly erect, unbranched or laterally branched and with a tuft of crowded very small leaves at apex (rarely most of these modified axes lacking any apical leaves), or sometimes the axis returning to vegetative growth with well-spaced normal sized leaves; axes often with both unisexual and bisexual clusters; male clusters 1.5–2 mm diam, with 20–30(–40) crowded flowers, female clusters 2.5–6 mm diam, with flowers 20– more than 50 in number, loosely arranged; in larger clusters flowers sometimes borne in groups of 2 –3 along minute flattened peduncles up to 1 mm long and/or individual flowers on pedicels up to 1 mm long; bracteoles inconspicuous, half of mature flower length. Male flowers 4-merous, sessile, mature buds globose, 0.6–1.2 mm diam, each lobe with fairly distinct dorsal thickening, adpressed or spreading-hairy. Female flowers with stigma rather variable in length, 1–1.5(–2) mm long, sometimes hooked. Fruiting perianth 0.8–1.5 by 0.3–0.5 mm, rather variable in shape, ellipsoid-ovoid gradually tapering to apex, often also to base, without distinct beak (rarely with short abrupt beak), with short pale hairs especially near apex, markedly dorsiventrally flattened along margins or in distal half, the flattening giving rise to an indistinct marginal rim or a fairly distinct thick wide marginal and sometimes apical wing. Achenes tuberculate or smooth.
Distribution ― Widespread from eastern Himalayas (north-eastern India, Nepal, Bhutan) to Burma, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, China, and south to Malaysia and Indonesia mostly west of Wallace’s line (Sumatera, Jawa, Nusa Tenggara [Lesser Sunda Islands]).
Habitat & Ecology ― Very varied; dry or moist primary evergreen forest, moist slopes and ravines, margins, deciduous forest with bamboo, secondary forest and forest edges and paths, scrubland, exposed cliff tops; 200–2600 m altitude.
Conservation status ― Least Concern (LC). The species is known from at least 400 collections, many of which are recent, and occurs in innumerable locations, and in a wide range of habitats, with an EOO of 8 165 970 km 2.
Notes ― 1. This species is distinctive in the presence of lateral flowering branches which are almost leafless, often short, with a small tuft of leaves at their apex, occasional specimens having been seen with most flowering axes lacking apical leaves. ( Boehmeria holosericea occasionally has an apical tuft of leaves on its male axes, but does not otherwise resemble B. clidemioides , having large broad ± cordate leaves with teeth outward-pointing often rounded and male axes branched.) In this character B. clidemioides is reminiscent of the New World species B. cylindrica , the only other species where tufts of leaves at the end of the flowering axes are usual. Boehmeria clidemioides can also often be recognised by leaves being subopposite or variably ± opposite and distinctly alternate on a single stem (this character is especially useful when apical leaf-tufts are lacking).
2. Boehmeria clidemioides is extremely variable in texture, size and shape of the lamina and in size and proportions of its marginal teeth, also in density of the inflorescence architecture and shape of fruiting perianth, especially the relative width of the marginal wing. There is some correlation between characters and geographical distribution.
Pedunculate and pedicellate female flowers, correlated with fruiting perianth markedly pale near base and markedly dark in middle region, have only been seen in a few collections from the eastern Himalayas.
In China flower-clusters are rarely contiguous and leaves at the apex of flowering axes are usually well-developed; in China and Himalayas leaves are rarely thick-textured; in Indochina, Thailand and Indonesia most leaves are narrow, length 3–4 × width. In China three taxa can be recognised, with most collections falling within one or other of two distinct and apparently common entities with only a few intermediate individuals impossible to assign to either. Var. clidemioides is an erect shrub with (few or many) lateral branches mostly much shorter than main stem with flower-clusters mainly in lower part which is often entirely leafless, leaves medium-sized often relatively broad, almost all opposite. It appears to be restricted to southern China. Var. diffusa is a herb or shrub, much-branched often straggling (prostrate and ascending), with lateral branches of similar length to main stem bearing flower-clusters and scattered leaves along most of their length, leaves being mainly alternate (sometimes some lower ones opposite), often small and usually narrow; it is more widespread, occurring also further north in China .
Outside China this distinction becomes obscured; some collections in the eastern Himalayas and Burma conform to each of these two entities and a few collections in Indochina and Thailand conform to the typical variety but most material outside China consists of a range of intermediates in which the character-states vary independently. Yahara (1981: 11) observed habitat differences between the two entities in Thailand and recognised them as species, with B. clidemioides s.str. restricted to more moist habitat especially along streams, B. diffusa abundant in the dry inland region at the edges of dry evergreen forest and in somewhat disturbed areas, which may account for its wider distribution in China .
In China the typical form also grades via a range of intermediates into var. umbrosa , a form which at the extreme of its variation is very distinctive in leaf characters. Its leaf is broader, often almost orbicular apart from its long apical tooth, irregularly deeply cleft at apex or truncate with several long teeth; marginal teeth are fewer, and gradually markedly larger towards leaf apex, the largest at least 10 mm long. This range of variation parallels that seen in some forms of B. japonica such that specimens of var. umbrosa where inflorescence-bearing axes mostly lack conspicuous apical tufts of leaves can be confused with B. japonica .
3. Opposite-leaved specimens ± conforming to var. clidemioides with apical leaves lacking from most inflorescence-bearing axes can be confused with thin-leaved forms of either B. japonica or B. virgata subsp. macrophylla (especially var. scabrella which has short inflorescence-axes), or, where flower-clusters are particularly crowded, with B. pilosiuscula . These taxa are distinguished from B. clidemioides as follows: Boehmeria japonica usually has leaves much less dimorphic in size, length of ‘larger’ less than 2 × that of ‘smaller.’ Leaf apex in B. virgata subsp. macrophylla rarely consists only of a single long tooth and is never laciniate and the broader-leaved forms of B. clidemioides which would be confused with it tend to have leaves with marginal teeth increasingly long and up-curved towards leaf apex rather than uniform (see further discussion under B. virgata subsp. macrophylla var. scabrella ). Boehmeria pilosiuscula differs from B. clidemioide s in its spreading stem indumentum of two distinct kinds, leaves often markedly asymmetrical and in its fruiting perianth obconical-truncate, flattened near apex but without a true wing.
4. Alternate-leaved specimens of B. clidemioides can be difficult to distinguish from B. heterophylla , which differs in leaves markedly dimorphic in shape as well as size and markedly asymmetrical, fruiting perianth not markedly flattened with stigma often slightly eccentric and the achene ± filling the lower part of the perianth (rather than surrounded by a distinct wing) and with stigma eccentrically located.
5. Alternate-leaved specimens can be difficult to distinguish from Pouzolzia sanguinea var. sanguinea , which is distinguishable as follows: male flowers larger, mature buds conical, c. 1 mm diam, tepals without dorsal appendage, stigma usually longer (usually at least 2 mm long, rather than usually up to 1.5 mm), flowers less tightly congested, most clusters bisexual; its fruiting perianth detaches easily from the shiny mature achene; leaves are thicker with coarser tertiary venation more robust ± scalariform (rather than all venation reticulate) and their hairs are more conspicuous and adpressed.
6. Material intermediate between var. clidemioides and var. diffusa includes the type of B. platyphylla var. cinerascens . This is cited above under the species.
Key to varieties
1. Leaf apex deeply 2–3-lobed–laciniate; marginal teeth progressively markedly larger, increasingly up-curved and relatively narrower towards apex, distal ones 3– 5 × length of proximal ones. — China.............. c. var. umbrosa View in CoL
1. Leaf apex long-acuminate; teeth not or only slightly larger towards apex. — Widespread..................... 2
2. Leaves opposite,main stems erect,often woody;lateral flower-bearing branches mostly much shorter than main stem, almost or entirely leafless in lower part a. var. clidemioides View in CoL
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