Syzygium frodinii Craven & Damas, 2021

Craven, L. A., Damas, K. Q. & Cowley, K. J., 2021, Studies in Papuasian Syzygium (Myrtaceae): 2. The furfuraceous species of subg. Syzygium, Blumea 66 (1), pp. 57-81 : 67-68

13. Syzygium frodinii Craven & Damas , sp. nov. — Fig. 2 : 2.3; Map 3

From all other species of sect. Furfuraceum Craven it differs in having a connate corolla that falls as a single cap at anthesis but consisting of two separate components,an inner and an outer calyptra,both adherent to each other,with the calyx reduced to a rim of tissue c. 0.1 mm long. — Type: NGF (Frodin) 26835 (holo CANB!; iso LAE !, BRI,L, both n.v.), Papua New Guinea, West New Britain Province, Talasea Subprovince, SW slope of Mt Talawe, in cloud forest near summit, alt. c. 1525 m, 25 May 1966.

Etymology. The specific epithet honours David Gamman Frodin (1940‒ 2019), the collector of the type. David was an authority on Papuasian Araliaceae and had an encyclopaedic knowledge of the history of Papuasian botany.A bibliographer of note,David had also published,in several editions, a valuable guide to the world’s floras ( Frodin 2001).

Tree to 7 m tall; bark orange, peeling in thin scales. Vegetative branchlet terete to slightly compressed, rounded, 4‒6 mm diam; bark dull, smooth on younger growth, not glandular-verrucose, flaking on the older branchlets. Leaf lamina obovate or subelliptic, 7.8‒11 by 2.1‒4.7 cm, 2.6‒3.1 times as long as wide; base obtuse to cuneate; apex acute; margin flat; coriaceous; primary and secondary venation generally similar with all or nearly all secondaries joining the intramarginal vein; primary veins 15‒22 on each side of the midrib; in median part of lamina at a divergence angle of 50‒60° and 3‒6(‒8) mm apart; intra- marginal vein present, weakly arched, 1‒2 mm from margin, secondary intramarginal vein absent. Petiole 5‒7 mm long. Reproductive seasonal growth unit with a reproductive zone only. Inflorescence leafless, on branchlets below the leaves or on branches, few- to many-flowered; paniculate, up to 7 by 6 cm, major axis c. 3 mm thick at the midpoint, bark furfuraceous; bracts caducous; bracteoles caducous. Flower buds with the apex attenuate. Flowers red-violet. Hypanthium dull-glossy, smooth, not visibly gland-dotted, minutely (but distinctly) wrin- kled; stipitate; goblet-shaped; 4‒5 by 3.5‒4.5 mm, stipe 1 mm long. Calyx is reduced to a rim of tissue c. 0.1 mm long. Petals calyptrate (connate at least in part, forming two calyptra, one inside the other, falling together as a single cap at anthesis). Staminal disc descending ( Fig. 2 : 2.3). Stamens c. 70, 5‒6 mm long. Style c. 4 mm long. Placentation axile-basal; placenta a small cushion. Ovules 5‒6 per locule, ascending, arranged irregularly. Fruit not seen.

Distribution — Papua New Guinea.

Habitat & Ecology — Cloud forest. Altitude 1520 m.

Notes — 1. This species is unique amongst the Papuasian species of Syzygium in that its flowers have two petaline calyptras formed from at least partly connate petals, together with a calyx that is reduced to rim of tissue c. 0.1 mm long.

2. Syzygium frodinii is known from the type collection only.

Figures

Fig. 2 Staminal disc types in Syzygium species. Series 1: Flat; series 2: descending; series 3: ascending; series 4: raised.