Etlingera peekelii (Valeton) R.M.Sm.

Poulsen, A. D., Tom, D., Tarere, D. & Magun, T., 2024, A re-evaluation of generic placement of four names of Phaeomeria species (Zingiberaceae) east of Wallace’s Line, Blumea 69 (2), pp. 122-129 : 124-128

3. Etlingera peekelii (Valeton) R.M.Sm. — Fig. 2–4

Etlingera peekelii (Valeton) R.M.Sm.(1986) 248. — Nicolaia peekelii Valeton (1914) 54. — Phaeomeria peekelii (Valeton) Loes. (1930) 594. — Lectotype (designated here): G. Peekel 715 (lecto BO acc. nos. BO0083461, BO0083462), Papua New Guinea, Bismarck Archipelago,Neu Mecklenburg [New Ireland],Namatanai [S3°40' E152°26'], 16 Nov.1910. Epitype (designated here): A.D. Poulsen, Thomas Magun, Darius Tom, Hendry Tabu (landowner), Marshall Osal, Francis Bakmas, Masulinus Sabo & Junior Alois 3310 (epi LAE;isoepi BO,E, L, SING), Papua New Guinea, Bismarck Archipelago, New Ireland, Namatanai District, above Komalu village, Conginowala (name of a hill), former sacred forest, primary forest patch, understorey dominated by collected species, S3°31'1.8" E152°13'24.9", 225 m elev., flowering and bearing immature fruits 1 Oct. 2023.

Etymology. Valeton (1914) named this species in honour of the German missionary, Gerhard Peekel (1876–1949), who collected this species and many other plants reported in his manuscript entitled ‘Flora of Bismarck Archipelago’ ( Peekel 1984, translated by Henty). He lived a remarkable life in New Ireland and barely survived being held imprisoned by the Japanese until the end of the Second World War.

Terrestrial herb in loose clump. Rhizome to 4 cm diam, sericeous; scales to 6 by 6 cm, sericeous at base, margin ciliate. Leafy shoots to 5–8.5 m long, 10–40 cm apart; base to 11 cm diam, green to brownish green; sheath smooth, shiny, olive-green when fresh, striate when dry, scarcely pilose or tomentose in patches, margin orange-brown; ligule to 2 cm long, entire, mid-green, pilose to villose, margin ± tufted; petiole to 1.5–3 cm long, canaliculate, glabrous, yellowish green; lamina oblong, to 80–120 by 15–30 cm, very sligthly plicate, mid- to dark green above, pale green beneath, glabrous; base oblique, obtuse to rounded; apex to 2 cm mucronate; margin ciliate. Flowering shoot to 20–40 cm long, radical; peduncle ascending to erect, 0–25 cm above ground, slender or stout (1–2 cm diam), 15–30 cm long, sericeous to velvety; peduncular bracts to 9 by 2 cm, elliptic, subterranean scales cream to orange, darker towards apex, exposed scales pale green to pale brown, densely tomentose especially at base, apex pointed, shortly mucronate, ciliate; spike ovoid to narrowly ovoid, to 5–18 cm long; receptacle elongating and with age 4–16 cm long, with up to 150 flowers, 1–8 open at a time, flowers extending vertically 1.6–2.5 cm above bracts; spike only including bracts 5–18 by 5–7 cm; sterile bracts absent; fertile bracts to 5 by 0.4–1 cm, narrowly ovate, ± boat-shaped, 1–2 cm shorter than apex of flower, orange-brown, tomentose to velvety, margin ciliate; pedicel 1–1.5 mm long, below bracteole; bracteole 1.5–2(–2.8) cm long, orange-brown to pale red, 4–7 mm shorter than bract, with one long fissure 0.9–1.5 cm and one short 0.1–0.5 cm, golden pubescent to tomentose, apex 2-lobed, lobes sometimes split at apex. Flower 4–4.5 cm long; pale orange; calyx 2.8–3 cm long, reaching base of anther and 11–13 mm short of apex of dorsal corolla lobe, pale red, fissured 1.5–1.7 cm (rarely a second of 0.5 cm long), shiny orange-brown sericeous, apex 3-pointed, close together, tufted-ciliate, ± mucronate; floral tube 1.8–2.2 cm long, pale yellowish, puberulous outside, glabrous inside; corolla lobes pale red, ± puberulous; dorsal lobe 16–20 by 7–9 mm, obovate, erect, extending above lateral lobes of the labellum, apex rounded, cucullate; lateral lobes 17–19 by 4.5–6 mm, narrowly obovate, apex rounded, cucullate, at- tached ± straight to the tube, inserted c. 2 mm below dorsal lobe; staminal tube c. 6 mm long, scattered pilose, pale yellow; labellum broadly ovate (when flattened), c. 18 by 22 mm, angled c. 120 degrees to the floral tube, pale orange, with few hairs at base beneath, lateral lobes erect for c. 8 mm, central lobe broadly ovate, entire, bend downwards (abaxially) c. 120 degrees (to the basal part), extending c. 6 mm beyond anther, margin wavy, inrolled; stamen 10–11 mm long, pale orange-yellow; filament 4–5 by 3.2–4.5 mm, broadest at base, slightly tomentose; anther 6–8 by c. 4 mm, elliptic, not spurred, glabrous, angled c. 120 degrees, anther crest very shallowly bilobed to truncate; thecae dehiscent in upper part for 4–5 mm from c. 2 mm above base to c. 1 mm below apex, villose; ovary 7–9 by 3–4 mm, orange-brown-sericeous; epigynous gland 7–8.5 mm long, cylindrical, apex irregularly lobed, apex white, split to base adaxilally, irregularly split c. 3 mm on opposite side; style 3.8–4 cm long, ± pilose; stigma 1.5–2.2 mm wide, pale orange, rounded pentagonal, ciliate laterally, ostiole transverse, narrowly elliptic, 1.5–2 mm long, facing forwards (to upwards). Infructescence c. 18 by 13 cm, sometimes branching laterally from base of peduncle, peduncle erect, fruiting head elongate, receptacle to 3 cm wide at base, with ± persistent bracts, with 1–46 many fruits per head; pedicel to 0.2–0.4 cm long, fruit ellipsoid to obovoid, lower half somewhat flattened-angular, 3.5–5 by 2.2–3 cm, apex rounded, irregularly verrucose in upper half, green to pale red when young, bright orange when mature, ± hirsute, bract, bracteole and calyx persistent; seeds c. 4 by 3–5 mm (outer integuments and aril removed); aril filiforme, fibrous, pale orange, sweet, waxy.

Distribution — This species is endemic to the Bismarck Archipelago: New Ireland ( Fig. 1 ), East New Britain, Kar Kar Island, Siassi Island (observation only).

Ecology & Habitat — Occurring in lowland forests to 550 m elevation.

Vernacular names — Agubo (Poulsen et al. 3310; Barok language, New Ireland); buleu-but, balavuga, balavunga (Kuanua language restricted to East New Britain; first two by Peekel (1984), latter vouchered by Poulsen et al. 3303); dakal (Waskia language, Kar Kar Island, name for the fruit only, vouchered by Poulsen et al. 2702); hahut / kahut? (Pala, language restricted to New Ireland; Peekel 1984); kadal (Kar Kar (Ridsdale NGF 33946, name may be a corruption of dakal); mas (Kowai, Siassi Island, Poulsen et al. 2702).

Local uses — Ceremonial and medicinal values; leaves used for mumu (wrapping food in ground oven); stem used as pig growth enhancer; fruits are eaten as substitute for betel nut ( Areca catechu L.).

Conservation status — Vulnerable under criteria B2ab(ii,iii) ( Poulsen 2020). Since this global assessment was published, more collections have been made or were found in herbaria, which increases the Extent of Occurrence (EOO) from 43 643 km 2 to 79 395 km 2 and doubles the Area of Occupancy (AOO) to 32 km 2. Thus the criteria should rather be Near Threatened (NT) than Vulnerable, which is good news from a conservation point of view. The lowland forests of the islands in the Bismarck Archipelago are continuously considered for logging. It is note- worthy that the two collections made in 2023 were both made in so-called ‘former sacred forest’ within secondary vegetation. Thus the cultural significance of this species, likely contributes to its survival.

Other specimens examined. PAPUA NEW GUINEA, Madang Province, Kar Kar Island : A. N. Millar NGF 37746 ( BRI, CAN, L, LAE, SING), Mam village , track above, S4°50' E146°0', 1800 ft [335 m], regrowth on track above village, flowering and fruiting 16 July 1968 ; A. D. Poulsen, Thomas Magun, Tony & Mikael Sabub, Andrew Wataya 2702 ( AAU, E, LAE, SING), Kaeng village, Yalek River , forested slope of river gorge near gardens, S4°35'14" E145°55'15", 115 m, flowering and fruiting 8 Apr. 2008 ; C. E. Ridsdale NGF 33946 ( BRI, CAN, LAE), S4°40' E145°57', 1800 ft [550 m], ridge forest, flowering 11 Jan. 1968 . East New Britain, A. D. Poulsen, Thomas Magun, Donald Tarere, Martin Tabu, Emil Ramravit et al. 3303 ( E, LAE), Tanaka, 12 km E of Kokopo, former sacred site next to the Greater Heights Sanctuary, New Covenant Ministries International ,open vegetation with a few big trees, understorey dominated by the collected species, S4°20'54.8" E152°10'7.5", 400 m elev., flowering 22 Sept. 2023 .

Notes — 1. Peekel’s collection labelled ‘ 715 ’ likely represents more than one gathering. This is indicated first of all by the Valeton (1914) listing ‘Namatani’ and ‘Bitagalip at Vuna Pope’ for this collection number. These localities are on either side of Saint George’s Chanel separating New Britain and New Ireland ( Fig. 1 ). Secondly, Peekel (1984) gave local names (listed above) in two languages: Pala which is spoken exclusively on New Ireland, and Kuanua spoken only in East New Britain. Peekel came to the Bismarck Archipelago in 1904 ( Van Steenis-Kruseman 1950) and was first based at East New Britain and later resided in New Ireland and likely collected ethnobotanical information and samples of this species on both islands. Peekel being German naturally sent his collections to Berlin (indicated by the labels printed with ‘Ex Museo botanico Berolinensi’). As no collections seems to have survived in the Berlin herbarium after the Second World War, we will not know from which island these were collected. In 2023, we went back to explore the vicinity of both places and confirm that E. peekelii indeed still occurs here.

2. It is perhaps surprising that Valeton is an author of a species with the type deposited at Berlin, but Schumann, who was the authority of gingers based at Berlin, had passed away in 1904 before Peekel’s collection was made. Therefore, Valeton described it and it is not surprising that duplicates of the type were found in BO because Valeton was based at Bogor from 1892–1919 ( Van Steenis-Kruseman 1950).

3. The collection labelled ‘ Peekel 715 ’ found at BO consists of two sheets (acc. nos. BO0083461, BO0083462), each with a huge, folded leaf and appearing to be of the same gathering as each has a label stating the locality, Namatanai. The first has the locality (Namatanai) and collection date (16 Nov. 1910) written in ink, whereas the second has the (same) locality and date of accession (26 July 2011) printed. The leaves had unfor- tunately been cut to exclude the diagnostically important ligule. The peduncle of the flowering shoot mounted on the second sheet was also cut making it impossible to measure the total length but would probably be within range of Etlingera peekelii ( Fig. 3d ). One would assume that Valeton was confident that this species has a long peduncle since he placed it in Nicolaia . These ambiguities are overcome by designating an epitype here (Poulsen et al. 3310), a collection that also documents the warty fruits and seeds with an unusual waxy, filiforme and stringy pale orange aril as well as pickled material on which the ink plate was based ( Fig. 2 ). The fruits are not dehiscent and during fieldwork on Kar Kar Island a whole infructescence was observed where all fruits had been gnawed open by a rodent or marsupial and seeds removed ( Fig. 4b ).

4. Whereas Peekel (1984) intended to combine Phaeomeria peekelii under the ‘comprehensive name’, Amomum, Smith (1986) placed it in Etlingera . She had not seen the type but it was sufficient evidence for her that Valeton’s description (1914) clearly distinguished between the corolla tube and the ‘tubus interior’, which must be the staminal tube, the key diagnostic character of the genus. Our recent collections perfectly match the type and protologue and the presence of a six mm long staminal tube ( Fig. 2e , 3g ) confirms the placement of this species in Etlingera .

5. The description above, based on three recent collections with spirit material, is largely in accordance with those by Valeton (1914) and Peekel (1984: 107), but they did not include any fruit characters and the new material also allows inclusion of other details such as the anther dehiscence. The collection from Kar Kar Island, Poulsen et al. 2702, which is about 700 km from the type locality at Namatanai, differs only in minor details such as the sheaths having more indumentum, the longer bracteole and the anther crest being truncate instead of very shallowly bilobed.

Figures

Fig. 2 Etlingera peekelii (Valeton) R.M.Sm. a. Flower with fertile bract; b. fertile bract; c. bracteole; d. calyx; e. flower, calyx removed; f. labellum, flattened (ventral view); g. stamen (lateral view); h. stamen (dorsal view); i. stamen (ventral view); j. ovary (dorsal view); k. ovary (ventral view); l. fruit, persistent bract and bracteole removed; m. seed with aril; n. seed, aril removed; o. seed, outer integuments removed (all: Poulsen et al. 3310, pickled material). — Drawing by Axel Dalberg Poulsen.

Fig. 3 Etlingera peekelii (Valeton) R.M.Sm at Namatanai District, New Ireland. a. Flowering shoot at base of leafy shoot; b. leaf; c. pseudostem with ligule, petiole and base of lamina; d. inflorescences (3) and infructescence;e. inflorescence,seen from above; f. flower, single in head;g. flower and dissection (fertile bract, bracteole, calyx, corolla, labellum, gynoecium; h. fruit, young (all: Poulsen et al. 3310). — Photographs by Axel Dalberg Poulsen.

Fig. 4 Etlingera peekelii (Valeton) R.M.Sm. from Kar Kar Island. a. Infructescences, one with a single fruit; b. infructescence, all fruits emptied of seeds by a chewing animal; c. fruits, one open showing yellow aril surrounding seeds (a, c: Poulsen et al. 2703; b from same locality, not collected). — Photographs by Axel Dalberg Poulsen.

Fig. 1 Location of the type localities of Etlingera novoguineensis (Triton Bay), E. anthokophinos (Par), and E. peekelii (Bitagalip and Namatanai). — From Google Earth Prov. 16 July 2021.