Alangium pilosum Merr.

de Wilde, W. J. J. O. & Duyfjes, B. E. E., 2017, The species of Alangium section Rhytidandra (Alangiaceae), Blumea 62 (1), pp. 75-83 : 79

6. Alangium pilosum Merr. ― Fig. 2

Alangium pilosum Merr. (1922) 417; (1923) 241. ― Alangium villosum (Blume) Wangerin subsp. pilosum (Merr.) Bloemb. (1939) 205, f. 6d, 7h‒i. ― Type: Ahern’s collector FB 3307 (holo PNH†, lectotype here designated: US US 00127564; iso K n.v.), Luzon , Rizal Prov., Sept. 1905.

Alangium pilosum Merr. var. subglabrum Merr. (1922) 418; (1923) 241. ― Type : Contreras FB 23399 (holo PNH†, lectotype here designated: US US 00127565; iso K K000704822 ,), Negros, 300 m alt., 14 July 1914, fl.

Alangium villosum (Blume) Wangerin var. parviflorum Bloemb. (1935) 272. ― Alangium villosum (Blume) Wangerin subsp. parviflorum (Bloemb.) Bloemb. (1939) 206. ― Type: Boschproefstation bb 11370 (holo BO; iso L L0986670 ), Flores, Boehe Soge (Maoemere), 250 m alt., 7 Feb. 1927, fl.

Shrub or tree 4–20 m tall; twigs brown, 1.5–3(–4) mm diam, grey or pale brown-hairy,hairs 0.1–0.3 mm long. Leaves: petiole 0.5‒1 cm long, minutely hairy; lamina drying (greenish) brown, minutely hairy mainly on veins below, narrowly or broadly elliptic, 6‒13 by 2‒4.5(‒5) cm, base (strongly) asymmetric, cuneate, apex acute-acuminate; veins pinnate, 4‒7 at each side, tertiary venation reticulate (or partly scalariform). Inflorescences hairy (hairs 0.1‒0.3 mm long), a single peduncled compound cyme, (3‒)5‒20-flowered; peduncle slender, 10‒25 mm long. Flowers (densely) hairy, hairs 0.1‒0.2 mm long; pedicel 2‒5 mm long; corolla in bud 4‒6(‒7) mm long, base not swollen, apex subobtuse; ovary and calyx 2(‒2.5) mm long, not ribbed; limb narrowly cup-shaped, little spreading, 0.5(‒1) mm long, c. 1.5 mm wide, margin subentire or with 5 short lobes; petals (4‒)5(‒7), inside glabrous, connate at base for c. 0.5 mm, 5‒7(‒8) mm long; stamens 5, at base slightly connate to petals, filament c. 2.5 mm long, hairy, anther 4‒5 mm long, connective glabrous; style c. 5 mm long, glabrous, stigma lobes 1‒2 mm long. Fruit 1‒8 per infructescence, yellowish green, ripening black, glabrous, broadly ovoid-ellipsoid, 8‒12 mm long, smooth or faintly narrowly 5‒10-ribbed; calyx remnant minute.

Distribution ― Philippines (Luzon, Leyte, Negros, Samar); Lesser Sunda Isl. (Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores, Timor).

Habitat & Ecology ― (Primary) forest; 15‒900 m altitude; flowering all year round but mostly in February; fruiting mostly in April and May.

Field-notes ― Bark greyish; fruit green, ripe fruit black.

Notes ― 1. Plants from the Philippines are generally more densely and longer hairy (hairs 0.2‒0.3 mm long) as compared with those of Lesser Sunda Isl., with hairs c. 0.1 mm long or plant occasionally subglabrous.

2. Two collections in L, from N Moluccas, Halmahera, viz. De Vogel 4419 (fl.) & 4452 (fr.) may represent a new species. They key out on A. pilosum , but they look quite different by having broader more densely hairy leaves. The specimens are stored under Alangium aff. pilosum . An eventual description should wait for additional fruiting material.

Figures

Fig. 2 Alangium pilosum Merr. a. Inflorescences; b. apical part of inflorescence; c. flower; d. stamen; e. ovary, disc and style (petals removed), (note stigma deeply 2-lobed); f. infructescence; g. fruit; h. lower lamina surface (a‒e, h: Verheijen 1843 (Flores); f, g: Kostermans & Wirawan 122 (Flores); all L). ― Drawn by Jan van Os.