Etlingera anthokophinos (Gilli) A.D.Poulsen, 2024

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 : 123

1. Etlingera anthokophinos (Gilli) A.D.Poulsen , comb. nov.

Phaeomeria anthokophinos Gilli, Ann. Naturhist. Mus. Wien, B 84 (1983 ‘1980’) 44. — Type: A. Gilli 519 (holo W), Papua New Guinea, Western Highlands Province,forest at Par [S5°28' E143°45'], 2200 m, 19 Feb.1974.

Etymology. The epithet means ‘flower basket’ and refers to the cylindrical spike with a hollow interior from which the flowers appear.

Description — See Gilli (1983: 44–46 incl. f. 33).

Distribution — Only known from the type locality, but likely occurring in montane forests of the central range of New Guinea ( Fig. 1 ).

Conservation status — Data deficient ( IUCN 2019). Awaiting further collections and a full revision of the genus in New Guinea.

Notes — 1. It is a mystery why Gilli (1983) did not place his new species in Nicolaia as Burtt & Smith had already made it clear in 1972 that Phaeomeria is an illegitimate name. In the original description, Gilli (1983) only mentioned the corolla tube and the 1 cm long corolla lobes. An examination of a soaked flower of the type, revealed that the corolla lobes are in fact 2.2–2.3 cm long enclosing a 1.5 cm long staminal tube, which is a diagnostic for Etlingera and thus confirming that this species indeed belongs in this genus and the reason for the combination being made here. Furthermore, Gilli noted that so far only one species of this genus was known from New Guinea. He no doubt referred to Phaeomeria novoguineensis (see below), to which he related his new species.

2. Two recent collections also from Papua New Guinea, Poulsen et al. 2513 and 2514, are very similar to Gilli 519, and were collected at a similar elevation (2 150 m) in the central range of New Guinea but about 350 km from the type locality. They were collected a few metres apart, but because one plant had completely glabrous leaves and the other was pubescent beneath, they were given separate numbers. Previous work, e.g., Poulsen (2006), demonstrated that indumentum is rarely a good diagnostic character in Etlingera , and the two collections are likely of the same species. Gilli 519, however, is sericoustomentose. Apart from that it also differs from the two recent collections by the barrel-like spike being smaller, the longer flower (6 cm vs 5 cm), the labellum described as oblong (not 3-lobed), and the anther being exposed (not covered by the dorsal corolla lobe). Without further collections bridging this variation, caution should be made identifying the recent collections as E. anthokophinos . Gilli emphasised the conspicuous 3-lobed stigma in the one flower examined. He did not illustrate this but is clearly observed in the dry state, in which stigmas often appear quite different from fresh or pickled material (Poulsen et al. 2513 and 2514 have rounded-pentagonal stigmas). New material nearer to the type locality at Par is desirable.

Figures

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.