Etlingera solaris (Blume) 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 : 128

4. Etlingera solaris (Blume) R.M.Sm.

Etlingera solaris (Blume)R.M.Sm.(1986) 249. — Elettaria solaris Blume (1827) 52. — Alpinia solaris (Blume) D.Dietr.(1839) 12. — Nicolaia solaris (Blume) Horan. (1862) 32. — Cardamomum solare (Blume) Kuntze (1891) 687. — Amomum solare (Blume) K.Schum. (1899) 308. — Phaeomeria solaris (Blume) K.Schum (1904) 264. — Lectotype (designated here): C. L. Blume s. n. [1822] (lecto L [L 0193312]), [ Indonesia, West Java,] Mt Gede.

Phaeomeria moluccana K.Schum.(1904) 266, syn. nov. — Etlingera moluccana (K.Schum.) R.M.Sm. (1986) 248. — Lectotype (designated here): W.H. de Vriese & J.E. Teijsmann s.n. [1859] (lecto L [ L 0193317 ]), [ Indonesia, Java].

Etymology. The epithet refers to the sun-like inflorescence.

Description — See Poulsen (2007).

Distribution — Java and Sumatra.

Habitat & Ecology — In montane forests at 800–1820 m elevation.

Conservation status. — Vulnerable under criteria B2ab(iii) ( Olander 2019).

Vernacular names — Hondje warak, honje laka, honje ngoser (Java; Poulsen 2007).

Notes — 1. Schumann (1904) mentioned that the exact collection locality of Etlingera moluccana is lacking but that the collectors were ‘Vriese and Teysmann’. According to Van Steenis-Kruseman (1950), de Vriese and Teijsmann only collected together in the second half of 1859 in Java and Madura. From December 1859 to June 1860 they conducted a circuit trip to the Moluccas starting from Surabaja in East Java. Despite having databased more than 5 000 collections of Etlingera from numerous herbaria, only two have the desired pair of collectors. In the Leiden Herbarium these have preprinted labels stating ‘Guil. Henr. de Vriese et J. E. Teijsmann, Herb. Itineris In Insulas Moluccana, 1859–60’: barcodes L 0193269 and L 0193317. The first has been identified as Amomum coccineum (Blume) K.Schum. (currently Etlingera coccinea (Blume) S.Sakai & Nagam. ), an identification completely agreeable due to the broad dorsal corolla lobe and long labellum. Somebody has much later added ‘?Java’ with a ballpen on the label (BioPortal, continuously updated). This species occurs in Sundaland and the Philippines but is not known to occur in Wallacea or further east ( Poulsen 2007, Poulsen & Docot 2018). The second sheet consists of material of another species of Etlingera with conspicuously ligulate leaves and a globose spike on a long peduncle and has been identified correctly as E. solaris , which is a montane species in Java and Sumatra ( Poulsen 2007). It seems, therefore, likely that these collections made in Java were mistakenly mounted with labels printed for the specimens collected during the Moluccan trip. Of the two collections, the one with the long peduncle matches the description by Schumann (1904) who was misled to choose the epithet ‘ moluccana ‘ because of the preprinted label (text cited above). It is not surprising that Schumann first placed the species in Phaeomeria as he also placed P. solaris in this genus in the same publication.

2. Poulsen (2007) simply stated that the type of Etlingera solaris is at Leiden. The sheet designated here as lectotype only contains fertile parts, however, very characteristic for this species. ‘ Elettaria ’ in ink on one of the slips is likely in Blume’s hand and the origin of Java and the local name, hunje warak, matches that in the protologue ( Blume 1827). Blume also described the vegetative characters (‘foliis breviter petiolatis oblongis’), and therefore must have looked at other sheets.