Mucuna warburgii K.Schum. & Lauterb.

Wiriadinata, H., Ohashi, H. & Adema, F., 2016, Notes on Malesian Fabaceae (Leguminosae-Papilionoideae) 16. The genus Mucuna, Blumea 61 (2), pp. 90-124 : 119

48. Mucuna warburgii K.Schum. & Lauterb.

Mucuna warburgii K.Schum.& Lauterb.(1901) 365;Verdc.(1979) 457; Wilmot-Dear (1992) 243. — Syntypes: Lauterbach 856, 953, 1162, 3205 (n.v.), Papua New Guinea, ‘ Kaiser Wilhelmsland’.

Mucuna peekelii Harms (1920) 373. — Type: Peekel 370 (n.v.), Bismarck Arch., Neu-Mecklenburg, Namatanai, Salinum, Matakan.

Mucuna bennettii auct. non F.Muell.: I. Polunin (1987) 132, pl. 127.

Distribution — Malesia: New Guinea. Habitat & Ecology — Primary forest, swamp forest, along rivers. Altitude up to 50 m.

Note — The original description of M. warburgii mentions stipellae: ‘stipellis minutis filiformibus’; ‘Die Stipellen sind kaum 5 mm lang.’. This species forms with M. bennettii and M. novo-guineensis the group of Mucuna with large, red to orange flowers. The first species lacks stipellae and has large calyx teeth, the second species has stipellae and short calyx teeth, M. warburgii has stipellae and large calyx teeth, it also has more ovules than the two other species. In the original description of M. warburgii four Lauterbach specimens are mentioned. Up to now I have not seen any of these, also Verdcourt (1979) and Wilmot-Dear (1992) mention none of these specimens. For the moment I refrain from selecting a lecto- or a neotype.