Neither Petiole Nor Rachis Winged. Leaflets Op
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BLUMEA 33 (1988) 313-327 A revision of Alectryon (Sapindaceae) in Malesia P.W. Leenhouts Rijksherbarium, Rijksherbarium, Leiden Summary The with in E. New New genus Alectryon occurs some 30 species Malesia, Australia, Zealand, Caledonia, the New Hebrides, the Solomon Islands, Fiji, Samoa, and the Sandwich Islands. Radl- kofer Pflanzenr. divided the into six sections. As whole (in Engl., 98, 1933: 983-1002) genus a these sections are mostly well recognisable, but a clear demarcation between at least some of them Preference is here division into three four which appears impossible. given to a or subgenera, seems more justified. As Mr. GeorgeK. Linney, Honolulu, is working on the Pacific representatives of S.T. revision of this genus and as Ms. Reynolds, Brisbane, recently completed a the Australian I restricted in the species, myself presentpaper to the Malesian taxa. Alectryon Alectryon Gaertn., Fruct. Sem. PI. 1 (1788) 216, pi. 46; Radlk. in Engl., Pflanzenr. 98 (1933) 983; S.T. 1 2 — T Reynolds, Austrobaileya (1982) 472; op. cit. (1987) 332. y p e: A. excelsus Gaertn. Heterodendrum Desf., M<Sm. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris 4 (1818) 8, pi. 3; Radlk. in Engl., Pflanzenr. 98 (1933) 1005 ('Heterodendron '); S.T. Reynolds, Austrobaileya 1 (1982) 481. — Type: H. oleifolium Desf. =A. oleifolium (Desf.) S.T. Reynolds. Spanoghea Blume, Rumphia 3 (1847) 172. — Lectotype (S.T. Reynolds, 1982): S. ferrugineaBlume = A. ferrugineus (Blume) Radlk. Mahoe Fl. Isl. 86. — N Hillebr., Hawaiian (1888) e o t y p e (Radlkofer, 1890): A. macrococcus Radlk. Trees or shrubs. Indumentum consisting of solitary simple hairs; no glandular scales. Branchlets terete. Leaves paripinnate, with 1-8 leafletsper side; true stipules of leaflets absent but the lowermost pair sometimes stipule-like; neither petiole nor rachis winged. Leaflets opposite ormore rarely alternate, variably hairy to sometimes glabrous, lower side smooth; the base often oblique, then usually in the lower leaf- the in the the lets acroscopic side, upper ones basiscopic side stronger developed; margin entire or serrate, dentate, or crenate; nerves ending free or the upperones looped and joined. Inflorescences axillary, rarely together pseudo-terminal, ex- ceptionally ramiflorous; mostly a thyrsus or panicle, sometimes a raceme. Flowers unisexual or sometimes possibly bisexual, at least sometimes monoecious; actino- morphic. Calyx 4- or 5-, rarely 6-merous, from somewhat less than halfway to nearly completely connate, all sepals equal, hardly or not petaloid, hairy on both 314 BLUMEA VOL. 33, No. 2, 1988 4 about shorter than the sides or inside sometimes glabrous. Petals or 5, as long as to with2 scales without outside calyx, short-clawed, a crest, glabrous, margin ciliolate, often absent. annular ± without inside hairy or glabrous; Disk complete, or lobed, filament appendages, glabrous. Stamens (5-)8, exserted in male flowers; variably base hairy or glabrous; anther basifixed, the mostly deeply cleft, mostly glabrous, dehiscence latrorse or latro-introrselength-wise. Pistil sessile or short-stalked, den- columnar, shorter than the sely hairy; ovary (l-)2-4(-5)-locular; style apical, mostly with recoiled lobes. Ovules 1 the ovary; stigma grooved or per locule, axillary near sessile 1- or more- base, erect, campylotropous, apotropous. Fruits or short-stalked, smooth lobed, capsular, dehiscing either with a loculicidal calyptra or septicidal, or slightly warty, hairy or finally glabrous, inside glabrous or sometimes hairy. Seed black, partly covered by a red sarcotesta. Distribution. See above under the introduction. Ecology. Medium-sized to small trees or shrubs, often from monsoon for- est, from forest edges, river banks, or coastal vegetations, often on limestone, main- of ly in the lowland but sometimes also montane. The seeds, with the contrasts light yellowish-greenish capsules, the red sarcotesta, and the shining black testa, are probably mainly dispersed by birds. timber Uses. Some species are good trees. Note. Alectryon seems rather close to Stadmannia (inch Smelophyllum) from the Mascarene Is., Madagascar, and SE. and S. Africa. KEY TO THE SPECIES la. Ovary 3-5-locular; fruits half-globular, slightly lobed, septifragally dehiscent; seeds with a small sarcotesta around the hilum and the basal half enclosed by a cupular arilloid. (A. Subg. Synalectryon) 2 in flowers fruits with ± b. Ovary 1- or 2-, exceptionally some 3-locular; spreading dehiscent seeds for the covered lobes, by an irregular calyptra; greaterpart by a with a free 4 sarcotesta only narrow, lobed, margin. (B. Subg. Alectryon) ... 2a. Leaflets subglabrous 3. A. kangeanensis 3 b. Leaflets at least beneath on the midrib densely tomentellous 3a. Leaflets ± acuminate; nerves not distinctly connected; fruit wall hard, inside gla- brous 1. A. affinis fruit b. Leaflets broadly rounded to slightly emarginate; nerves looped and joined; wall pergamentaceous, inside hairy 2. A. connatus 4a. Lowermost pair of leaflets stipule-like: attached near the base and much smaller than the others 9. A. repandodentatus b. Lowermost pair of leaflets not stipule-like 5 5a. Pistil 1-merous 10. A. reticulatus b. Pistil 2-or 3-merous 6 12.5-15 the 6a. Leaflets entire; fruits: mostly only 1 lobe developed, mm diam., 7 wall corky, c. 1.5-2 mm thick; seeds with a smooth sarcotesta these 8-10 b. Leaflets nearly always incised; often 2 fruit lobes developed, c. mm thick; seeds with a 8 diam., the wall woody, 0.5-1 mm papillose sarcotesta. P. W. Leenhouts: A revision of Ale dryon in Malesia 315 7 a. Leaflets with a fairly long, slender, and acute acumen; midrib above prominu- lous; branchlets hollow, inhabitedby ants 5. A. myrmecophilus b. Leaflets rounded at apex; midrib above slightly sunken; branchlets solid, with- out ants 4. A. fuscus 8a. Twigs strongly 5-grooved, 4-20 mm thick; petiole halfway 2.5-8 mm thick; leaflets up to 45 x 17 cm 7. A. ferrugineus 5 thick; 2.5 b. Twigs terete to slightly grooved, up to mm petiole halfway up to leaflets 16.5 6 9 mm thick; up to x cm 9a. Margin of leaflets mostly only in the upper half with some spaced teeth; fruits A. not or only slightly cordate 8. glaber b. Margin of leaflets nearly from the base rather densely serrate-dentate; fruits deeply cordate 6. A. cardiocarpus A. Subgenus Synalectryon (Radlk.) Leenh., nov. stat. Alectryon sect. Synalectryon Radlk., Sapind. Holl.-Ind. (1879) 93. — Lectotype (present author): A. connatus (F. Muell.) Radlk. Twigs tomentellous, glabrescent; branchlets black or grey, glabrous. Petiole semi- terete; rachis above flat, ± carinate; leaf axes tomentellous, glabrescent or not. Leaf- lets pergamentaceous, entire. Inflorescences axillary, a thyrsus, hairy, sparsely for branched. Calyx 5-merous, connate halfway or more, hairy on both sides. Petals 5, the plate rounded, ciliolate, scale woolly; corolla in male flowers sometimes absent. Disk especially in male flowers sometimes hardly developed. Stamens in male flowers 8 (always?), in female flowers sometimes less, glabrous. Pistil 3-5- merous; stigma grooved. Fruits short-stalked, half-globular, slightly lobed, the base slightly hollowed, the apex apiculate, dehiscence septifragal with cupular valves, wall either pergamentaceous or hard, inside glabrous or hairy. Seeds with a sarco- testa around the hilum and the basal half enveloped by the cupshaped arilloid. Distribution. from the three Malesian Apart species two more species belong to this subgenus, viz. A. coriaceus (Benth.) Radlk. and A. subcinereus (A. Gray) Radlk., both from Queensland and New South Wales.* 1. Alectryon affinis Radlk. Alectryon affinis Radlk. in Engl. & Prantl, Nat. Pflanzenfam. Nachtr. 3 (1907) 205; in Engl., Pflanzenr. 98 (1933) 1001. — Lectotype (present author): W. Fitzgerald 30, SE. New Guinea, Mulawa, 1895, fr. (M). Shrub or treelet. Twigs grooved, 2.5 mm thick. Leaves 1—3-jugate; petiole 3-7.5 cm long, c. 1.5 mm thick; petiolules 2-4 mm long, above broadly grooved or flat. Leaflets opposite to sometimes alternate, 7-16 x 2.5-8 cm, 2-3.5 times as long as wide, widest in or slightly below the middle, above glabrous, beneath fairly dense- midrib and in ly short-hairy on nerves, between sparsely appressed short-hairy to * S.T. Reynolds, Austrobaileya 2 (1987) 337, divided A. coriaceus into two closely allied species, A. coriaceus and A. semicinereus (F. Muell.) Radlk. 316 BLUMEA VOL. 33, No. 2, 1988 1. Radlk. Habit of a fruit 0.5; Fig. Alectryon connatus (F. Muell.) a. bearing twig, x b. & c. partly dehiscent fruit, x 2 (a. R. Pullen 6895; b. & c. Byrnes & Clarkson 3622). base in leaflets the glabrous; equalsided or upper basiscopic side slightly more devel- the oped, acute to blunt, slightly attenuate; apex hardly to slightly acuminate, acumen broad, rounded at the tip; midrib above flat to prominulous, nerves 0.5-1 cm dis- tant, curved, ending free or the upper ones ± looped and joined near the margin, prominulous on both sides, intercalated veins few, veins and veinlets minutely reti- culate, prominulous on both sides, veinlets beneath often inconspicuous. Inflores- cences to 16 cm 1-3.5 cm branches few, up long, sparsely hairy, peduncle long, up to 4 cm long but mostly much shorter, cymules short-stalked, several-flowered, 2-5 Petals 0.8 both sides pedicels c. mm long. Calyx 1 mm high. mm, on glabrous. Stamens 7 0.8 anther 1.5 Fruits probably or 8, filament mm, mm. 1 x 1.25 cm, slightly warty, outside very sparsely hairy to glabrous, inside glabrous, the wall hard, c. 0.5 mm thick. Field notes. Tree c. 7.5 m tall, or erect shrub with spreading often pen- dulous branches c. 3 m high. Outer bark grey, shallowly fissured, inner bark red. Leaves green above, pale glaucous below. Flowers white to yellowish. Fruits yel- lowish-brown. Distribution. SE. New Guinea (Central Prov., near Port Moresby). Ecology. Rather dry forest on rocky slope at c.