Cyrtandra ciliata Seem.
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Authority
Gillett, George W. 1967. The genus Cyrtandra in Fiji. Contr. U. S. Natl. Herb. 37: 107-159.
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Family
Gesneriaceae
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Scientific Name
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Type
Type locality: Vuna, southwest Taveuni, Fiji. Type collected by Seemann, cited below.
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Description
Description - Shrub to slender tree up to 4 m. high, the foliage with indument of septate, uniseriate noncapitate hairs ca. 30µ in diameter and up to 1 mm. long; leaves opposite, the petioles 2-6 cm. long, tomentose, the blades lanceolate to lanceolate-ovate or ovate, up to 28 cm. long and 12 cm. broad, oblique to inequilateral and rounded to acute or cuneate at base, acute to acuminate at apex, undulate to coarsely serrate, with ca. 2 teeth per cm., glabrous above, beneath glabrate to glabrous on the areoles, tomentose on the veins and margins, the primary veins 7 or 8 per side, the secondary veins reticulate below; inflorescences elongate, branching, many-flowered cymes with indument of noncapitate hairs ca. 20µ in diameter and 0.2 mm. long, the peduncles 0.5-5 cm. long, shorter in the inflorescences borne on older stems, terminated by caducous, linear bracts 1-2 mm. long, subtending bracteolate branches, the pedicels 1-5 cm. long; calyx green to white, deciduous, ca. 4 mm. long, cleft nearly to base into 5 equal, linear-lanceolate lobes with rounded apices, puberulcnt without, glabrous within; corolla white, funnelform, ca. 2-2.5 cm. long, cleft 3-4 mm. into unequal, rounded lobes, with numerous capitate hairs without or glabrous, glabrous within; filaments ca. 3 mm. long, bearing apically coherent anthers at the base of the corolla limb; staminodes 3, ca. 1 mm. long, adnate ca. 4 mm. below the upper sinuses, the median staminode borne at same level as the lateral; cupulate annular disc prominent, ca. 1 mm. high, deciduous from the mature fruit; ovary and style ca. 1.5 cm. long, the ovary glabrous, the style with capitate hairs in upper half of its length, separating 1-4 mm. above the rounded apex of the mature ovary, the stigma applanate, shallowly bilobed, the lobes thick, spreading vertically; fruit white, ovoid, up to 12 mm. long and 7 mm. broad.
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Discussion
The excellent plate in Flora Vitiensis has greatly facilitated identification, making this one of the most easily determined of the Fijian species. The affinities of Cyrtandra ciliata are not known. None of the other Fijian species have comparable flowers and inflorescences, and none of the Polynesian species are similar. It therefore seems likely that this species represents a lineage that is either peculiar to Fiji, or attenuated from Melanesian territory to the west, from which I have been able to examine very little material. The variability in corolla indument is notable, for the populations from Vanua Levu are characterized by corollas with an outer indument of capitate hairs, while populations from Taveuni have corollas with a glabrous outer surface; however, the plants seem similar in other features. This difference is indicative of the propensity for evolutionary change in isolated populations of Cyrtandra. In such cases one has the alternative of either: circumscribing species to reasonably broad limits, or giving formal recognition to a number of separate, isolated populations, each distinguished by a slight morphological expression, such as the above.
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Common Names
muskarimba