Dysoxylum gillespieanum A.C.Sm.
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Authority
Smith, Albert C. 1952. Studies of Pacific Island plants, X. The Meliaceae of Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. Contr. U. S. Natl. Herb. 30: 469-522.
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Family
Meliaceae
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Scientific Name
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Type
Type in the herbarium of the Arnold Arboretum, collected in dense forest on hills east of Nandala Creek, about 3 miles south of Nandarivatu, Province of Mba, Viti Levu, Fiji, alt. 850-970 m., Sept. 9, 1947, by A. C. Smith (No. 5955). Duplicate at US.
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Description
Latin Diagnosis - Arbor foliolis subcoriaceis manifests petiolulatis, fructibus infra folia aggregatis valde stipitatis pericarpio coriaceo glabrato, D. lenticellari Gillespie affinis, petiolis petiolulisque manifeste canaliculatis, foliorum indumento strigilloso subpersistente, fructibus paucis infra folia aggregatis pericarpio haud lenticellato differt.
Description - Tree, up to 25 m. high, the branchlets robust, terete, rugulose, at first brownish and copiously strigillose or puberulent with pale hairs about 0.2 mm. long, at length glabrate, cinerascent; leaves aggregated toward apices of branchlets, 14-27 cm. long, the petiole, rachis, and petiolules densely but sometimes inconspicuously pale-strigillose or puberulent like young branchlets, the petiole 3-5 cm. long, deeply canaliculate, slightly swollen at base ; leaflets 7 or 9, subopposite or alternate, the petiolules slender, canaliculate, 7-15 mm. long, the blades subcoriaceous, drying dark green or brownish, the middle lateral ones oblong-elliptic, 5.5-9 (-11) cm. long, 3-4.5 cm. broad, obtuse or rounded at base (distal side the longer), obtuse or obtusely short-acuminate at apex, the venation comparatively inconspicuous, the costa plane or slightly grooved above, elevated beneath, the secondary nerves 7-10 per side, spreading, plane above, slightly elevated be-neath, the veinlet-reticulation immersed, the basal leaflets slightly reduced; leaflet-blades glabrous or sparsely strigillose above, minutely punctate beneath and inconspicuously strigillose with colorless hairs 0.1-0.2 mm. long, or sometimes copiously hispidulous especially along costa and secondaries with hairs to 1 mm. long, eventually essentially glabrate inflorescences not seen ; fructescences arising from branch-lets below leaves, reduced and comparatively simple, the rachis stout, up to 3 cm. long, usually simple, sometimes reduced to a coarse woody glomerule, at length glabrate ; fruits 1-5, each borne on a swollen cylindric stalk (calyx-tube) 5-8 mm. long, this rugulose, subpersist-ently strigillose, the calyx-lobes deciduous ; fruit obovoid-ellipsoid, with 3 or 4 inconspicuous longitudinal ridges, at apparent maturity 3.5-4 cm. long and 1.5-2 cm, broad, conspicuously narrowed at base to a stipe 3-8 mm. long and about 5 mm. in diameter, rounded at apex, the pericarp coriaceous, rugulose, minutely strigillose toward base, eventually glabrate, elenticellate or with a few inconspicuous lenticels, 1.5-2 mm. thick, the locules 3, the dissepiments coriaceous, persistent seeds apparently solitary in each locule, elongate-ellipsoid.
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Discussion
Although the important diagnostic characters in Dysoxylum are found in the flowers, the two cited specimens seem definitely to represent an undescribed species of § Eudysoxylum. Because flowers are lacking I have not been able to place this species accurately in my key, but it seems certainly to be a close ally of D. lenticellare, with which it agrees in leaflet-texture and -shape. The fruiting inflorescences of D. lenticellare are usually ample and associated with the leaves, and the fruits are conspicuously lenticellate. The leaves of Gillespie's species have the petioles and petiolules subterete or merely flattened above, whereas those of the new species have them canaliculate, the petioles very conspicuously so. Dysoxylum, lenticellare has glabrous leaflets, those of D. gillespieanum being more or less persistently strigillose beneath. The two available collections of the new species are not identical in foliage-indument. Gillespie 4198 has the leaflets copiously hispidulous on the costa and nerves beneath with hairs up to 1 mm. long and also densely but less obviously strigillose with appressed hairs about 0.2 mm. long. Only the latter type of indument occurs on the leaflets of the type, but in other respects the specimens are similar, and it can hardly be doubted that they represent the same species.