The past few years have seen a surge in therecognition of new palm genera. Some, likeTahina from Madagascar and Sabinaria fromColombia, were the results of new explorationyielding palms never before seen by botanists.Others, such as Dransfieldia, Lanonia,Leucothrinax and Saribus, were hiding in plainsight, masquerading as other genera, their newidentities first revealed by DNA sequencing.The three recently-described Indonesiangenera (Heatubun et al. 2014a) came to lightas a result of both new exploration andmolecular analyses. All three genera aremonotypic and belong to the subtribePtychospermatinae, which includes importantornamental genera such as Ptychosperma,Veitchia and Wodyetia.

Two of the three genera were discovered inthe course of work toward a comprehensive

account of the palms of New Guinea (PoNG).The PoNG project, led from Kew but involvingcollaborators from many institutions, hasinstigated field work in New Guinea, focusingon areas not previously visited by botanistsand has brought about the discovery anddescription of dozens of new species.Nevertheless, the discovery of two new palmgenera in the offshore islands at the westernend of New Guinea, and another new genusin nearby Halmahera (Fig. 1), in the span ofjust a few years was surprising and un-precedented.

The first herbarium specimens of the newgenera, named Jailoloa, Manjekia andWallaceodoxa, were collected in 2011, 1998and 2006 respectively. All were easily assignedto subtribe Ptychospermatinae on the basis oftheir jagged (praemorse) leaflets and bullet-

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Three NewPalm GenerafromIndonesia

CHARLIE D. HEATUBUN

Fakultas Kehutanan dan PusatPenelitian Lingkungan HidupUniversitas PapuaJl. Gunung SaljuAmban, Manokwari, 98314 Papua Barat, Indonesiacharlie_deheatboen@yahoo.com

SCOTT ZONADept. of Biological SciencesFlorida International University, 11200 SW 8 St. Miami, Florida, 33199, USA

AND

WILLIAM J. BAKERRoyal Botanic Gardens, KewRichmond, Surrey, TW9 3AB,UK

This paper is an illustrated introduction to three recently-described palm genera

from Indonesia.

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shaped male flower buds with numerousstamens, but none of them conformed strictlyto any accepted genus. It was not until FrenchPhD student Elodie Alapetite completed an in-depth molecular analysis of the subtribe thatpersuasive evidence was obtained for the needfor three new genera (Alapetite et al. 2014). Inthis work DNA sequence data from eightdifferent gene markers were painstakinglyassembled to produce a tree of relationships(phylogeny) among the members ofPtychospermatinae. The phylogeny providedmuch support for most well-known genera buthighlighted the isolation of the three newgenera plus Adonidia on two distinct branches,Jailoloa and Manjekia on one branch andAdonidia and Wallaceodoxa on the other. Thesetaxa are not closely related to otherPtychospermatinae and are also morpho-logically distinct. Here we provide a summaryof each new genus with photographicillustration of key features.

Jailoloa

Jailoloa is based upon J. halmaherensis (Fig. 2),a palm discovered by one of us (CH) on theisland of Halmahera, in the North Moluccas(Fig. 1). It was discovered during the course ofan environmental impact survey of a nickelmining area and was first described as a speciesof Ptychosperma, P. halmaherense (Heatubun2011), based on its resemblance to that genus.The new generic name is taken from Jailolo(sometimes spelled Gilolo), the formerindigenous name for Halmahera.

Jailoloa halmaherensis is unusual in the subtribein that it is endemic to ultramafic soils, which

are rich in heavy metals, including iron,magnesium and nickel. The metals in the soilare also found in the underlying rock, whichis why many areas of ultramafic soil have beendisturbed or even destroyed by mining. Theplant life on ultramafic soils is often rich inendemic species, as the soil tends to be toxicto more common, generalist species. The onlyother ultramafic specialist in the Ptycho-spermatinae is believed to be Veitchia lepidotaof the Solomon Islands.

Jailoloa is a small, elegant palm with gracefullyarching leaves and ascending, leathery leaflets.It has a single stem and a prominentcrownshaft. The most distinctive features ofthe palm are the inflorescence axes andflowers, which are purple in color. The fruitsare orange-yellow. The endocarp is terete (notridged) and thin, with a mixture of thick andthin, straw-colored fibers, and the endospermis ruminate. Ptychosperma, the most similargenus, typically has ridged endocarps andseeds and does not display ascending leafletsor the same combination of inflorescence andfruits colors.

Manjekia

Manjekia is based on M. maturbongsii (Fig. 3),which is endemic to Biak, a small island inCenderawasih Bay, on the north coast ofIndonesian New Guinea (Fig. 1). Rumor of thisspecies, mistakenly thought to be a species ofDrymophloeus, circulated in the early 1990s. Itwas not until fieldwork by WJB and CH in2009 that sufficiently informative materialbecame available for study in the herbariumand laboratory. Recently, the species was

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1. The distribution of the new genera, Jailoloa, Manjekia and Wallaceodoxa, in eastern Indonesia.

placed, somewhat uncomfortably, in Adonidiawhen it was described (Baker & Heatubun2012) based on earlier molecular evidence(Zona et al. 2011). Although the inflorescence,fruits and seeds resembled the familiar Adonidia

merrillii, the foliage of the new palm wasstartlingly different: long arching leaves withbroad, pendulous leaflets. The new moleculardata provided strong evidence that the speciesis not close to A. merrillii, and in fact, is most

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2. Jailoloa halmaherensis. A. In habitat in Halmahera. B. Staminate flowers. C. Pistillate flowers. D. Fruits.

closely related to Jailoloa halmaherensis.However, having few morphological featuresin common with Jailoloa, it required its owngenus. The name Manjekia is based on Manjek,the local name in Biak dialect for this palm.

Manjekia maturbongsii is a medium-sized palmthat can emerge above the surroundingvegetation, ultimately growing to 15 m tall.The stem is solitary, and bears a conspicuouscrownshaft and a crown of ten or so leaves.

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3. Manjekia maturbongsii. A. In habitat. B. Infructescence. C. Staminate flowers. D. Pistillate flowers. E. Fruits.

The leaves are extraordinarily beautiful,gracefully arching and bearing broad,pendulous leaflets that are strongly truncateand jagged at the tips. The white rachillae bear

fruits that ripen from green through orange tored. The endocarp is thin and terete, with boththick and thin, straw-colored fibers. The seedis terete; the endosperm is ruminate.

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4. Wallaceodoxa raja-ampat. A. Crown. B. Inflorescence. Inset: densely-arranged flower buds. C. Petiole bases,showing hairs. D. Close-up of the white and brown hairs. E. Fruits. F. Endocarp.

Manjekia maturbongsii is, at the moment, theonly one of the three new genera that is incultivation. It was brought into cultivationlong before it had an official name and wasseen during the IPS Biennial in 2012, in NongNooch Tropical Botanical Garden, in Thailand.

Wallaceodoxa

Wallaceodoxa raja-ampat (Fig. 4) has never beenrecognized previously within any other genus.This species was discovered by CH during anIPS-funded PoNG survey of the Raja AmpatIslands (Heatubun et al. 2014b), a smallarchipelago off the Bird’s Head Peninsula ofwestern New Guinea (Fig. 1). It grows onlimestone in Gag and Waigeo Islands. Thegenus name, meaning “Wallace’s Glory,”honors Alfred Russel Wallace, intrepid explorerof the South-East Asian archipelago (includingWaigeo), co-discoverer with Darwin of themechanism of evolution by natural selectionand (most importantly for palm enthusiasts)author of the first ever field guide to palms(Wallace 1853).

Wallaceodoxa raja-ampat is a robust, solitarypalm. It has a conspicuous, green crownshaftand a sparse crown of arching leaves bearinglong, narrow, pendulous leaflets. The apex ofthe crownshaft, the petiole and the base of therachis are thickly covered with white, woolyhairs interspersed with dark, twisted hairs. Theinflorescence is white, and the flowers aredensely packed on the rachillae. The fruitsripen from green through yellow-orange tored. The endocarp is terete and covered withthin and thick, straw-colored fibers. The seedis terete, and the endosperm is ruminate.

What next?

With the comprehensive synthesis of palmknowledge provided just six years ago in thesecond edition of Genera Palmarum (Dransfieldet al. 2008), one might have been forgiven forthinking that palm taxonomy was nowstabilizing, but these new genera and otherslike them suggest that this is far from the case.Both the rain forest and the laboratory arefrontiers for biodiversity exploration. Thesediscoveries show that, despite decades of study,palms continue to awe and surprise us withspectacular novelties. New discoveries tendalso to be threatened with extinction, andthese new genera are no exception. The

exploration of the world’s palm diversity hasnever been more urgent and worthwhile.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank their numerous friends andcolleagues for advice and support, especiallyduring fieldwork. This work was funded byBalai Penelitian Kehutanan Manokwari, theBAT Biodiversity Partnership, the Bentham-Moxon Trust, the International Palm Society,Tobu, Universitas Papua and the Royal BotanicGardens, Kew. This is contribution 285 to FIU’sTropical Biology program.

LITERATURE CITED

ALAPETITE, E., W.J. BAKER AND S. NADOT. 2014.Evolution of stamen number inPtychospermatinae (Arecaceae): Insightsfrom a new molecular phylogeny of thesubtribe. Molecular Phylogenetics andEvolution 76: 227–240.

BAKER, W.J. AND C.D. HEATUBUN. 2012. Newpalms from Biak and Supiori, western NewGuinea. Palms 56: 131–150.

DRANSFIELD, J., N.W. UHL, C.B. ASMUSSEN, W.J.BAKER, M.M. HARLEY AND C.E. LEWIS. 2008.Genera Palmarum – the Evolution andClassification of Palms. Royal BotanicGardens, Kew, Richmond. pp. 732.

HEATUBUN, C.D. 2011. A new species ofPtychosperma from Halmahera, NorthMoluccas. Palms 55: 183–189.

HEATUBUN, C.D., S. ZONA ANDW.J. BAKER. 2014a.Three new genera of arecoid palm(Arecaceae) from eastern Malesia. KewBulletin 69: 9525. DOI: 10.1007/s12225-014-9525-x.

HEATUBUN, C.D., K. LEKITOO AND O.P. MATANI.2014b. Palms on the Nickel Island: Anexpedition to Gag Island, western NewGuinea. Palms 58: 115–134.

WALLACE, A.R. 1853. The Palm Trees of theAmazon and their Uses. John van Voorst,London. pp. 129.

ZONA, S., J. FRANCISCO-ORTEGA, B. JESTROW, W.J.BAKER AND C.E. LEWIS. 2011. Molecularphylogenetics of the palm subtribePtychospermatinae (Arecaceae). AmericanJournal of Botany 98: 1716–1726.

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