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Philippine Journal of Science142: 89-93, Special IssueISSN 0031 - 7683Date Received: ?? ???????? 2013

Edwino S. Fernando1,* and Danilo S. Balete2

Key Words: Luzon Island, Medinilla, Medinilla dallciana, Melastomataceae, ornamental plants, Philippines

Medinilla dallciana (Melastomataceae: Dissochaeteae), a New Species from Luzon Island, Philippines

1Department of Forest Biological Sciences College of Forestry and Natural Resources, The University of the Philippines

Los Baños, College, 4031 Laguna, Philippines2Department of Zoology, Field Museum of Natural History

1400 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605, USA

Corresponding Author: edwino_fernando@yahoo.com.ph

A new species, Medinilla dallciana Fernando & Balete (Melastomataceae: Dissochaeteae), with cauliflorous, compact inflorescences, borne on long, pendulous, and persistent peduncles from Luzon Island, Philippines, is described and illustrated. Its similarity with other Philippine species of Medinilla is discussed.

INTRODUCTIONThe genus Medinilla Gaudich. ex DC. (Melastomataceae: Dissochaeteae) includes about 375 species (Mabberley 2008) of epiphytic and terrestrial shrubs and climbers occurring from Tropical Africa, Madagascar, to India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, southern China, Taiwan, throughout Southeast Asia, New Guinea, northern Australia, Micronesia, Solomons, and Vanuatu.

In the Philippines, regarded as one of the centers of diversity of the genus (Regalado 1995), Merrill (1913) early on accounted just 28 species, then later 125 species (Merrill 1923). In the most recent taxonomic revision of the Philippine species of this genus, Regalado (1995) recognized 80 species belonging to 12 species groups with 90% endemicity. Many of these species have ornamental features and some have long and widely been in cultivation (Steiner 1960, Madulid 1995, Rosario & Mendoza 1998, Boo et al. 2006).

In this paper we describe a unique and elegant new species of Medinilla from Luzon Island with pink flowers and bracts borne on cauliflorous, pendulous, compact and cone-like inflorescences with rather long and persistent peduncles and inflorescence axes reaching up to 77.5 cm long.

TAXONOMY

Medinilla dallciana Fernando & Balete, sp. nov.Frutex epiphyticus scandens, ramis teretibus; foliis oppositis, petiolatis, ovatis ad ovato-ellipticis, basi 3-plinervis; inflorescentiae cauliflorae e axillis defoliatis, racemosae, pendulae, pedunculis gracilibus circiter 17-26 cm longis, persistentibus in toto usque ad 77.5 cm. Medinillae purpureae Elmer ex Merr. affinis in inflorescentiis longe pedunculatis et densissime bracteatis, sed nodis non-setosis, foliis aequalibus et 3-plinervis, floribus 5-meris, et longius, persistentibus pedunculis et axem inflorescentia differt (Plates 1-3).

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Type: Philippines, Luzon Island, Camarines Sur Province, Municipality of Lagonoy, Saddle Peak, 950 m elevation, 29 February 2008, Balete, Sarmiento, & Buenviaje 06-09 (holotype CAHUP; isotypes K, PNH).

Scandent, epiphytic shrub, 3-5 m tall. Branches terete, flowering branches up to ca. 1-1.5 cm in diameter, drying striate or sometimes ribbed with swollen nodes; branchlets generally smooth; nodes glabrous, not setose; internodes in young leafy stems 1.2-2.5 cm long, in leafless stems 2-4 cm long. Leaves simple, opposite, petiolate, each pair equal; petioles terete, reddish in young leaves, becoming light brownish then green, 5-15 mm long, up to 2 mm thick, slightly grooved on the adaxial side; lamina narrowly ovate-elliptic to elliptic, 8.6-14 cm long × 2.5-5.8 cm wide, dark green on adaxial surface, paler on lower surface, succulent, chartaceous when dry, young leaves light purplish-red, apices acuminate to long-acuminate, acumen up to 1 cm long; base obtuse; very distinctly 3-plinerved; nerves impressed adaxially, raised abaxially, transverse veins not distinct. Inflorescences cauline, arising from leafless nodes or old stems, pendulous, densely bracteate and compact, pine cone-like racemes to 6 cm long, 2-3 cm wide; peduncle to 17-26 cm long, thickening to 5 mm wide near the base, rather persistent;

inflorescence axis proper (excluding peduncle) 2-5.5 cm long; new bracts and flowers develop as old ones fall off and inflorescence axis elongates, that part devoid of old bracts and flowers up to 51 cm long, with prominent scars, irregularly stout and thickened to 8-14 mm wide; total inflorescence length including peduncle reaching to 77.5 cm at senescence; bracts numerous, densely set, oblong or obovate, rather spoon-shaped or cucculate in more developed or older inflorescences, up to 8-10 mm long, 5-7 mm wide, pinkish, in older inflorescence sometimes becoming slightly more purplish, the first, proximal ones light green with pinkish margins. Flowers 5-merous; opening few at a time, flowers up to 1 cm wide; petals obovate, up to 5 mm long, 4-5 mm wide, pale pink, rather thin and membranous. Hypanthium campanulate, 2-3 mm long, up to 4 mm wide, white in fruit. Stamens 10, equal, twice as many as the petals. Immature fruits subglobose, green, 4 mm long × 4 mm wide; ripe fruits not known.

Ecology. This species occurs in upper montane forest formation (Fernando et al. 2008), up to ca. 950 m elevation. The canopy in the area is about 5 m with some emergent trees reaching to 7 m tall. The common trees include various species of Syzygium, Lithocarpus, Litsea, and Elaeocarpus. Medinilla dallciana was found

Plate 1. Medinilla dallciana Fernando & Balete. Growth habit at type locality, showing pendulous, compact inflorescences borne on long peduncles arising from leafless nodes or old stems. PHOTO BY D.S. BALETE

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Plate 2. Medinilla dallciana Fernando & Balete. A, Early stage of a young inflorescence with one open flower at anthesis and first proximal bracts that are greenish with pinkish margins; B, Mid-stage of development showing cone-shaped inflorescence; C, Later stage of inflorescence development; D, Final stage of inflorescence development at senescence. A, B, C Scale bars = 1 cm; D Scale bar = 2 cm. PHOTOS BY D.S. BALETE

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Plate 3. Medinilla dallciana Fernando & Balete. A, Close up of flower, showing pistil and claw-like, appendaged anthers; B, Young fruits showing persistent, cup-shaped hypanthium. A, B Scale bars = 2 mm. PHOTOS BY D.S. BALETE

epiphytic on a tree 5 m tall and with 15 cm stem diameter, leaning on a steep edge of a slope.

Distribution. Philippines, Luzon Island, Camarines Sur Province, Municipality of Lagonoy, Saddle Peak. Endemic. This new species is, thus far, known only from the type locality. The Saddle Peak area is part of the Caramoan Peninsula, an Important Bird Area (IBA) (Mallari et al. 2001) and Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) (CI-DENR PAWB-HF 2006) recognized as a priority site for biodiversity conservation in the Philippines.

Etymology. This beautiful new species is named in honor of our two colleagues and friends, Filipino botanists, Daniel A. Lagunzad (DAL) and Leonardo L. Co (LLC), both of the Institute of Biology, University of the Philippines at Diliman, in recognition of their contributions to our knowledge of the native flora of the Philippines. Dan and Leonard both passed away in

November 2010 within just a little more than a day of each other. The specific epithet is based on their overlapping and combined name initials.

Notes. Medinilla dallciana belongs in Species Group 5 of Regalado (1995) that includes five species, viz., M. purpurea Elmer ex Merr., M. cephalophora Merr., M. pinnatinervia Merr., M. polillensis C.B.Rob., and M. aurantiflora Elmer. This group is characterized by their dense, many-flowered, pedunculate inflorescences arising from leafless nodes or old stems. The last three of these species have recently been reviewed by Cámara-Leret & Veldkamp (2011) in describing Medinilla tapete-magicum Cámara-Leret & Veldk., a terrestrial species from Sulawesi with apparently similar cauline flowering habit.

Medinilla dallciana is most similar to Medinilla purpurea in the pendulous, dense, compact inflorescence, and numerous bracts, but it is readily distinguished from this

Table 1. Morphological comparison of Medinilla dallciana, Medinilla purpurea, and Medinilla cephalophora.

Medinilla dallciana Medinilla purpurea Medinilla cephalophora

Nodes non-setose setose setose

Petiole length 5-15 mm 10-15 mm 20-30 mm

Leaf size equal very unequal equal

Leaf venation 3-plinerved 7-plinerved 5-plinerved

Peduncle length 17-26 cm 12-20 (23) cm 1 cm

Flowers 5-merous 4-merous 5-merous

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species in its non-setose nodes, equal and 3-plinerved leaves, and the 5-merous flowers. It is also similar to Medinilla cephalophora in the equal leaves and 5-merous flowers, but again the nodes are non-setose, the leaves are 3-plinerved, and the peduncles much longer (Table 1). The non-setose stem nodes, prominently 3-plinerved leaves, and the very long, persistent inflorescence axis reaching up to more than 75 cm long of Medinilla dallciana distinguishes it from all other species in Group 5. This is yet another attractive Philippine species of Medinilla with many ornamental features.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSWe thank Lawrence Heaney, Julie Barcelona, Joselito Sarmiento, Ricardo Buenviaje, Rafael Fernandez, Nel Gavica, and Benjamin Palla for their support and assistance in the field work in 2008. We also thank RTD Felix C. Mendoza (PAWCZMS – DENR Region 5), Eduardo Ampongan (CENRO – Goa), and Hon. Delfin R. Pilapil Jr. (Municipal Mayor of Lagonoy) for the permits, through the efforts of Mina Baylon (PAWCZMS). Funding for field work was provided by the Negaunee Foundation and the Barbara Brown, Ellen Thorne Smith and Marshall Field Funds of the Field Museum, Chicago. We also acknowledge J.F. Veldkamp (L) for assistance with the Latin diagnosis.

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