Balanophora coralliformis Barcelona, Tandang & Pelser, 2014

Pelser, Pieter B., Tandang, Danilo N. & Barcelona, Julie F., 2014, Balanophora coralliformis (Balanophoraceae), a new species from Mt. Mingan, Luzon, Philippines, Phytotaxa 170 (4), pp. 291-295 : 291

Balanophora coralliformis Barcelona, Tandang & Pelser , sp. nov. (Figs. 1 & 2)

Type: — PHILIPPINES. Luzon: Aurora Province, San Luis Municipality, Mt. Mingan , beside trail en route to summit, 15°27’48.8” N, 121°23’43.3” E, c. 1725 m, 23 February 2014, Barcelona 3895 with Pelser & Tandang (staminate plant; holotype: PNH, isotypes: CHR, K, PUH, US).

Balanophora coralliformis differs from all other described Balanophora species in the coral-like growth of repeatedly branched aboveground tubers.

Also the poorly known B. fungosa J.R. Forster & G. Forster (1775: 99) ssp. indica ( Arnott 1838: 37) Hansen (1972: 100) var. minor (Eichler in De Candolle 1873: 145) Hansen (1972: 106) from south India, Sri Lanka, and Thailand ( Hansen 1972, Nickrent 1997 onwards, Su et al. 2012) is described as having elongated, cylindrical tuber segments ( Hansen 1972, Su et al. 2012), but photos on the Parasitic Plant Connection website ( Nickrent 1997 onwards) suggest that these are subterranean. Furthermore, amongst others, the leaves of this variety are more numerous (15–35 vs. 4 or 5) and spirally arranged (vs. opposite), and the staminate flowers are actinomorphic (vs. bisymmetric).