Anisophyllea curtisii King (1897: 326)

Chen, Xin, He, Hai & Zhang, Li-Bing, 2015, A monograph of the Anisophylleaceae (Cucurbitales) with description of 18 new species of Anisophyllea, Phytotaxa 229 (1), pp. 448-450 : 448-450

16. Anisophyllea curtisii King (1897: 326) ( Figure 31 )

Type:— MALAYSIA. Penang: West Hill , 760 m, March 1886, Curtis 746 (lectotype K-000493111!, here designated, isolectotypes SING-0059206!, SING-0059207!) .

Trees to 12 m tall; young branches slender, drooping, pannose with rusty hairs to 0.3 mm long and deciduous; buds densely pannose. Leaves dimorphic, internodes between similar types of leaves 1–2 cm, between two adjacent different types of leaves 5–8 mm; small leaves caducous, only leaving scars on small twigs; large leaves petiolate, petiole 3–5 mm long, 0.8–1.1 mm in diam., pannose and glandular when young, glabrescent and glandular when mature; leaf blade elliptic-lanceolate, 6–9(–14) cm long, 2.0– 4.5 cm wide, base abruptly and obliquely acute or obtuse, apex bluntly caudate or acuminate, with tips of 0.8–2.0 cm long, thinly coriaceous, glabrous adaxially, sparsely pannose abaxially; main longitudinal veins 5–6, springing from blade base, or with one inner lateral veins merged with midrib at lower part and separate at 3–7 mm above blade base, outermost two very fine and almost merged with blade margins and one usually disappearing into blade margin when 6 veined present, slightly prominent adaxially and distinctly raised abaxially; transverse veins numerous, parallel, at angles of (55–)70–85° with midrib; veinlets reticulate, slightly prominent on both surfaces. Inflorescence a supra-axillary spike, either

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MONOGRAPH OF ANISOPHYLLEACEAE

Phytotaxa 229 (1) © 2015 Magnolia Press • 49 with bisexual or male flowers; rachis 1–2 cm long, 0.4 mm in diam., pannose with hairs to 0.3 mm long; bract linear, 1.3–1.6 mm long, ca. 0.6 mm wide, pannose, each with one axillary flower; flower buds globose, densely pannose. Flowers polygamous, 4-merous; male flowers to 3.8 mm long, shortly pedicelled, pedicel clavate, 0.6–1.0 mm long, pannose; sepals broadly triangular, 2.0– 2.5 mm long, to 1.6 mm wide at base, tuberculate adaxially, pannose abaxially; petals to 3.8 mm long, distally laciniate from 0.45–1.00 mm above base, laciniae 5–7, filiform and twisted; stamens 8, episepalous 4 fertile, 2.7–3.8 mm long, filament filiform, anthers subglobose, ca. 0.3 mm long; epipetalous 4 sterile and much shorter; pistil rudimentary? styles 4, free, subulate, ca. 0.5 mm long; bisexual flowers to 6 mm long, receptacle elongated and ribbed; sepals reflexed; petals as male flowers in shape but larger and with more lobes; stamens as male flowers; style as long as petals. Fruits unknown.

Flowering and fruiting: —Flowering in March; fruiting time unknown.

Habitat and distribution: — Hill forests (mixed with Dipterocarpus ); below 760 m. Malaysia (Penang,? Perak, Sarawak) ( Figure 32 ) .

Taxonomic notes: — Anisophyllea curtisii is similar to A. rhomboidea and A. scortechini in the appearance of shoots and leaves, but it is distinguishable by its longer and more deeply dissected petals ( King 1897). It also has relatively smaller leaves and more obviously prominent midrib on adaxial surface, though the character of main veins in the protologue was described as “obsolete”. In addition, this species often has flowers with 5–7 threadlike and tortuous lobes distally, rather than 3 lobes. Its distribution in the Malay Peninsula follows Ridley (1922), however, we could not verify whether the material misidentified by Ridley (1922) as implied by Ding Hou (1958) is from Perak. There are several duplicates of the specimen Curtis 746 deposited in different herbaria, and we choose the one at K as the lectotype.

Additional specimens examined: — MALAYSIA. Sarawak: Bintulu, Nyabau F. R., October 1962 , Brain anak Tada S . 14468 ( K, L); Bako National Park , 01°45’00”N 110°25’00”E, 80–100 m, Ashton plot No. 2, Al Gentry & Jugah Tagi 33827 ( MO) .

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Figures

FIGURE 31. Anisophyllea curtisii King. Flowering branches (Curtis 746; lectotype, K-000493111).

FIGURE 32. Geographical distribution of Anisophyllea curtisii King.