Phoebe pallida (Nees) Nees von Esenbeck (1836: 112)

Chakrabarty, Tapas, Kumar, Anand & Ghoshal, Partha Pratim, 2023, A revision of the genus Phoebe (Lauraceae) in the Indo-Burmese region, Phytotaxa 606 (1), pp. 29-42 : 39

7. Phoebe pallida (Nees) Nees von Esenbeck (1836: 112) .

Type:— NEPAL. Without locality, 1820, fl., Wallich, Numer. List No. 2595 (lectotype designated here: K001116524 , digital image!; isolectotypes: CGE n.v., G-DC [ G00693513 ], digital image!) . NEPAL. Without locality, 1822, Wallich 2595 (additional syntypes: CGE [2 sheets] n.v.) . NEPAL. Without locality and date, fl., Wallich 2595 (additional syntypes: CGE n.v., OXF00146571O n.v., BR0000005118489, E00393281, G-DC [G00693506], digital images!) .

Basionym:— Ocotea pallida Nees von Esenbeck (1831: 71) .

Homotypic synonym:— Persea pallida (Nees) Oliver (1880: 11 , sub t. 1316).

Trees, up to 10 m high; bud scale scars in diffuse clusters along twigs; branchlets blackish to dark brown, yellowish tomentose when young, soon glabrous. Leaves alternate, evenly spaced along the twig, elliptic to oblong or narrowly so or lanceolate-oblong, 7–21 × 1.5–5 cm, acute to cuneate or rounded (sometimes unequal) at base, apiculate to acuminate (acumen 5–20 mm long) at apex, chartaceous or occasionally thinly coriaceous, glabrous above, sparsely puberulous to glabrous beneath, blackish, greenish, greenish brown or dark reddish brown above when dry, brown, dark brown, chocolate brown, dark reddish brown or coppery and often glaucous (not always) beneath; lateral veins slender, 6–12 pairs, faint to prominent above, raised beneath; tertiary veins obscure to faint above, faint to prominent beneath; veinlets inconspicuous above, obscure to faint beneath; petioles 5–15 mm long, glabrous. Panicles 5–12 cm long, few-branched, axis and branches sparsely puberulous to glabrous. Flowers: pedicels 2–4 mm long, glabrous; tepals ovate-oblong, 3–4 × 1.5–2 mm, glabrous or sparsely puberulous outside; stamens ca. 1.5 mm long; staminodes ca. 1 mm long; ovary subglobose, ca. 1.5 mm in diam.; style ca. 1.8 mm long; stigma lobulate. Fruits immature, ellipsoid, ca. 8 × 5 mm; fruiting pedicels 4–6 mm long, not thickened.

Phenology: —Flowering in November to June and fruiting in June to October.

Habitat: —Very rare between 1000–2000 m elevations.

Distribution: — Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Specimens examined:— BHUTAN. Tama , 14 April 1964, fl., G. Sen Gupta 1161 (CAL [2 sheets]) . INDIA. Uttarakhand: Kumaon, s.d., fl., T. Thomson s.n. (CAL herb. acc. no. 385108, CGE n.v., G-DC [G00693510]). Garhwal, s.d., fl., G. King s.n. (CAL herb. acc. no. 385106); ibid., 1918, fl., R.S. Hole 825 (CAL herb. acc. no. 385110). Mussourie, 1869, fl., G. King s.n. (CAL herb. acc. no. 385107). Without precise locality, s.d., fl., Simons s.n. (CAL herb. acc. no. 384981) . LAOS. Khammouan province, Nakai district , 24 May 2006, immat. fr., K. Nanthavong 509 (P00806742) . MYANMAR. Maymyo , 27 June 1915, immat. fr., A. Rodger 160 (CAL herb. acc. no. 384994) . NEPAL. Type collections as cited above . THAILAND. Chiang Rai province, Sahnpayapry, above and south of payapry village, Teu Tai subdistrict, 22 July 2006, fl. & immat. fr., J.F. Maxwell 06-499 (L.3906128, L.3906129); Nakhon province , Karom Waterfall, Foot hills of Khao Luang, 30 October 1993, immat. fr., Kai Larsen et al. 44149 (E00726632) . VIETNAM. Ninh Thu ận, Annam, Ca-Na prov., Phanrang , 28 November 1923, fl., E. Poilane 8829 (P02009094) .

Notes: —The collection, Wallich 2595 from Nepal comprises three elements. For example, the supposed duplicate at K (K000228471) bears two twigs, of which the left hand side specimen is of Phoebe lanceolata while the right hand side twig represents P. cathia . The species is somewhat poorly known and it needs further investigation. There is a specimen from Thailand at E (E00726632) identified as P. pallida and it bears globose immature fruits with about 5 mm long pedicels.