Xylopia pancheri Baill.

Johnson, David M., Munzinger, Jérôme, Peterson, Julie A. & Murray, Nancy A., 2013, Taxonomy and biogeography of the New Caledonian species of Xylopia L. (Annonaceae), Adansonia (3) 35 (2), pp. 207-226 : 209-214

1. Xylopia pancheri Baill.

( Figs 1 I-M; 2) Adansonia 11: 177, 178 (1873-1876) [date 4 mars 1874 is printed at bottom of p. 177. According to Stafleu & Cowan (1976), the fascicles of Volume 11 appeared at irregular intervals]. — Type: New Caledonia, without definite locality, Pancher s.n. (holo-, P, not located). New

Caledonia, bords de la Kouvélè, près de Koé, 30.I.1869, Balansa 1175 (neo-, designated here, P[P00507380]!; isoneo-, K!, P[P00507379, P00507381]!; see Remarks).

DISTRIBUTION AND PHENOLOGY. — Xylopia pancheri occurs in open or dense maquis on ultramafic soils, primarily over peridotite, at elevations below 400 meters. It is most abundant in the Grand Massif area of southern New Caledonia and is the only Xylopia species to occur on the Île des Pins (Fig. 2). Collections with flowers have been made in all months except April and August, but are most frequent from December and January. Collections with fruits have been made from all months except April, June, and September. The seeds are blue-gray in vivo, displayed against a scarlet endocarp.

CONSERVATION STATUS. — Xylopia pancheri shows an extent of occurrence (EOO) of 12801 km 2 and an AOO of 441 km 2, comprising 29 sub-populations, with five included in the protected areas: Forêt de Sailles, Rivière Bleue, Pic du Pin, Forêt Nord, Cap N’Dua. The plant is common in maquis. Xylopia pancheri is assigned a preliminary status of “Least Concern”.

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — New Caledonia. La partie supérieure du bassin du Dotio, XII.1871, Balansa 3529 (P[P00507376, P00507377, P00507378], but see comments under X. dibaccata ). — Mine Galliéni, 80 m, 21°55’S, 165°14’E, 15.XII.1977, Bamps 5994 (BM, BR). — Phare de Yaté , 22°11’S, 166°56’E, 330 m, 20.XII.1977, Bamps 6021 (BR). — Port Boisé , embouchure du Trou Bleu, 22°20’S, 166°58’E, 21.XII.1977, Bamps 6049 (BR). — Côte est, vallée de la Poro, relevé Poro 08, 165°42’17”E, 21°19’22”S, 220 m, 28.I.2008, Barrière 156 ( NOU). — Île des Pins , creek sur la pente SW du Pic Nga, 30.V.1951, Baumann-Bodenheim 13792 (P[P00507374]), 13824 (A, NY). — Île des Pins , creek au NE du Pic Nga, 1.VI.1951 (st), Baumann-Bodenheim 13857B (A). — Vallée inférieure de la Couvelée, 29.IX.1951, Baumann-Bodenheim 15562 (A, L, NY). — Haut Plateau de Bonne Anse , Baie du Sud, I.1903, Cribs 1299 [Bernier on printed label] (P[P00507373]). — Route du Carénage, Baie du Carénage, 30.I.1964, Blanchon 599 (NOU, P[P00507316] [P sheet has 598 on the typed label and a different locality, but the paper tag attached to the specimen has 599]). — Mt. Dzumac , sentier à env. 600 m, 3.III.1964, Blanchon 648 (NOU, P[P00507317]). — Plaine des Lacs , entre Lac en 8 et Laverie (route intérieure), 13.III.1964, Blanchon 749 ( NOU). — Bord du Lac en 8, 300 m, 1.XII.1964, Blanchon 1171 ( NOU). — Vallée de la Tontouta, Bord de la Kalouéhola, 15.XII.1964, Blanchon 1305 (NOU, P[P00507318, P00507372]. — Near top Mt. Nja , Isle of Pines , 260 m, 7-8.II.1948, Buchholz 1652 (A, BISH, K, US). — Vallée de Dumbéa , 22.II.1981, Cayrol 32 ( NOU). — Prony, XII.1903, Cribs 1551 (P[P00507371]). — Bassin de la Kwe ouest, zone Goro- Nickel dite 57, 15.I.2005, Dagostini & Rigault 1331 ( NOU). — Without specific locality, I.1907, Franc 688 (A, BM, K, NY, US). — Prony F. P., IX.1913, Franc 1581 Série A (A, BM). — Prony F. P., IX.1913, Franc 1631 Série A (A, US). — Prony, X.1913, Franc 1825 (A). — bords de la Tontouta, 8.I.1930, Franc 2440 (A, L). — Rivière des Pirogues , 350-400 m, 9.IX.1981, Gentry & McPherson 34621 (MO). — Near the Junction of the Humboldt and Kalouéhola Rivers, c. 150 m, 13.XII.1963, Green 1826 (A, K). — Bois du Sud, 200 m, 23.II.1951, Guillaumin & Baumann-Bodenheim 10978 (A, NY). — Mts. Kouvelée moyens, 9.V.1951, Guillaumin & Baumann-Bodenheim 13092 (A), 13137 (A). — Promontoire au N de l’embouchure de la Kouébuni, 100 m, 10.I.1951, Hürlimann 580 (A, NY). — En bas de la route à Yaté au NW du Mt. Natégou, 270 m, 29.I.1951, Hürlimann 770 (A). — Bord de la Rivière du Humboldt près du campement de la “Mine des Canons,” 130 m, 26.VI.1951, Hürlimann 1718 ( NY). — Plaine des Lacs , au SE de la Chute, 300 m, (nouv. rte de prosp. minière), 31.I.1969, Jaffré 159 (MO, NOU). — Creek Pernod, 30.I.1970, Jaffré 355 ( NOU). — Massif du Boulinda, 320 m, 19.XI.1972, Jaffré 1053 (MO, NOU). — Rivière Bleue, 5.VIII.1975, Jaffré 1363 ( NOU). — Pic du Pin, 400 m, 1.II.1978, Jaffré 2311 (MO, NOU). — Prov. Sud, c. 10 km E from the junction of Riv. Bleue along Rt. 2, 1.III.1992, Koyama & Setoguchi 8211 (A, P[P00507370]). — Canala, 800 m, Lecard s.n. (K). — Ouraï, Lécard s.n. (BM). — Dumbéa, 1er radier Xm02, Le Rat & Le Rat 164 (P[P00507369]). — Prise d’eau (Dumbéa) VI.1906, Le Rat & Le Rat 187 (BM, P[P00507366] [P sheet also gives as number “ 383 ”]). — Route princ. d’Eau de la Dumbéa, 200 m, [label torn off], Le Rat & Le Rat 2767 (P[P00507367]). — Without definite locality, Le Rat & Le Rat s.n. (P[P00507368]). — Province du Sud, Plaine des Lacs , partially degraded remnant forest and adjacent maquis W of Camp Penamax, 22°16’15”S, 166°49’10”E, 24.I.2010, Lowry et al. 7224 (MO, NOU). — Kalouéhola valley 0-5 km above junction with Tontouta Valley , 150 m, 19.XI.1955, MacKee 3465 (A, L, US). — Yaté , road about Km 40, 18.XII.1955, MacKee 3604 (A, K, L). — Lower Tontouta Valley , 20 m, 25.XII.1965, MacKee 3641 (A, K, L; label of K sheet gives collection information as: Vallée de Thy , slope towards Mt. Koghi , 200 m, 24.XII.1965, possible label mixup?). — Haute vallée de Boulari vers 200 m, 9.I.1965, MacKee 11936 (P[P00507362]). — Route de Yaté , près de la rivière des lacs, 200 m, 14.I.1965, MacKee 11976 (P[P00507363]). — Île des Pins , Creek à l’Est du Pic Nga , 50 m, 18.VII.1965, MacKee 13088 (P[P00507365]). — Île des Pins , pente W du Pic Nga, 100-200 m, 18.XII.1965, MacKee 14067 (P[P00507364]). — Basse vallée de Thio, 21.XII.1966, MacKee 16093 (MO). — Base S du Koniambo, I.1969, MacKee 20090 ( NOU). — Port Boisé , 10.VII.1970, MacKee 22266 (P[P00507319]). — Île des Pins , Vallée du Creek Mou, 31.III.1971, MacKee 23478 (P[P00507323]). — Tontouta, 100 m, 25.XII.1971, MacKee 24747 (P[P00507324]). — Touho: Ponandou, I.1973, MacKee 26143 (NOU sheet 012298). — Baie de Ouinnée , 26.V.1974, MacKee 28728 (MO, NOU). — Vallée du Ruisseau Pernod (rive gauche), 200 m, 29.I.1975, MacKee 29715 (P[P00507360]). — Haute Tontouta (Branche Nord), 250 m, 19.XI.1975, MacKee 30264 (P[P00507359]). — Poya, Avangui, 200 m, 24.XI.1975, MacKee 30289 (P[P00507361]). — Prony: baie Est, 12.XII.1976, MacKee 32454 ( NOU). — Paita: Karikouié, 4.II.1978, MacKee 34680 (MO, NOU). — Mt. Ouazangou (Base Sud), 100 m, 22.I.1979, MacKee 36458 (P[P00507325]). — Kuebini, 26.XI.1979, MacKee 37637 (MO). — Port Bouquet :To N’Deu, 4.XII.1981, MacKee 40075 (MO, NOU). — Basse Tontouta (Rive Gauche), 50 m, 14.I.1982, MacKee 40204 (BR, MO). — Port Boisé : Koué, 100 m, 25.I.1984, MacKee (coll. B. Suprin) 41812 (P[P00507315]). — Port Bouque [t], Vallée de la To-Ndeu, 13.XII.1993, MacKee 46283 (MO). — Nouméa-Yaté Road, c. 1 km W of Yaté bridge on hill overlooking bay, 30.XII.1979, McPherson 2291 (MO). — Radio Tower Ongone, near Port Boisé and S of Grand Lac, S of Nouméa , Yaté road, 300 m, 3.II.1981, McPherson 3575 (MO). — Tontouta River Valley , 20.X.1981, McPherson 4231 (MO). — Valley of the Dothio River , 50 m, 5.XI.1981, McPherson 4318 (MO, P[P00507358]). — Lower Tontouta River Valley , c. 50 m, 18.XII.1982, McPherson 5284 (MO). — Mt. Nga , Île des Pins , slope of Pic N’Ga above Kuto, 15.XI.1983, McPherson 5976 (MO, P[P00507327]). — Port Boisé , 6.VII.1977, Morat 5580 (NOU, P[P00507328]). — Mt. Ongone vers 400 m, 1.III.1983, Morat 7297 (MO, NOU). — Forêt Nord, côté Est, 1.II.2007, Munzinger & Barrabé 4109 (MO, NOU). — Poya-Nétéa-Porin Néa, 165°11’27”E, 21°15’06”S, 3.III.2007, Munzinger et al. 4192 ( NOU). — Without definite locality, Pancher 640 (P[P00507353]). — Col de Plum , 16.VIII.1977, Pusset 55 ( NOU). — “Sud de la Nlle Calédonie,” 1889, Raoul s.n. (P[P00507354]). — Forêt de Touaourou , c. 100 m, 8.III.1973, Raynal & Schmid 16630 (P[P00507347]). — Pesse de Thio , Nakety, raint de Thio vers 250 m, 2.I.1912, Sarasin 372 (P[P00507357]). — Île des Pins , bord du Pic Nga , VI.1967, Schmid 2055 (NOU, P[P00507355]). — Port Boisé , I.1969, Schmid 2640 (NOU, P[P00507356]). — Rivière Bleue vers 350-400 m, 28.II.1969, Schmid 2737 ( NOU). — Horaire de Yaté , 24.XII.1973, Schmid 4904 ( NOU). — Prony, 25.XI.1974, Schmid [Favier] 5194 (NOU, P[P00507352]). — Kalouéhola près Tontouta, 20.III.1973, Sévenet 402 ( NOU). — Bord Kalouéhola (Tontouta), 7.V.1973, Sévenet 425 ( NOU). — Mt. Dzumac Ouinné , Sentier du Dzumac, 3.III.1964, Stauffer & Blanchon 5739 (L, WAG). — Port Boisé , 16.VI.1977, Suprin 166 ( NOU). — Along Tontouta River from 6-10 km up valley from Rt 1, 3.XI.1959, Thorne 28484 (GH, L). — La Rivière Bleue, fin de piste, 8.III.1966, Veillon 651 ( NOU). — Mt. Dzumac , vers 600 m, II.1967, Veillon 1049 (NOU, P[P00507332]). — Forêt de Saille, X.1967, Veillon 1399 (NOU, P[P00507331]). — Montagne ferrugineuse de Konala, 1861-67, Vieillard 2284 (P[P00507348, P00507349, P00507351]). — Au N de la Baie de Prony, c. 200 m, 30.XI.1938, Virot 91 (A). — Cours moyen de la Tontouta le long des rives, c. 50 m, 14.XII.1940, Virot 365 (A). — Rives du cours moyen de la Tontouta, 14.XII.1940, Virot 368 (A). — Cours moyen de la Tontouta, le long des rives, 50 m, 14.XII.1940, Virot 373 (A) .

DESCRIPTION

Shrub to 6 m tall, bark brown-gray, rough. Twigs dark red-brown to gray, initially appressed goldenpubescent with hairs 0.2-0.4 mm long, soon sparsely pubescent to glabrate, eventually lenticellate.Lamina of larger leaves 5.9-12.5 cm long, 2.4-5.9 cm wide, leaf olive-green to dark purple-brown mottled above, rusty to pale brown below, coriaceous to subcoriaceous, lanceolate to lanceolate-ovate, elliptic, or oblong, cuneate to rounded and slightly decurrent on petiole at the base, obtuse to acute, rarely rounded or retuse, at the apex, glabrous above, sparsely appressed-pubescent with pale hairs below; midrib slightly raised or plane above, raised and strongly keeled below; secondary veins 8-14 per side, at midpoint of leaf diverging at 55-70° from the midrib, brochidodromous, slightly raised above and below; higher-order veins slightly raised and forming a reticulum. Petiole 4-10 (-15) mm long, shallowly canaliculate in cross-section, longitudinally wrinkled, sparsely pubescent to glabrate. Inflorescences of 1-3 (6) flowers, axillary or sometimes from the axils of fallen leaves; pedicels 3.5-10 mm long arising from a common peduncle 2 mm long that appears to be derived from connation of the bases of the pedicels, commonly bent and articulating at the penultimate bract, densely pubescent; bracts 1-3, the uppermost 1.7-2.5 mm long, clasping the pedicel, ovate, apex obtuse to retuse, pubescent.Buds conical to oblong, occasionally falcate or uncinate. Sepals ⅓-⅔ connate, 3.0-5.0 mm long, 3.2-5.6 mm wide, broadly ovate to triangular, cuspidate to apiculate at apex, pubescent externally, glabrous internally. Petals white and fleshy in vivo; outer petals 12- 33 mm long, 2.7-5.5 mm wide, ligulate, obtuse at apex, keeled externally, becoming concave at base on inner surface, appressed-pubescent on both surfaces except for a small glabrous patch at the base internally; inner petals 10-23 mm long, 2.0- 2.4 mm wide at midpoint, widening to 2.5-3.5 mm at the base, linear, acute at apex, keeled on both surfaces but becoming deeply concave at base on inner surface, appressed-pubescent except for a glabrous basal patch on both surfaces. Stamens 125-150; fertile stamens 1.1-1.7 mm long, quadrate, oblong, or clavate; anthers septate at anthesis, with 5-9 locules; apex of connective 0.2-0.3 mm long, domeshaped, overhanging anther thecae, long-papillate; filament ¼-1⁄8 length of stamen; innermost stamens staminodial, c. 8, 1.2-1.4 mm long, pentagonal or quadrate; staminal cone well-developed, 2.0- 3.5 mm in diameter, 1.1-2.2 mm high. Carpels 5-8; ovaries 1.1-1.3 mm long, pressed together, narrowly oblong, golden-tomentose, the hairs 0.4-0.7 mm long; stigmas initially pressed together but spreading apart at anthesis, 2.0- 3.1 mm long, linear, obtuse at the apex, glabrous but somewhat papillate. Torus of flower 3.1-3.6 mm in diameter, glabrous except for hairs on carpellate portion. Fruit of up to 7 monocarps borne on a pedicel 10-16 mm long, 3-6 mm thick, red-brown to gray, pubescent; torus of fruit 4-7 mm in diameter, 3-5 mm high, subglobose to hemispherical; monocarps green, dehiscing to reveal a red endocarp in vivo, 2.8-5.6 cm long, 0.8- 1.5 cm wide, 0.6-1.1 cm thick, narrowly oblong to oblanceolate, torulose and somewhat falcate, finely verrucose and obliquely wrinkled, glabrate, contracted into a stipe 2-9 (-12) mm long and 2-5 mm thick; apex forming a flattened beak 2-5 mm long; pericarp 1.0- 1.2 mm thick. Seeds in a single row, commonly 4-5 per monocarp, rarely up to 8, with a gray-blue sarcotesta in vivo but drying brownish gray, lying oblique to long axis of monocarp in a single row, 9.7-12 mm long, 4-6.4 mm wide, 3.5- 4.2 mm thick, ovoid to obovoid, ovate-oblong in cross-section, smooth, narrowed to a short beak around the micropyle 1 mm long and 1.5-2 mm wide; aril absent.

REMARKS

This species is by far the most frequently collected species of Xylopia on New Caledonia, comprising nearly two-thirds of the 157 collections available for study. This may be in part due to the showy flowers, which are also strongly fragrant: several collectors compared the fragrance to that of Gardenia J.Ellis. The species stands apart from other New Caledonian Xylopia species by virtue of these large flowers plus the elongate monocarps and the absence of a corky ring on the seed.

The major variation in floral morphology is in the length of the petals, which can vary from 12-33 mm in the outer petals and 10-23 mm in the inner petals. This appears to be variation in mature flowers rather than variation in developmental stage. Similarly there is variation in leaf size: the specimen Schmid 2737 from the Rivière Bleue stands out because of its exceptionally large oblong leaves (12.5 cm long, 5.9 cm wide), but other specimens from the same general geographic area do not exhibit this characteristic: the largest leaf of Koyama & Setoguchi 8211 is, for example, only 7.9 cm long and 3.5 cm wide.

On the basis of field study of tree architecture by Veillon (1976), Hallé (2004) reported Xylopia pancheri to exhibit Petit’s Model of tree architecture, in which inflorescences are formed by the terminal bud and continued lateral branch growth is thus sympodial. All Xylopia pancheri material we have seen, however, exhibits axillary inflorescences and the trees thus must have Roux’s model with spiral trunk phyllotaxis, as occurs in other Xylopia species ( Johnson 2003) . In addition, Veillon (pers. comm.) reports that further study of the voucher specimen, on which he based his work, appears to be the following species, X. vieillardii , and he confirms that it has the Petit’s Model type architecture, as illustrated by Hallé (2004). The voucher specimen, MacKee 26143, is in fact a mixed collection: sheet 012298 at NOU is X. pancheri , and sheet 012347 at NOU is X. vieillardii , as is sheet 6244063 at MO. Further field study of architecture of New Caledonian Xylopia species is needed, to both confirm this difference in architecture pattern from other members of the genus and verify the identity of the species under study.

The type specimen of Xylopia pancheri, Pancher s. n., was not located. The only Pancher specimen of Xylopia examined, Pancher 640, bears only a young fruit: Baillon’s protologue for X. pancheri describes the long petals and other floral parts in detail, and thus does not seem to pertain to this specimen. However, the description clearly applies to this species and not others. In the interest of nomenclatural stability, the specimen Balansa 1175 has been designated as a neotype. This is the only other collection of X. pancheri cited by Guillaumin (1911) in addition to the type, and the label of sheet P00507380 at P bears a determination in Baillon’s hand. The specimen Balansa 3529, identified by Guillaumin (1932) as X. pancheri , is a mixed collection: a packet on one of the three sheets contains flower parts of X. pancheri , but the fruiting specimens on all three sheets are X. dibaccata .

Guillaumin (1911) reports the vernacular name “namanigo” for a species of Xylopia , but no subsequent collectors have confirmed the local use of this name for X. pancheri or any other species.

Figures

FIG. 1. — The New Caledonian species of Xylopia L.: A, B, X. pallescens Baill.; A, habit with fruit; B, habit with flowers;C-H, X. vieillardii Baill.; C, carpels and surrounding staminal cone with a few stamens still attached; D, fruit; E, leaves; F, seed, view from micropylar end; G, seed, side view; H, flowers; I-M, X. pancheri Baill.; I, habit; J, fruit; K, stigmas, stamens, and sepals, side view; L, seed, view from micropylar end; M, seed, side view;N-O, X. dibaccata Däniker; N, habit with young fruit; O, habit with flowers; A, B, Veillon 4730 (OWU); C, McPherson 6281 (MO); D, E, McPherson 6330 (MO); F, G, Brinon 1130 (NOU); H, from Sarlin 322 (P00507339); I, McPher- son 3575 (MO); J, McPherson 5976 (MO); K-M, MacKee 29715 (P00507360); N, Munzinger & McPherson 2526 (NOU); O, McPherson 5397 (MO). Scale bars: A, B, D-J, L-O, 1 cm; C, K, 3 mm. Drawing by Kate Ball.