Premna tapintzeana Dop (1923: 836)

Tan, Yunhong & Li, Bo, 2014, Taxonomic studies on the genus Premna (Lamiaceae) in China-I: the identities of P. fulva and P. tapintzeana, Phytotaxa 173 (3), pp. 207-216 : 212-215

Premna tapintzeana Dop (1923: 836) . Figs. 1C–D , 2A–F and 4A–E .

Type:— CHINA. Yunnan: Dali City, Tapintze, les coteaux calcaires de che Tong , mixed forests, alt. 1700–2400

m, 22 March 1888, J.M.Delavay 4548 (holotype P! [sheet no. 00689530]; isotypes P! [sheets no. 00689531,

03311938]). Premna calcicola C. Y. Wu , ined. Premna crassa var. yuii Moldenke (1967: 421) , syn. nov. Type:— CHINA. Yunnan: Shunning (now Fengqing County), Hila, in forest,

alt. 1700m, 21 June 1938, T.T.Yu 16390 (holotype E! [sheet no.00284193]; isotypes KUN! [sheet no. 0484505], LL!

[sheet no. 00375144], PE! [sheets no. 01276418, 01276420]). Premna crassa var. bijiangensis Yang , ined. Premna dopii P’ei (1932: 91). Type: as P. tapintzeana Dop. Premna puerensis Qian (1991: 123) , syn. nov. Type:— CHINA. Yunnan: Simao City, Puer County, Tongxin Town, North

Limestone Mountain , in bushes, 101°3′E, 23°4′N, 29 June 1988, Y.Y.Qian 1743 (holotype HITBC! [sheet no. 81366]; isotype

HITBC! [sheet no. 110736]). Premna shunningensis P'ei & Chen, ined. Premna straminicaulis Wu (1977: 426) , syn. nov. Type:— CHINA. Yunnan: Ruili County, moist places, alt. 1000 m, 6 May 1961, X.

Chow 649 (holotype KUN! [sheet no. 0484500]; isotype KUN! [sheet no. 0484504]). Premna yuanjiangensis Yang , ined. Premna yunnanensis Dop (1923: 444) , nom. illeg., non Smith (1916: 120). Type: as P. tapintzeana Dop.

Climbing shrubs, 1–3 m tall. Branchlets, petioles and inflorescences minutely brownish to purplish puberulent when young, quickly glabrescent. Branches grey, grooved; branchlets arising to spreading, yellow-brown, subterete, with an interpetiolar ridge between petioles and with small yellow lenticels. Leaves opposite, usually anisophyllous, crushed leaves with disagreeable smell; petioles slender, (0.5–)1–5(–6.5) cm long; leaf blade mostly oblong, oblong-ovate to ovate-lanceolate, rarely subrounded to subcordate, (3–)5–7.5(–11) × (2.5–)4–6.5(–8) cm, papery, abaxially whitish, becoming yellowish when dry, adaxially dark green becoming brownish when dry, base broadly cuneate, subrounded to rounded, rarely subcordate, margin mostly entire, subentireto dentate below middle, apex acuminate to obtuse; veins (4–)5–7 pairs, abaxially elevated, 3-veined near base, adaxially whitish. Inflorescences corymbose cyme, mostly conical to spherical, rarely explanate, (1.5–)5.3(–8.5) cm across, dichotomous; peduncle 0.5–2.2 cm long; bracts linear-lanceolate, (3–) 4.5–8 mm long. Calyx campanulate, 2–3 mm long, slightly 2-lipped, lobes 5, apex obtuse or rounded, externally minutely hirsute and glandular, fruiting calyx ca. 4 mm in diameter, lobes obscure. Corolla whitish to yellowish, sparsely villous in throat, 2-lipped, lower lip deeply 3-lobed, middle lobe longest, ovate-orbicular, 1.5–2 × 0.8–2 mm, apex rounded to obtuse, with a yellow patch near throat, upper lip entire or slightly emarginate, hoodshaped, tube longer than calyx. Stamens 4, sub-equal, inserted at corolla throat, anthers yellowish. Ovary globose, ca. 1 mm in diameter, glabrous sometimes with a few hairs at apex, sometimes covered with yellowish glands; style as long as stamens, apex acute. Fruits yellowish green when young, dark black at maturity, obovate to globose, 2.5–4 mm in diameter, endocarp tuberculate, seeds four and equally developed when mature.

Illustrations:— Wu (1977: 423, Fig. 101, 7–8; Fig. 101, 9–11, as Premna straminicaulis ); P’ei & Chen (1982: 99, Fig. 50, as P. straminicaulis ; Fig. 51, as P. crassa ); Qian (1991: 124, Fig. 2 , 1 –8, as P. puerensis ); Chen & Gilbert (1994: 54, Fig. 54, 1–6, as P. straminicaulis ; 55, Fig. 55, 1–5; 56, Fig. 56, 1–6, as P. crassa ).

Distribution and habitat:— This species frequently occurred in southwestern Guizhou, western and northwestern Guangxi, and central to south of Yunnan, in open or mixed secondary forests on limestone mountain slopes, sometimes near roadsides. The species mostly grows in calcareous soil. There is no record of the species to be distributed in Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam, and we have not seen any specimens from these areas but still we suspect that the species may occur in some of these areas since many populations occur near the national boundaries of China ( Fig. 5 ).

Phenology:— Flowering from June to July; and fruiting from August to September.

Notes:— In 1923, Dop (1923) described Premna yunnanensis on the basis of J.M.Delavay 4548 (P!) which was collected from Tapintze (now Dapingzi of Binchuan County) of Yunnan, China. But later he noticed that the name was a later homonym of P. yunnanensis which was described by Smith (1916), and proposed a new name, P. tapintzeana to replace the illegitimate name. However, when revising The Verbenaceae of China, P’ei (1932) overlooked the replacement, thus proposed another name, P. dopii . In Flora Reipublicae Popularis Sinicae (P'ei & Chen 1982) and Flora of China ( Chen & Gilbert 1994), P. tapintzeana is accepted as a valid name.

In 1938, one of the famous Chinese collectors, Tse-tsun Yu collected two specimens [T.T.Yu 16390 (E, KUN!) and T.T.Yu 16415 (KUN!, P!)] of Premna from Shunning County, Yunnan Province. These two specimens and another collection C.W.Wang 84176 (KUN!) from Yanshan County of southeast Yunnan, were identified as P. shunningensis ined . and the name is written on the herbarium sheets. The name was not validated then, and again the specimen C.W.Wang 84176 was named as Premna calcicola ined . in 1966. Based on a duplicate collection of the T.T.Yu 16390 held at E herbarium, Moldenke (1967) described a new variety, P. crassa var. yuii , and it was recognized in Flora Reipublicae Popularis Sinicae (P'ei & Chen 1982) and Flora of China ( Chen & Gilbert 1994). However, another duplicate of the same specimen (T.T.Yu 16390) held at KUN (should be the isotype of P. crassa var. yuii ) was identified as P. tapintzeana by Chen in 1977. In fact, both the field observation and herbarium specimens study confirms that, P. crassa var. yuii has no consistent differences from P. tapintzeana , and P. calcicola also cannot be distinguished from P. tapintzeana . The epithet “ calcicola ” may refer to the calcareous habitat which is exactly the same habitat as P. tapintzeana . Thus, P. calcicola ined ., P. crassa var. yuii and P. shunningensis ined . are recognized here as P. tapintzeana .

Premna puerensis was described based on specimens collected by the author himself from limestone area of Puer County, southern Yunnan of China. The author emphasized the climbing habit of P. puerensis , and considered another climbing shrubs, P. subscandens Merrill (1906: 230) which de Kok (2013) treated as a synonym of P. odorata Blanco (1837: 488) to be the most closely related species. After collecting the living specimens of P. puerensis from type locality, and critical examination of types as well as specimens cited or identified by Qian, we conclude that P. puerensis is conspecific to P. tapintzeana . It is also supported by molecular phylogenetic analyses (Li et al., unpublished data). Hence, P. puerensis is treated here as P.tapintzeana .

Premna straminicaulis was named based on single specimen X. Chow 649 (KUN!) from Ruili County, Yunnan of China, which is very similar to P. tapintzeana and cannot be separated from the latter by any significant differences. Thus, the name reduced to P. tapintzeana as synonym.

Furthermore, while examining the specimens of Premna lodged at HITBC, other two unpublished names, P. yuanjiangensis ined . and P. crassa var. bijiangensis ined. were encountered. Both the specimens contain similar characteristics as P. tapintzeana , hence these two names are placed here under P. tapintzeana .

Additional specimens examined:— CHINA: Guangxi: Donglan County, Ma'anshan Mountain , 30 June 1939 , L.Q. Chen 92171 (IBK sheets no. 00058194, 00058195, 00058197); Jingxi County, Biaolinao , 29 August 1935 , X.P. Gao 55672 (IBK sheets no. 00058196, 00058199); Lingle County, near Wuzhishan Mountain , 31 May 1959 , Z.T. Li 602998 (PE sheet no. 01276416); Longjing County, Wulian Town, Banbi Village , 1 August 1957 , S.Q. Chen 13256 (IBK sheets no. 00058193, 00058201); Napo County, Baidu Town, Nonghua Village , 16 September 1983 , D. Fang et al. 25246 (GXMI sheet no. 029831); Pingguo County, Chaiguang Town , 2 June 1957 , Y.K. Li P01349 (IBK sheets no. 00058198, 00058195); Tiandong County, Xiangzhou Town , 22 June 1977 , Q. Mu 3-1430 (GXMI sheet no. 042884); Guizhou: An'Shun County, Shuangjiang Town , balai, 12 July 1959 , An’Shun Exp. 292 (KUN sheet no. 198439); Cehen County, north of the city, 16 September 1958 , Z.Y. Cao 717 (KUN sheet no. 198438); No location data, 22 September 1936 , S.W.Deng 91015 (MO sheet no. 04175476); Yunnan: Binchuan County, Waxi to Dayinjie , 15 October 1945 , S.Liu 21613 (PE sheet no. 01276417); Fengqing County, Hila , 22 June 1938 , T.T. Yu 16415 (KUN sheet no. 198436, PE sheets no. 00029785, 00029786); Funing County, Chia-chieh , 21 May 1940 , C.W. Wang 89449 (PE sheet no. 01276419); Funing County, Guichao Town, Jiagai , 17 May 1940 , C.W. Wang 89308 (HITBC sheet no. 046663, KUN sheets no. 198428, 198429, 198432, 198433); Jinping County, Menglaba, Huiyang , 20 April 1956 , Sino-Russia Exp. 129 (KUN sheet no. 198425); Mengla County, Mengyuan Town , in limestone slopes, May 1982 , Yunnan Exp. 32618 (HITBC sheet no. 046486); Tengchong County, Xinhua Town, near Longjiang River , 24 April 1980 , anonymous s.n. (HITBC sheet no. 080680); Wenshan County, Shii-guu , in mixed forests, 21 August 1947 , G.M. Fen 11398 (KUN sheet no. 198434); Xichou County, Yongxin Town , 16 July 1958 , Y.Y. Hu 580707 (KUN sheet no. 198437); Yanshan County, Ti-mi-ho-shan, 3 October 1939 , C.W. Wang 84176 (KUN sheets no. 198427, 198430, 198431).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Type specimens of some Premna taxa.A. isotype of P. crassa (W sheet no. 1924-0003117); B. isotype of P. fulva (BM sheet no. 000019563); C. holotype of P. tapintzeana (P sheet no. 00689530); D. isotype of P. crassa var. yuii (PE sheet no. 01276420). With the permission from the Natural History Museum (BM), the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (P), the Herbarium of Institute of Botany, CAS (PE), and the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien (W).

FIGURE 2. Type or voucher specimens of some Premna taxa. A. holotype of P. straminicaulis (KUN sheet no. 0484500); B. isotype of P. puerensis (HITBC sheet no. 110736); C. one of the voucher specimens of P. calcicola (KUN sheet no. 0198434); D. one of the voucher specimens of P. crassa var. bijiangensis (HITBC sheet no. 67195); E. one of the voucher specimens of P. shunningensis (KUN sheet no. 0301022); F. one of the voucher specimens of P. yuanjiangensis (HITBC sheet no. 46707). With the permission from the Herbarium of Kunming Institute of Botany, CAS (KUN) and the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, CAS (HITBC). Premna calcicola, P. crassa var. bijiangensis, P. shunningensis and P. yuanjiangensis are unpublished invalid names.

FIGURE 4. Premna tapintzeana. A. habit and habitat; B. a branch; C. an inflorescence with flowers and young fruits; D. a flower; E. a fruit. Photographs from Xichou County, Guangxi Province, China by B. Li.

FIGURE 5. Distribution map of Premna fulva (green stars) and Premna tapintzeana (orange circles).