Elaeocarpus chelonimorphus Gillespie

Authority

Smith, Albert C. 1953. Studies of Pacific Island plants, XV. The genus Elaeocarpus in the New Hebrides, Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga. Contr. U. S. Natl. Herb. 30: 523-573.

Family

Elaeocarpaceae

Scientific Name

Elaeocarpus chelonimorphus Gillespie

Type

TYPE LOCALITY: Mt. Korombamba, southeastern Viti Levu, Fiji; the type is Gillespie 2293, cited below.

Description

Description - Tree, up to 15 m. or more in height, rarely a shrub, the young parts minutely sericeous-puberulent, the branchlets subterete, 2-6 mm. in diameter toward apices, when young minutely strigose-puberulent (hairs pale, 0.1-0.2 mm. long), soon glabrate; leaves usually spaced on distal parts of branchlets, not congested, the petioles stout (1.5-3 mm. in diameter, swollen at base and apex), flattened above or shallowly canaliculate, variable in length, (8 ) 15-60 mm. long, obscurely puberulent like branchlets, soon glabrate leaf-blades chartaceous or thin-coriaceous, pale or dark green to brownish when dried, narrowly or broadly elliptic to lanceolate or obovate-lanceolate, (8-) 13-23 cm. long, (3-) 5-9 cm. broad, acute (rarely obtuse) to attenuate at base and decurrent on the petiole, acuminate or abruptly cuspidate at apex (acumen up to 15 mm, long, obtuse or callose-acute), often narrowly recurved at margin and obscurely or obviously spinulose-crenulate (crenations 1 or 2 per centimeter), glabrous on both sides or obscurely and evanescently strigose-puberulent beneath, the costa prominent on both sides, the secondary nerves 6-12 per side, curved-ascending, irregularly anastomosing, slightly elevated above, sharply raised beneath and often with axillary domatia, the veinlet-reticulation obvious, intricate, prominulous on both sides; racemes arising from branchlets below leaves or rarely axillary, the peduncle short, with the rachis forming a slender axis 1-4 (-5.5) cm, long, the maturing flowers usually 2-5 or rarely more, the rachis pale-puberulent (hairs 0.1--0.2 mm. long) or sometimes very early glabrate, the flower-subtending bracts papyraceous, ovate-deltoid, acute, 1.5-3 mm. long, puberulent on both sides or tomer tellous within, soon caducous, the pedicels slender, 2-5 cm. long at anthesis, gradually enlarged distally ; sepals 5, carnose, variable in thickness, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, 22-32 mm. long, 3.5-9 mm. broad, gradually narrowed to a subacute apex, glabrous without, carinate within and copiously sericeous-tomentellous (hairs golden, 0.2-0.5 mm. long), puberulent on the broadened margins; petals 5, submembranaceous distally, thickened toward base and conspicuously carinate proximally within, oblong to oblong-obovate or broadly oblong-elliptic, 23-37 mm. long, 7-16 mm. broad, conspicuously reticulate-veined, glabrous on both sides or sparsely spreading-pilose on lower part of caring within, conspicuously fimbriate at the rounded apex, the lobes 9-19, variously cleft, lanceolate, acute, 3-8 mm. long, usually with 1-3 ultimate veinlets, the middle lobe the broadest; disk carnose to coriaceous, annular-pulvinate, 1-2.5 mm. high, 5-lobed, the lobes confluent, dorsally sulcate and sericeous, apically copiously hispidulous with golden hairs 0.2-0.5 mm. long; stamens 48-90, 2-4 seriate in 5 clusters on flattened upper surface of disk-lobes, 17-22 mm. long, the filaments carnose, terete, gradually narrowed distally, 6-9 mm. long, copiously hispidulous with hairs 0.5-1 mm. long, the anthers minutely tuberculate-hispidulous and dorsally sericeous (hairs as on filaments), 9-13 mm. long, the dorsal awn lanceolate-subulate, 0.8-1.5 mm. long, the ventral apex obtuse, often recurved but not aristate; ovary narrowly ellipsoid, flattened, glabrous or sparsely hispidulous at base, the style subulate, glabrous, 10-20 mm. long, the ovary-wall very thick, obscurely sericeous within, the locules 2, each with 8 biseriate ovules; infructescences on branch-lets or trunk, the rachis glabrate, thick but not much elongating, the pedicels up to 6 cm. long, very stout, the disk persistent; fruits ovoid or ellipsoid, laterally slightly compressed, carnose when fresh, drying coriaceous, 5-6.5 cm. long, 3-4.5 cm. broad, glabrous, rounded or obtuse at both ends, the base of style persistent, the epicarp brittle and coarsely rugose when dry, thin (about 0.2 mm. thick) , the mesocarp spongy, fibrous, 5-10 mm. thick in fresh fruits, the endocarp hard and bony, 4-6 mm. thick, forming an ellipsoid and strongly flattened putamen up to 50 x 35 X 22 mm., this acute at both ends, diamond-shaped in cross section, 4-angled, the lateral angles shallowly lobed (lobes 4-6 per side, obtuse, up to 5 mm, long, apically directed), the dorsiventral angles obtuse or acute, often sulcate, the locule 1, occupied by a single ellipsoid seed up to 3 cm. long.

Local Names and Uses - Several collectors have noted the name "kambi" on Viti Levu, and Degener mentions that the kernel of the fruit is edible. My No. 5346 bears the local name "sivia."

Discussion

The basic characters of this species are the acute-based leaf-blades with obvious venation, the large flowers, the glabrous sepals and ovary, and the numerous stamens. However, in the extensive suite of available specimens there is considerable variation in such characters as length of petiole, leaf-size, size of flowers, and number of stamens. Possibly infraspecific categories will eventually seem desirable, but for the present I have only four or five collections with fully developed flowers, in which the important characters must be sought. It should be noted that in two specimens from high elevation (Smith 2001 and 5195) the floral variation from more typical material is considerable. These two specimens have the sepals 7-9 mm. broad, the petals 12-16 mm. broad, and the styles 15-20 mm. long; in other available mature flowers the sepals are 3.5-7 mm, broad, the petals 7-11 mm. broad, and the styles 10-14 mm. long. No correlation has been detected as to stamen-number; the type specimen has about 48 stamens (rather than 40 as stated by Gillespie), while other material has the stamens 68 to 90 in number, often in a single plant. The broad, long-styled flowers discussed above do not have any unusual leaf-characteristics, and for the time being they do not seem especially significant.