Hydnophytum buxifolium Merr. & L.M.Perry

16. Hydnophytum buxifolium Merr. & L.M.Perry View in CoL — Fig. 19 View Fig

Hydnophytum buxifolium Merr.& L.M.Perry (1945) 22. — Type: Brass 12681 ( A), New Guinea, Papua Province, 18 km southwest of Bernhard Camp, Idenburg River , Feb. 1939.

Tuber subglobose, to 10 cm or more across. Entrance holes conical, 0.3–1 cm across. Stems few, branched, to 30 by 0.4 cm; internodes 0.5–1 cm, up to 3 cm when sterile, ± quadrangular. Lamina elliptic-rhomboid; 0.6 by 0.3 to 1.3 by 0.6 cm; apex acute; base tapered; leathery. Petiole 0.1 cm; stipules minute, caducous. Inflorescences surrounded by bracts. Flowers [1] not heterostylous. Calyx to 1.5 mm, margin undulate. Corolla tube to 3 mm, lobes 1.5 mm, a ring of hairs within mouth of tube. Anthers exserted, <1 mm in length. Stigma obscurely 2-lobed, at level of anthers. Fruit and pyrenes not known.

Ecology & Habitat — High-level epiphyte in mossy forest, 2 150–2 600 m. Tuber not inhabited by ants.

Distribution — Indonesia (Papua Province).

Conservation status — Vulnerable (VU) under criteria D2 with only two locations known about 110 km apart.

Additional specimens examined. Mangen 1763 (A, L), S4°25' E139°40', Valentijn Mts, S slopes of main range, trail from base camp to Koruppun village; Mangen 2163 (A, L), S4°17'E139°30',Valentijn Mts trail from Koruppun to Angguruk, ‘Angolagna’ forest camp.