Hydnophytum pauper Valeton ex Jebb & C.R.Huxley, 2019

24. Hydnophytum pauper Valeton ex Jebb & C.R.Huxley View in CoL , sp. nov. — Fig. 27 View Fig

Tuber subglobosus parvus. Caulis gracilis pedalis a medio dichotomus ramis laxe parce ramosis. Folia minuta secus ramos numerosa, brevissime petiolata elliptica vel suborbicularia apice acuta vel obtusa,basi cuneata,crasse membranacea, supra rugulosa siccando brunnea costa paullum prominente percursa. Stipulae caducissimae lanceolatae minutae. Flores solitarii in axillis, calyx cupularis 4 denticulatus, corollae tubus ad 0.5 mm, lobi ad 1.5 mm, glabri. Drupa succosa, pyrena laevis obovoidea, apice truncata, fibris coronata.

— Typus: Lam 1969 (holo L), New Guinea, Papua Province, Mount Doorman Top , 11 Nov. 1920 .

Etymology. After the somewhat dimunitive specimens (lat.Pauper = poor).

Tuber spherical, 6–7 cm across; surface smooth or rugose, silvery-grey in colour. Entrance holes large, conical, 0.4–0.8 cm across, with a prominent lip. Stems to 30 by 0.3 cm, sparsely branched; internodes to 3 cm when sterile, to 0.5 cm when fertile. Lamina elliptic to suborbicular, just longer than wide; 0.6 by 0.4 to 0.9 by 0.8 cm; apex acute to obtuse, base tapered to cordate; midrib prominent throughout length of blade. Inflorescence with minute papery bracts <1 mm long. Flowers [2], not heterostylous. Calyx 4-dentate, 1–1.5 mm. Corolla tube 0.5–1.5 mm, lobes 1.5 mm, with or without a dense ring of hairs in the mouth of the tube. Anthers 1 mm at mouth of tube; pollen 3-colpate, 62 (59–73) μm, brochi <1 μm, pores lacking borders. Stigma obscurely 2-lobed, at level of anthers. Fruit light red. Pyrenes obovoid, 2 by 1.5 mm.

Ecology & Habitat — Terrestrial or epiphytic, 2 550 m. Apparently housing frogs in the cavities, and also once with Paraperipatus (Lam 1945) .

Distribution — Indonesia (Papua Province).

Conservation status — Vulnerable (VU) under criteria D2 with only two locations known over 250 km apart.

Additional specimen examined. Eyma 5143 (BO) S3° E136°,Paniai (Wissel Lakes), slopes of Mt Barara.

Notes — The name and Latin diagnosis were found amongst Valeton’s manuscript material at Leiden. Lam (1945) found the tuber occupied by frogs as well as a new species of velvet worm: Paraperipatus vanheurnii Horst.

The collection Eyma 5143 is placed here with doubt; the flowers are larger and hairy within, and the leaves and stems are only a tolerable match; possibly it is a distinct taxon. As with other species in this group, collections are few and the present taxonomy must be considered tenuous at best.