Hydnophytum microphyllum Becc.

22. Hydnophytum microphyllum Becc. View in CoL — Fig. 25 View Fig

Hydnophytum microphyllum Becc. (1884) 126; (1885) 174, t. 42: 4–9. — Type: Beccari 5528 (FI), New Guinea, West Papua Province, Sorong, Wa-Samson river, Feb. 1875.

Tuber globose, small to large; surface smooth or covered by numerous small fleshy papillae c. 1 mm diam and 2 mm tall. Stems numerous, to 23 by 0.1–0.3 cm; branched; slender, woody, cylindrical, pilose in young parts. Internodes 2–4 cm when sterile, 0.4–1 cm when fertile. Nodes swollen, and articulated in appearance. Lamina ovate-subrotund; 0.4 by 0.4 to 1.1 by 1.1 cm; apex acute to blunt; base subcordate, obtuse; margin revolute; veins 4; lower lamina with minute, stellate hairs, upper surface finely pubescent with simple hairs. Petiole very short. Inflorescence sessile. Flowers [1]?heterostylous. Calyx to 1 mm, entire. Corolla tube to 2.5 mm, with a band of hairs at mouth; lobes to 1.5 mm, with a hooked uncus to 0.5 mm. Anthers exserted from tube, 0.6 mm. Stigma 2-fid, within mouth of tube. Fruit obpyriform, to 6 by 2.5 mm, with prominent calyx remains to 1 mm. Pyrenes ovoid, 2.5 by 1.3 mm; apex rounded; base cuneate.

Ecology & Habitat — Primary rainforest, sea level to 450 m.

Distribution — New Guinea (West Papua Province).

Conservation status — Vulnerable (VU) under criteria D2 with the only two known locations 90 km apart.

Note — The pubescent leaves were considered to be a unique character, however, recent collections from the Birds Head area by Marcel Polak (Polak 970 & 1152, collected near Ayawasi. deposited at L) have allowed microscopic examination of the hairs illustrated by Beccari. They can be seen to be fungal hyphae of a dermitaceous hyphomycete, probably a Sporidesmium (Howard Fox, pers. comm.). Considering the historic gap between the collections, of over 100 years, this suggests a consistent relationship between the two taxa.