Friesodielsia ferralta Ezedin, 2024

1. Friesodielsia ferralta Ezedin View in CoL , sp. nov. — Fig. 1 View Fig ; Map 1 View Map 1

Similar to F. papuana View in CoL , but differs in its rust-coloured indument covering the young twigs, abaxial veins, and petioles, longer flowering pedicels, smaller and thinner sepals, shorter outer petals, and longer inner petals. — Type: James & Damas SAJ1200 (holo BISH [ BISH1052906 About BISH , BISH1052984 About BISH ] photo; iso L [ L.3992650] photo, LAE [296518]), Papua New Guinea, Oro, Sibium Mountains, vicinity of Idoknama Camp (Camp 3), 1399 m, 21 Feb. 2013 (fl) .

Etymology. From the Latin ferrugineus + altus; in reference to the rusty indument and the high altitude of the species.

Climbers or scrambling shrubs. Indument present on twigs, petioles, laminas, and primary veins, hairs simple, rusty orangish (brown). Twigs slender, terete, twining, when young densely rufous pubescent, glabrescent, when older longitudinally striate and dark greyish brown. Leaves narrowly elliptic to narrowly oblong,(6–)9–14(–17) by 1.5–3 cm, chartaceous, glossy dark green above and glaucous powdery blue-green below in vivo, dark brown (to blackish) above and glaucous light brown below in sicco, apex acuminate, base acute, margins entire, new leaves flushing reddish purple adaxially; petioles 7–10 by c. 1 mm, terete, broadly grooved, rusty pubescent when young, glabrescent, dark greenish grey in vivo, black in sicco; venation eucamptodromous, primary vein sharply impressed above, prominent below, number of secondary veins (11–)12–16, inconspicuous above, slightly raised below, spaced 6–13 mm apart, intersecondaries infrequent, tertiary veins inconspicuous above, weakly visible below, straight percurrent, c. 60° to nearly perpendicular to primary vein, quaternary veins straight percurrent. Flowers solitary, internodal, supra-axillary, greenyellow to light orange prior to anthesis; pedicel long, thin wiry, 11–13 by c. 0.1 cm; bract borne at c. 1/3 the distance from the base, narrowly triangular, c. 2 by 1 mm, outer side densely pubescent with long hairs; sepals 3, free, elongate triangular, c. 5 by 2 mm, apex acuminate, outer side pubescent with long appressed hairs, inner side glabrous, reflexed in sicco; outer petals 3, narrowly ovate-triangular, 50–70 by 6–7 mm, outer side sparsely rusty pubescent with short appressed hairs, inner side glabrous; inner petals 3, narrowly ovate, c. 1/3 as long as outer petals, c. 27 by 4 mm, glabrous; stamens, carpels, and receptacle not examined. Fruits unknown.

Distribution — Papua New Guinea ( Oro). Only known from type collection.

Habitat & Ecology — Found growing in mossy forest at 1 400 m a.s.l. Flowering: late February.

Conservation status — Data Deficient (DD). Can not be assessed due to insufficient information on extent of range. Assuming it is restricted to lowland montane forests along the Central Cordillera in the Papuan Peninsular region, there may likely be additional sites where it is present. Despite threats of logging and degradation, many areas in the highlands remain relatively intact as they often see less intense logging activities as compared to the lowlands.

Notes — 1. The type specimen was originally determined as F. cf. bakeri (Merr.) Steenis , a species otherwise only known from the Philippines and Borneo. While this species does indeed share some features with the latter, including longtapering laminar apices, pubescent young twigs, elongated flowering pedicels, petals, and sepals, it nonetheless markedly differs from F. bakeri with its shorter, broader leaves, acute leaf bases, longer petioles, narrower sepals, outer petals that are broader, shorter, and covered in a rust-coloured pubescence, and inner petals that are much longer. It may also be similarly confused with the lowland F. papuana , described below, but is easily differentiated by its smaller leaves and indument. The inner floral chamber could not be examined nor dissected and is thus excluded from the description here.

2. The type was collected at the elevation of 1 400 m, which appears to make this the highest occurring species of its genus. It may likely be restricted to mid-montane elevations and could perhaps be a montane relative of the lowland-restricted F. papuana , which it broadly resembles. Previously, the highest reported Friesodielsia species was F. alpina (J.Sinclair) Steenis , known from its type collection at 1 240 m in Peninsular Malaysia ( Yeob Forest Dept., F.M.S. 1451 [K!]). This species clearly differs from F. alpina in bearing a ferrugineous indument on young twigs, narrower leaves, longer flowering pedicels, and longer petals. Currently, the only other species known from above 1 000 m a.s.l. are F. paucinervis (Merr.) Steenis occurring from 700–1200 m in the Philippines (Pelser et al. continuously updated), F. betongensis Leerat. from 1000–1200 m in southern Thailand ( Leeratiwong et al. 2023), F. subaequalis up to 1 200 m, and F. papuana up to 1 060 m in New Guinea (see below).