Actephila lindleyi (Steud.) Airy Shaw

7. Actephila lindleyi (Steud.) Airy Shaw View in CoL — Fig. 5 View Fig ; Map 4 View Map 4

Actephila lindleyi (Steud.) Airy Shaw (1971) View in CoL 496; (1980a) 23; (1980c) 587; (1982) 4; N.C.W.Beadle,O.D.Evans & Carolin (1982) 351;P.I.Forst.(2005) 75, f. 6. — Securinega nitida W.T.Aiton View in CoL [(1813) 383, nom. nud.] ex Lindl. (1821) t. 9 (non Willd.; see De Jussieu (1824) 14, in obs.). — Lithoxylon lindleyi Steud. (1841) View in CoL 57, pro nom. nov. — Lithoxylon nitidum (W.T.Aiton ex Lindl.) Baill. (1858) View in CoL 590, nom. illeg., superfl.; Müll.Arg. (1866) 232; Nadeaud (1873) 72. — Actephila nitida (W.T.Aiton ex Lindl.) Benth. & Hook.f. ex Drake (1892) View in CoL 286, nom. illeg.; (1893) 177; Pax & K.Hoffm. (1922) 194. — Type: cult. in Hort. Kew., 1813–1821 (holo K, photo BRI), native of Otaheite [= Tahiti].

Lithoxylon grandifolium Müll.Arg. (1865) View in CoL 65; (1866) 232. — Actephila grandifolia (Müll.Arg.) Baill. (1866) View in CoL 330,360, t. 10; Benth.(1873) 89; F. M. Bailey (1902) 1413; Pax & K. Hoffm. (1922) 193 ; R.H. Anderson (1968) 218, 377; N. C. W. Beadle , O. D.Evans & Carolin (1972) 252 ; P. I. Forst. (2005) 71, f. 4. — Type : F. Mueller s.n. (holo G-DC, BRI photo), [ Australia, New South Wales,] Clarence River .

(Woody) herbs to shrubs to small trees, up to 9 m high, at least up to 10 cm diam; flowering branches 2 –5 mm diam, glabrous to slightly sericeous at tip. Outer bark grey-brown to brown, smooth, with many, large, brownish, often somewhat raised lenticels to shallowly longitudinally fissured; blaze white; inner bark reddish brown, no exudate; wood cream to pale orange. Indumentum : most parts subglabrous. Stipules deltoid or broadly ovate to triangular or ovate, 1.2–3(–4) by 1–2 mm, straight, glabrous. Leaves alternate to almost opposite at end of branches; petioles 0.1–2.7 cm long, completely pulvinate, apex sometimes gradually tapering into base of blade, often with corky edges when older, often glabrous, sometimes slightly sericeous; blade elliptic to narrowly elliptic to sometimes somewhat obovate, 7.5–25(–30) by (2–) 2.5–11 cm, 1.7–4.8(–6.7) times as long as wide, papyraceous to pergamentaceous, base usually attenuate to rarely slightly more acute, margin flat, apex acute or somewhat obtuse to acuminate or cuspidate, adaxially dull to glossy green to dark green, abaxially lighter green than above, glabrous; nerves 7–14(–18) per side. Flowers often solitary to paired or fascicled, on brachyblasts when older, green-white to white; pedicels not widening towards apex, often glabrous, sometimes slightly sericeous; sepals: apex acute to obtuse; petals: apex truncate to rounded, erose; disc a thin narrow papery ring. Staminate flowers c. 3 mm diam, green to white with purple tinge; pedicel 3–4 mm long; sepals ovate, widest just below the middle, c. 2 by 1.5 mm, margin mem- branous; petals c. 1 by 0.5 mm; disc folded upwards at the edges; stamens: filaments c. 1.3 mm long, connate at base; small pistillode on staminal tube. Pistillate flowers c. 4 mm diam, white; pedicel c. 3 mm long; sepals broadly ovate or deltoid to ovate to elliptic, 1.3–2.5(–3) by 1.3–2(–2.5) mm, wid- est at base to in the middle; petals c. 0.7–1 by 0.25–0.5 mm; disc slightly covering the base of sepals in fruit; ovary c. 1 by 0.8–1.5 mm, glabrous, stigmas 0.4–0.6 mm long. Fruits immature globose, mature subglobose, 1– 2 cm diam, light green (immature) to brownish green to red; pedicels 6–15(–40) by (0.5–)0.9–2(–2.5) mm, straight, sometimes with transverse small grooves, edges smooth to somewhat striate when dry, sometimes somewhat corky, glabrous; sepals not enlarging, completely glabrous, reflexed; wall with knobbly surface, thin, glabrous, lines of dehiscence not elevated; columella 5–8 mm long, fibrous after dehiscence. Seeds 7.5–10 mm long, (5–) 6–8 mm wide, 4.5–6.5 mm high, widened seeds 7 –8 mm long, 7–8 mm wide, 4–5 mm high.

Distribution — Moluccas, New Guinea (incl. Aru Islands and New Britain), Solomon Islands (Santa Ysabel).

Habitat & Ecology — Primary lowland rain forest, riverine forest, Castanopsis -oak forest, old secondary forest, along rivers and sago swamps. Soil: (sandy) clay to limestone or coral sand. Altitude: sea-level to 580(–1370) m. Flowering: February–August, November; fruiting: January–October.

Vernacular names — Aru Islands (Pulau Kobroor): Ay, Ay kway ngom. New Guinea: Papua: Krokaan (Maibrat); New Britain: Ugunape. Solomon Islands (Santa Ysabel): Susui.

Notes — 1. The leaves in this species are highly variable, they range from short to long, narrow to wide, apices range between acute and cuspidate.However, the attenuate leaf blade base is constant (almost unique to this species, with the excep- tions of A. ovalis and A. latifolia ). Typical are the short petioles and short and somewhat sturdy, straight fruiting pedicels. Exceptional forms are: – Specimens from Indonesian Papua tend to have narrower

leaves, Van Royen 5296 being narrowest, with leaf blades

up to 6.7 times as long as wide. Also exceptional are the

subterminal fascicles of relatively small fruits. Aet & Idjan

342 (1939) also has a very narrow base which gradually

merges into the petiole, and the apex is gradually tapering

into a widely cuspidate apex (latter also in BW (Van der

Sijde) 4161). Brass 32390 was collected at the exceptionally

high altitude of 1370 m; it only deviates from other speci-

mens in the leaf blades with an obtuse to somewhat acute

apex. – Several specimens have long petioles and/or pedicels. NGF

(Frodin) 26551 has long pedicels (c. 4 cm long), but also

somewhat longer petioles (up to 2 cm long). LAE (Wiakabu

et al.) 50086 deviates in longer petioles (12–27 mm long),

longer fruiting pedicels (c. 23 mm long) and an obtuse to

acute leaf blade base (instead of attenuate). NGF (Katik)

46983 also has much longer petioles (25–48 mm long)

and longer fruiting pedicels (c. 26 mm long), which are

somewhat widening towards the apex. Also exceptional is

the presence of indumentum (other A. lindleyi are subgla-

brous), especially the moderate indumentum on the petioles

is unique.

2. Actephila mooreana is to be recognized as an accepted species and not a synonym of A. lindleyi . The latter species does not occur in Australia and differs in the characters leaf apex, leaf size, leaf margin, size of the disc, and pistillode. Leaf blades of A. mooreana are up to 17 cm long (often below 10 cm), with an acute to rounded apex and a wavy margin. The pistillode in the staminate flowers of A. mooreana is hairy. The disc in A. mooreana is wide and fleshy in staminate and pistillate flowers, pushing the sepals backwards in fruit. Fruits of A. mooreana are up to 1.3 cm diam. Actephila mooriana , the original spelling by Baillon (1866) was incorrect.