Blachia andamanica (Kurz) Hook.f.

van Welzen, P. C., 2015, A revision of the Malesian species of Blachia (Euphorbiaceae), Blumea 59 (3), pp. 163-166 : 164

publication ID

https://doi.org/10.3767/000651915X687831

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/677687C1-3504-FFDC-FFB0-B0B09267FA53

treatment provided by

Felipe

scientific name

Blachia andamanica (Kurz) Hook.f.
status

 

1. Blachia andamanica (Kurz) Hook.f. View in CoL — Fig. 1h View Fig

Blachia andamanica (Kurz) Hook.f. (1887) View in CoL 403; Brandis (1906) 581; Pax & K.Hoffm. (1911) 38; Merr. (1921) 346; Gagnep. (1926) 416; Airy Shaw (1969) 121; (1972) 223; Whitmore (1973) 68; Airy Shaw (1982) 9; Phattar. & Chayam. (2005) 127, f. 27, pl. VII: 1. — Codiaeum andamanicum Kurz (1877) View in CoL 405. — Lectotype (designated here): Kurz s.n., s.d., K000246884 (K), [ India,] South Andaman, Mt Harriet. See note.

Shrubs to shrubby trees, up to 6 m high, basal diam up to 6 cm; branches arching, (dark) brown, flowering ones 1.3‒3 mm thick; young parts often sparsely hairy. Outer bark thin, smooth to very finely cracked, light green to grey. Axillary bud scales 3‒4.8 mm long, glabrous. Leaves: petiole 5‒9.5 mm long, not pulvinate, glabrous to few hairs, seldom with transverse corky cracks, above sharply V-shaped in transverse section; blade ovate to elliptic to oblong to obovate, often various shapes present per specimen, (3.1‒)7.8‒17 by (1.8‒) 3‒10 cm, length/ width index 1.7‒3.3, papyraceous to subcoriaceous, symmetric except base, base cuneate or rounded, usually slightly oblique, margin entire, usually somewhat reflexed, apex acuminate to cuspidate, subglabrous when young, glabrescent, upper surface mid green to glossy dark green, lower surface slightly paler than above to light green; venation slightly raised on both sides, secondary nerves 6‒12 pairs, looped and closed near the margin, intercalary veins distinct, higher order veins reticulate. Inflorescences terminal (to axillary), up to 8 cm long, light green, with few hairs; buds light green. Staminate flowers 4.8‒5.2 mm diam; pedicel 5‒9 mm long; sepals (4–)5(–6), elliptic to obovate, 2‒3.5 by 2‒3 mm, pale green (to white), apex rounded; petals (4–)5(–6), obtriangular, 0.7‒1.8 by 0.8‒2 mm, glabrous, membranous, apex erose to c. 3-lobed, white to light yellow; disc glands (4–)5(–6), obtrapezoid, 0.7‒1.2 by 1.2‒1.6 mm, thick, glabrous, apex 3-lobed; stamens 20–24, filaments 1.2‒3 mm long, very pale light greenish, anthers elliptic or thecae separated by triangular connective, 0.6‒0.7 by 0.3‒0.6 mm, light yellowish. Pistillate flowers 2‒4 mm diam; pedicel 2–5 mm long; sepals 5, ovate (to triangular), 1‒2 by 0.8‒1.3 mm, variable in size per flower, light green, ridged abaxially or not, glabrous to few hairs to hairs along margin; disc 5-lobed; ovary 3-locular, subovoid, 3-lobed, 1.2‒1.5 mm high by 1.1‒1.8 mm wide, green, densely sericeous; style short, 0.4‒0.8 mm long, basally hairy, light green, stigmas 3‒5.2 mm long, split except for basal 0.6‒1 mm, light green. Fruits on elongated pedicel, up to 10 mm long, obovoid, 3-lobed, 13‒14 by c. 11 mm high, young fruit somewhat winged on lobes, green to purplish tinged, few hairs, glabrescent; sepals slightly accrescent to 2.8 by 1.3 mm; style and stigmas persistent; columella c. 6 mm long. Seeds ± oblong, but somewhat triangular in transverse section, c. 7 by 6.2 by 6 mm, slightly marbled, caruncle present or absent.

Distribution — Thailand, Andamans. Reported by (among others) Phattarahirankanok & Chayamarit (2008) to be also present in Assam, Myanmar and the Malay Peninsula up to the Moluccas and Lesser Sunda Islands. This distribution is partly incorrect (no specimens are known from the Malay Peninsula, Borneo, Sulawesi, Moluccas and Lesser Sunda Islands) and partly based on confusion about the species concept. The specimens in the Philippines are B. philippinensis , those in Assam and perhaps Myanmar, Indochina (Gagnepain 1926) also belong to different large-leaved species (not revised here). However, because of the presence in Peninsular Thailand and the Andamans the species may be expected to occur in the Malay Peninsula.

Habitat & Ecology — Dry evergreen forest, mixed evergreen and deciduous forest, secondary forest, usually by streams; on limestone and quartzite or granite bedrock. Altitude: sea level up to 600 m. Flowering: January to March, July, August, November; fruiting: January, February, November.

Note — There are three Kurz collections from South Andaman in K ( K000246884 , K000246885 , K000246886 ), which are all quite different in leaf shapes and presence of flowers and fruits. Therefore, they are likely to be syntypes rather than duplicates and one of them, the most profusely flowering one, is selected as lectotype.

K

Royal Botanic Gardens

Kingdom

Plantae

Phylum

Tracheophyta

Class

Magnoliopsida

Order

Malpighiales

Family

Euphorbiaceae

Genus

Blachia

Loc

Blachia andamanica (Kurz) Hook.f.

van Welzen, P. C. 2015
2015
Loc

Blachia andamanica (Kurz) Hook.f. (1887)

Hook. f. 1887
1887
Loc

Codiaeum andamanicum

Kurz 1877
1877
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