Cinnamomum iners Reinw. ex Blume

8. Cinnamomum iners Reinw. ex Blume View in CoL — Map 3 View Map 3

Cinnamomum iners Reinw.ex Blume (1826) View in CoL 570;Merr.(1921) 273;Cammerl. (1925) 471; Merr. (1929) 77; Masam. (1942) 309; F.G. Browne (1955) 215; J.A.R. Anderson (1980) 223; Coode et al. (1996) 151; Argent et al. (1997) 310. — Cinnamomum nitidum Hook. var. iners Miq. (1864) View in CoL 258. — Type: Reinwardt s.n. (holo L, barcode L0035811), Java.

Cinnamomum eucalyptoides Nees (1831) View in CoL 73. — Type: Wallich Numer. List 2582C (lecto K-W,here designated),Hortus Botanicus Calcuttensis. — Syntype: Wallich Numer. List 2583B (K-W), Hortus Botanicus Calcuttensis.

Cinnamomum neglectum Blume (1836) View in CoL 38. — Cinnamomum javanicum Blume var. neglectum Meisn. (1864) View in CoL 10. — Type: Kuhl & v. Hasselt s.n. (holo L, barcode L0035821 ), Java, Mt Kaputiang .

Cinnamomum nitidum Hook.var. spurium Blume (1836) 39, t. 6, f. 1. — Type: Blume s.n. (holo L, barcode L0035822 ), West Java, Tjiawi .

Cinnamomum nitidum Hook. var. subcuneatum Blume (1836) View in CoL 40, t. 13, f. 2. — Type: Blume s.n. (holo L, barcode L0035823 ), Java.

Cinnamomum iners Reinw. ex Blume var. latum Blume (1836) 42, t. 18. — Type: Spanoghe s.n. (holo L, barcode L0035813 ), Sumatra, Bantam.

Cinnamomum pseudosintok Miq. (1858) View in CoL 902. — Type: Junghuhn s.n. (K, U n.v.), Java, Preanger .

Cinnamomum calyculatum Miq. (1860) 358. — Type: Teijsmann s.n. (holo L, barcode L0035815 ), Sumatra.

Cinnamomum laxiflorum Meisn. (1864) 21. — Type: de Vriese s.n. (holo K, barcode K000227502 ), Java.

Cinnamomum dasyanthum Miq. (1864) 259. — Type: Korthals s.n. (lecto L, barcode L0035818 ,here designated;iso L, barcodes L0035816 , L0035817 , L0035819 ), Sumatra.

Cinnamomum iners Reinw. ex Blume var. angustifolium Ridl. (1924) 93. — Type : Ridley 14516 (lecto SING, here designated), Temengoh , Perak, Peninsular Malaysia 1909. — Syntype: Ridley s.n. (SING), Peninsular Malaysia, Kelantan, Chaning river bank, Feb. 1917.

Possible synonyms (see note 1):

Cinnamomum nitidum Hook. (1827) 176. — Type: not designated (possibly described from living cultivated plant).

Laurus nitida Roxb. View in CoL [(1814) 30] (1832) 300.— Cinnamomum nitidum (Roxb.) Nees (1831) View in CoL 73, non Hook., nom. illeg. — Type: Roxburgh s.n. (n.v.), cultivated in Hortus Botanicus Calcuttensis , from Sumatra.

Cinnamomum nitidum Hook. var. oblongifolia Blume (1834) 64. — Type: Blume s.n. (L, not found), Java.

Cinnamomum nitidum Hook. forma angustifolia Miq. (1864) 258. — Type: Zollinger 3589 (L, not found).

Cinnamomum nitidum Hook. forma borneensis Miq. (1864) 258. — Type: Korthals s.n. (L, not found), Borneo.

Tree or small tree 4 –12 m tall, c. 14 cm diam. Bark smooth; inner bark yellowish. Twigs stout or slender, terete, 2– 3 mm diam, apically terete to subangular, drying dark brown to black. Terminal buds not perulate, conical, 2– 4 mm long, densely covered with straight appressed hairs. Leaves opposite to subopposite, drying pale green, trinerved, coriaceous, shiny and hairy above, hairy below, the hairs sparsely distributed, minute, short (to c. 0.2 mm), appressed and straight; blade not bullate, without domatia, ovate, oblong-elliptic to lanceolate, 8–12 by 4–7 cm, base rounded to cuneate, apex acute, tip often gnawed; midrib smoothly raised on both sides, to 1 mm broad; lateral veins raised on both sides, extending to the leaf tip; major intercostal veins raised, slender, subscalariform, 2– 5 mm apart; minor intercostal veins faint, reticulate; petiole stout, subterete, shallowly grooved above, glabrescent, c. 0.5 cm long, 1– 2 mm diam. Inflorescences axillary or subterminal, slender, drying blackish, paniculate-cymose with up to third order branching, up to 16 cm long; rachis angular, 1–2 mm broad, densely to sparsely covered with short straight appressed hairs; bracts caducous. Flowers hairy, drying silky and greyish; pedicels slender, 3 – 5 mm long; hypanthium 1– 3 mm high; perianth lobes elliptic, c. 1.5 –2.5 mm long, appressed pilose on both side; fertile stamen 1.5–2.5 mm long, anthers oblong ovate with truncate or obtuse tip; that of first and second whorl 4-locular, of third whorl 2- or 4-locular; filament 2/3–3/4 the length of the stamen; glands stalked on each side at the lower half of filaments; staminodes 1–1.5 mm long, apex hastate; ovary subglobose, 1–1.5 mm long, stigma trilobed. Infructescences 8 –12 cm long. Fruits ellipsoid or obovoid with pointed tip, c. 10 by 8 mm; cupule inconspicuous, very shallow, 1 mm high, 2 mm diam, appressed hairy; perianth lobes persistent, elliptic or ovate, 2 by 1–2 mm; pedicel slender, 3 – 4 mm long, c. 1 mm diam, minute-appressed hairy.

Distribution — Sarawak (Kuching district) and Sabah (Kota Kinabalu district). This species is widely distributed in Southeast Asia in Indochina, Sumatra, Peninsular Malaysia, Java and the Philippines.

Habitat & Ecology — In Borneo possibly naturalised, along roadsides and frequently found in open areas and secondary forest.

Vernacular names — Medang teja (Malay).

Uses — In Borneo, this species is planted as landscape trees. For more detail on general usage see Ibrahim et al. 1995.

Notes — 1. Cinnamomum nitidum and its infraspecific taxa that were described from the Malesian region have been associated with C. iners by Blume (1836) and Cammerloher (1925), and in my opinion possibly belong here. The types need to be located and identified in order to determine their correct status. I did not have the opportunity to look for any possible type of Laurus nitida . The plate of Laurus nitida in Roxburgh’s Flora Indica (1832) is not informative enough to confirm the species identity. I was not able to locate the infraspecific types of C. nitidum in L.

2. Cinnamomum iners in Borneo and Peninsular Malaysia is probably naturalised since plants are frequently found along roadside and in secondary forest. In Java, where it grows naturally in forest, the fruit cupule is considerably larger than the Bornean and Peninsular Malaysian specimens ( 4– 5 mm high, 4 –6 mm diam vs 1 mm high, 2 mm diam).