Lasianthus sogerensis Wernham

113. Lasianthus sogerensis Wernham View in CoL

Lasianthus sogerensis Wernham (1918) View in CoL 72. — Type: Forbes 313 (holo BM), New Guinea, Sogere, 3000 ft.

Shrubs, up to 2 m high; branchlets terete, c. 2 mm diam, densely spreading villous. Leaves: blades oblong to obovate-oblong, 7–11 by 2–4 cm, chartaceous, sparsely villous above but densely villous hairs on midrib, densely villous beneath, apex cuspidate-acuminate, base subrounded to rounded, more or less oblique, the margin ciliate, nerves obscure above, prominent and distinct beneath, 8 –11 pairs, ascending at an angle of 50–60°, curved to the margin, nervules obscure above, distinct beneath, subparallel; petioles 2 – 5 mm long, densely villous. Stipules inconspicuous. Cymes sessile, bracts paired in each leaf axil, leaf-like, ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, up to 1.5 cm long, nerved, long-villous, apex caudate with a linear tip. Flowers sessile; calyx tube campanulate, c. 3 mm long, densely villous, lobes 4, linear-lanceolate, c. 3 mm long, villous; corolla tubular, c. 5 mm long, villous outside. Drupes globose, villous, c. 4 mm diam, 4–5-ridged, verrucose, crowned by linear-lanceolate calyx lobes; pyrenes 4–5, verrucose on the abaxial face.

Distribution — Indonesia (Moluccan, Irian Jaya) and Papua New Guinea.

Note — This species has densely spreading villous hairs on branches, leaves, stipules, bracts, and drupes. It has chartaceous leaves with subrounded, or rounded and slightly oblique, bases, and ciliate margin, 8 –11 pairs of nerves. Its stipules are inconspicuous but bracts are paired, leaf-like, ovate-lanceolate, with a long linear apex. It has drupes with 4–5 pyrenes crown by linear-lanceolate calyx lobes. This species is closely related to L. attenuatus View in CoL and L. cyanocarpus View in CoL , but differs from both of them by having densely patent or spreading villose hairs on the plant, bracts with a long linear apex. Furthermore, it differs from L. attenuatus View in CoL by leaf-like paired bracts, and differs from L. cyanocarpus View in CoL by ovate-lanceolate bracts paired in each leaf axil. Wernham (1918) did not mention bracts but described stipules with two long prongs (8 mm long), and also described the drupes with 2 pyrenes. In our observation of the specimens, which match type well, this species has inconspicuous stipules but conspicuously ovate-lanceolate bract pairs, and drupes with 4 pyrenes. Wernham could have called the bracts stipules.