Lasianthus wightianus Hook.f.

131. Lasianthus wightianus Hook.f. View in CoL

Lasianthus wightianus Hook.f. (1880) 188; King & Gamble (1904) 125; Ridl. (1923a) 162. — Type: Kew Dist. 2922 ( Griffith s.n.) (holo K), Peninsular Malaysia, Mt Ophir.

Lasianthus venosus auct. non Blume: Wight (1846) 514.

Shrubs, up to 2.5 m high; branchlets robust, subterete, 2.5– 3 mm diam, brown-tomentose. Leaves: blades oblong or lanceolate oblong, 4–10 by 1.5–3.5 cm, rigid-chartaceous, scaberulous or tomentose hairs on midrib and nerves both surfaces, densely beneath,apex acuminate, base acute to subrounded, midrib and nerves slender and flat above, stout and prominent beneath, nerves 9–13 pairs, ascending at an angle of over 50°, curved to the margin, nervules prominent on both surfaces, conspicuously reticulate; petioles c. 2 mm long, tomentose. Stipules conspicuous, broadly triangular, 3–4 mm long, pubescent. Cymes sessile; bracts absent. Flowers sessile; calyx campanulate, pubescent, tube 0.8–1 mm long, lobes 5, subulate-triangular, c. 1 mm long; corolla hirsute outside. Drupes ellipsoid, glabrous or pubescent, c. 3 mm diam; pyrenes 4–5.

Distribution — Endemic to Peninsular Malaysia.

Note — This species is closely related to L. malaccensis by its leaves with conspicuously reticulate nervules, but differs from the latter by having densely pubescent branchlets, pubescent midrib and nerves on both surface; nerves 9 –13 pairs; petioles 2 mm long; stipules relatively big; drupes with 5– 6 pyrenes. Lasianthus malaccensis has young branchlets puberulous and later glabrescent, midrib and nerves minutely appressed puberulous beneath; nerves 8 – 9 pairs; petioles 5 – 6 mm long; stipules relatively small; drupes with 4 pyrenes.