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Calamus pintaudii W.J.Baker & J.Dransf.
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Abstract
As part of current research on the taxonomy of the palms (Arecaceae or Palmae) of New Guinea, ten new species of the rattan genus Calamus are described and illustrated here: Calamus baiyerensis, Calamus capillosus, Calamus erythrocarpus, Calamus heatubunii, Calamus jacobsii, Calamus katikii, Calamus kostermansii, Calamus papyraceus, Calamus pintaudii and Calamus superciliatus. An eleventh species, Calamus novae-georgii, from the neighbouring Solomon Islands is also included here. The palm flora of New Guinea now includes 62 species of Calamus, 34 of which have been described since 2002, demonstrating the remarkable scale of botanical discovery on the island.
Key words: Calamoideae, Indonesia, lianas, Palmae, palms, Papua New Guinea, Papuasia, South-East Asia
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| FIGURE 1. Calamus baiyerensis. A. Leaf sheath with ocrea. B. Leaf apex. C. Mid-leaf portion. D. Primary branch of staminate inflorescence. Scale bar: A = 3 cm; B, C = 6 cm; D = 4 cm. All from Zieck NGF 36252. Drawn by Lucy T. Smith. |
Taxonomic treatment
1. Calamus baiyerensis W.J.Baker & J.Dransf., sp. nov.
Type:—PAPUA NEW GUINEA. Western Highlands Province: Baiyer River Subdistrict, Rouna River (Baiyer River valley) near Kambukom village, 1160 m, 23 July 1971, Zieck NGF 36252 (holotype CANB!, isotypes BH, LAE).
Diagnosis:— Distinguished by the very robust, clustering habit, the sparsely armed sheath with patchy dark indumentum, the ocrea encircling the stem that disintegrates into fibres and the very robust inflorescence with robust rachillae with funnel-shaped bracts.
Etymology:— The species epithet reflects the type locality in the Baiyer River valley.
Distribution:— Known only from the type locality in the Baiyer River valley, Western Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea.
2. Calamus capillosus W.J.Baker & J.Dransf., sp. nov.
Type:— INDONESIA. West Papua Province: surroundings of Ayawasi, ca. 450 m, 28 July 1995, Ave 4048 (holotype L!, isotype BO).
Diagnosis:— Distinguished by the sheaths densely armed with very fine, hair-like spines, the regularly pinnate leaves with numerous bristles on veins and margins, the very long flagelliform inflorescences, the long, unbranched peduncle, the lax primary branches, and the staminate inflorescence branched to only two orders.
Etymology:— The species epithet refers to the very hairy appearance of the leaf sheaths, due to the abundance of fine, hair-like spines, and the numerous hair-like bristles on the leaflets.
Distribution:—Known only from the type locality near Ayawasi in the Bird’s Head Peninsula.
3. Calamus erythrocarpus W.J.Baker & J.Dransf., sp. nov.
Type:— PAPUA NEW GUINEA. Central Province: Sogeri Subdistict, near Jawarere (Subitana), 450 m, 3 September 1968, Zieck NGF 36176 (holotype LAE!, isotype BH, L!)
Diagnosis:— Distinguished by the moderately robust, clustering habit, the subcirrate leaf with few broadly lanceolate, cucullate leaflets, the longest leaflets at the base of the leaf, the leaf apex bearing a vestigial leaflet pair remnant or a short cirrus, the leaf sheaths armed only with few, minute spines, the short inflorescences lacking peduncular bracts, the rachis bracts significantly exceeding the primary branches and splitting to the base (not tattering), and the rounded red fruit covered with unchannelled, erose-margined scales.
Etymology:— The specific epithet refers to the red colour of the fruit.
Distribution:— Known from many gatherings at a single locality in hills 35 km east of Port Moresby, Central Province.
Habitat:— Rain forest on lower slopes and bottom of a creek valley, ca. 460 m.
FIGURE 8. Calamus novae-georgii. A. Leaf sheath. B. Leaf apex. C. Mid-leaf portion. D. Infructescence apex with primary branch. E. Staminate rachilla. F. Staminate flower bud in longitudinal section. G. Staminate flower bud. H. Fruit attached to pisillate rachilla, showing stalk-like first bracteole. I. Seed whole and in longitudinal section.
Scale bar: A, D = 3 cm; B, C = 4 cm; E = 5 mm; F, G = 2.2 mm; H, I = 7 mm.
A–D, H, I from Qusa 124; E–G from Qusa 123. Drawn by Lucy T. Smith.
4. Calamus heatubunii W.J.Baker & J.Dransf., sp. nov.
Type:— INDONESIA. West Papua Province: Kota Sorong, Klasaman km 14, Klasagan, 50 m, 2 February 2013, Baker et al. 1392 (holotype K!, isotypes AAU!, BO!, BRI!, L!, MAN!).
Diagnosis:— Distinguished by the few, broad, leathery leaflets, typically arranged in a single, divaricate group, the well-developed, purple-brown ocrea armed with numerous, solitary triangular spines, and the short, erect inflorescences lacking a flagelliform tip with compact, but not congested branching.
Etymology:— Calamus heatubunii is named for our friend and long-time collaborator in New Guinea palm research, Prof. Charlie D. Heatubun of Universitas Papua, Manokwari, Indonesia.
Distribution:— Recorded from several localities near to Sorong and from Waigeo in the Raja Ampat Islands in far western New Guinea.
Habitat:— Lowland forest, including secondary, hill and swamp forest, 45–180 m.
5. Calamus jacobsii W.J.Baker & J.Dransf., sp. nov.
Type:— PAPUA NEW GUINEA. Morobe: south-east of Lae on the coast, opposite Lasanga Island, 500–600 m, 11 November 1973, Jacobs 9561 (holotype L!, isotypes LAE).
Diagnosis:— Distinguished by the leaves and leaf sheaths drying brown, the unarmed leaf sheath, the very short petiole, the few, subregularly arranged, elliptic leaflets, and the non-flagelliform staminate inflorescence that is branched to 4 orders.
Etymology:—The species is named for Marius Jacobs (1929–1983), a senior botanist of the Rijksherbarium, Leiden and collector of the type specimen. Jacobs died at the age of 53, unexpectedly cutting short his career in plant taxonomy and conservation in Malesia (Kalkman 1983).
Distribution:— Known from two localities in mountains south of Lae, Papua New Guinea.
Habitat:— Primary forest at an elevation of 500–600 m.
6.
Calamus katikii W.J.Baker & J.Dransf.,
sp. nov.
Type:—PAPUA NEW GUINEA. Morobe Province: Wau Subprovince, Kodama Range, Mount Walker, Korpera River, 1829 m, 16 November 1981, Katik LAE 74954 (holotype LAE!, isotypes NSW, USF).
Diagnosis:— Distinguished by the slender habit, ecirrate leaves with very few (ca. 4 pairs) grouped leaflets, the sparsely armed, flagellate leaf sheaths, the short inflorescence with flagelliform tip and large fruit relative to the size of the plant.
Etymology:— This species is named for Paul Katik, renowned botanist, formerly of the Papua New Guinea Forest Research Institute, and collector of the type specimen.
Distribution:— Known only from a single collection from the Kodama Range, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea.
Habitat:— Montane, mossy forest at ca. 1800 m.
7.
Calamus kostermansii W.J.Baker & J.Dransf.,
sp. nov.
Type:— INDONESIA. Papua Province: Fak-Fak, Timika, sago swamp, between Timika and port, km 23, 10 m,16 February 1998, Baker et al. 848 (holotype K!, isotypes BO!, MAN!, BH!, L!).
Diagnosis:— Similar to
Calamus longipinna, but differs in the dense chocolate brown caducous indumentum on sheaths, short triangular spines on sheaths, tough ocrea that disintegrates into fibres at the margin and the more elongate and short-spiny rachis bracts.
Etymology:— This species is named for A.J.G.H. Kostermans (1906–1994), the celebrated Dutch-Indonesian botanist whose specimen drew our attention to the existence of this species.
Distribution:— Known from only two localities in central and western Indonesian New Guinea.
Habitat:— Riverine and swamp habitats, ca. 10 m elevation.
8.
Calamus novae-georgii W.J.Baker & J.Dransf.,
sp. nov.
Type:—SOLOMON ISLANDS. New Georgia: MundaNoro Road, 12 September 1991, Qusa 124 (BSIP 22101) (holotype K!).
Diagnosis:— Distinguished by the sheaths with dense chocolate-brown indumentum and abundant straw-coloured spines, the long, slender, flagelliform inflorescence, the fine, zig-zag rachillae and the stalk-like first bracteole in the dyad of the pistillate inflorescence.
Etymology:— The species epithet reflects the type locality on New Georgia Island.
Distribution:— Known only from New Georgia Island in the Solomon Islands.
Habitat:— Primary, lowland forest on hills, ridges and flat plains
9.
Calamus papyraceus W.J.Baker & J.Dransf.,
sp. nov.
Type:— PAPUA NEW GUINEA. East Sepik Province: WewakAngoram area, Maprik Subdistrict, Prince Alexander Range, SE side of Mt. Turu above Ambakanja village, 600 m, 19 August 1959, Pullen 1506 (holotype CANB!, isotype LAE).
Diagnosis:— Distinguished by the slender habit, the regularly pinnate leaves, the leaf sheaths with collars of fine, caducous spines, the long, disintegrating papery ocrea armed with fine spines, the erect, congested inflorescence lacking a flagelliform tip with dry, papery bracts, erect primary branches and short pistillate rachillae, and typically conventional calamoid sympodial floral clusters producing a single fruit per cluster in the pistillate plant.
Etymology:— The species epithet refers to the papery texture of the ocrea and of the inflorescence bracts.
Distribution:— Known from a single locality near Mt. Turu in the Prince Alexander Range in East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea.
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Calamus pintaudii W.J.Baker & J.Dransf.
A. Leaf sheath with tattering ocrea. B. Leaf apex. C. Mid-leaf portion D. Primary branch of pistillate inflorescence. E. Staminate rachilla. F. Fruit on rachilla. G. Fruit. H. Seed in two views. I. Seed in longitudinal section.
Scale bar: A, F = 3 cm; B–D = 4 cm; E = 1.5 cm; G–I = 1.5 cm.
A, D from Zieck NGF 36189; B, C, E–I from Pintaud et al. 671. Drawn by Lucy T. Smith.
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10. Calamus pintaudii W.J.Baker & J.Dransf., sp. nov.
Type:— PAPUA NEW GUINEA. Chimbu Province: Kundiawa, Daman Nanga (Sino Pass) Village, 2200 m, 30 October 2012, Pintaud et al. 671 (holotype K!, isotypes LAE, P, Binatang-RC).
Diagnosis:—Distinguished by the robust, clustering habit, the sheath drying orange-brown with dense indumentum, densely armed with needle-like spines, the papery, fragile ocrea almost encircling the sheath, but soon disintegrating, and the robust inflorescence with robust rachillae with funnel-shaped bracts.
Etymology:— The species epithet honours our friend and colleague, the late Jean-Christophe Pintaud (1970– 2015), French palm biologist and collector of the type specimen (see Anthelme et al. 2016).
Distribution:— Recorded from three widely separated localities in the eastern end of the central mountain chain of Papua New Guinea between Mt. Wilhelm and Mt. Suckling.
Habitat:— Primary montane forest, 600–1400 m
11.
Calamus superciliatus W.J.Baker & J.Dransf.,
sp. nov.
Type:— INDONESIA. West Papua Province: Tambrouw Regency, Fef District, forest above Fef, 730 m, 24 January 2013, Baker et al. 1370 (holotype K!, isotypes BO!, MAN!, L!).
Diagnosis:— Distinguished by the leaf sheaths densely armed with fine, planar spines that form a tuft of longer spines at the sheath mouth, the relatively few leaflets (9–12 pairs) arranged in few, divaricate groups, and the lax, flagelliform inflorescence with few primary branches (1–3).
Etymology:— The specific epithet refers to the fine, prolonged, erect spines that emerge around the mouth of the leaf sheath.
Distribution:— Known from two localities near Fef in the Tamrau mountains.
Habitat:— Lower montane forest at 700–900 m.
William J. Baker and John Dransfield. 2017. More New Rattans from New Guinea and the Solomon Islands (
Calamus, Arecaceae).
Phytotaxa. 305(2); 61–86. DOI:
10.11646/phytotaxa.305.2.1
