Elaeocarpus culminicola Warb.

Coode, M.J.E. (2019). Elaeocarpus for Flora Malesiana: the Oreocarpus group in Malesia. Kew Bulletin 74: 35. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12225-019-9818-1

Conservation

Least Concern.

Ecology

A wide range of habitats and altitudes.

Morphology General Habit

From slender shrublets to canopy trees 1 – 35 m high

Morphology Leaves

Leaves spirally arranged, loosely grouped towards twig tips; petioles 1 – 4.5 (– 6) cm long, 0.7 – 1 ( –1.4) mm, glabrous to persistently hairy, with sparse, short, straight, adpressed hairs, distinctly grooved above in apical third at least, distinct from leaf-base, obviously swollen at apex, somewhat to obviously swollen and usually geniculate at base; blades chartaceous or coriaceous, mostly ovate, some specimens oblong-ovate or elliptic-ovate, sometimes elliptic, 2 – 4.4 (– 5.2) × as long as wide, (4 –) 5 – 15 × 1.4 – 5.5 (– 6) cm, acuminate, narrowly acute to obtuse at apex (30 – 90° — each specimen with only part of this range), cuneate to broadly rounded at base or tapering towards a narrowly rounded base and sometimes truncate to weakly cordate, dull above, youngest leaves markedly glossy-silky above or glabrous throughout, mostly glabrous when mature, sometimes with a few scattered adpressed hairs beneath, with (3 –) 5 – 9 pairs of main lateral veins (low numbers in the Philippines, high numbers mostly in New Guinea, midrange throughout the distribution) at 40 – 60° to midrib but usually very faint so difficult to count and measure, fine venation network obscure to clear and raised above, areoles < 2 mm across, midrib prominent and main lateral veins scarcely prominent beneath and branching ½ to 7/8 inside margin, domatia absent

Morphology Leaves Leaf lamina Leaf margin

Margins usually clearly toothed (at extremes of flower-size variation ± entire), teeth (2 –) 3 – 7 mm apart

Morphology Leaves Stipules

Stipules caducous, narrow-triangular, thick, tough, tapering to a point, glabrous or with a few hairs, 1.5 – 3.5 mm long, entire

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Androecium Stamens

Stamens (26 –) 30 – 45 inserted between disk and ovary, falling at the same time as sepals; filaments ± straight, (0.5 –) 1 – 2.5 (– 3) mm long, fattest just above the base, minutely hairy, anthers minutely sparsely hairy, (1.5 –) 2 – 5 mm long (up to 7 mm in some large-flowered New Guinea specimens), outer tooth clearly much longer than inner and with a slender awn (0.5 –) 1 – 2.5 (– 3) mm long, often reflexed

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx

Sepals falling at the same time as petals and stamens, (5 –) 6 – 15 (– 16) mm long × (1.2 –) 1.5 – 3 mm, glabrous to medium to dense-hairy outside (very variable between specimens), variably minutely hairy inside, with a low keel inside at base fading towards tip

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla

Petals thick-membranous, just translucent, obovate to narrow obovate (sometimes almost oblong), narrowed in lower third but not constricted into a claw (occasionally margins infold, thus petals may appear spathulate), (7 –) 9 – 19 mm long (very variable between specimens), (2 –) 3 – 6 (– 7)mm wide at widest point of limb, rounded at apex (sometimes ± pointed when dried), with (11 –) 15 – 30 (– 44) apical divisions unequal in length and grouped into lobes, divisions narrow, linear, 0.5 – 4 (– 5)mm long, mostly glabrous outside, sometimes a few short to long shining ± adpressed hairs near the base or centre), margins densely hairy, variously hairy inside (variable between specimens): sometimes just on keel and margins, sometimes throughout the lower 1/3 – ½, keel present inside, petals usually somewhat infolded at midpoint and 2-pocketed at base, the margins somewhat infolded

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Disc

Disk a glabrous, 10-toothed ring

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Gynoecium Ovary

Ovary placed above the disk, clearly narrowed at base, (1 –) 1.5 – 2.2 mm long, glabrous, 2-locular; ovules 8 – 10 (– 12) per loculus; style tapering to a point, (4.5 –) 5 – 15 mm long

Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits

Fruits mostly round, sometimes broad-ellipsoid, 1 – 2 cm long when dried, terete, not flattened, rounded to obtuse at apex, rounded at base, glabrous; mesocarp 1 – 3 mm thick depending on sculpturing; stones ovoid, ellipsoid, obovoid or ovoid with a distinct stipe at base, 0.9 – 1.9 cm long, surface after boiling not persistently fibrous, sutures on surface visible in apical half at least (rarely unclear at base), without longitudinal ridges or crests, surface ± tuberculate to strongly tuberculate or deeply concave-sculptured (forms with small fruits merely rugose-tuberculate, the largest often deeply sculptured), sometimes slightly flattened in TS towards apex, stone wall 0.5 – 1.5 mm thick; loculus 1, central, roughly circular; seed 1, embryo curved and narrow, with entire endosperm.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences

Racemes usually borne behind the leaves, sometimes a few young ones in axils of current leaves, 2 – 7 (– 9) cm long, axis slender, mostly glabrous, some sparsely adpressed-hairy to +/- puberulous, bearing (3 –) 5 – 15 bisexual 5-merous flowers scattered throughout raceme nearly to base; bracts early caducous, only 3 specimens with bracts1 somewhat expanded, 1.5 – 2 mm long (– 5 mm), entire or with some lateral teeth, bracteoles absent; pedicels 5 – 15 (– 20) mm long in flower, slender, 8 – 15 (– 26) mm long in fruit; buds ovoid, acute

Morphology Twigs

Twigs glabrous, hairy at tip or (rarely) persistently hairy behind current shoot growth, with sparse to fairly dense, short to medium-long, straight, adpressed hairs, twigs 1 – 2.5 mm thick near tip, the twig-bark often longitudinally ridged when dried and with prominent leaf-scars, terminal buds non-resinous

Note

While total variation in the Philippines is less than in New Guinea, Mandia 435 (Mindoro, Mt Halcon) has large flowers and coriaceous leaves, looking more like some New Guinea material. Elaeocarpus viscosus was named by Warburg after the gum he observed on the young twigs and Schlechter in his key (1916: 127) states ‘Kelch klebrig’; however, there seems nothing out of the ordinary on the Kew duplicate. Leaves are 9 – 11 × 3.6 – 4.4 cm; petioles 2.2 – 3.5 mm; petals c. 14 × 6 – 7 mm divided into 40 – 44 laciniae — compare E. boridiensis below in which the flowers are very similar.

Type

NE New Guinea [Papua New Guinea, Morobe Prov.], Finisterre Mts, c. 2300 m, Oct. 1888, Hellwig 316 (holotype B†). Neotype: Papua New Guinea, E Highlands D., Sinasiiva, SE of Kundiawa, 2550 m, flowers white, 27 May 1968, P. J. B. Woods, M. Black & L. Searle 1584 (neotype E! isoneotype L!) — this specimen is in flower and combines proximity to the type locality and comparable altitude.