Newmania sessilanthera Luu & kornick.

 Newmania sessilanthera Luu & Škorničk., Gard. Bull. Singapore 67(2): 351 (2015).

Newmania sessilanthera Luu & Škorničk., Photo Hoang Thanh Son

Family:

Zingiberaceae

Synonym Name: 

No synonym

Description: 

Terrestial herb to 80 cm tall, with 2–3 leafy shoots per rhizome, 3–6 cm apart. Rhizome subterranean, branched, 8–12 mm in diam., light brown externally, cream internally, aromatic. Leafy shoot slender, leafess for about 30–55 cm above the base, with 6–13 distichously arranged leaves; leafess sheaths 3–5, tubular in basal 3/4–4/5 (lowermost 1–2 sheaths short and almost open), greenish or with reddish brown tinge, glabrous, becoming  brown  and  papery  with  age;  ligule  7–10  mm  long,  obscurely  bilobed (sometimes nearly entire at the top of leafy shoot), green, turning brown and papery with age, glabrous; petiole thick (pulvinous), c. 2–6 mm long, 3–4 mm broad, light green, glabrous; lamina elliptic to weakly obovate, 10–20 × 4–6.5 cm, uppermost two to three leaves smaller, thin, visibly plicate, green and glossy above, lighter beneath, glabrous on both sides, base cuneate to attenuate, apex acute, often ending in a small sharp mucro (c. 1 mm), margin entire. Inforescence arising from the rhizome at the base of the leafy shoot, about 2 inforescences per rhizome, spikes condensed, erect, narrowly ovate, 7–10 cm long, with 7–10 flowers, opening in succession from base to top; peduncle 2–3 cm long, 4–5 mm in diam., sheathing bracts 3–20 mm long, 3–12 mm wide, cream white with dark red-purple reticulate pattern, glabrous, apex obtuse, sometimes ending in a small mucro; fertile bracts subtending a single flower, spirally arranged, overlapping each other by 2/3 – 3/4 of their length, ovate, 25–47 × 20–27 mm, open to base, cream white to pale ochraceous with dark red-purple reticulate pattern, glabrous, apex obtuse, sometimes ending in a small mucro; bracteoles one per power, 18–24 × 10–13 mm, open to the base, semi-translucent, tinged with dark red-purple reticulate pattern, glabrous. Flower 8–9 cm long; calyx tubular, c. 12 mm long, 1.8 mm in diam., unilaterally slit 9–10 mm, semi-translucent white with slight red-purple tinge, glabrous, apex obtuse; floral tube cylindrical, 6.2–7.3 cm long and c. 1.5 in diam., pure white, glabrous; dorsal corolla lobe elliptic, c. 17 × 7 mm, concave, pure white with translucent lines, glabrous, sharply mucronate at apex (c. 1.5 mm); lateral corolla lobes narrowly elliptic, 15–16 × 5 mm, pure white with translucent lines, glabrous; lateral staminodes  petaloid,  obovate,  16–17  ×  7–7.5  mm,  pure  white,  glabrous;  labellum broadly ovate,  21–23 × 13–14  mm at broadest  point, deeply  bilobed, glabrous, slit between lobes about 1/2 – 4/5 of the length of the labellum, marginally refexed, basally white, with  bright red  patch in  the middle,  centrally  purple, lighter  purple towards margins and apex. Stamen 6 mm long, entirely glabrous; flament absent; anther c. 6 × 1.8 mm, connective tissue pure white, glabrous; anther crest absent; thecae 6 mm long, straw coloured to yellow, dehiscing longitudinally along entire length, glabrous; pollen cream  to pale yellow. Style  white, glabrous;  stigma narrowly  cup-shaped c. 1 mm long, c. 0.4 mm in diam., semi-translucent  white;  ostiole facing  more  or less upwards, ciliate.  Epigynous glands absent.  Ovary c.  2.5 ×  2 mm,  white,  glabrous, trilocular, placentation axile, with ovules along entire axis. Fruit an ovoid to ellipsoid capsule, c.  19 ×  13 mm  (not yet  fully ripe)  with persistent  calyx, semi-translucent cream coloured,  glabrous, 7–10 seeds.  Seeds obovoid, bluntly  angular, 8–11 ×  3–4 mm, pink-red (not fully ripe), shortly hairy, shiny; aril whitish translucent, irregularly laciniate, c. 8 mm long, lobes 2.5–5 mm long. — All measurements based on living flowering material from which the type and additional two collections were made.

Distribution:

VietNam

So far the species has been collected from three localities in Sông Hinh and Tây Hòa districts, all in Phú Yên province in central Vietnam. 

Locality:

Phú Yên province, Sông Hinh district, Buôn Kít village, Sông Hinh Forest Enterprise, 269 m

Ecological:

Understorey of lowland evergreen tropical forests, growing on moist soils on granite and along streams. 

Etymology:

The specfic epithet refects the lack of the flament in this species.

Flowering times:

Flowering occurs from June to August, followed by fruiting which likely extends to September or early October. 

Flower size:

5-6 cm

Type:

holotype SGN

isotype SGN

isotype SING

isotype VNMN

Ref:

ipni.org

powo.science.kew.org

H.T. Lưu, J. Leong-Škorničková, L.X.B. Nguyễn, C.T. Đỗ and T.T. Hoàng. 2015. Newmania sessilanthera (Zingiberaceae): A New Species from Vietnam. Gardens’ Bulletin Singapore. 67(2): 351–355.