In spite of a recent publication of eight new species of
Planchonella (Sapotaceae) from New Caledonia, three additional novelties are here described and illustrated (
P. cauliflora,
P. ericiflora, and
P. minutiflora).
Planchonella cauliflora was discovered in 2006 near La Foa and is the first and sole member in the archipelago with a cauliflorous inflorescence, a genus otherwise having axillary flowers (rarely ramiflorous). The other two were discovered among herbarium material but not earlier identified as new. A recent suggested hypothesis (Swenson
et al. 2007b) that fruit morphology indicates phylogenetic relationships within
Planchonella is supported
. A ridged fruit with acuminate apices and a short style place
P. cauliflora in their Clade D1, a clade confined to New Caledonia. Fruits of
P. minutiflora are unknown, but based on ITS sequence data it belongs to the same clade as
P. cauliflora and it is predicted that the fruit is similar. Molecular sequences of
P. ericiflora are still missing, but based on a pear-shaped fruit, round apices and a fairly long style, we believe it is closely related to a different clade of
Planchonella that is also restricted to New Caledonia. All three species have very narrow distributions and match the criteria of the IUCN red list as Critically Endangered.
Planchonella contains henceforth 36 species in New Caledonia to which we here provide a diagnostic and an interactive online key under Xper2, available at
ftp://ftp.ird.nc/pub/outgoing/biologie/herbier-nou/.
Adansonia
31 (1) - Pages 175-189
