台湾新乌檀 tai wan xin wu tan

Nauclea truncata Hayata, J. Coll. Sci. Imp. Univ. Tokyo 30(1): 140. 1911.

Trees, evergreen, large, height not noted; branches flattened to angled, gray, glabrous. Leaves sessile or subsessile; petiole to 2 mm, glabrous; blade drying leathery, obovate, broadly obovate, broadly elliptic, or elliptic-oblong, 13.5-26 × 9.9-19.8 cm, glabrous, base rounded to truncate, obtuse, or cordulate, apex obtuse to acute or shortly acuminate; secondary veins 7-9 pairs, in abaxial axils with pilosulous or foveolate domatia; stipules elliptic-oblong to elliptic, 12-25 × 8-15 mm, glabrous, smooth to weakly keeled, rounded to obtuse. Inflorescences densely strigillose to glabrescent; peduncles 1-3(-5), 2.2-3.5 cm, stout; flowering heads solitary on peduncles, 12-25 mm in diam. across calyces, 34-45 mm in diam. across corollas; bracteoles reportedly sparse, not seen. Calyx with ovary portion 0.8-1.5 mm, glabrous; limb partially lobed, with basal tubular portion 1-1.5 mm, pilosulous at least on apical portion; lobes deciduous before corollas open, with shaft linear, 1.5-2.5 mm, glabrous below and densely pilosulous in upper part, with apical portion obconic to thickly fusiform, 2-2.5 mm, pilosulous to glabrescent. Corolla white, funnelform; tube 8-10 mm, glabrous; lobes ligulate to lanceolate, 2-3 mm, puberulent, obtuse to acute. Stigma subglobose to fusiform, ca. 1 mm, exserted for 8-10 mm. Fruiting heads 30-35 mm in diam. Capsules obconic, 8-10 mm, glabrescent. Fl. Jul.

Forests, on coral rocks. Taiwan [Philippines].

This species was reported from Taiwan by Chun (Fl. Taiwan 4: 313. 1978) and later by Liu et al. (Fl. Taiwan, ed. 2, 4: 304-306. 1998) under the name Neonauclea reticulata (Haviland) Merrill, with the name N. truncata placed in synonymy there. However, Yamamoto (loc. cit.) had already noted the differences that separate N. truncata and N. reticulata and concluded that the name N. reticulata had been incorrectly applied to the Taiwanese plants. Ridsdale (Blumea 34: 213-217. 1989) later recognized these as two distinct species and reported an extended range for N. truncata, in N Philippines.