Taxonomic Treatment
1. Medinilla rubicunda (Jack) Blume, Flora 14: 512, 1831; Melastoma rubicundum Jack, Trans. Linn. Soc. London 14: 18, 1823 (Fig. 2).
Medinilla erythrophylla Wall. ex Lindl., Edwards’s Bot. Reg. 24: 85, 1838.
Medinilla emarginata W. G. Craib, Bull. Misc. Inform. Kew 1930: 322, 1930.
Medinilla hainanensis Merr. & Chun, Sunyatsenia 2: 292, 1935.
Medinilla yunnanensis H. L. Li, J. Arnold Arbor. 25: 39, 1944.
Medinilla fuligineoglandulifera C. Chen, Acta Phytotax. Sin. 21: 420, 1983.
Medinilla rubicunda var. tibetica C. Chen, Acta Phytotax. Sin. 21: 420, 1983.
Shrubs, sometimes epiphytic 0.5–1.5 m tall, many-branched. Stems light brown or tan, obtusely 4-angled, later terete, smooth or scattered lenticellate, glabrous; bark wrinkled. Leaves opposite; petioles 2.0–2.5 mm, glabrous; leaf blade elliptic to ovate-lanceolate, 6–15 × 2.5–5.5 cm, succulent to subleathery, both surfaces glabrous, abaxially slightly tuberculate, secondary veins 1 on each side of midvein, base broadly cuneate, margin entire, apex acute. Inflorescences at leaf scars on older branches, cymose, 2.5–3.0 cm long, 3–5(6)-flowered; peduncle to 3 mm, puberulous. Flowers 4-merous; pedicel 2.5–3.5 mm, puberulous; bracteoles 2 at base of each pedicel, acutely triangular, ca. 0.5 mm long; hypanthium funnel-shaped, 4.5– 5.0 mm long, puberulous; calyx lobes inconspicuous; petals pale pink, rhomboid-obovate, ca 7 × 6 mm, apex rounded, glabrous; stamens 8, equal, ca. 1 cm long; anthers lanceolate, ca. 6.5 mm, curved; connective ventrally, slightly bilobed, adaxially 2-tuberculate. Fruit berry, subglobose to urceolate, 8–10 × 5–6 mm. Seeds numerous, obovate, glabrous.
Phenology: Flowering in July to August; fruiting in September to October.
Distribution: Bhutan, Southern China, Northeastern India, Malay Peninsula, Northern Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand. Cambodia, found in the Phnom Bokor National Park, Kampot province.
Specimens examined: CAMBODIA. Kampot: Phnom Bokor National Park, 10°38′ 20.8″ N, 104°00′ 16.0″ E, elev. 1,051 m, 24 Aug 2015, Cho et al. CB-3111 (HHU), 10°37′ 07.9″ N, 104°01′ 55.0″ E, elev. 1,057 m, 27 Aug 2015, Cho et al. 3182 (HHU), 10°39′ 04.8″ N, 104°01′ 47.1″ E, elev. 920 m, 28 Aug 2015, Cho et al. 3194 (HHU, KB).
Medinilla rubicunda has been reported from Bhutan, southern China, Northeastern India, Malay Peninsula, Northern Myanmar, Nepal, and Thailand, but previously never from Cambodia (
Renner et al., 2001;
Chen and Renner, 2007). In Cambodia, this species was discovered in upper montane forest, up to ca. 900 m elevation, in Phnom Bokor National Park. The species was found growing in dwarf forests dominated by
Dacrydium elatum (Roxb.) Wall. ex Hook.,
Lithocarpus elephantum (Hance) A. Camus, and
Lithocarpus leiophyllus A. Camus. It was found growing epiphytic on a 3–5 m tall tree with a stem diameter of 20 cm.
M. rubicunda is similar to
M. laurifolia Blume from Thailand, Sumatra, and Java, but it is readily distinguished from the latter by its shorter petiole (2.0–2.5 mm long) and cyme (2.5–3.0 cm long) bearing fewer than 6 flowers.
2. Medinilla septentrionalis (W. W. Sm.) H. L. Li, J. Arnold Arbor. 25: 38, 1944; Oritrephes septentrionalis W. W. Sm., J. Proc. Asiat. Soc. Bengal 7: 69, 1911; Pseudodissochaeta septentrionalis (W. W. Sm.) M. P. Nayar, J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 65: 565, 1969 (Fig. 3).
Medinilla caerulescens Guillaumin, Fl. Gen. Indo-Chine, 2: 921, 1921.
Anplectrum yunnanense Kraenzl., Vierteljahrsschr. Naturf. Ges. Zurich 76: 153, 1931.
Medinilla caerulescens var. nuda Craib, Fl. Siam. Enum. 1: 699, 1931.
Shrubs 1–3 m tall, many branched, erect. Branches terete, glabrous, slightly scattered lenticellate. Leaves opposite; petioles 4–8 mm; leaf blade lanceolate, ovate-lanceolate, 7–8 × 2–3 cm, papery, both surfaces glabrous or sometimes adaxially setose between midvein and secondary veins, secondary veins 2 on each side of midvein, base obtuse to rounded, margin serrulate apically from 2/3, apex acuminate. Inflorescences axillary, cymose, 2–5 cm long, (1)3–5-flowered, glabrous; peduncle 1–2 cm. Flowers 4-merous; hypanthium campanulate, ca. 5 mm long, glabrous; calyx shallowly 4-lobed, apiculate; petals pink, triangular-ovate, ca. 6 mm long, apex acute; stamens 8, subequal; longer stamens ca. 13 mm long; shorter stamens ca. 11 mm long. Connective ventrally, slightly bilobed; ovary ovoid, apex 4-undulate. Fruit berry, ovoid to urceolate, ca. 7 ×6mm. Seeds numerous, cuneate, densely tuberculate.
Phenology: Flowering in November to December; fruiting in January to February.
Distribution: Southern China, Laos, Myanmar, Northern Thailand, and Vietnam. Cambodia, found in the Central Cardamom Protected Forest of Koh Kong province.
Specimens examined: CAMBODIA. Koh Kong: Central Cardamom Protected Forest, 11°51′ 25.3″ N, 103°34′ 09.1″ E, elev. 622 m, 9 Jan 2012, Won et al. 6590 (HHU, DGU), 11°50′ 18.3″ N, 103°34′ 49.8″ E, elev. 720 m, 10 Jan 2012, Won et al. 6656 (HHU, DGU).
Medinilla septentrionalis has been reported in southern China, Laos, Myanmar, Northern Thailand, and Vietnam, but previously never in Cambodia. In the Flora of Thailand,
M. septentrionalis has been treated as
Pseudodissochaeta septentrionalis (W. W. Sm.) M. P. Nayar (
Renner et al., 2001). However, in a more recent classification in the Flora of China,
Chen and Renner (2007) treated genus
Pseudodissochaeta as a synonym of genus
Medinilla. In Cambodia, this species was discovered in Malesian rainforest in the Central Cardamom Protected Forest.
Medinilla septentrionalis is similar to
M. nana S. Y. Hu from China (Yunnan), Vietnam, but it is readily distinguished from the latter by its terete branchlets, which have a thin and not a corky bark.
A key to Medinilla species in Cambodia