Myrsine fasciculata (Moore) Fosberg & Sachet

Myrsine fasciculata (Moore) Fosberg & Sachet

Rapanea fasciculata Moore, Bishop Mus. Bull. 102:36, 1933.

Rapanea viridis, Moore, Bishop Mus. Bull. 102:38, 1933.

Rapanea fusca var. fasciculata (Moore) Grant in Grant, Fosberg, and Smith, Smithsonian Contr. Bot. 17:22, 1974.

Described from and endemic to Raiatea.

Rapanea fusca var. fasciculata (Moore) Grant

Rapanea fasciculata Moore, Bish. Mus. Bull. 102:36. 1933.

DESCRIPTION.—Differs from the typical plant in having smaller leaves (1.7–3.2 × 0.5–1.4 cm), shorter petioles (2.5–5 mm), and slightly smaller fruits (3 mm in diameter), which reductions are characteristically correlated with the humid high-moor habitat of the plant. For remarks on similar varietal differences see the notes above under Vaccinium cereum var. raiateense and Styphelia tameiameiae var. brevtstyla. In combining the species we have adopted the name R. fusca rather than R. fasciculata as it applies to the more widely distributed plant of the more typical forest environment.

Comparison of the original descriptions of R. fasciculata and R. fusca yields 10 differences, all quantitative (Table 3). The added values in parentheses are taken from a series of three sheets of the original collection of each, the type, and two isotypes. The extreme length given for the

Character R. fasciculata R. fusca

Moore Grant Moore Grant

Blades (cm) 2.2 × 1.2 1.7–3.2 × 0.7–1.2 2–4.5 × 0.7–1.6

Lateral veins 6–9 6–12 10–12 8–12

Pedicels (mm) 1–1.5 1–2 1–2

Corolla (mm) 2¼ × 1¼ 2 × 1 1¾ × 1 2.1 × 1

Stamens (mm) 2 1.7 1¼ 1.6

Filaments (mm) 1¼ 0.6 0.5 0.6

Anthers (mm) 1¼ × ¼ 1.1 × 0.7 ¾ 1

Ovary (mm) 1 0.8 0.5 1

Stigma (mm) ⅓ 1.5 1.8 × 0.6

Fruit (mm) 3 4 3.5–3.8 × 3–3.5

filaments of R. fasciculata is difficult to understand (typographical error?), as such a length would push the tip of the anther out of the flower. No Rapanea is known to have filaments that long in proportion, and those Grant measured on the type-specimen were only half the length given. Of the above differences, then, only three of any significance remain: the size of the leaves (30% smaller in R. fasciculata) and fruits (12% smaller), and the size of the ovaries and stigmas. This difference in the pistils, however, is due to the fact, not noted by Moore, that the type of R. fasciculata is a male plant, and that of R. fusca had perfect flowers. All other species of Rapanea examined exhibit within themselves this same difference in sexuality. The male flowers of R. fusca, not seen by Moore, have ovaries 0.6 mm long, with a stigma 0.2 mm long, which measurements are identical with those of Grant 5191, clearly R. fasciculata. Furthermore, a detailed examination of three other collections of R. fasciculata from the type-locality, checked by flowering material put up in fixative at the time of collection, even further narrows the limits between the two “species.” It was in an attempt to identify Grant 5221, which seemed intermediate between the two, that Grant came to make the above detailed comparison. It was noted that 27 identical pairs of Latin descriptive words and phrases are used in the original descriptions of the two entities.

TYPE.—Collected by Moore in Raiatea in 1927.

RANGE.—Society Islands: Raiatea, Mt. Temehani: Moore 469, alt. 450 m, wet clay soil, 1 January 1927, male flowers (BISH, type; MIN); Moore 76, ne. slope, alt. 350 m, 16 September 1926, fruit (BISH, MIN); Grant 5191, Vaitoitoi, alt. 390 m (1285 ft), 29 January 1931, male flowers (BISH, MIN); Grant 5221, Teapoo, alt. 580 m (1900 ft), 29 January 1931, male flowers (BISH, MIN); St. John 17256, alt. 550 m, high moor, 5 October 1934, fruit (BISH).

Rapanea viridis Moore

Rapanea viridis Moore, Bish. Mus. Bull. 102:38. 1933.

DESCRIPTION.—Small tree, 2 m high. Twigs glabrous. Blades obovate, 1.7–2.8 × 0.6–1.1 cm, sessile or usually on petioles 1–2 mm long, cuneate at base, rounded to obtuse at tip, usually emarginate, entire or irregularly dentate at apex, coriaceous, dark green, punctate with dots and lines which are conspicuous in transmitted light, lateral veins 5–6, ascending at an angle of 45 degrees. Flowers unknown. Pedicels 2 mm long. Calyx lobes deltoid ovate, 1 mm long, glandular-ciliolate. Drupe globose, 7 mm in diameter (4–5 mm when dry), fleshy, blue. As largely pointed out by Moore, this species, while close to the preceding, differs in the subsessile, darker green, more conspicuously punctate leaves, often subdentate at the apex, with ascending lateral veins, the longer calyx lobes, and the larger fleshy fruits.

RANGE.—Society Islands: Raiatea: Moore 739, Mt. Temehani, alt. 750 m, 15 April 1927, fruit (BISH, type; MIN); Moore 716, “highest mountain,” alt. 950 m, 4 April 1927, sterile (BISH, MIN).

Myrsine fasciculata is a species of plant in the family Primulaceae. It is endemic to the island of Raiatea in the Society Islands of French Polynesia.