A new species of Barringtonia (Lecythidaceae) from Thailand and taxonomic notes on B. schmidtii

Abstract

A new species of Barringtonia (Lecythidaceae), B. thailandica, is described from eastern Thailand. This species resembles B. acutangula in habit, leaf and flower characters, but differs mainly by its ellipsoid-shaped fruit with eight ribs. Additionally, B. schmidtii is reinstated as an independent species and it can be distinguished from its closely related taxa B. acutangula by its swollen leaf base, tomentose rachis, hypanthium and sepals, yellow filaments as well as obovoid-shaped, 4-angled and puberulent fruit. B. bicolor and B. badia are conspecific with B. schmidtii.

Pollen morphology of Lecythidaceae in Southeast Asia

“…One other taxonomic implication of our study relates to B. schmidtii, treated as a synonym of B. acutangula subsp. spicata by a number of authors (Payens, 1967;Prance, 2012;Prance & Kartawinata, 2013) but later reinstated as a distinct species by Thammarong et al (2015) based on gross morphology and fruit characters (4-angled, ribless and puberulent in B. schmidtii and globose, 8-ribbed and glabrous in B. acutangula subsp. spicata).…”