Artocarpus nitidus
Description
Tree up to 35 m tall, sometimes with buttresses, evergreen.
Leaves distichous;
stipules lateral, 0.2-0.4 cm long, brownish to whitish appressedly puberulous, caducous.
stamen c. 0.8 mm long, anther c. 0.2 mm long;
fruits ellipsoid, c. 1 cm long.
Distribution
Aru Islands present, Asia-Temperate: Taiwan (Taiwan present), Asia-Tropical: Borneo present; India present; Malaya (Peninsular Malaysia present); Maluku (Maluku present); New Guinea present; Philippines (Philippines present); Sumatera (Sumatera present); Thailand (Thailand present), Lan Yü present, Myanmar present, Solomon Islands present
India (north-eastern), Myanmar, Thailand, China (southern, according to also in Lan Yu (Taiwan)), Indochina, Solomon Islands; in Malesia: Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, Borneo, Philippines, Moluccas (Aru Islands), New Guinea.
Morphology
2Some collections from the Philippines (Batan Island, Luzon) have caudate apices of the lamina.
3The staminate inflorescences are occasionally borne on short-shoots on the older wood: see .
5As the type of A. antiarifolia could not be (re)examined, it is not quite certain that the name is correctly included in the synonymy.
6The collection FRI 19234 indicated as Artocarpus ‘sp. B’ by Kochummen () is referred to this species with some doubt. It has all characters of A. nitidus (including the subglabrous head of the pistillate inflorescence of the ‘griffithii’-form) except for the dense brown indumentum on the leafy twig, petiole, and the midrib of the lamina, in which it resembles A. lacucha. Collections with similar indumentum have been made in northern and eastern Borneo (e.g., and ) and can be referred to the ‘borneensis’-form.
4The material from the Solomon Islands differs somewhat from New Guinean material in the hairs on the midrib above which are all straight and point towards the apex of the lamina rather than partly uncinate and retrorse.
1The subspecies is rather variable and allows recognition of three informal entities:
‘nitidus’-form - Base of the lamina tending towards subcordate, lateral veins mostly 5 or 6 pairs, epidermis of the petiole persistent; heads of the staminate inflorescences mostly elongate, surface of the infructescences densely hairy (velutinous), interfloral bracts of the pistillate inflorescences sometimes early caducous. — Philippines.
‘griffithii’-form with the base of the lamina tending towards attenuate, lateral veins mostly 7-10, sometimes up to 15 pairs, epidermis of the petiole persistent; heads of the staminate inflorescences mostly globose, surface of the infructescences subglabrous or (in Borneo) sometimes (rather) sparsely puberulous, interfloral bracts of the pistillate inflorescences persistent. — Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, Borneo, Philippines. One of the collections from Peninsular Malaysia (FRI 6941) is distinct in its up to 1 cm long peduncle.
‘borneensis’-form with the base of the lamina and lateral veins and staminate inflorescences as in the ‘griffithii’-form - but the indumentum on the leafy twigs and petioles often denser and the epidermis of the petiole often flaking off; surface of the infructescence densely brown to purplish puberulous (velutinous), interfloral bracts of the pistillate inflorescence persistent. — Borneo (Brunei, Kalimantan (eastern), Sabah, Sarawak). Two collections from eastern Kalimantan are distinct in their peduncles which are up to 2.5 cm long.
‘subsessilis’-form with the base of the lamina cuneate to subcordate, in contrast to the western forms the midrib of the lamina is ± densely hairy above and the venation of the lamina often more prominent beneath; the peduncles are on average slightly longer; those of the pistillate inflorescences can be up to 2 cm long and of the staminate inflorescences up to 1.5 cm long. — Occurring disjunct from the main range in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. This form includes the types of A. vrieseanus var. subsessilis and probably also of A. antiarifolia.
‘nitidus’-form - Base of the lamina tending towards subcordate, lateral veins mostly 5 or 6 pairs, epidermis of the petiole persistent; heads of the staminate inflorescences mostly elongate, surface of the infructescences densely hairy (velutinous), interfloral bracts of the pistillate inflorescences sometimes early caducous. — Philippines.
‘griffithii’-form with the base of the lamina tending towards attenuate, lateral veins mostly 7-10, sometimes up to 15 pairs, epidermis of the petiole persistent; heads of the staminate inflorescences mostly globose, surface of the infructescences subglabrous or (in Borneo) sometimes (rather) sparsely puberulous, interfloral bracts of the pistillate inflorescences persistent. — Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, Borneo, Philippines. One of the collections from Peninsular Malaysia (FRI 6941) is distinct in its up to 1 cm long peduncle.
‘borneensis’-form with the base of the lamina and lateral veins and staminate inflorescences as in the ‘griffithii’-form - but the indumentum on the leafy twigs and petioles often denser and the epidermis of the petiole often flaking off; surface of the infructescence densely brown to purplish puberulous (velutinous), interfloral bracts of the pistillate inflorescence persistent. — Borneo (Brunei, Kalimantan (eastern), Sabah, Sarawak). Two collections from eastern Kalimantan are distinct in their peduncles which are up to 2.5 cm long.
‘subsessilis’-form with the base of the lamina cuneate to subcordate, in contrast to the western forms the midrib of the lamina is ± densely hairy above and the venation of the lamina often more prominent beneath; the peduncles are on average slightly longer; those of the pistillate inflorescences can be up to 2 cm long and of the staminate inflorescences up to 1.5 cm long. — Occurring disjunct from the main range in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. This form includes the types of A. vrieseanus var. subsessilis and probably also of A. antiarifolia.
Citation
Kochummen 2000 – In: Tree Fl. Sabah & Sarawak: 203
Kochummen 1978: p. 131. – In: Tree Fl. Malaya: t. 6
auct. non Trécul: Merr. 1928 – In: Gagnep. Fl. Indo-Chine: 738
Miq. 1859 – In: Fl. Ned. Ind.: 288
F.M. Jarrett 1960 – In: J. Arnold Arbor. 41: 121
Merr. 1934 – In: Lingnan. Sci. J.: 56
King 1889: p. 15. – In: Ann. Roy. Bot. Gard. (Calcutta): t. 14B.
Corner 1988: p. 520. – In: Wayside Trees Malaya, ed. 3: t. 157, 162
S. Vidal 1886: Revis. Pl. Vasc. Filip.: 254
auct. non Blanco: Merr. 1918: Sp. Blancoan.: 124
Gagnep. 1928 – In: Fl. Indo-Chine: 737
Elmer 1909 – In: Leafl. Philipp. Bot.: 624
Gagnep. 1928 – In: Fl. Indo-Chine: 738
Gagnep. 1928: p. 735. – In: Fl. Indo-Chine: t. 90
Fern.-Vill. 1880: Nov. App.: 203
Corner 1940: Wayside Trees Malaya: 654: t. 195
Merr. 1906 – In: Philipp. J. Sci.: 43
F.M. Jarrett 1960 – In: J. Arnold Arbor. 41: 102
Elmer 1909 – In: Leafl. Philipp. Bot.: 626
auct. non Blanco: Merr. 1923 – In: Enum. Philipp. Flow. Pl.: 41