Garcinia sopsopia Mabb.

Garcinia sopsopia (Buch.-Ham.) Mabb., Taxon 26 (5–6): 529. 1977. Figs 1, 2, 3 ≡ Oxycarpus sopsopia Buch.-Ham., Mem. Wern. Nat. Hist. Soc. 5 (2): 345. 1826. Type. lectotype (designated by Mabberley (1977)), India, Assam, Goalpara, “ habitat in sylvis Camrupae orientalis ”, 1 Jun 1808, F. Buchanan-Hamilton 1120, E image! [E 00438015]. Fig. 4 A. = Stalagmitis paniculata G. Don, Gen. Hist. 1: 621. 1831. = Garcinia paniculata (G. Don) Roxb., Fl. Ind. 2: 626. 1832. = Garcinia bobee-cowa Choisy, Descr. Guttif. Inde: 35. 1849. = Stalagmitis boobicowa G. Don, Gen. Hist. 1: 621. 1831, nom. nud. Type. lectotype (designated here), India, cultivated in Calcutta Botanical Garden (H. B. C.) (originally from Sylhet, Bangladesh), ♂ fl., s. d., Wallich Cat. 4857 B, G image! [G 00726286]; isolectotypes: CAL image! [CAL 0000065167]; isolectotype: K! [K 001104077]. Fig. 4 B. = Garcinia rhumicowa Choisy, Descr. Guttif. Inde: 35. 1849. Type. lectotype (designated here), Bangladesh, Sylhet, ♂ fl., s. d., F. De Silva, Wallich Cat. 4858 B, G image! [G 00726295]; isolectotypes: BR image! [BR 0000036486748], CAL image! [CAL 0000065165], K! [K 000677604, K 001104080], P images! [P 04701880, P 04701886] (cited as “ Garcinia bhumicowa Roxb. ” on the label, as a nom. nud.). Fig. 5 A. = Garcinia mckeaniana Craib, Bull. Misc. Inform. Kew 1924 (3): 84. 1924. Type. lectotype (designated here), Thailand, Chiang Mai, Doi Suthep, ♂ fl., A. F. G. Kerr 3470, K! [K 000677701]; isolectotypes: BM image! [BM 000611632], P! [P 05061534]), syn. nov. Fig. 5 B. Description. Habit evergreen trees, dioecious, 8–20 m tall, 50–120 (– 150) cm gbh; exudate pale yellow, sticky; branches decussate, horizontal or nearly horizontal; young branchlets green, 4 - angular to slightly 4 - angular, glabrous. Bark brown or reddish-brown, smooth or slightly rough; inner bark red or reddish-pink. Terminal bud concealed between the bases of the uppermost pair of petioles. Leaves decussate; lamina elliptic, elliptic-oblong, narrowly elliptic or oblanceolate-obovate, 9.5–23 × 4–10.5 cm, apex acuminate or acute, base cuneate, sometimes obtuse, margin entire or repand, subcoriaceous, slightly bullate, dark green above, paler below, glabrous and shiny on both surfaces, midrib slightly raised (proximal part) and flattened (distal part) above, raised below, secondary veins 8–12 each side, 0.7–2 cm apart from each other, curving towards the margin and connected in distinct loops and united into an intramarginal vein, flattened above, raised below, intersecondary veins usually absent, tertiary veins scalariform, veinlets reticulate, visible on both surfaces, with scattered brown gland dots on both surfaces, interrupted long wavy lines (glandular wavy lines, also called exudate containing canals) present, of differing lengths, running across the secondary veins to the apex, visible on both surfaces especially on the lower surface of dry leaves; petiole green, 0.9–1.8 cm long, 1.2–4 mm diam., not grooved, glabrous, with a basal appendage clasping the branchlet; in fresh leaves, brittle when crushed; in young leaves, brownish-red, turning pale green, glossy. Inflorescences terminal, a thyrse with many to numerous flowers, 4–12 cm long, glabrous; bracts early caducous, triangular, 1–1.8 × 1–1.7 mm; peduncle 1.2–2.8 cm long, 1–3 mm diam., 4 - angular; rachis 3.6–8 cm long, 1–2.7 mm diam., 4 - angular. Flowers unisexual, 4 - merous; bracteoles early caducous; sepals and petals decussate, concave, glabrous. Flower buds green, subglobose to globose, 2.8–5 mm diam. Staminate flowers in a much-branched thyrse (3.5–11.5 cm wide), with decussate branches, fully open flowers 0.9–1.6 cm diam.; pedicel green, 1.7–3.8 mm long, 0.5–2 mm diam., 4 - angular; sepals 4, green, thinly coriaceous; outer sepals broadly ovate or ovate, 1.8–3 × 1–2 mm, apex rounded; inner sepals broadly elliptic, elliptic or suborbicular, 2–3.2 × 1.3–2.3 mm, apex rounded; the outer pair slightly smaller than the inner pair; petals 4, pale yellow to yellow, slightly thick and fleshy, oblong, 3–5.8 × 2.6–4.7 mm, subequal (thicker and longer than sepals), apex rounded, gradually reflexed after anthesis; stamens numerous, united into a single central 4 - sided or weakly 4 - lobed bundle surrounding a pistillode, bundle 3–4 × 2.6–3.8 mm; filaments very short; anthers 4 - thecous, small, longitudinally dehiscent; pistillode creamish-white, mushroom-shaped, 1.3–2.7 mm long; rudimentary ovary small; sterile stigma, sessile, slightly convex, radiate, shallowly 5–7 - lobed, 0.5–1 mm diam., papillate. Pistillate flowers in a short-branched thyrse, fully open flowers same as or slightly larger than staminate flowers; pedicel green, short and thick (slightly shorter and thicker than in staminate flowers), 4 - angular; sepals and petals same as or slightly larger than in staminate flowers; staminodes absent; pistil mushroom-shaped, ovary globose or subglobose, 2–3 mm diam., glabrous, 5–7 - locular; stigma sessile, convex, radiate, shallowly 5–7 - lobed, papillate. Fruits berries, green, turning bright yellow, when ripe, glabrous and glaucous, cut fruits with a sticky yellow exudate, globose or subglobose, 4.5–7 × 4.3–6.3 cm, sometimes oblique, asymmetrical, without or with a short, thick beak and concave at the apex, with 6–8 longitudinal sutures, pericarp fleshy, 0.7–1.2 cm thick; persistent stigma dark brown or blackish-brown, 2.5–4 mm diam., indistinctly lobed, papillate; persistent sepals 2–4.5 × 3–5.7 mm, larger than in flowering material; fruiting stalk short and thick, 3–4.5 mm long, 5–7 mm diam. Seeds 3–7, sometimes aborted (1–2), dark brown mottled with paler irregular lines, semi-ellipsoid, 1.8–3 × 0.8–1.2 cm, rounded at both ends, with a yellow fleshy pulp. Distribution. India (Assam, Meghalaya), Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand. The distribution record of Garcinia sopsopia was published without coordinates, but it includes a textual description of its location (Fig. 6). Distribution in Thailand. Northern: Chiang Mai, Nan, Phrae, Uttaradit, Tak, Kamphaeng Phet; North-eastern: Loei. Fig. 6. Habitat and ecology. This species is found in lower montane rain forests, lower montane pine-oak forests and dry evergreen forests, sometimes along streams, at elevations of 500–1,550 m a. m. s. l. Phenology. Flowering in September to January; fruiting in March to June (August). Conservation status. Garcinia sopsopia is widely distributed from India, Nepal to Myanmar and Vietnam. It is known from many localities and has a large EOO of 1,779,647.52 km 2 and an AOO of 128 km 2. In Thailand, this species is known to be naturally distributed in the northern and the north-eastern regions and has an EOO 79,178.24 km 2 and an AOO of 56 km 2. Therefore, we consider the conservation assessment here as Least Concern (LC). Etymology. The specific epithet of Garcinia sopsopia is derived from “ Sopsopiya Bengalensium ” (Buchanan-Hamilton 1826; Mabberley 1977). The specific epithet of G. paniculata is a Latin word meaning with a branched-racemose or cymose inflorescence (Gledhill 2002). However, from our examination of specimens, the staminate inflorescence of this species is a terminal, many-branched thyrses and the pistillate inflorescence is a terminal, short-branched thyrses. The specific epithet of G. mckeaniana honors James W. McKean, MD (1860–1949). He was an American doctor and missionary who pioneered leprosy work in Thailand, including the construction of the Chiang Mai Leprosarium in 1908. He began his work in Chiang Mai in 1889 and remained there for his entire missionary life, carrying out general medical and evangelical work (https://leprosyhistory.org/database/person99). Vernacular names. Ma da (มะดะ) (Uttaradit, from the specimen P. Kanchanapan 30); Boobee-Kowa, Bubi Kowa (India); Sochopa-tenga, Sosopatenga (Assam); Sopsopia garcinia, Sopsop garcinia (English). Uses. The fruits (pericarp and fleshy pulp surrounding the seeds), young shoots and leaves are edible and have a sour taste. In India, it is often cultivated for its edible fruits and the leaves are also said to be edible (Jones 1980; Singh 1993). In Assam, the ripe fruits are eaten raw (Baruah et al. 2021), the fleshy pulp being used for making refreshing drinks (Brahma et al. 2022). The leaves are used to treat roundworm (Baruah et al. 2021). Moderately hard wood is used for house construction and firewood (Baruah et al. 2021). In Vietnam, five xanthones were isolated and identified from Garcinia sopsopia for the first time. Garcinone E and bannanxanthone E displayed a significant inhibitory effect against the growth of bacterium Staphylococcus aureus (Nguyen et al. 2020). Lectotypifications. Garcinia paniculata was named by William Roxburgh, found in a few gardens about Calcutta, was originally from Sylhet (“ Silhet ” or “ Sillet ”), where the species is indigenous and known to the natives by the name Boobee-Kowa (Roxburgh 1832). He did not choose a holotype nor did he mention the collector number and the name of the herbaria where the specimen was housed. He also did not provide a description or diagnosis; later, the name G. paniculata was validly described by Choisy (1849). The name G. paniculata has been lectotypified in a first-step by Maheshwari (1964), who cited “ Type: ex Sylhet, E. Pakistan, cult. in Indian Botanic Garden, Calcutta ”, without citing a specimen or herbarium and in a second-step by Mohanan et al. (2023) using the specimen Wallich 4857, noted locality as “ HBC (Calcutta Herbarium) ” at CAL [CAL 0000065167], with an isolectotype at K [K 001104077]. However, we located the specimen Wallich Cat. 4857 representing three different materials, which are distinguished by 4857 A, 4857 B and 4857 C (in The Wallich Catalogue). The specimen Wallich Cat. 4857 A (K [K 001104076]) is from Calcutta Botanical Garden (H. B. C.), Buchanan-Hamilton’s Herbarium; Wallich Cat. 4857 B (CAL [CAL 0000065167], G [G 00726286], K [K 001104077]) is from H. B. C.; a