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Issue: Vol. 616 No. 1: 21 Sept. 2023
Type: Article
Published: 2023-09-21
DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.616.1.1
Page range: 1-26
Abstract views: 689
PDF downloaded: 18

Elaeocarpus mahamayensis (Elaeocarpaceae), a new endemic species from the Knuckles Mountain Range in Sri Lanka

Postgraduate Institute of Science; University of Peradeniya; Sri Lanka; Department of Botany; University of Peradeniya; Peradeniya; Sri Lanka
Postgraduate Institute of Science; University of Peradeniya; Sri Lanka; Department of Botany; University of Peradeniya; Peradeniya; Sri Lanka
Department of Horticulture & Landscape Gardening; Faculty of Agriculture & Plantation Management; Wayamba University of Sri Lanka; Sri Lanka
Eudicots Biodiversity Conservation Sri Lankan flora

Abstract

Based on an ongoing taxonomic study on the genus Elaeocarpus, a new endemic Elaeocarpus species, E. mahamayensis, is described and illustrated from the Knuckles Mountain Range in Matale District (Sri Lanka). The new species had been already noticed by Zmarzty in 2001; during the revision of Elaeocarpus sect. Elaeocarpus in Southern India and Sri Lanka, she referred a herbarium specimen of this plant as “Elaeocarpus sp. B”. The stone of Elaeocarpus mahamayensis is similar to that of E. amoenus, E. coriaceus, E. montanus and E. taprobanicus, but their leaf characters differ. With this new addition, the number of Elaeocarpus species occurring in Sri Lanka is elevated to ten. The conservation status of E. mahamayensis based on the IUCN Red Data category guidelines is determined as Critically Endangered.

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