Gardens’Bulletin Singapore 67(1): 45-49. 2015 45 doi: 10.3850/S2382581215000058 Bothriospermum (Boraginaceae), a new generic record for the Flora of Peninsular Malaysia & A.R. Rafidah, S. Syahida-Emiza, R. Kiew K. Imin Forest Biodiversity Division, Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM), 52109 Kepong, Selangor, Malaysia rafidahar@fi'im.gov.my ABSTRACT. Bothriospermum zeylanicum (J.Jacq.) Druce (Boraginaceae), a species native A to Asia, has recently become naturalised in Cameron Highlands, Pahang, Malaysia. description of the genus and species together with colour photographs are provided. It is the only representative of Boraginaceae sensu stricto (i.e. subfam. Boraginoideae) in Peninsular Malaysia. Keywords. Boraginaceae, Bothriospermum, naturalised weed, new genus record, taxonomy, Malaysia Introduction In 2007 a fieldtrip to Cameron Highlands, Pahang, Penmsular Malaysia led to the discovery ofa species ofBoraginaceae that was tentatively identified as a Myosotis, a genus not otherwise recorded from Peninsular Malaysia. Realising was something it new, a second fieldtrip was organised in April 2014 to obtain more material and to take photographs so that it could be correctly identified. It proved to be Bothriospermum zeylanicum, which is a new record for the genus and species for Peninsular Malaysia; the genus is not recorded in either the Flora Malesiana revision of the Boraginaceae New (Riedl, 1997), nor in the checklist by Turner (1997). weeds, often of temperate species, are regularly introduced into the Cameron Highlands, where extensive vegetable and flower farms have replaced the lower montane forest. For example, Kiew (2009) recently reported 17 new records of naturalised weed species, of which ten were from Cameron Highlands. Interestingly, Bothriospermum zeylanicum occurs A at a lower altitude (c. 1200 m) than most of these other weeds. ftdl morphological description of the genus and species, together with colour photographs, is provided here. Turner (1997), in his catalogue of Peninsular Malaysian plants, listed under Boraginaceae 16 species in 9 genera: Argusia (1 species), Carmona (1 species), Coldenia (1 species), Cordia (4 species), Ehretia (4 species), Heliotropium (1 species), Pteleocarpa (1 species), Rotula (1 species) and Tournefortia (2 species). & Recent molecular work by Refulio-Rodriguez Olmstead (2014) separated Cordia and Coldenia into Cordiaceae; Ehretia, which now includes Carmona and Rotula (Gottschling et ah, 2014), into Ehretiaceae; 'mdArgusia,Heliotropium and Tournefortia 46 Gard. Bull. Singapore 67(1) 2015 into Heliotropiaceae. Pteleocarpa is now placed in Gelsemiaceae (Struwe et al., 2014). In other words, all the genera listed by Turner under Boraginaceae have been assigned to other families meaning that now the Boraginaceae s.s. is represented in Malaysia only by this new record, Bothriospermum zeylanicum. Even if the narrow & family circumscription adopted by Refulio-Rodriguez Olmstead (2014) is not followed and one prefers to recognise Cordiaceae, Ehretiaceae and Heliotropiaceae & as subfamilies Cordioideae, Ehretioideae and Heliotropoideae (e.g. Engler Prantl, APG 1897; III, 2009), it remains true that Bothriospermum zeylanicum is the only Malaysian representative ofthe type subfamily Boragmoideae. Taxonomic treatment Bothriospermum Bunge, Enum. PI. China 47 (1833); Clarke, FI. Brit. India 4: 167 & (1885); Backer Bakhuizen/, FI. Java 2: 463 (1965); Zhu et al., FI. China 16: 418 & (1995); Riedl, FI. Malesiana ser. I, Spemiat. 13: 63 (1997); Hsiao Liu, FI. Taiwan 4: 387 (1998). - TYPE: Bothriospermum chinense Bunge. Annual or biennial herbs, hispid or pubescent. Stems erect orprostrate. Leaves spirally arranged; lamina elliptic, ovate or oblanceolate, margin entire. Flowers extra-axillary, small, solitaiy but often fonning a leafy raceme in distal part ofthe branches, distinctly pedicellate; calyx 5-lobed, the lobes divided to the base, narrowly lanceolate, slightly enlarged in fruit; corolla blue or white, rotate, tube short, lobes 5, spreading, obtuse, 5 small scale-like appendages present in the throat. Stamens included in the corolla, filaments very short, anthers 5, ovoid. Ovary deeply 4-lobed, style short, persistent, stigma small, capitate; gynobase flat. Fruits-, nutlets 4, veiy small, erect, ellipsoid or subglobose attached to the flat or nearly flat receptacle, surface usually sculptured, ventral side with a large aperture surrounded by prominent margin. Distribution. About 5 species, distributed in Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Russia, Pakistan, India, China (its centre of distribution), Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam and the Philippines; naturalised in Indonesia (Java). Bothriospermum zeylanicum (J.Jacq.) Druce, Bot. Exch. Club Brit. Isles 4: 610 (1917); Zhu et al., FI. China 16: 419 (1995); Riedl, FI. ser. I, Speraiat. 13: 63 (1997); & Hsiao Liu, FI. Taiwan 4: 388 (1998). -Anchusa zeylanica J.Jacq., Eel. PI. Rar. 1(3): 47, t. 29 (1812). - TYPE: Plate t. 29 in Jacquin, Eel. PI. Rar. 1(3) (1812). (Fig. 1 & 2) Anchusa tenella Homem., Hort. Bot. Hafii. 1: 176 - Bothriospermum tenellum & (Homem.) Fisch. C.A.Mey., Index Sem. Hort. Petrop. I: 23 (1835); Clarke, FI. Brit. India 4: 168 (1885); Backer & Bakliuizen, f, FI. Java 2: 463 (1965). - TYPE: Herb. C Vahl s.n. ‘Hab. in China’ (holotype n.v.). Bothriospermum, anew generic record forPeninsularMalaysia 47 Fig. 1. Bothriospermum zeylanicum (JJacq.) Druce. A-B. Habit. C. Arrangement offlowers and fruits. D. Nutlet. E. Leaf F. Flower. Scale bars: A, B, C (5 cm); D (1 mm); E (2 mm); F (5 mm). (Photos: A.R. Rafidah) 48 Gard. Bull. Singapore 67(1) 2015 Fig. 2. Habitat ofBothriospermum zeylanicum (JJacq.) Druce. (Photo: A.R. Rafidah) Short-lived herbs with prostrate stems. Stems slender, densely pubescent throughout, mm much branched, up to 50 cm long. Leaves: petiole short, c. 5 long in lower leaves, lacking in the upper; lowermost laminas 20-30 x 6-10 mm, decreasing in size to 4-10 mm X 2-4 in the upper ones, elliptic to lanceolate, margin slightly undulate, densely strigose on both surfaces, base cuneate, midrib impressed above, prominent beneath, mm apex acute. Pedicels c. 2 long. Flowers: calyx green, densely hairy outside; mm corolla white or very pale purple (in Peninsular Malaysia), c. 2 long, lobes 5, mm longer than the tube, c. 2 long, apex broadly rounded, throat appendages white, trapeziform, emarginate, c. 0.2 mm. Stamens 5, included, inserted at the middle of corolla tube, filaments short, anther yellowish turning brown. Ovary green, style less mm mm than 1 long, terete. Nutlets green turning brown, ellipsoid, to 1 long, aperture mm longitudinally elliptic, surface warty; calyx persistent, c. 3 long. Distribution. As for the genus, in Peninsular Malaysia only from Cameron Highlands, Pahang. Ecology. Growing in waste land on sandy soil or in open fields or near rivers, at m c. 1200 altitude. Bothriospermum, anew generic record forPeninsularMalaysia 49 Specimens examined. PENINSULAR MALAYSIA: Pahang: Cameron Highlands, Belati Estate, 4°27'N 101°28'E, 8 Oct 2007, Kiew et al, FRI70433 (KEP), Kampung Terla, 4°31'N I01°23'E, 8 Oct 2007, Kiew et al, FRI70473 (KEP), Habu, 4°26'N I0I°23'E, 23 Apr 2014, Rqfidah etal, FR175968 (KEP), Habu, 4°26'N I01°23'E, 23 A^x2(dU,Rafidah etal, FRI75969 (KEP). ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. This research was carried out as part of the Documentation and Inventory Flora Malaysia project (Flora of Peninsular Malaysia) funded by the Ministry of Science, Teclmology andInnovation atthe Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM), Kepong. We are grateful to the curators and staff of the herbaria at BO, K and KEP for permission to examine specimens in their care and for providing information and images. We thank Dr Saw Leng Guan and Dr Richard Chung for their helpful comments and two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on the manuscript. References APG III. (2009). An update ofthe Angiospenn Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families offlowering plants: APGIII. Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 161: 105-121. & Engler, H.G.A, Prantl, K. (1897). DieNatiirJichen Pflanzenfamilien. Leipzig: W. Engelmann. & Gottschling, M., Luebert, F., Hilger, H.H. Miller, J.S. (2014). Molecular delimitations in the Ehretiaceae Boraginales). Mo/^c. Phylogenet. Evol. 72: 1-6. ( Kiew, R. 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