Agasthiyamalaia (Clusiaceae), a new genus for Poeciloneuron pauciflorum, an endemic and endangered tree of Western Ghats, India

Abstract

The taxonomic position of the Indian endemic tree genus Poeciloneuron was reassessed using morphological and anatomical data. Poeciloneuron pauciflorum differs from P. indicum, the only other species of the genus, in its solitary axillary flowers, inconspicuous parallel leaf venation and apotracheal banded wood parenchyma. Because of these differences we propose to place P. pauciflorum into a new monotypic genus Agasthiyamalaia, gen. nov. Agasthiyamalaia pauciflora, comb. nov., is proposed with the support from morphological and anatomical characters.