4 species recorded from New Guinea. Click on a name to go to its species page
Description (Barlow 1974)
Sogerianthe Dans. Verh. Akad. Wet. Amst. afd. Natuurk. 29: 106 (1933); J. Am. Arb. 16: 208 (1935); Bull. Jard. bot. Buitenz. 14: 95 (1936); Loranthus sect. Sogerianthe Engl. & Krause, Nat. Pfl. Fam. ed. 2 16b: 163 (1935). Type Species-S. sogerensis (Moore) Dans.
Aerial stein-parasitic shrubs with runners. Leaves opposite; venation pennate but somewhat curvinerved. Inflorescence axillary, primarily a solitary flower on a short pedicel at the apex of a short peduncle, i.e., on an articulate 'pedicel', but sometimes with the 'pedicel' apparently non-articulate owing to reduction of the peduncular segment. Bracts 2 or 3 under the flower (the peduncular segment ebracteate), free or variously united. Corolla gamopetalous, 6-merous, regular. Anthers basifixed, immobile. Basic Chromosome Number.- x = 9.
A genus of four species, endemic to Eastern New Guinea, New Britain, the Solomon Islands and the D'Entrecasteaux and Louisiade Islands. It is probably a specialized and reduced derivative of gamopetalous Amyema stock (see notes under Amyema and A. brassii). The four species accepted here are remarkably similar vegetatively, having terete stems enlarged at the nodes and lanceolate to ovate leaves acuminate at the apex. There are usually many inflorescences at the nodes, surrounded by numerous chaffy scales. Nevertheless the inflorescence characters indicate that the four entities are sharply delimited.
The inflorescence is interpreted as being greatly reduced, and consisting of a solitary pedicellate flower on a short common peduncle. The articulation which is often visible in the flower stalk therefore separates the lower, peduncular segment from the upper part which is the true pedicel. In some cases the peduncular segment is so reduced that no articulation is visible, and only the true pedicel can be seen. For convenience in the descriptions which follow, the term 'pedicel' has been loosely applied to the entire flower stalk, which is therefore articulate in some forms but not in others.
Key to Species of Sogerianthe
1a. Bracts 2, free, broadly imbricate, almost
enclosing the calyx, 2-4 by 2-3 mm. 'Pedicel' 0.5-2 mm long 2.
S. sessiliflora
1b. Bracts 3, free or variously united or reduced
to an obsolete limb (sometimes apparently 2 due to fusion of 2
bracts), up to 1.5 mm long 2
2a. 'Pedicel' not articulate. Bracts united at the margins into
a shallow, entire or 3-lobed cup (sometimes obsolete) 3
2b. 'Pedicel' articulate above the middle, 4-7 mm long. Bracts
free or two of them partly or wholly united 3. S. sogerensis
3a. 'Pedicel' 3-8 mm long. Calyx limb 0.5-1
mm long. Bracteal cup usually truncate, 0.7 mm long 4.
S. versicolor
3b. 'Pedicel' usually 2-3 mm long. Calyx limb 1-2 mm long.
Bracteal cup 3-lobed, 1-1.5 mm long 1. S. cupuliformis
Sogerianthe Genus
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Updated 28 June 2003