Spicata variants

By R. Bourdeix, XXXX, XXXX and XXXX - 2019. In construction
Population and variant are terms that  have a special meaning for the actual coconut nomenclature. Population and variant refer to a group of individuals obtained from a cultivar. Population designate any subgroup located in a restricted location. Variant could be preferred for special morphological types which may be found in different cultivars; for example it exist a special shape of the inflorescence called Spicata, where the number of spikelets and male flowers are much reduced. This variant can be encountered in many cultivars originating from countries as distant as Papua Ne Guinea, Philippines, India, and Samoa.
So when Spicata variant are discovered somewhere, they should not been described as new varieties, but as variant of already existing cultivars and populations. For instance, if a Spicata Tall Type palm is discovered in KarKar Island, it should not be named as a new cultivar, but as a population/variant of the cultivar KarKar Tall: KarKar Tall Spicata  

In the Case of Papua New Guinea, we have seen in Rabaul at least four kinds of Spicata Dwarfs with fruits colored in Yellow, Red (called  Red but often apricot color), Green and Brown. So all these populations need to be registered and conserved. Some DNA analysis may be required to identify the varieties which whom they are related.

So the names of the "Spicata" presently conserved or described in PNG should be modified, as they are presently as follow:

Accession Name
(Cultivars)
No. of palms
Tall
Spicata Brown Tall
22

Spicata Green Tall
8

Spicata Red Tall
3
Dwarf
Spicata Brown Dwarf
7

Spicata Red Dwarf
16

Spicata Yellow Dwarf
12


Please download out poster on Spicata varieties:
There are Tall-type Spicata and Dwarf Type Spicata, and at global level the rarest are the Dwarf ones. In Papua New Guinea, all colors of Spicata Dwarfs are found: Green, Brown, Yellow, Red; and there is probably more than one type of Red Spicata Dwarf. This latest orange form (with Alfred Kembu) was observed in Madang (Stewart Research Station) when all the other colors were seen at Rabaul.





References

 Variety, Cultivar, Population and Accession, what doest it mean?
How an international name is given to a new coconut variety ?

Arunachalam, V., Jerard, B. A., Elangovan, M., Ratnambal, M. J., Dhanapal, R., Rizal, S. K., & Damodaran, V. (2001). Unexploited diversity in coconut palm (Cocos nucifera L.). Plant Genetic Resources Newsletter, 39-43.
Jacob, K. C. (1940). A new variety of coconut palm Cocos nucifera L. var. spicata KC Jacob. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 41, 906-07.
SUGIMURA, Y., KAMATA, N., ROCAT, D. A., SALUD, C. D., & CENIZA, M. S. (1993). Cultivarietal characteristics of ‘Spicata’coconut palm. Japanese Journal of Tropical Agriculture, 37(4), 264-268.
Sankaran, M., Damodaran, V., Jerard, B. A., & Abirami, K. (2015). Multiple Spicata Coconut (MSC): a rare type of coconut in Andaman Islands. Transcriptomics: Open Access.