Prismatomeris khoonmengiana is a species of flowering plant in the family Rubiaceae. It is a shrub or tree with thinly leathery leaves, white or cream flowers, and black fruits. The species is native to Malaysia.
Prismatomeris khoonmengiana was described in 1912, and is listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN.
Taxonomy In 1912, Henry Nicholas Ridley named Coffea malayana, a synonym of Prismatomeris khoonmengiana. The species was moved to Prismatomeris by Yee Wen Low in 2015. The specific epithet was changed, as the name Prismatomeris malayana was already used for another taxon.
Distribution Prismatomeris khoonmengiana is native to the wet tropical biome of west and south Peninsular Malaysia. Its extent of occurrence is estimated at slightly over . The species grows in lowland dipterocarp forests, at elevations of up to .
Description Prismatomeris khoonmengiana is a shrub or small tree that grows up to high. The twigs are pale.
The leaves are oblong to broadly elliptical, long, wide, and thinly leathery. The leaf stems are long.
The inflorescence is a compact cyme, measuring long. It lacks a stem. The calyx is cupuliform, and has up to six teeth at the mouth. The calyx tube is long, and wide at the apex. The corolla is white or cream, hypocrateriform, long, wide at the mid-portion, and wide at the throat. The corolla has four or five lobes, which are oblanceolate, long, and wide. The flowers have four or five stamens.
The fruits are globose or subglobose, long, wide, and black when ripe. The seeds are smooth, dark brown, globose, around long, and around wide.
Conservation In 2023, the IUCN assessed Prismatomeris khoonmengiana as Vulnerable. It is rare, and not found in protected areas.
Etymology Prismatomeris khoonmengiana is named after Wong Khoon Meng, a researcher at the Singapore Botanic Gardens, who was the first to consider placing the species in Prismatomeris.
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