Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 June
2019 | 11(8): 14075–14079
Additions
to the flora of Arunachal Pradesh State, India
Botanical Survey of India, Arunachal Pradesh Regional
Centre, Senki View, Itanagar,
Arunachal Pradesh 791111, India.
doi: https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.4360.11.8.14075-14079
Editor: Pankaj
Kumar, Kadoorie
Farm and Botanic Garden (KFBG) Corporation, Hong Kong S.A.R., China. Date of publication: 26
June 2019 (online & print)
Manuscript details: #4360 | Received 24 June 2018 | Final received 31 May 2019 | Finally
accepted 05 June 2019
Citation: Tiwari, U.L. (2018). Additions to the flora of Arunachal Pradesh State,
India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 11(8): 14075–14079. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.4360.11.8.14075–14079
Copyright: © Tiwari 2019. Creative Commons Attribution
4.0 International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and
distribution of this article in any medium by adequate credit to the author(s)
and the source of publication.
Funding: Botanical Survey of India, Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change, New Delhi.
Competing interests: The author declares no competing
interests.
Acknowledgements: Author is grateful to Dr. P. Singh, Director (retd.) and Dr. A. Pathak, (ex Director in charge) and Dr. A.
A. Mao, Director, Botanical Survey of India, Kolkata. My heartfelt thanks to Dr. V. K. Rawat HOO, BSI APRC, Itanagar
for all kinds of support and logistics. I also thank Dr.
M.K. Kandwal for grass identification.
Arunachal
Pradesh, by virtue of its geographical position, climatic conditions, and
altitudinal variations, is a biodiversity-rich region in northeastern
India and the eastern Himalaya, with a large zone of tropical wet evergreen,
subtropical, temperate, and alpine forests.
The state is recognized as one of the 200 globally important regions
(Olson & Dinerstein 1998). The flora of Arunachal Himalaya comprises
well over 4,055 species of flowering plants (Hajra et
al. 1996).
During the
course of a floristic exploration under the project ‘Flora of East Kameng District’ of the Botanical Survey of India, the
author collected some interesting specimens from the district. These specimens were identified with the help
of existing flora and confirmed by comparing with authentic specimens housed at
various herbaria such as SIKKIM (Gangtok), ASSAM (Shillong), ARUN (Itanagar), and
CAL (Howrah). A critical examination of
literature (Hooker 1881, 1885, 1890, 1897; Chowdhery
1995; Chowdhery et al. 2009; Giri
et al. 2009; Das & Mao 2011; Pal 2013; Bhaumik
& Satyanarayana 2014a,b; Tiwari 2015–2016, 2016; Tiwari & Mao 2016;
Tiwari & Rawat 2018; Tiwari et al. 2018; Gogoi et
al. 2019) revealed that these species had not been reported from the state of
Arunachal Pradesh until now. Hence,
these species are reported in the current manuscript as additions to the
angiosperm flora of the state. Accordingly, detailed descriptions, herbarium
images, and relevant notes based on the collector’s information are provided to
facilitate their easy identification in the field.
Synedrella nodiflora (L.)
Gaertn., Fruct. Sem. Pl. 2: 456, t. 171, f. 7. 1791; Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India 3: 308. 1881; H.J. Chowdhery in Hajra et al., Fl.
India 12: 413. 1995; Karthik. et al., Flow. Pl. India Dicot. 1: 278. 2009. Verbesina
nodiflora L., Cent. Pl. 1: 28. 1755 (ASTERACEAE)
(Image 1).
Annual herbs, erect up to 1.0–1.5 m tall,
appressed-pilose with ascending white hairs; stems terete. Leaves cauline, opposite, petiolate; blade
ovate to elliptic, 3–10 cm × 3–4 cm, base rounded or cuneate, margin shallowly
serrate to subentire, apex acute, both surfaces ± scabrid,
usually 3-veined. Capitula radiate,
sessile or subsessile in axillary glomerules
or capitula solitary, aggregated in groups of 1–4 at the forks of the stem or
leaf axils enclosed in foliaceous bracts; involucral
bracts in 2–3 series, outermost foliaceous, phyllaries persistent, lanceolate,
herbaceous to papery. Receptacle
convex. Ray florets 4–9, 1- or
2-seriate, female, fertile; corolla yellowish, ca. 3–4 mm long; bilobed, tube
2–3 mm long. Disk florets 10–15,
bisexual, fertile; corolla yellowish, lobes short, dorsally pubescent. Anthers dark.
Ovary slightly compressed, oblong, with two flattened, stout, apical
awns; style branched flattened, marginally pilose. Achenes dimorphic, ca. 4mm long, slender, tuberculate,
puberulous.
Flowering and
fruiting: March–October.
Specimen
examined: 29911 (ARUN!), 08.vii.2014, Arunachal Pradesh, Pashighat,
New Yingkiang, 28.624°N & 95.031°E, 200m, coll.
M. Bhaumik.
Notes: The
species grows as a weed in marshy places in the rainy season.
Distribution:
India (Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh,
Bihar, West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andaman &
Nicobar Islands, and Arunachal Pradesh), Bhutan, Nepal, China, Sri Lanka,
Malaya, and tropical America.
Lindenbergia grandiflora
(Buch.-Ham.
ex D.Don) Benth., Scroph. Ind.: 22. 1835; Hook.f.,
Fl. Brit. India 4: 261. 1885. Stemodia
grandiflora Buch.-Ham. ex D. Don, Prodr. Fl.
Nepal.: 89. 1825 (SCROPHULARIACEAE) (Image 2a,b).
A rambling
perennial, with flexuous stem and branches sometimes densely pilose. Branches slender, flexuous, 15–80 cm
long. Leaves opposite; petiole up to 7cm
long; leaf blade ovate, up to 20cm long, decreasing in size upwards, margins
undulate and serrate; lateral veins 6–10 on each side of the midrib. Inflorescences spike, lax, up to 25cm long,
ovate, sessile or shortly peduncled. Flowers sub-sessile, solitary from bract
axils, 2.5–3.0 cm long. Calyx 7–8 mm
long, glandular hairy; lobes equal, spreading flat, orbicular, apex
obtuse. Corolla golden yellow, up to 3cm
long; tube three times as long as the calyx, sparsely hairy; throat with two
oblong red-punctate plaits; lower lip broader than wide, up to 2.5cm long,
lateral lobes oblong, middle lobe smaller than other lobes, orbicular, and
emarginate; upper lip short and orbicular, emarginate. Filaments hairy below middle. Ovary sericeous. Capsules ovoid, tip exserted
from persistent calyx. Seeds ca. 0.5mm
long.
Flowering and
fruiting: July–December.
Specimen
examined: 47060 (ARUN!), 14.xi.2015, Arunachal Pradesh, East Kameng District, Doka Pipu, Seppa, 27.462°N & 93.027°E, 467m, coll. U. Tiwari.
Notes: The
species grows as a weed in marshy places in the rainy season.
Distribution:
India (Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Sikkim, and Arunachal
Pradesh), Bhutan, Nepal, and China.
Balanophora polyandra
Griff., Proc.Trans. Linn. Soc. London 1: 220. 1844; Hook. f., Fl.
Brit. India 5:238. 1885 (BALANOPHORACEAE) (Image 3a,b).
Plants
dioecious, yellowish-orange to dark red.
Rhizomes clustered into a mass; branches covered with granular warts and
scattered greyish-white stellate lenticels.
Scapes reddish-orange, 12–15 cm x 2–3 cm. Leaves decussate but spirally arranged
apically on scape, ovate-oblong, ca. 2cm × 1.5cm. Scales of peduncle imbricate. Flowers pedicellate. Male inflorescences narrowly ellipsoid, ca.
3.7cm long; flowers zygomorphic, each subtended by a single stout and truncate
bract, perianth lobes 4–6, reflexed; ca. 1cm in diameter, anther cells
transversely divided into small locelli, lateral
lobes deltoid to ovate, apex acute; apical and lower lobes oblong, ca. 3.4cm ×
2.2.5 mm, apex truncate. Synandria
sub-discoid, ca. 4.5mm in diameter; anthers broken up into 20–40 dehiscent by
short slits.
Flowering and
fruiting: September–December.
Specimen
examined: 47244 (ARUN!), 22.xi.2015, Arunachal Pradesh, East Kameng District, Bamang on the
way to Seppa, 27.543N & 92.949°E, 1047m, coll. U.
Tiwari.
Notes: The
species grows on the roots of various trees.
Distribution:
India (West Bengal, Sikkim, Meghalaya, and Arunachal Pradesh), Bhutan, Nepal,
Myanmar, and China.
Maoutia puya
(Hook.)
Wedd., Ann. Sci. Nat., Bot., Sér. 4, 1: 194. 1854;
Hook.. f. Fl. Brit. India 5:592. 1885. Boehmeria puya Hook. in Hooker’s J. Bot. Kew Gard. Misc. 1:
26. 1849 (URTICACEAE) (Image 4a,b).
Shrubs up to
2m tall; branches pubescent, monoecious; branchlets zigzag, brown to
greyish-brown hirsute. Stipules connate,
linear-lanceolate, 6–16 mm, 2-fissured.
Leaves 6–18 cm × 4–8 cm, membranous, scabrid
above, beneath white except the pubescent nerves, appressed strigose, elliptic
caudate-acuminate, coarsely toothed; secondary veins 2–4 on each side,
adaxially rugose, thickly snow white tomentose, base
broadly cuneate or rounded, apex acuminate.
Flowers minute monoecious; cymose globose head
in pairs, 3–5 cm long; glomerules lax, 2–3 mm in
diameter; bracts triangular or lanceolate, membranous. Male flowers shortly pedicellate, obovoid in
the bud, 1mm in diameter; perianth lobes 5, valvate, ovate, connate at the
middle, apex acuminate. Stamens 0,
inflexed in bud, rudimentary ovary trigonous-ovoid,
ca. 0.4mm long. Female flowers sessile;
perianth lobes 2, minute, unequal, enclosing base of ovary; stigma penicillate,
ovule erect. Achenes gibbously ovoid-trigonous, hispid, ca. 1.2mm long, appressed strigillose, albumen scanty, cotyledons oblong.
Flowering and
fruiting: June–October.
Specimen
examined: 47482 (ARUN!), 18.vii.2016, Arunachal Pradesh, East Kameng District, Moku Sollung on the way to Pipu
Village, 27.514°N & 93.073°E, 1476m, coll. U. Tiwari.
Notes: This
species occurs in dry hill slopes and sometimes in wet places.
Distribution:
India (Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh,
Bihar, West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, and Arunachal Pradesh), Bhutan,
Nepal, China, and Vietnam.
Isachne pulchella
Roth in
Roemer & Schultes, Syst. Veg. 2: 476. 1817. Sphaerocaryum elegans (Nees ex Steud.) Nees ex Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India
7: 246. 1896 (POACEAE) (Image 5a,b).
Annual. Culms very slender, 10–25 cm tall, prostate
and rooting at below then erect, rarely branched, nodes bearded. Leaves 2.5–4 cm long, acute or acuminate,
ciliate-serrulate, subcoriaceous, ecostate,
nerves very close, leaf sheaths much shorter than internodes, ligule of closed
white hairs, outer margin ciliate; leaf blades ovate or ovate-lanceolate, 2–3
cm × 0.8–1.0 cm, scabrid to thinly hispid, base
cordate-amplexicaul with pectinate margin, apex shortly acuminate. Panicle 1–2 in solitary and terminal, with
very rarely 1–2 lower on the stem; peduncle very short; concealed in the
leaf-sheath; rachis rather stout; branches very many, opposite and alternate,
capillary, spreading, primary branches inserted singly, stiffly and regularly
spreading with branchlets to their base; pedicels mostly shorter than spikelets. Spikelets elliptic; florets clearly dissimilar; lower
floret male, upper floret bisexual or female; glumes slightly shorter than
lower floret; lower glume elliptic-oblong, 5-veined, upper glume broadly
elliptic, 5–7-veined both glabrous, apex obtuse;
lower lemma herbaceous, elliptic-oblong, dorsally flattened, smooth, glabrous; upper lemma slightly shorter, crustaceous,
pubescent.
Flowering and
fruiting: May–October.
Specimen
examined: 47502 (ARUN!), 18.vii.2016, Arunachal Pradesh, East Kameng District, near Langyak Sullung, Pipu Block, 27.525°N
& 93.119°E, 1176m, coll. U. Tiwari.
Notes: The
species grows in open and dry slopes of forests.
Distribution:
India (Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Sikkim, and Arunachal
Pradesh), Bhutan, Nepal, and China.
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