On the occurrence and distribution of the narrowly endemic Andaman Lantern Flower Ceropegia andamanica (Apocynaceae: Ceropegieae)

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The genus Ceropegia L.
(Apocynaceae, Asclepiadoideae) is the largest of the tribe Ceropegieae, represented by 190-200 taxa (Meve 2002;Mabberley 2017). The genus is distributed mainly in tropical and subtropical regions of the old world from the Canary Islands in the west through Africa, Madagascar, Arabia, India, southeastern Asia, New Guinea, and northern Australia in the east (Kidyoo & Paliyavuth 2017). Karthikeyan et al. (2009)  Ceropegia are considered very attractive owing to the intricate ornamental nature of their "fly trap" flowers and their ecological adaptations. Flowers of distinctive color, pattern, and shape are unique to this genus. The Andaman & Nicobar Islands, with a total geographical area of 8,249km 2 , stretch from Myanmar in the north to Sumatra in the south. This is one of the major phytogeographical regions of India, well known for tropical lowland rainforests (Nayar 1997). The floral components of these islands show many similarities with Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Sri Lanka. Most of the species found on these islands are also found outside India (Balakrishnan & Rao 1983).
While studying and identifying old specimens collected from Andaman & Nicobar Islands deposited at CAL, the authors found a specimen of Ceropegia sp. collected from South Andaman Island in 1890. On further examination of the specimen and scrutiny of literature, it was found to be Ceropegia andamanica Sreek., Veenak. & Prashanth.
It is interesting to note that Dr. King's collection from Goplakabang, South Andamans in 1890, came almost 108 years before the species was described in 1998 from the collections made from Mount Harriet in South Andaman Islands. The 1890 collection was from a different locality, from where this species was not reported until now. The species was also collected in the recent past from different localities by N.G. Nair in 1975, from Herbertabad in South Andaman almost 23 years NOTE J TT before the type collection, and by Sam K. Mathew from Mount Harriet in 1989, but remained unrecognized. Sreekumar & Veenakumari collected this species from Mount Harriet (1995) and identified it to be a new species and published it as Ceropegia andamanica in 1998. The purpose of this article is to update the distribution data of the species and provide a detailed description, image of the oldest herbarium specimen collected 108 years before the type collection, and to map its distribution to aid the conservation of this rare and narrow endemic species (Figure 1). A color photograph is also provided for easy identification. The species is also critically evaluated as per the recent IUCN category. Perennial herb with watery latex. Leaves simple, opposite-decussate, lanceolate, 5-15 x 1-5 cm, chartaceous, base shallowly cordate, margins entire, apex acute to acuminate, dark green above, glaucous beneath, glabrous, lateral veins 2-8 pairs, more or less prominent on both surfaces, tertiary veins prominent on both surfaces. Petiole 0.5-2 cm long, slender, glabrous. Inflorescence axillary, pedunculate, in 3-8-flowered cymes; peduncle slender, 1-2.5 cm long, glabrous. Flowers purple, 4-12 cm long; bracts 3-4 mm long, Image 1. Ceropegia andamanica Sreek., Veenak. & Prashanth -a flowering twig. glabrous; pedicel slender, 0.5-2 cm long, glabrous. Calyx 5-lobed; sepals 5, subulate, 0.5-1 cm long, glabrous. Corolla 5-12 cm long; corolla tube 1.5-2 cm long, dilated at base, sub-cylindrical, funnel shaped at throat; corolla lobes 3-7 cm long, connate at the tip, twisted, whip like, purplish, hairy. Corona biseriate; outer corona c. 3x2 mm, with 5 ovate-retuse bifid lobes, ciliate along margin and inside; inner corona with 5 erect, club shaped lobes, c. 2x1 mm, glabrous. Fruits not seen.
Habitat: Along the edges of inland evergreen forests in association with Mallotus resinosus (Blanco) Merr. and Phaulopsis imbricata Sweet.

Conservation status
The species is endemic and reported so far only from three locations in Andaman Islands, India. The extent of occurrence (EOO) of the species is estimated as c. 33km 2 (severely fragmented and with a projected decline in area of occupancy, number of locations, and number of mature individuals) and the area of occupancy (AOO) of the species is estimated as c. 12km 2 . The AOO is measured against the grid size of 4km 2 for each of the three locations. The number of mature individual of this