Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 August 2019 | 11(10): 14388–14390

 

 

 

Rediscovery of Nilgiri Mallow Abutilon neelgerrense var. fischeri T.K. Paul & M.P. Nayar (Malvaceae) after a century from southern India

 

Varsha Vilasrao Nimbalkar 1, Arun Prasanth Ravichandran 2 & Milind Madhav Sardesai 3

 

1 Department of Botany, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad, Maharashtra 431004, India.

2,3 Department of Botany, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, Maharashtra 411007, India.

1 varshanimbalkar8@gmail.com, 2 prasanthr96@gmail.com, 3 sardesaimm@gmail.com (corresponding author)

 

 

 

doi: https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.4598.11.10.14388-14390

 

Editor: M. Sanjappa, Mahatma Gandhi Botanical Garden, Bengaluru, India.          Date of publication: 26 August 2019 (online & print)

 

Manuscript details: #4598 | Received 30 September 2018 | Final received 12 June 2019 | Finally accepted 02 August 2019

 

Citation: Nimbalkar, V.V., A.P. Ravichandran & M.M. Sardesai (2019). Rediscovery of Nilgiri Mallow Abutilon neelgerrense var. fischeri T.K. Paul & M.P. Nayar (Malvaceae) after a century from southern India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 11(10): 14388–14390. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.4598.11.10.14388-14390

 

Copyright: © Nimbalkar et al 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: None.

 

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

 

Acknowledgements: The authors are thankful to the authorities of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad and Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune for providing facilities for research.  The authors wish to express their thanks to the authorities of herbaria, viz., BLAT, BSI, CAL, CALI, MH and FRLHT, for granting us permission to examine the specimens and to study the literature.  Thanks are also due to Ramchandra Gore for the photo plate.

 

 

 

The genus Abutilon Mill. is one of the larger genera of Malvaceae with about 120 species distributed in tropical and warm temperate regions (Mabberley 2017).  It is represented by 12 species and 12 infraspecific taxa (Paul 1993) in India, whereas Sivarajan & Pradeep (1996) have reported seven species from southern peninsular India.

As a part of the revisionary study of the genus Abutilon in India specimens of A. neelgerrense were collected from Suruli Falls, Theni District, Tamil Nadu, with flowers and fruits.  The specimens with flowers were collected in the month of March and with fruit in the month of May. After scrutiny of relevant literature and study of the specimens, it was identified as A. neelgerrense var. fischeri T.K. Paul & M.P. Nayar and confirmed by consulting protologue and Type.

Paul & Nayar (1985) described the variety based on a specimen collected by C.E.C. Fischer on January 1910 (Fischer 1581, CAL), from Coonoor River bank, Nilgiri District, Tamil Nadu.  Now this variety was collected from the Meghamalai Mountain range, near Suruli Falls, Theni District, Tamil Nadu (population of 30–40 mature individuals) after 109 years and is the first re-collection after type.

Comparative morphology with its allied variety A. neelgerrense var. neelgerrense is presented in Image 1.

 

Abutilon neelgerrense var. fischeri T.K. Paul & M.P. Nayar

 

in Bull. Bot. Surv. India 25: 183. 1985 & Fasc. Fl. India 19: 90. 1988. Type: India, Tamil Nadu: Nilgiri District (then part of Coimbatore District), Coonoor River bank 1,200 ft, 10 January 1910, C.E.C. Fischer 1581 (Holotype: CAL!, Isotype: FRC!).

Shrub, ca. 1m high; stem and branches densely stellate pubescent mixed with short simple hairs.  Petiole 8–10 cm long, stellate pubescent; stipules 6–15 mm long, linear, pubescent; lamina 8–10 × 4–5 cm, ovate, cordate at base, acute to acuminate at apex, crenate or dentate at margin, rarely obscurely entire, 7–8-nerved, pubescent on both surfaces, more so beneath.  Flowers 2–5 in axillary cymes, rarely solitary; peduncles 8–12 cm long; pedicels 1–1.5 cm long, articulated near the apex.  Calyx 6–8 mm across, campanulate, 5-lobed, divided to below the middle; lobes 5–10 × 4–7 mm, ovate-lanceolate, acute to acuminate, 3-nerved with prominent midvein, pubescent on both surfaces. Corolla ca. 1.5cm across, pale yellow; petals 5, 12–15 × 6–10 mm, obovate, truncate at apex, sometimes  pointed and slightly reflexed, glabrous, ciliate on margins at the base.  Staminal column 5–------------6 mm long, densely pubescent, antheriferous at apex, free filaments, 2–3 mm long, yellow, glabrous.  Ovary ca. 3.5 × 3 mm, ovoid, densely pubescent, 8–10-loculed, 2–3-ovules in each locule; style 8–10-branched, branches 7–8 mm long; stigmas capitate. Schizocarps ca 1.5cm in diameter, subcylindric, erect at apex; mericarps 8–10, ca. 15 × 5 mm, laterally compressed-reniform with ca. 3mm mucro, ventral side of base compressed forming notch, densely pubescent with simple and stellate hairs.  Seeds 2–3 in each mericarp, reniform, hilum pubescent.

Flowering: November–March; fruiting: January–May.

Distribution: India (Tamil Nadu: Nilgiri and Theni districts), endemic.

Habitat: It occurs from 300–1500 m altitude in moist semi-shady situations along forested hill slopes.

Specimen examined: MMS1643 (BSI, CAL, MH, SPPU), 19.v.2018, 9.6590N, 77.3050E, 400m, Suruli Falls, Tamil Nadu, India, coll. Arun Prasanth R.

 

Key to the varieties

 

1a.         Corolla dark yellow; staminal tube 7–8 mm long, glabrous, filaments forming clusters; mericarp curved at apex ........... ........................................ var. neelgerrense

 

1b.         Corolla pale yellow; staminal tube up to 5mm long, stellate hairy, filaments free; mericarp not  curved at apex ................................................ var. fischeri

 

 

For image – click here

 

 

References

 

Mabberley, D.J. (2017). Mabberley’s Plant Book, A Portable Dictionary of Plants, their Classification and Uses, 4th Edition, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1102pp.

Paul, T.K. (1993). Malvaceae, pp. 257–394. In: Sharma, B.D. & M. Sanjappa (eds.). Flora of India. Botanical Survey of India, Calcutta, 3: 639pp.

Paul, T.K. & M.P. Nayar (1985). A new variety of Abutilon neelgherrense Munro ex Wt. (Malvaceae) from Tamil Nadu, India. Bulletin of the Botanical Survey of India 25(14): 183–184.

Sivarajan, V.V. & A.K. Pradeep (1996). Malvaceae of southern peninsular India: A Taxonomic Monograph. Daya Publishing House, Delhi, 312pp.