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
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.