Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26
December 2019 | 11(15): 15079–15082
Bhutan Asiabell Codonopsis bhutanica Ludlow (Asterales: campanulaceae): a new addition to the Indian flora
Samiran Panday 1, Vikas Kumar 2 , Sudhansu
Sekhar Dash 3, Bipin Kumar Sinha 4 & Paramjit Singh
5
1 Budge Budge
College, 7-D.C. Das Road, Shyampur, Kolkata, West
Bengal 700137, India.
2 Central
National Herbarium, Botanical Survey of India, Howrah, West Bengal 711103,
India.
3,4,5 Botanical
Survey of India, CGO Complex, Sector 1, Salt Lake, Kolkata, West Bengal 700064,
India.
1 drsamiranpanday@gmail.com,
2 vmadhukar7@gmail.com, 3 ssdash2002@gmail.com
(corresponding author), 4 drbks2004@gmail.com, 5 pchanna@gmail.com
doi: https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.4708.11.15.15079-15082
Editor: Pankaj Kumar, Kadoorie
Farm and Botanic Garden (KFBG) Corporation, Tai Po, Hong Kong S.A.R., China. Date of publication: 26 December
2019 (online & print)
Manuscript details: #4708 | Received 18 November 2018 | Final received 13 December 2019 |
Finally accepted 16 December 2019
Citation: Panday, S., V. Kumar, S.S. Dash,
B.K. Sinha & P. Singh (2019). Bhutan Asiabell Codonopsis bhutanica
Ludlow (Asterales: campanulaceae):
a new addition to the Indian flora. Journal of Threatened Taxa 11(15): 15079–15082. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.4708.11.15.15079-15082
Copyright: © Panday 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: MOEF&CC, New Delhi (under the NMHS scheme (NMHS/2015–16/LG–05)).
Competing interests: The authors declare no competing
interests.
Acknowledgements: The authors
are grateful to the Director, Botanical Survey of India (BSI), Kolkata, and to:
the head of Central National Herbarium (BSI), Howrah, for facilities and
encouragement; the Forest Department and deputy commissioner, Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh for giving permission for the
fieldwork; and MOEF&CC, New Delhi.
The genus Codonopsis
Wall. [Campanulaceae] comprises of about 55
species distributed in central, eastern, and southern Asia, with Indochina
region as the primary centre of speciation (Hong 2015; Dash 2018; Mabberley 2018). The
members of the genus are characterized by perennials herbaceous ascending herbs
or twiners, with solitary and large campanulate flowers; and with a peculiar
foetid odour. C.B. Clarke (1881) reported 10 species of Codonopsis
from British India; Kanjilal et al. (1939) reported
only two species in Flora of Assam; Haridasan &
Mukherjee (1996) dealt with 13 species of Codonopsis
in Fascicles of Flora of India; and recently Dash & Mao (2011) described a
new species Codonopsis vadsea
S.S. Dash & A.A. Mao from Vadse Hills of
Arunachal Pradesh, while Mao & Barbhuiya (2014)
reported a Codonopsis tubulosa
Kom. from Dzukou Valley of
Manipur. The present estimate shows that the genus is represented by 15 species
in India, primarily distributed in the Himalayan region and adjacent areas
(Dash 2018).
During our
field exploration in Tawang District, Arunachal
Pradesh in August 2017, some interesting plants of Codonopsis
were collected from the sub-alpine area of the Bumla
region (Images 1 & 2, Figure 1). A
thorough study of the live material, available relevant literature (Clarke
1881; Kanjilal et al. 1939; Haridasan
& Mukherjee 1996; Clement 2001; Giri et al. 2008;
Hong et al. 2011; Dash & Mao 2011; Panday & Sinha 2012; Mao & Barbhuiya 2014; Hong 2015) and comparison of herbarium
specimens and images with ASSAM, BM, CAL and K, the identity of the taxa was
confirmed as Codonopsis bhutanica
Ludlow. The species has not been
reported from India so far, and thus reported here as an addition to the Indian
flora. A detailed taxonomic description
along with a photo collage illustrating different features of the plant, and a
map showing the locality is provided here.
Codonopsis bhutanica Ludlow,
J. Roy. Hort.
Soc. 97: 127. 1972; R.A. Clement in Grierson & D.G. Long (eds.), Fl. Bhutan
2(3): 1385. 2001; Deyuan et al. in Z.G. Wu, P. Raven
& D.Y. Hong (eds.), Fl. China 19: 523. 2011. C. thalictrifolia
sensu Kanwal et al., J.
Threat. Taxa 11(9): 14229. 2019 (non. Wall. 1824: 106).
Type: Bhutan,
northeastern Bhutan, Shingbe
Me La, 27.9660N & 91.6500E, 3810m, 02.vii.1949, F.
Ludlow, G. Sherriff & J.H. Hicks. 20786 (BM000996411!).
Plants
herbaceous. Stems procumbent, 25–45 cm, with several slender branches at lower
part; branches with purple spots, faintly hairy. Leaves alternate or nearly opposite,
ovate-oblong or narrowly oblong, cordate, 7–22 × 6–18 mm, entire or thickened
at margin, often recurved, obtuse at apex, sparsely hispidulous
on both surface, more along the midrib on ventral surface; sessile or shortly
petiolate, petiole 2–4 mm long. Flowers
solitary, terminal on the main stem and sometimes on upper branches, rachis
6–10 cm long, often with purple patches; calyx adnate to ovary up to middle,
lobes linear, or narrowly ovate, 6–11 × 3–5 mm, glabrous
or hispidulous.
Corolla tubular, 12–16 mm, deeply purple, violet at base; outer surface
of corolla pale blue or purplish, inner surface of corolla whitish with purple
spots; corolla lobe 5, rounded. Stamens
5; filaments dilated at base, pale yellow, glabrous,
3–4 mm long; anthers basifixed, yellow, 2–2.5 mm. Gynoecium 8–12 mm long, lower half of style
with ovary deep violet, upper half with stigma pale violet in colour; ovary
inferior, 3-locular with numerous ovules; stigma 3-fid, c. 2mm across. Capsules conical, green, 12–15 × 8–12
mm. Seeds numerous, ellipsoid.
Flowering
& Fruiting: July–October.
Habitat and
ecology: Rarely found in grassy slopes or
thickets, 3,500–4,500 m.
Distribution: Bhutan, Nepal, India (Arunachal Pradesh—this
report).
Specimen
examined: 87971 (CAL!), 31.viii.2017,
India, Arunachal Pradesh, Tawang District, Bumla, Near Nagula Lake, 27.651°N
& 91.861°E, 4,100m, coll. V. Kumar & S. Panday (Image 3).
Associated
species: The species is found associated
with Meconopsis simplicifolia
(D. Don) Walp., Pedicularis
siphonantha D. Don, Codonopsis
foetens Hook.f. &
Thomson, Juncus cephalostigma
Sam., Gypsophila cerastoides D. Don etc.
Notes: The species was previously reported only from Nepal
and Bhutan and considered as endemic to central and eastern Nepal and Bhutan
(Hong 2015); however, the collection of this species from the Bumla area of Arunachal Pradesh confirms its occurrences in
India and shows an eastern extension from its type locality. Kanwal et al.
(2019) have erroneously reported Codonopsis thalictrifolia as a new distributional record
for Arunachal Pradesh. The herbarium and
coloured image provided by Kanwal et al. (2019) shows
that the flowers are campanulate, deep reddish-purple, corolla c. 1.4 cm long,
corolla lobes triangular-ovate in shape and all these characters refer to the
species C. bhutanica instead of C. thalictrifolia in which flowers are tubular, flared at
mouth, pale blue, corolla 2.5–5.5 cm long, corolla lobes broadly oblong in
shape.
For
figure & images - - click here
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