Journal of Threatened Taxa |
www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 January 2021 | 13(1): 17604–17606
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893
(Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.5030.13.1.17604-17606
#5030 | Received 25 April 2019 | Finally accepted 27 December 2020
Star Grass Lily Iphigenia stellata Blatter (Colchicaceae)
– a new addition to the flora of Gujarat, India
Mitesh B. Patel
Bapalal Vaidya Botanical Research
Centre, Department of Biosciences, Veer Narmad South
Gujarat University, Surat, Gujarat 395007, India.
patelmeet15@gmail.com
Editor: Anonymity
requested Date of publication:
26 January 2021 (online & print)
Citation: Patel, M.B. (2021). Star Grass Lily Iphigenia stellata Blatter (Colchicaceae)
– a new addition to the flora of Gujarat, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 13(1): 17604–17606. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.5030.13.1.17604-17606
Copyright: © Patel 2021. Creative Commons Attribution
4.0 International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and
distribution of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to the
author(s) and the source of publication.
Funding: UGC, New Delhi.
Competing interests: The author
declares no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: I would like to thank Forest
Department of Gujarat for issuing the necessary research permits. This study is supported by a national
fellowship for students of OBC, (NFO-2015-17-OBC-GUJ-29274) from University
Grants Commission (UGC), New Delhi, India.
The genus Iphigenia
Kunth (Colchicaceae)
comprises 12 species distributed from tropical Africa, over Madagascar and
India to Australia (Govaerts & Persson
2014). In India, it is represented by
seven species, viz., I. indica (L.) Kunth, I. magnifica
Ansari & R.S.Rao, I. mysorensis
Arekal & S.N.Ramaswamy,
I. pallida Baker, I. sahyadrica
Ansari & R.S.Rao, I. stellata
Blatter, and I. ratnagirica S.M.Almeida & M.R.Almeida (Lekhak et al. 2015).
Out of these, only one species (I. indica)
has been reported so far from the state of Gujarat, India (Shah 1978; GEC
1996).
A recent
botanical expedition in southern Gujarat resulted in the collection of an
interesting specimen of Iphigenia whose characters were found to be
different from hitherto reported species (I. indica). Critical studies of the type description and
other relavant literature revealed it to be I.
stellata, a species hitherto not reported from
Gujarat State of India (Blatter & McCann 1928). A detailed description and photographs of the
species is provided here to facilitate easy identification.
Iphigenia stellata Blatter
in J. Bombay
Nat. Hist. Soc. 32: 734. 1928 emend. Ansari & R.S.Rao
in Bull. Bot. Surv. India 15: 120, f. 1–7b. 1972;
Karthik. et al., Fl. Ind. Enum. Monocot. 96. 1989 (Liliaceae) (Image 1).
Common name:
Star Grass Lily, Gulabi Bhuichakra
(Marathi).
Perennial
herbs, 8–14 cm in hight; corms ovate-subglobose 0.8–1.4 cm in diameter, tunicate with light
brown sheaths, gradually narrowing to a neck above. Stem up to 10cm, high, rigid to
flexuous. Leaves 4–6, 8–14 × 0.9–1.0 cm,
grass like, sessile, linear to linear-lanceolate, apex acute or mucronate, base
long-sheathing. Flowers 3–7 in a short
terminal raceme, white-bright pink, pedicellate. Bracts up to 5cm long,
linear-lanceolate. Pedicels 1.0–1.6 cm long,
stout, grooved, supporting a petal.
Perianth segments 6, 0.5–1.2 × 0.2–0.4 cm, oblong-ovate, broad in the
middle, acuminate at apex. Stamens up to
0.5cm long, light purple; filaments straight, rigid, slightly flattened at
inner side; anthers 0.8–1.2 cm long, purple; pollen yellow. Ovary green, obovoid, shorter than the
styles; style 3, purple, recurved; ovules ovoid-oblong. Capsules 0.8–1.0 cm long, subglobose
or obovoid, loculicidal, deeply grooved.
Seeds 18–26, brownish-black, subglobose-ovoid,
0.2cm long, irregular, flattened on one side.
Habitat:
Growing on moist gravelly soil in most open area.
Flowering and fruiting:
June–September
Specimen examined: BVBRC136,
viii.2018, India, Gujarat State, Dang District, Ahwa,
Don Hill station (20.7330N, 73.8630E, 967m) coll. Mitesh
Patel. Herbarium deposited at Bapalal Vaidya Botanical Research Centre (BVBRC),
Department of Biosciences, VNSGU, Surat, Gujarat, India (Image 2).
Distribution: Maharashtra
(Kolhapur, Satara, and Sindhudurg districts), Karnataka,
and Gujarat (present study).
Conservation status: In Gujarat,
the plant has so far been reported from only Don Hill station of Ahwa Taluka, Dang District.
About six individuals were seen in this area, however, futuristic
surveys are recommended to assess its status in different regions in Gujarat.
Note: I. stellata is easily distinguished from I. indica by its much larger flower and by the shape of
the clawless petals. As per the IUCN
threat criteria, it falls within the Endangered category. It is endemic to the Western Ghats of India
and common to a few parts of Maharashtra.
A few individuals were also collected from the Mookambika
Wildlife Sanctuary of Karnataka (Singh 2015).
The present collection of this taxon from Dang District in the state of
Gujarat is also a terminus of Western Ghats which warrants further explorations
in the remote localities of Western Ghats so as to update its distribution and
threat status.
References
Blatter, E.
& C. McCann (1928). Some new species of plants from the Western Ghats. Journal of Bombay
Natural History Society 32: 734.
Govaerts, R. & K. Persson (2014). World Checklist of Colchicaceae.
Accessed on 25 March 2019. Available from http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
GEC (1996). Biological diversity of Gujarat:
current knowledge. A report compiled and published by Gujarat Ecological
Commission, GERI Campus, Race Course Road, Vadodara, 289pp.
Lekhak, M., S. Surveswaran
& S.R. Yadav (2015). Generic identity of Camptorrhiza indica (Colchicaceae) based
on cytogenetics and molecular phylogenetics. Journal of Systematics and
Evolution 9999: 1–8.
Shah, G.L.
(1978). Flora of
Gujarat. Part-I. Sardar
Patel University, Vallabh Vidyanagar, 580pp.
Singh, R.K. (2015). New plant records for Karnataka
state, India. Indian Journal of Forestry 38: 287–291.