Rediscovery of Ginalloa andamanicaKurz (Angiosperms: Viscaceae) – an endemic and threatened species from Little Andaman Island, India

L. Rasingam ¹, P. Lakshminarashimhan ² & P.G. Diwakar ³

¹Botanical Survey of India, Andaman and Nicobar Circle, Port Blair 744102, India

¹Present Address: Keystone Foundation, Kotagiri, The Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu 643217, India

²Botanical Survey of India, Central National Herbarium,

P.O. Botanic Garden, Howrah, Kolkata 711103, India

³Botanical Survey of India, Western Circle, Pune, Maharashtra 411001, India

Email:¹ rasingam@gmail.com; ² lakshminarasimhanp@yahoo.co.in;³ pgdiwakar@hotmail.com

Date of publication (online): 26 August 2010

Date of publication (print): 26 August 2010

ISSN 0974-7907 (online) | 0974-7893 (print)

Editor: N.P. Balakrishnan

Manuscript details:

Ms # o2419

Received 04 March 2010

Final revised received 19 July 2010

Finally accepted 23 July 2010

Citation: Rasingam, L., P. Lakshminarashimhan & P.G. Diwakar (2010). Rediscovery of Ginalloa andamanica Kurz (Angiosperms: Viscaceae) – an endemic and threatened species from Little Andaman Island, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 2(9): 1158-1159.

Copyright: © L. Rasingam, P. Lakshminarashimhan & P.G. Diwakar 2010. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. JoTT allows unrestricted use of this article in any medium for non-profit purposes, reproduction and distribution by providing adequate credit to the authors and the source of publication.

Acknowledgements:The authors thank Dr. M. Sanjappa, Director, Botanical Survey of India, Kolkata for facilities and logistic support; ANFPDCL for permission. First author (LR) thanks Dr. D. Kannan, Thiyagarajar College, Madurai for encouragement.

For figure & image – click here

The genus GinalloaKorth. belonging to Viscaceae of Indo-Malesian region comprises of nine species (Mabberley 2008), of which two species, viz., G. andamanica Kurz and G. helferi Kurz are known to occur on Andaman Islands, India (Karthigeyan et al. 2009). The endangered semi-parasitic shrub Ginalloa andamanica,was described by Kurz in 1872 and has been considered endemic to the South Andaman Island. In the Flora of British India, J.D. Hooker (1886) included this species, without seeing the specimen, based on the Kurz’s report. Later Balakrishnan & Rao (1983) and Nayar & Sastry (1990) treated it as rare and endangered in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. While revising the family Viscaceae for India, Sanjai & Balakrishnan (2006) could not either collect or see any specimen. Hooker (1886) and Barlow (1997) doubted the existence of this species. While surveying the Little Andaman Island, one of us (LR) collected a sample of this species from the broken branches of Artocarpus chamaBuch.-Ham. in the inland evergreen forests. The distribution of the species is extremely rare and only a few individuals were noted on that tree and most of them were very healthy. The tree was found in association with Alstonia kurzii Hook.f., Dipterocarpus gracilis Blume, Dipterocarpus grandiflorus Blanco, Drimycarpus racemosus (Roxb.) Hook.f., Dysoxylum arborescens(Blume) Miq., Kopsia scortechinii King & Gamble and Melicope glabra (Blume) T.G. Hartley. The Island was initially declared as tribal reserve in 1957 and later as a reserve forests in 1963. This species is rediscovered after a lapse of 136 years. Sanjai & Balakrishnan (2006) reported the non-availability of specimens in the Indian herbaria and lack of information. Hence, a detailed description with line diagram is provided here.

Ginalloa andamanica Kurz

inJ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, Pt. II, Nat. Hist. 41(2): 309. 1872 & Forest Fl. Burma 2: 326. 1877; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 5: 228. 1886; M.P. Nayar & Sastry, Red Data Book Ind. Pl. 3: 259. 1990; Sanjai & N.P. Balakr. in Rheedea 16: 80. 2006. (Image 1; Fig.1).

Specimen examined: 15.v.2007, area between Krishna Nallah and Nanjappa Nagar, Little Andaman Island, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India, coll. L. Rasingam, #25930 (PBL - Herbarium of the Botanical Survey of India, Andaman & Nicobar Regional Centre, Port Blair), preserved samples mutilated.

Aerial semi-parasitic shrub, ca. 80cm high; branchlets dark black, terete, longitudinally wrinkled, with whitish, ellipsoid lenticels, glabrous; internodes up to 4cm long. Normal leaves obovate to ovate-oblong or sub-orbicular, 2-6.5 x 1-4 cm, rounded at apex, base oblique, attenuate and contracted into the petioles, entire along margins, wavy when dry, thickly coriaceous, dark black, glabrous; nerves three, obscure above, visible beneath; petioles very short, up to 2mm long or obsolete, glabrous. Rudimentary cataphyll-like leaves borne ca. 5mm above the base of each branch, ca. 1mm long, glabrous. Inflorescence axillary and terminal spike of decussate pairs of cymules, ca. 5cm long; bracteoles entire to shortly fimbriate, densely clothed with stellate crystals. Male flowers very small, globose, ca. 2mm long, petals three, ca. 1mm long, glabrous. Female flowers cylindric. Fruits ellipsoid, slightly tuberculate, angled, ca. 7x3 mm, glabrous, crowned by short persistent calyx.

Flowering & Fruiting: February-June.

Distribution: South and Little Andaman Islands (Endemic).

Habitat: Branches of Artocarpus chamaBuch.-Ham. Very rare in inland evergreen forests.

References

Balakrishnan, N.P. & M.K.V. Rao (1983). The dwindling plant species of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, pp.186-201. In: Jain, S.K. & R.R. Rao (eds.). An Assessment of Threatened Plants of India. Botanical Survey of India, Calcutta.

Barlow, B.A. (1997).Viscaceae, pp.403-442. In: Kalkman, C., D.W. Kirkup, H.P. Nooteboom, P.F. Stevens & W.J.J.O. de Wilde (eds.). Flora Malesiana, Series 1, Spermatophytes 13.

Hooker, J.D. (1886). Flora of British India - Vol. 5, pp.228. L. Reeve & Co, London, 864+46index pp.

Karthigeyan, K., R. Sumathi, J. Jeyanthi & P.G. Diwakar (2009). New records of plants to the flora of India from South Andaman Island. Indian Journal of Forestry32(2): 301-303.

Mabberley, D.J. (2008). Mabberley’s Plant-book: A Portable Dictionary of Plants: Utilizing Kubitzki’s The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants (1990-) and Current Botanical Literature, Arranged According to The Principles of Molecular Systematics - Edition 3.Cambridge University Press, xviii+1021pp.

Nayar, M.P. & A.R.K. Sastry (1990). Red Data Book of Indian Plants - Vol 3, pp.259.Botanical Survey of India, Calcutta, 271+7index pp.

Sanjai, V.N. & N.P. Balakrishnan (2006). A revision of Indian Viscaceae. Rheedea16: 80. 2006.