Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 June 2021 | 13(7): 18953–18955

 

ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) 

https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.5888.13.7.18953-18955

#5888 | Received 22 March 2020 | Final received 17 March 2021 | Finally accepted 22 May 2021

 

 

Rediscovery of Ophiorrhiza incarnata C.E.C. Fisch. (Rubiaceae) from the Western Ghats of India after a lapse of 83 years

 

Perumal Murugan 1, Vellingiri Ravichandran 2 & Chidambaram Murugan 3

 

1–3 Botanical Survey of India, Southern Regional Centre, TNAU Campus, Lawley Road Post, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu 641003, India.

1 murulax@gmail.com, 2 ravichandran725@gmail.com (corresponding author), 3 sivanthimurugan@rediffmail.com

 

 

Editor: Anonymity requested.   Date of publication: 26 June 2021 (online & print)

 

Citation: Murugan, P., V. Ravichandran & C. Murugan (2021). Rediscovery of Ophiorrhiza incarnata C.E.C. Fisch. (Rubiaceae) from the Western Ghats of India after a lapse of 83 years. Journal of Threatened Taxa 13(7): 18953–18955. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.5888.13.7.18953-18955

 

Copyright: © Murugan et al. 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: None.

 

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

 

Acknowledgements: The authors express their sincere gratitude to Dr. A.A. Mao, director, Botanical Survey of India, Kolkata and Dr. M.U. Sharief, head of office, Southern Regional Centre, Coimbatore for providing facilities and encouragement.  The authors are thankful to Kerala Forest Department for granting permission to explore the forests.

 

 

Ophiorrhiza L. a therapeutically important genus (Deb & Mondal 1997) belongs to the family Rubiaceae with 322 species in worldwide (POWO 2020).  The distribution and diversity of the genus Ophiorrhiza is mainly recorded from tropical and subtropical regions of Asia, Australia, New Guinea, and the Pacific Islands (Darwin 1976; Chen & Taylor 2011; Duan et al. 2019).  Among these, 52 taxa are found in India (Hareesh & Sabu 2018) and 21 taxa (including 12 endemics) are distributed in the evergreen forests of the Western Ghats (Deb & Mondal 1997; Sasidharan 2013; Nayar et al. 2014; Hareesh et al. 2015).

During the studies on endemic plants of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve the authors collected an interesting species of Ophiorrhiza L. from the evergreen forest of Chandanathode, Wayanad District of Kerala.  On the basis of critical studies based on pertinent literature (Fischer 1938, protologue; Deb & Mondal 1997) and type specimen at K (K000031234 image!), it is authenticated and confirmed to be Ophiorrhiza incarnata C.E.C.Fisch.

 

Ophiorrhiza incarnata C.E.C. Fisch.

(Image 1)

Kew Bull. 1983(3): 124. 1938; Sebastine in Bull. Bot. Surv. India 4:223.1962; Deb & Mondal in Nayar & Sastry Red Data Ind. Pl. 1:337. 1987 & Bull. Bot. Surv. India 39:61.1997; Sasidharan, Bio. Doc. Kerala, Part 6. Flow. Plants: 227. 2004; Nayar et al. Flow. Pl. Kerala-A Hand Book 531. 2006.

Holotype: India: Kerala, Wayanad District, near Nadugani, vi.1937, E. Barnes 1559 (K000031234 image!)

Annual, erect herbs up to 30cm. high; branchlets terete, ascending, obscure brown-pubescent below the nodes; internodes 3–8 cm long with a vertical line of brown pubescence.  Leaves simple, opposite, narrowly elliptic, 4–10 × 2–3.5 cm, base slightly in equilateral, margin slightly wavy, acuminate at apex, adaxial glabrous with dark green and abaxial pale green scabrid on the nerves; lateral nerves 8–10 pairs, arising at a wide angle from the midrib; petioles 5–15 mm long; stipules 3–8 mm long, early deciduous. Inflorescence terminal, capitate cymes; peduncles 2–4 cm long.  Flowers actinomorphic, pentamerous, pinkish-white, heterostylous; bracteoles 5–8 mm long, ovate-lanceolate, subacute, slightly in equilateral, midrib distinct, pellucid-dotted; pedicels less than 1mm, very short.  Calyx valvate, 1.5–2.5 mm long; tube 5–ribbed, 1.5mm long; lobes 5, broadly acicular, ca. 1mm long, glabrous.  Corolla infundibuliform, 6–9 mm long, 5–lobed; tube 4.5–6.5 mm long, slender, very slightly widened at the mouth, glabrous; each lobe ca. 1.5mm long, broadly triangular, acute.  Stamens 5, epipetalous, exserted, alternate to corolla lobes, attached to throat, inserted; filaments 2.5–3.5 mm long, slender; anthers ca. 2mm long, linear-oblong, 2–celled, basifixed.  Ovary inferior,  0.8–1.3 mm long, obovoid; disk 0.5–0.6 mm high; style 0.8–2.5 mm long, slender; stigmas bilobed, linear, minutely puberulous.  Fruit not seen (Image 1).

Flowering: April–June.

Distribution: India: Kerala (Wayanad).

Specimen examined: 144833 (MH!), 09.v.2019, India: Kerala, Wayanad District, Chandanathode, near stream side (11°50’55.7”N, 75°48’22.0”E, 754m), coll. P. Murugan & V. Ravichandran (Figure 1, Image 1).

Deb & Mondal (1997) reported that Ophiorrhiza incarnata C.E.C.Fisch. has been collected only once after the type based on the collection of C.E. Ridsdale 231 (MH00122489!) in 1976 from Mankulam presently at Idukki district of Kerala.  After critical examination of this specimen with relevant literature, protologue and type specimen at K (K000174141 image!) it is found to be Ophiorrhiza caudata C.E.C. Fisch.  Therefore, the present collection of Ophiorrhiza incarnata C.E.C.Fisch. forms the formal rediscovery after type collection by Barnes on June 1937 after a lapse of 83 years from the adjacent areas of the type locality.  Despite several attempts by different workers in the type locality and adjacent areas it could not be collected after the type collection.  The statement by Hareesh et al. (2015) about the introduction of Ophiorrhiza incarnata in Indian gardens seems doubtful, because Deb & Mondal (1997) clearly mentioned that it has been collected only once after the original discovery.  It is a threatened species and deserves to be conserved in the wild and introduced into the garden.

The species is collected from swampy areas of Wayanad District of Kerala.  No population is recorded after 1937 by Barnes.  Present collection also located as single population of five individuals.  Based on the study of literature, herbarium data and field observations O. incarnata is provisionally categorized as Critically Endangered (CR) based on highly restricted population numbers (<50 mature individuals) D (IUCN 2020).

 

For figure & image – click here

 

References

 

Chen, T.& C.M. Taylor (2011). Ophiorrhiza (Rubiaceae) pp. 258–282. In: Wu, Z.Y. & P.H. Raven (eds.). Flora of China - Vol. 19. Beijing and Missouri Botanical Garden Press.

Darwin, S.P. (1976). The Pacific species of Ophiorrhiza L. (Rubiaceae). Lyonia 1(2): 48–101.

Deb, D.B. & D.C. Mondal (1997). Taxonomic revision of the genus Ophiorrhiza L. (Rubiaceae) in Indian subcontinent. Bulletin of the Botanical Survey of India 39: 1–148.

Duan L.-D., Y. Lin & L. Zhen (2019). Ophiorrhiza shiqianensis (Rubiaceae), a new species from Guizhou, China. Phytokeys 121: 43–51. https://doi/org/10.3897/phytokeys.121.30570   

Fischer, C.E.C. (1938). New or little-known plants from southern India. Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information, Kew 3: 123–127.

Hareesh, V.S. & M. Sabu (2018). The genus Ophiorrhiza (Rubiaceae) in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India with a new species. Phytotaxa 383(3): 259–272.
https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.383.3.3

Hareesh, V.S., V.B. Sreekumar, K.M.P. Kumar, T.K. Nirmesh & K.A. Sreejith (2015). Ophiorrhiza sahyadriensis (Rubiaceae), a new species from southern Western Ghats, Kerala, India. Phytotaxa 202(3): 219–224. https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.202.3.6   

IUCN (2020). The IUCN red list of threatened species. Version 2019-3. http://www. iucnredlist.org. Accessed 19 March 2020.

Nayar, T.S., A.R. Beegam & M. Sibi (2014). Flowering Plants of The Western Ghats India, Dicots. Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute, St. Joseph’s Press, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India, 794–795pp.

POWO (2020). Plants of the World Online. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet; http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/ Retrieved 19-03-2020.

Sasidharan, N. (2013). Flowering Plants of Kerala: CD-ROM ver 2.0. Kerala Forest Research Institute, Peechi.