Journal of Threatened Taxa |
www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 January 2021 | 13(1): 17601–17603
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893
(Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.6181.13.1.17601-17603
#6181 | Received 17 May 2020 | Final received
05 January 2021 | Finally accepted 07 January 2021
The oat-like grass Trisetopsis aspera (Munro ex Thwaites) Röser & A.Wölk (Poaceae): a new record for the flora of central Western
Ghats of Karnataka, India
H.U. Abhijit 1, Y.L.
Krishnamurthy 2 & K. Gopalakrishna
Bhat 3
1,2 Department of P.G. Studies and
research in applied Botany, Kuvempu University, Jnanasahyadri, Shankaraghatta, Karnataka
577451, India.
3 Taxonomy Research Centre,
Department of Botany, Poorna Prajna College, Volakadu Road, Udupi, Karnataka 576101, India.
1 abhitrogon@gmail.com, 2 murthy_ylk@yahoo.co.in
(corresponding author), 3 kakunje_bhat@yahoo.co.in
Editor: V. Sampath Kumar, Botanical
Survey of India, Coimbatore, India. Date of
publication: 26 January 2021 (online & print)
Citation: Abhijit, H.U., Y.L. Krishnamurthy
& K.G. Bhat (2021). The oat-like grass Trisetopsis aspera (Munro ex Thwaites) Röser & A.Wölk (Poaceae): a new record for the flora of central Western
Ghats of Karnataka, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 13(1): 17601–17603. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.6181.13.1.17601-17603
Copyright: © Abhijit 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: DST- Inspire
(IF170707).
Competing interests: The authors
declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: The authors wish to thank the
authorities of Karnataka Forest Department for giving the necessary permission
to collect the specimens from the forest. The first author acknowledges the
Department of Science and Technology (DST), Inspire for financial assistance
and also Mr. Vishwajith H U, Mr. Pavan kumar K S, Mr. Krishna Karanth K
M, Mr. Bharath B T and Mr. Srinivasa Murhty M V for their support during the research work.
During the survey of grasses of
Baba Budangiri Hills, Western Ghats of Chikkamagaluru District, Karnataka (13.4310N
& 75.7580E), some interesting grass specimens were collected
from the montane highlands associated with Chrysopogon
zeylanicus (Steud.)
Thwaites, Arundinella pumila
(Hochst.) Steud. and Agrostris pilosula Trin. Initially,
these were identified as Helictotrichon aspera
by referring to Flora of the Presidency of Madras (Fischer 1934–36) and The
Grasses of Burma, Ceylon, India and Pakistan (Bor
1960). The identity of this grass was
later confirmed by matching our sample with photograph of the type
specimen. A scrutiny of literature
revealed that this species has now been transferred to the genus Trisetopsis by M. Röser
and A. Wölk (Wölk & Röser 2013) as the morphological and phylogenetic
studies by them revealed that Helictotrichon
s.l. is polyphyletic and heterogeneous (Wölk & Röser 2017). The genus Trisetopsis
is characterized by its apical, bifid lemma. This species, Trisetopsis
aspera (Munro ex Thwaites) Röser & A.Wölk, was hitherto known only from Kerala and Tamil Nadu
(Sreekumar & Nair 1991; Kabeer & Nair 2009). Sreekumar & Nair (1991) reported this
species as H. virescens (Nees ex Steud.) Henrard. They
followed Henrard (1940) and Sevenstert
& Veldkamp (1983) to treat H. aspera
as a synonym of H. virescens; however,
in this work by following Kellogg et al. (2020), it is considered as Trisetopsis aspera and reported here as an
addition to the grass flora of Karnataka.
A brief description along with photographs is provided to facilitate
easy recognition of this grass. The
herbarium specimens are deposited in Herbarium of Department of Applied Botany,
Kuvempu University, Shankaraghatta,
Shivamogga, Karnataka.
Trisetopsis aspera (Munro ex Thwaites) Röser & A. Wölk in Taxon 66(1): 38. 2017 Avena
aspera Munro ex Thwaites, Enum. Pl. Zeyl. 372. 1864. Helictotrichon
asperum (Munro ex Thwaites ) Bor in
Indian Forest Rec., Bot. n.s., 1: 68. 1938; Bor, Grasses Burma, Ceylon, India & Pakistan: 438.
1960. Avenastrum asperum (Munro ex
Thwaites) Vierh. in Verh. Ges. Deutsch. Naturf. 85(2;1):
672. 1914; Fischer in Gamble, Fl. Madras: 1802. 1934. Helictotrichon
virescens sensu Sreek. & V.J. Nair Fl. Kerala: Grasses: 351. 1991, p.p.
quoad syn. H. asperum, non (Nees ex Steud.) Henrard.
Tufted perennials; culms up to
120cm high. Leaf blades up to 40 × 0.5
cm, glabrous or pubescent; sheaths glabrous or pubescent; ligule membranous, up to 4mm
long. Panicles up to 30cm long, effuse,
nodding. Spikelets
10–14 mm long (excluding awns); florets 3–5, uppermost floret rudimentary and
sometimes reduced to awn. Glumes unequal, lanceolate-oblong, herbaceous,
3-nerved, acute to acuminate; lower 5–7 mm long; upper 8–10 mm long. Lemmas
lanceolate, scabrous, 7–9-nerved, lowest 8.5–10.5 mm long, bidentate at tip and
awned from back near middle; awn geniculate, 10–13 mm
long, scabrous. Palea
6–6.8 mm long, ciliate on keels. Stamens
3; anthers 2.5–2.8 mm long. Styles 2;
stigmas plumose. Caryopsis
linear-elliptic, 3.5–3.8 mm long, pubescent. (Image 1B- I)
Flowering and fruiting:
September–December
Habitat and Ecology: Grasslands
of high altitude about 1,200m (Image 1A).
Distribution: India: Kerala,
Tamil Nadu and in the present work from Karnataka. Endemic.
Specimens examined: KUAB455,
03.i.2019, India, Karnataka, Chikkamagaluru
District, Baba Budangiri Hills, 13.4310E
& 75.7580N, coll. H.U. Abhijit.
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