Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 October 2020 | 12(14): 17057–17059

 

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

doi: https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.6217.12.14.17057-17059

#6217 | Received 25 May 2020 | Final received 02 July 2020 | Finally accepted 08 October 2020

 

 

Hypecoum pendulum L. (Papaveraceae: Ranunculales): a new record for the flora of Haryana, India

 

Naina Palria 1, Nidhan Singh 2  & Bhoo Dev Vashistha 3

 

1 Department of Botany, Government College, Narnaund, Hisar, Haryana 125039, India.

2 Department of Botany, I.B. (PG) College, Panipat, Haryana 132103, India.

3 Department of Botany, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, Haryana 136119, India.

1 nainapalria@gmail.com, 2 nidhansinghkuk@gmail.com (corresponding author), 3 bdvashistha@gmail.com

 

 

 

Editor: D.S. Rawat, G.B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology Pantnagar, India.    Date of publication: 26 October 2020 (online & print)

 

Citation: Palria, N., N. Singh & B.D. Vashistha (2020). Hypecoum pendulum L. (Papaveraceae: Ranunculales): a new record for the flora of Haryana, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 12(14): 17057–17059. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.6217.12.14.17057-17059

 

Copyright: © Palria et al.  2020. 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: Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi, India.

 

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

 

Acknowledgements: Authors are indebted to the Department of Botany, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra for providing opportunity to do this work, and to the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi for funding to carry out this work.  Authors also acknowledge the digital specimen access facility provided by the Kew Herbarium and Edinburgh Herbarium.

 

 

Genus Hypecoum Tourn. ex L. is the only member of subfamily Hypecooideae Prantl & Kundig belonging to the family Papaveraceae Juss. (Stevens 2001).  It is represented by 15–20 species all over the world, with its distribution range from southern France, the Mediterranean region, northern Africa to southwestern Asia (Mabberley 2017; POWO 2019).  In India, the genus is represented by three taxa within two species: Hypecoum leptocarpum Hook.f. & Thomson, H. pendulum L. var. pendulum and H. pendulum var. parviflorum (Kar. & Kir.) Cullen (Debnath & Nayar 1984; Ellis & Balakrishnan 1993; Kundu 2008).  Debnath & Nayar (1984, p.46) have mentioned two varieties of H. pendulum as closely allied with overlapping characters.  Currently, H. pendulum var. pendulum and H. pendulum var. parviflorum are considered synonyms of H. pendulum in POWO (2019), WFO (2020).  Two known species in India (H. leptocarpum and H. pendulum) can be easily differentiated based on distinctly yellow flowers, mid lobe of inner petal being fimbriate, fruits larger, 30–75 mm long, and drooping on curved pedicel in H. pendulum in comparison to pinkish-violet to white flowers, mid lobe of inner petal being non-fimbriate, fruits smaller, 12–30 mm long, and erect at maturity in H. leptocarpum (Ellis & Balakrishnan 1993).

During a botanical exploration, the first author came across an interesting wild herb growing around the cultivated fields, near Satrod Kalan Village of Hisar District, Haryana State.  The number of individuals were very few and scattered, thus only three specimens were collected for reference and photographs were recorded in the field.  After a detailed study of the relevant literature (Debnath & Nayar 1984; Ellis & Balakrishnan 1993), and studying the available herbarium records, these specimens were identified as Hypecoum pendulum L.  This species was recorded for the first time in India from Kashmir (Singh 1975) and later from Rajasthan (Sharma 1976).  As there is no previous record of H. pendulum L. in the published botanical literature for Haryana State (Jain et al. 2000; Kumar 2001), it is hereby being reported as the first authentic distribution record from the state.  The collected voucher specimens (Image 2), have been deposited in the herbarium of Department of Botany, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, Haryana.

 

Hypecoum pendulum L.,

Sp. Pl. 124, 1753; Singh in Geobios 2: 91. 1975; H.S. Debnath & M.P. Nayar, Fasc. Fl. India 17: 45. 1984; J.L. Ellis & N.P. Balakr. in B.D. Sharma & N.P. Balakr., Fl. India 2: 87. 1993. H. procumbens auct non. L.; Hook. f. & Thomson in Fl. Ind. 275, 1855 and in Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 1: 120, 1872; Sharma in J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 73: 422–423, 1976.

Annual, procumbent, glaucous herb, about 5------------------–30 cm tall, tap root well developed. Radical leaves many, forming a rosette at base, 3–10 cm long, petiole flat; lamina 2–3 pinnatisect, segments linear to setaceous, 2–6 mm long, apex acute; cauline leaves sub-opposite, palmatisect.  Flowering stems many, dichotomously branched; inflorescence terminal, few-flowered cyme.  Flowers small, ca. 5mm across, yellow, pedicellate; pedicel 5–12 mm long, nutant after flowering; bracts narrowly lobed; sepals two, 1.5–2 mm, broadly obovate, deciduous; petals four, yellow, two-whorled; outer one rhomboid, inner one tripartite; middle lobe fimbriate, spathulate, longer than the lateral two; lateral lobes elliptic-oblong, partially divergent, spotted with maroon-black dots.  Stamens four, opposite to petals, filaments black-spotted, two glands at the base of each filament, anthers yellow, linear; ovary cylindrical, stigmas two, recurved.  Fruits 3–7 cm long, pendulous, lomentaceous; seeds very small, brown in colour (Image 1).

Specimens examined: KUK- NP 127, 19.iii.2017, 29.107°N & 75.815°E, 210m, Satrod Kalan, Hisar, Haryana, coll. Naina; KUK- NP 151, 20.iv.2020, 29.084°N & 75.795°E, 210m, Tibba, Ladwa, Hisar, Haryana, coll. Naina; K000283528!; K000283530! (Digital images at Kew Herbarium); E00392708! (Digital image at Edinburgh Herbarium).

H. pendulum L. naturally grows in dry and sandy soils along with some other herbs like Arnebia hispidissima (Lehm.) A. DC., Heliotropium curassavicum L., Asphodelus tenuifolius Cav. etc.  The plant is rare in the area, and may usually remain unnoticed due to dissected, grass-like foliage and small, dull yellow flowers.  In the vegetative phase, it can easily be overlooked for being any monocot.  Besides, the fragmented or patchy distribution, the very short flowering-fruiting period also forms the cause behind this being unnoticed.  During a recent visit in April, 2020 to a surrounding area, 50–60 individuals were found growing on sandy cliffs, locally named as “Tibba”, in Ladwa Village, Hisar District.

Flowering: April–May; Fruiting: May–August.

Distribution in India: Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan.

 

For images - - click here

 

 

References

 

Debnath, H.S. & M.P. Nayar (1984). Papaveraceae & Hypecoaceae. Fascicles of Flora of India 17: 42–46.

Ellis, J.L. & N.P. Balakrishnan (1993). Fumariaceae, pp. 34–87. In: Sharma, B.D. & N.P. Balakrishnan (Eds.). Flora of India, Volume 2. BSI, Calcutta, 625pp.

Jain, S.P., D.M. Verma, S.C. Singh, J.S. Singh & S. Kumar (2000). Flora of Haryana. Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CIMAP), Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India. 266pp.

Kumar, S. (2001). Flora of Haryana (Materials). Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh, Dehradun, Uttrakhand, India. 507pp.

Kundu, S.R. (2008). A Compendium of Papaveraceae s.l. in Indian sub-continent: Its distribution & Endemism. International Journal of Botany 4(3): 249–259.

Mabberley, D.J. (2017). Mabberley’s Plant-Book A portable dictionary of plants, their classification and uses. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 1102pp.

POWO (2019). Plants of the World Online. http://plantsoftheworldonline.org/. Accessed on 25 June 2020.

Sharma, M. (1976). Hypecoum procumbens L.: A New record for India. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 73: 422–423.

Singh, G. (1975). Hypecoum pendulum L. A New record for India. Geobios (Jodhpur) 2: 91.

Stevens, P.F. (2001). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 14, July 2017. Available at: http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/research/APweb/. Accessed on 27 June 2020.

WFO (2020): Hypecoum L. World Flora Online. http://www.worldfloraonline.org/taxon/wfo-4000018739. Accessed on 28 June 2020.