Journal of Threatened Taxa |
www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 September 2021 | 13(11): 19636–19639
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893
(Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.7368.13.11.19636-19639
#7368 | Received 27 April 2021 | Final
received 01 August 2021 | Finally accepted 07 August 2021
Glyphochloa acuminata (Hack.) Clayton var. laevis (Poaceae): a
new variety from central Western Ghats of Karnataka, India
H.U. Abhijit 1 &
Y.L. Krishnamurthy 2
1,2 Department of PG Studies and
Research in Applied Botany, Kuvempu University, Jnanasahyadri, Shankaraghatta,
Karnataka 577451, India.
1 abhitrogon@gmail.com, 2 murthy_ylk@yahoo.co.in
(corresponding author)
Editor: Anonymity
requested. Date of publication:
26 September 2021 (online & print)
Citation: Abhijit, H.U. & Y.L.
Krishnamurthy (2021). Glyphochloa acuminata (Hack.) Clayton var. laevis (Poaceae): a new
variety from central Western Ghats of Karnataka, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 13(11): 19636–19639. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.7368.13.11.19636-19639
Copyright: © Abhijit & Krishnamurthy 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 Dr. K. G. Bhat, Retd. Professor,
PPC, Udupi for Identification confirmation & discussion regarding the
subject and 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 Kuvempu University for lab facilities, also Mr.
Ravish K.N., Mr. Vishwajith H.U., and Dr. Shravan Kumar S., Mr. Krishna Kulkarni for their
support during the field works and manuscript writes up.
Abstract: This communication describes a
new variety of Glyphochloa acuminata var. laevis
from the lateritic plateau of central Western Ghats of Karnataka, southern
India.
Keywords: Endemic grass, lateritic
plateau, southern India.
The genus Glyphochloa
is endemic to peninsular India and consists of 13 species and four varieties
(Prasad et al. 2021). This genus is characterized by the presence of turbinate
callus with knob at the center and ornamentation in
the crustaceous lower glume of sessile spikelet. Bor
(1960) reported five species under the genus Manisuris
L., later Clayton (1981) transferred all Manisuris
species to the new genus Glyphochloa W.D.
Clayton. excluding M. myuros L. and M. clarkei (Hack.) Bor ex
Sant (Fonseca & Janarthanam 2003). Fonseca
(2003) clearly separated the varieties of Glyphochloa
acuminata on the basis of transverse and vertical
ridges on lower glume of sessile spikelets. In the
varieties acuminata and stocksii,
the ridges and furrows are prominent while in the variety woodrowii there are shallow depressions on
the lower glumes of sessile spikelet and short awns. We compared our specimen
with these varieties but no depressions or ridges on the lower glumes of
sessile spikelets were observed and also length of
the awns are not short it is up to 7mm long (Fonseca 2003). During the
exploration of central Western Ghats of Karnataka the first author collected an
interesting specimen close to Glyphochloa acuminata (Hack.) Clayton from the lateritic plateaus
of Udupi and Uttara Kannada Districts. After critical examination of the
specimens, types and literature (Bor 1960; Sreekumar
& Nair 1991; Bhat & Nagendran 2001; Potdar et al. 2012) authors recognize it as a new variety
of G. acuminata, G. acuminata
var. laevis.
A detailed description, photographs and illustration for the variety are
provided.
Glyphochloa acuminata (Hack.) Clayton var. laevis Abhijit & Krishnamurthy var. nov.
(Image 1)
Type: India, Karnataka, Udupi
district, Kamalshile pari
(lateritic plateau), Abhijit & Krishnamurthy. 30.ix.2019, (Holotype,
CAL0000033734 and isotype KUAB- 454)
Diagnosis: - G. acuminata var laevis differs from other verities of G. acuminata by the smooth lower glume of sessile spikelets without any ridges and furrows and long
pedicelled (Figure 1).
Annuals. Culms herbaceous, 25–30
cm long, erect with glabrous nodes. Leaf sheath
slightly compressed; leaf blade linear-ovate, 4–6 × 0.3 cm; ligule membranous,
0.8–1 mm long. Racemes solitary, up to 6 cm long; joints and pedicels club-
shaped, 0.2–0.3 cm long, spikelets are arranged in
pairs. Sessile spikelets narrow, ovate, Bisexual,
1–1.2 × 0.15 cm (including awn), acuminate. Lower glume crustaceous, narrow, ovate
1.0 – 1.2 × 0.15 cm, 8–10 nerved, ridges absent, winged margins, apex awned. Upper glume smooth, 0.35 × 0.8 cm, 3-nerved, acute
at apex. Lower florets are neuter and upper florets are bisexual. Lower lemma
membranous, ovate, 0.3 cm long, apex acute. Palea
ovate, hyaline, 0.2 cm long. Upper lemma hyaline, ovate, 0.2 × 0.6 cm. Palea hyaline, ovate, 0.15 cm long. Lodicule 2. Stamens 3;
Anthers 0.12–0.16 cm long. Pistil 2 mm long. Caryopsis not seen. Pedicelled spikelets ovate, narrow, 0.65–0.7 cm long (including awn).
Lower glume crustaceous, ovate, narrow 0.7 × 0.15 mm, keel-2, winged on margin,
aristate at apex. Upper glume papery, boat shaped, 0.5 cm long, keel-1 with
wavy wing on upper side, wing up to 0.3 cm long. Lower lemma membranous, ovate,
0.15 cm long. Palea hyaline, 0.15 cm long. Upper
florets are male. Upper lemma hyaline, lanceolate, 0.15 cm long. Palea hyaline, ovate, 0.15 cm long, Lodicule 2. Stamens 3;
anthers 0.12 cm long.
Etymology: The epithet ‘laevis’
refers to its smooth ornamentation on the lower glume of sessile spikelet.
Distribution: The new variety grows in open
areas of the lateritic plateaus of Kamalshile pari, Vate bachalu
pari, Kamarapalu and its
surroundings in Udupi district. The species is also found in Castle rock and
its surroundings of Uttara Kannada district during monsoon to post monsoon
season (Image 2).
Species distribution modeling of this grass variety is analyzed
by using Maxent version 3. 4. 1. The color indicated
in the Image 2 is help to explain the distribution of this variety in the
Karnataka state. In the model, color towards green is
more preference of species occurrence and towards red is the less preference of
species occurrence in the particular area.
The Table 2 gives estimates of
relative contributions of the environmental variables extracted from world
claim data to the MaxEnt model version 3.4.1 (Philips
et al 2004). To determine the first estimate, in each iteration of the training
algorithm, the increase in regularized gain is added to the contribution of the
corresponding variable, or subtracted from it if the change to the absolute
value of lambda is negative. For the second estimate, for each environmental
variable in turn, the values of that variable on training presence and
background data are randomly permuted. The model is reevaluated
on the permuted data, and the resulting drop in training AUC is shown in the
table, normalized to percentages. As with the variable jackknife,
variable contributions should be interpreted with caution when the predictor
variables are correlated. Values shown are averages over replicate runs.
Habitat and ecology: Lateritic rocky plateaus of open
area and altitude about 150 m.
Flowering and fruiting: August to October
Specimens examined: 0000033734 (CAL). 30.ix.2019. 13.723N
& 74.905E, 177m.
Kamalshile pari,
Udupi district, Karnataka, India. Coll. H.U. Abhijit.
Conservation status: Data deficient but appears to be
restricted to this particular region.
Field notes: Lower glume of sessile spikelet
smooth, without ridges and furrows. The species is always associated with Bhidea burnsiana
Bor. and Danthonidium gammiei
(Bhide) C.E. Hubb. on
lateritic rocks.
Keys to the varieties of Glyphochloa acuminata (Hack.)
Clayton
1a. Pedicelled spikelets less than 0.4 cm long
…...................................................................................................................................
2
1b. Pedicelled spikelets more than 0.4 cm long
.........................................................................................................................................
3
2a. Sessile spikelet 0.8–1 cm long; lower glume awned
and coriaceous ................ Glyphochloa
acuminata (Hack.) Clayton var. acuminata
2b. Sessile spikelet up to 0.5 cm long; lower glume shortly awned or awnless and coriaceous
……...................................……..
..................................................................................................
Glyphochloa acuminata
(Hack.) Clayton var. woodrowii (Bor) Clayton
3a. Lower glume of sessile spikelet is coriaceous with ridges and
furrows and pedicelled spikelet 0.5 cm long
………..................................................................................
Glyphochloa acuminata
(Hack.) Clayton var. stocksii (Hook.
f.) Clayton
3b. Lower glume of sessile spikelet is not coriaceous without ridges and
furrows and pedicelled spikelet 0.7cm long
…….................................................…........................................................………
Glyphochloa acuminata
(Hack.) Clayton var. laevis
Table 1. Diagnostic morphological differences between
varieties of species Glyphochloa acuminata.
|
Characters |
Glyphochloa acuminata var. acuminata |
Glyphochloa acuminata var. woodrowii |
Glyphochloa acuminata var. stocksii |
Glyphochloa acuminata var. laevis |
|
Length of sessile spikelets (including awn) |
0.8–1 cm |
0.4–0.5 cm |
0.7–1.2 cm |
1–1.2 cm |
|
Lower glume of Sessile spikelets |
Coriaceous with ridges and furrows |
Coriaceous with ridges and furrows |
Coriaceous with ridges and furrows |
Not coriaceous, without ridges and furrows |
|
Length of pedicelled spikelets (excluding
awn) |
3–4 mm |
3–4 mm |
4.5–5 mm |
5–5.5 mm |
Table 2. Relative contribution of environmental
variables.
|
Variable |
Percent contribution |
Permutation importance |
|
karnataka_bio_30s_13 |
62.3 |
36.9 |
|
karnataka_bio_30s_14 |
22.1 |
56.7 |
|
karnataka_bio_30s_15 |
13.6 |
1.2 |
|
karnataka_bio_30s_3 |
1.3 |
1.8 |
|
karnataka_bio_30s_2 |
0.5 |
1.3 |
|
karnataka_bio_30s_17 |
0.2 |
2.3 |
For
figure & images - - click here
References
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