Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 March 2023 | 15(3): 22916–22919

 

 

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

https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.7917.15.3.22916-22919

#7917 | Received 13 March 2022 | Final received 11 December 2022 | Finally accepted 02 March 2023

 

 

Cyrtosia falconeri (Hook.f.) Aver. (Orchidaceae): an addition to the flora of Jammu & Kashmir, India

 

Mushtaq Ahmed 1 & Manjul Dhiman 2

 

1,2 Laboratory of Plant Taxonomy and Conservation Department of Botany, KLDAV PG College Roorkee, Haridwar (affiliated to HNB Garhwal University) Uttarakhand 247667, India.  

1 ahmedmbot@gmail.com (corresponding author), 2 manjul.dhiman@rediffmail.com

 

 

 

Editor: Pankaj Kumar, Department of Plant and Soil Science, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, USA.        Date of publication: 26 March 2023 (online & print)

 

Citation: Ahmed, M. & M. Dhiman (2023). Cyrtosia falconeri (Hook.f.) Aver. (Orchidaceae): an addition to the flora of Jammu & Kashmir, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 15(3): 22916–22919. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.7917.15.3.22916-22919

 

Copyright: © Ahmed & Dhiman 2023. 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.

 

 

 

The genus Cyrtosia Blume consists of six species mainly found in Asia, up to southern China, Japan, and Madagascar (Govaerts et al. 2022). In India, the genus is represented by four species namely, cathcartii Hook.f., falconeri (Hook.f.) Aver., lindleyana (Hook.f. & Thomson) Rchb.f., and nudifolia Lour. (Singh et al. 2019), out of which two species— Lindleyana and falconeri—occur in western Himalaya. During the present biodiversity exploration visit in the forest of Koteranka of Rajouri district in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K), the first author found an interesting mycoheterotrophic orchid growing in an evergreen mature oak forest. After proper morphological study in the field, the plant was collected for the herbarium specimen (Image 1). Collected specimen was submitted to the herbarium of Department of Botany, KL DAV PG College Roorkee. After a comprehensive literature study, it was identified as Cyrtosia falconeri (Hooker 1890; King & Pantling 1898; Deva & Naithani 1986; Pearce & Cribb 2002; Misra 2007; Akhtar et al. 2011; Jalal & Jayanthi 2013, 2015). Rai et al. (2017) reported this orchid for the first time from western Himalaya in Uttarakhand. However, the present report extends its distribution further west to Jammu & Kashmir, which consists of a total of 48 species of orchids (Akhtar et al. 2011), and current report also marks the new generic record of the genus Cyrtosia for the state. Taxonomic description, photo plate, and herbarium specimen are provided in the manuscript.

Cyrtosia falconeri (Hook.f.) Aver. Turczaninowia 14(2): 38 (2011); Galeola falconeri Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India 6: 88. 1890; King & Pantl., Ann. Roy. Bot. Gard. (Calcutta) 8: 265, t. 353. 1898; Duthie in Ann. Roy. Bot. Gard. (Calcutta) 9(2): 156. 1906; Raizada, Naithani & Saxena, Orch. Mussoorie: 46. 1981; Seidenf. & Arora in Nord. J. Bot. 2: 17. 1982; Deva & Naithani, Orch. Fl. N.W. Himalaya: 47, t.15. 1986; Chowdhery, Orch. Arunachal Pradesh 405, t. 243. 1998; Pearce & Cribb, Orch. Bhutan 64. 2002; Lucksom, Orch. Sikkim North East Himalaya: 59, t. 40. 2007; Chowdhery& Agrawala, Cen.W. Himalayan Orch.: 212, t.74. 2013. 2–3.

Type: India, Gharwal, Falconer s.n. (syntype, K).

Plants 1–3 m, in height. Rhizome branched, 3–5 cm in diam., covered with triangular scales at nodes, 2.0–4.2 cm in diam. in size. Stem brownish, glabrous lower part, while upper sparsely & short rusty hairs, dull brownish to reddish, erect, covered with some lanceolate to ovate scales sizing 2.5–4.5 cm. Inflorescence raceme, 5–33 cm, peduncle, and rachis shortly tomentose. Floral bracts narrowly elliptic or ovate, 1.1–3.5 mm, found vertical to rachis, abaxially shortly rusty tomentose. Pedicel and ovary, densely rusty tomentose, 1– 3.5 cm long. Flowers 4–5 cm in diameter, bright yellow. Sepals elliptic to oblong, densely rusty tomentose and smooth outside, 2–3 cm in length and 1–1.6 cm in width. Petals are slightly narrower than sepals but as long as sepals. Lip cup–shaped, entire, ovate to orbicular, ca. 2.5 cm in diameter, basal part loosely embracing column, a small basal sac formed with transversal fold, inner side densely papillose, and margins fimbriate. Column erect, stout, slightly curved forward, 2.5–3.5 mm long, basal portions consist of two tufts of long papillae, anther cap nearly glabrous or papillose. Fruit oblong, red to purple, cylindric, 20– 25 cm long, 3 cm in diameter, surface finely verruculose. Seeds dark brown, 1–2 mm in diameter, with a narrow-encircled wing (Image 2).

Specimen examined: KL DAV 092197, 10.iv.2021, India. Jammu & Kashmir, Rajouri, Koteranka, Kalyian forests, coll. Mushtaq Ahmed & Manjul Dhiman.

Habitat: Terrestrial, grows in humus-rich soil in evergreen oak forests at an elevation of 1,765 m, 33.3510N & 74.5350E.

Phenology: May–June.

Distribution: Globally it is distributed in Vietnam, Bhutan, India, China, and Thailand. In India, it was mainly reported from eastern Himalaya ranging from West Bengal to Arunachal Pradesh. However, this species was also reported from Uttarakhand of the eastern Himalaya. 

 

 

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References

 

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