Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 October 2025 | 17(10): 27766–27770

 

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

https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.9663.17.10.27766-27770

#9663 | Received 05 February 2025 | Final received 06 October 2025 | Finally accepted 13 October 2025

 

 

Hygrophila phlomoides Nees (Acanthaceae), a new record to the flora of northern India from Suhelwa Wildlife Sanctuary, Uttar Pradesh

 

Pankaj Bharti 1 , Baleshwar Meena 2 , T.S. Rana 3  & K.M. Prabhukumar 4

 

1,4 CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh 226001, India.

1–4 Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh 201002, India.

2 CSIR-Traditional Knowledge Digital Library Unit, Vigyan Suchna Bhawan, 14, Satsang Vihar Marg, New Delhi 110067, India.

3 CSIR-Human Resource Development Centre, Sector-19, Central Govt. Enclave, Kamla Nehru Nagar, Ghaziabad,

Uttar Pradesh 201002, India.

1 pankajlf198@gmail.com, 2 baleshwar7@rediffmail.com, 3 ranatikam@gmail.com, 4 prabhu.krishna@nbri.res.in (corresponding author)

 

 

Editor: Afroz Alam, Banasthali Vidyapith, Rajasthan India.          Date of publication: 26 October 2025 (online & print)

 

Citation: Bharti, P., B. Meena, T.S. Rana & K.M. Prabhukumar (2025). Hygrophila phlomoides Nees (Acanthaceae), a new record to the flora of northern India from Suhelwa Wildlife Sanctuary, Uttar Pradesh. Journal of Threatened Taxa 17(10): 27766–27770. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.9663.17.10.27766-27770

  

Copyright: © Bharti et al. 2025. 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 & Industrial Research, New Delhi; Project Number OLP 0101 and University Grants Commission, New Delhi provided Junior Research Fellowship.

 

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

 

Acknowledgments: The authors are thankful to director CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, for facilities and encouragements; forest department for necessary permission and their support during the field survey; Dr. N.S. Pradeep, MBGIPS, Kozhikode for his critical comments on the identity of the species. The authors also acknowledge Other Lab Projects 0101 for the support and Pankaj Bharti to University Grants Commission (UGC) for financial support. The manuscript has CSIR-NBRI communication number: CSIR-NBRI--_MS/2024/10/18.

 

 

 

Abstract: Hygrophila phlomoides Nees is reported as a new distribution record to the flora of northern India from Bhagwanpur forest of Suhelwa Wildlife Sanctuary, Uttar Pradesh. In India, the distribution of this species is previously reported only from the eastern Himalaya (Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, West Bengal) and Karnataka State of Western Ghats.

 

Keywords: Angiosperm flora, Balrampur and Shravasti, Bhagwanpur forest, Indo-Nepal border, marshy areas, tropical and subtropical regions.

 

 

Hygrophila R.Br. (Acanthaceae: Ruellieae) is a cosmopolitan genus, commonly found in swamp areas of tropical and subtropical regions of the world (Hu & Daniel 2011). Around 77 species of the genus are reported worldwide (POWO 2025), of which, 17 taxa have been documented from India (Arisdason et al. 2020).

While working on the floristic diversity of Suhelwa Wildlife Sanctuary, the first author encountered an interesting population of a Hygrophila species near a water body in Bhagwanpur forest area, Tulsipur range at an elevation of 178 m. The detailed taxonomic study of the collected specimens using relevant taxonomic literature (Clarke 1884; Cook 1996; Jaseela et al. 2024) and consultation with experts, the identity of the specimen was confirmed as Hygrophila phlomoides Nees (Nees 1832). Based on the review of literature (Duthie 1960; Maheshwari 1963; Parker 1973; Kachroo & Sapru 1977; Bhandari 1978; Osmaston 1978; Sharma & Kachroo 1981; Chowdhery & Wadhwa 1984; Khanna et al. 2020; Kumar 2001; Singh & Prakash 2002; Mohan 2006) it revealed that, the species has not been reported from any states and union territories of northern India (Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jammu & Kashmir, Delhi, Chandigarh, Ladakh). Therefore, the present collection of this plant species from Uttar Pradesh reports the extended distribution to the angiosperm flora of northern India.

 

Material and Methods

Study area: During the present study, H. phlomoides has been collected from the marshy areas of Bhagwanpur forest, Suhelwa Wildlife Sanctuary, Uttar Pradesh. The Suhelwa Wildlife Sanctuary, encompassing an area of 452 sq km, is situated in the Balrampur and Shravasti districts of northern Uttar Pradesh near Indo-Nepal border. The sanctuary ranges from 27.500–27.928o N and 81.927–82.809o E at an altitude of 120–200 m (Khanna 2015).

The live specimens were collected from the Bhagwanpur forest areas of Suhelwa Wildlife Sanctuary. Micro morphological characters were examined by using Leica S8 APO stereo microscope. The nomenclatural corrections were made according to Shenzhen code (Turland et al. 2018). Abbreviated author citations were given by following authors of plant names (Brummitt & Powell 1992), and acronyms of herbaria were provided according to Index Herbariorum (Thiers 2025). The specimens of appropriate size with relevant plant parts were collected from the field and the herbarium specimens were prepared following the standard methods (De Vogel 1987; Bridson & Forman 1998). The voucher specimens were deposited in the herbarium of CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute (LWG) for future reference.

 

Botanical description

Hygrophila phlomoides Nees, N.Wallich, Pl. Asiat. Rar. 3: 80(1832). (Images 1, 2).

Type (Lectotype designated by Jaseela et al. 2024): Bangladesh, Sillet, G. Gomez, Wall Cat n. 2376 (GZU [GZU000250031 digital image!]; isolectotypes GZU [GZU, K, E, P, PH, G-DC, C, CAL].

Erect unarmed herb, 55–92 cm high. Stem branched, quadrangular, green, strigose; internodes swollen, 2–10 cm long, strigose. Leaves sub-sessile, obovate, elliptic, 5–10 × 2–2.8 cm, obtuse or acute at apex, margin entire, undulate or crenate, cuneate at base, hairy on both surfaces; midrib prominent adaxially and conspicuous abaxially; lateral nerves 7–13 pairs; cystoliths present; petiole 3–7 mm long, hairy. Flowers axillary in dense villous whorls, 8–10; bracts in three series; outer bracts large, foliaceous, obovate, 18–22 × 5–6 mm, obtuse at apex, margins entire, base cuneate, green, hairy on both surfaces; middle series of bracts ovate-lanceolate, 12–14 × 4–4.5 mm, sub-acute at apex, margins entire, base cuneate, green, hairy on both surfaces; inner series of bracts oblong, 8–10 × 2–2.5 mm, sub-acute at apex, margins entire, base cuneate, green, hairy on both surfaces; bracteoles linear, 5.5–5.8 × 1.2–1.3 mm, hirsute, obtuse at apex, margin entire, cuneate at base, hairy on both surfaces. Calyx tubular, 5-lobed, 1–12 × 11–12 cm, divided halfway down reddish-brown; teeth linear, 6–6.5 mm long, dissimilar, one segment larger than others, hairy. Corolla bilabiate, 15–16 mm long, pink and dark purple streaks on the mouth, glandular hairy; tube 4.5–4.8 mm long, tube white to light pink, glabrous; upper lip 2-lobed, glandular hairy outside, glabrous inside; lower lip oblong, 3-lobed, glandular hairy outside, glabrous inside except at mouth hairy, middle lobe sub-orbicular, larger than the lateral lobes, purple-stripes at centre. Stamens didynamous, adnate at the base of the corolla tube; filaments white, glabrous on the upper part and hairy beneath; posterior filaments 3.5–3.8 mm long; anterior filaments 4.5–4.8 mm long; anther thecae elliptic, 1.8–2.2 mm long, pubescent at the base otherwise glabrous. Ovary 2-loculed, oblong, 2.5–2.8 mm long, glabrous; style filiform, 15–17 mm long, white, glandular hairy at base; stigma white, glabrous. Capsule linear-oblong, 14–16 mm long, exceeding the calyx, green, glabrous; seeds many, 18–24, ovoid, 1.7–1.9 × 1.2–1.4 mm, brownish, woolly, attached on the prominent retinacula.

Specimens examined: India: Uttar Pradesh, Balrampur District, Suhelwa Wildlife Sanctuary, Tulsipur, Bhagwanpur, elevation 178 m, 27.585o N, 82.457o E, 06.xi.2023, Pankaj Bharti 349037 (LWG).

Phenology: Flowering and fruiting was observed from October to February.

Distribution: Globally the species is distributed in India, Bangladesh, China, Cambodia, Laos, Malaya, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam (Govaerts et al. 2025). In India, the occurrence of this species is so far recorded from eastern Himalaya (Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, West Bengal), Karnataka, and Uttar Pradesh (present study). While compiling the Flora of Bihar Analysis, Singh et al. (2001) included the name H. phlomoides and mentioned the locality as ‘Purnia’. The inclusion of this species in Bihar was not based on any collection but a cross citation from Haines (1961) publication, Botany of Bihar and Orissa. In Hayne’s publication, the author is not confident about the locality, and mentioned as ‘Marshes. Sikkim Tarai and Duars close to our area! Probably in Purnea’. The recent publication of Jaseela et al. (2024) also confirmed that, there are no voucher specimens available in any of the Indian herbaria from the state of Bihar. Hence the previous report of H. phlomoides from Bihar is without any scientific evidence and excluded during the study.

 

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