Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 September 2018 | 10(10): 12439–12441

 

Notes on Jasminum andamanicum N.P. Balakr. & N.G. Nair (Oleaceae) from Andaman & Nicobar Islands, India

 

P. Murugan 1 & K. Karthigeyan 2

 

1 Botanical Survey of India, Southern Regional Centre, TNAU Campus, Lawley Road Post, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu 641003, India

2 Botanical Survey of India, Central National Herbarium, Botanic Garden P.O., Howrah, West Bengal 711103, India

1 murulax@gmail.com, 2 karthigeyan.murthy@gmail.com (corresponding author)

 

 

 

doi: https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.4304.10.10.12439-12441

 

Editor: N.P. Balakrishnan, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.     Date of publication: 26 September 2018 (online & print)

 

Manuscript details: Ms # 4304 | Received 30 May 2018 | Final received 04 September 2018 | Finally accepted 09 September 2018

 

Citation: Murugan, P. & K. Karthigeyan (2018). Notes on Jasminum andamanicum N.P. Balakr. & N.G. Nair (Oleaceae) from Andaman & Nicobar Islands, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 10(10): 12439–12441; http://doi.org/10.11609/jott.4304.10.10.12439-12441

 

Copyright: © Murugan & Karthigeyan 2018. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use of this article in any medium, reproduction and distribution by providing adequate credit to the authors and the source of publication.

 

Funding: Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF & CC) and Botanical Survey of India (BSI).

 

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

 

Acknowledgements: Authors are thankful to Dr. Paramjit Singh, Director, Botanical Survey of India, Kolkata, for facilities and Dr. P.V. Prasanna, Scientist ‘F’ & HoO, Central National Herbarium, Botanical Survey of India, Howrah, for his encouragement and facilities.  The authors also thank Dr. Avishek Bhattacharjee, Central National Herbarium for his help in preparing the distribution map for threat assessment; PM is also grateful to Dr. C. Murugan, Scientist-D & HoO, BSI, SRC, Coimbatore for his encouragement and facilities and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Govt. India, New Delhi, for the financial support under Flora of India project.

 

 

 

Jasminum L., comprising of ca. 200 species, is distributed in tropical to temperate regions of the Old World (Mabberley 2017).  This genus is found commonly in deciduous and evergreen forests as climbing shrubs with flowers generally in white, pink or yellow colours and sweet-scented.

Clarke (1882) in Hooker’s ”The Flora of British India” reported 43 species and 15 infra-specific taxa of Jasminum from India, Burma (now Myanmar), Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Malacca, Tibet, Nepal and Malaya Peninsula.  Srivastava (1987) reported 10 genera, 87 species and 15 infra-specific taxa belonging to the family Oleaceae, in India including the Himalaya, the northeast, peninsular regions, and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.  Among these, 27 are endemic taxa.  A total of 17 taxa of Jasminum are listed under various threat categories (Srivastava & Kapoor 1987).

In India, Jasminum is represented by 37 species and 15 infra-specific taxa (Green 2003; Gastmans & Balachandran 2006), of which 12 species are considered endemic to India (Ahmedullah & Nayar 1986; Srivastava & Kapoor 1987; Singh et al. 2015).  In Andaman & Nicobar Islands, so far 12 species are known to occur, namely, J. acuminatissimum, J. andamanicum, J. angustifolium, J. arborescens, J. attenuatum, J. auriculatum, J. caudatum, J. elongatum, J. flexile, J. multiflorum, J. ritchiei, and J. syringifolium (Green 2003; Pandey & Diwakar 2008), of which only one species, J. andamanicum is endemic to the Andaman group of Islands.

Balakrishanan & Nair (1981) described J. andamanicum based on the specimens collected from southern Andaman by Dr. King’s collector.  Later, Balakrishanan & Nair (1983) described a new species, J. unifoliolatum based on their collections from Saddle Peak in northern Andaman.  This species was distinguished from J. caudatum by the leaves being mostly unifoliolate, broader, thick-coriaceous, penninerved; panicles densely white-hairy; cymes lax-flowered and corolla tube and lobes being short.  Srivastava (1991) proposed a new name, J. balakrishnanii for J. unifoliolatum as the name was preoccupied and hence an illegitimate later homonym.  Later, Green (2003) synonymized the name J. balakrishnanii and treated it as conspecific to J. andamanicum in his synopsis of the Oleaceae from the Indian subcontinent

While studying some of the old collections of Jasminum housed at CAL, specimens collected by Dr. King’s collector during 1891 and 1892 from southern Andaman were found as unidentified.  On studying their morphological characters, and on consultation with the type specimens and relevant literature, they were identified as Jasminum andamanicum.  It is interesting to note that these collections were made three years before the holotype collection.  Also, one of the specimens was collected from a different locality, from where this species has never been reported earlier, until now.  The present article provides a detailed description of the species, image of the one of the old specimens collected prior to the type collection, and a distribution map (Fig. 1) of this rare, endemic species.  The species is evaluated as per the recent IUCN Red List Category and Criteria version 3.1 (IUCN 2018).

 

Jasminum andamanicum N.P. Balakr. & N.G. Nair (Image 1)

     Bull. Bot. Surv. India 21: 215, fig. 1-3. 1979 (publ. 1981); S.K. Srivast. & S.L. Kapoor in J. Econ. Taxon. Bot. 9(1): 175. 1987; Mathew, S.P. & S. Abraham in J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 91: 162. 1994; P.S. Green, Kew Bull. 58(1): 282. 2003; R.P. Pandey & P.G. Diwakar in J. Econ. Taxon. Bot. 32(2): 439. 2008. Jasminum unifoliolatum N.P. Balakr. & N.G. Nair in Bull. Bot. Surv. India 24: 33. 1982, non Gillespie 1930; S.K. Srivast. & S.L. Kapoor in J. Econ. Taxon. Bot. 9(1): 175. 1987. Jasminum balakrishnanii S.K. Srivast. in Bull. Bot. Surv. India 32: 174. 1990 (publ. 1992), nom. nov.

Type: India, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, southern Andaman: North Bay, hill jungle, 5.1.1894, King’s collector s.n. (holotype CAL0000017761!; isotypes CAL0000017743!, CAL0000017744!, CAL0000017745!

Vine or scandent shrub; branchlets slender or terete, glabrous, young parts sparsely puberulous.  Leaves opposite, 3-foliolate, sometimes lateral leaflets wanting or caducous; leaflets ovate or elliptic, 4–8 × 2.5–5 cm, obtuse or acute at base, entire at margins, acute to acuminate at apex, coriaceous, glabrous; lateral veins 5–8 pairs, ascending and interarching away from margin; petioles 2–2.8 cm long, geniculate, slender, leaf base bending or somewhat swelling; petiolules, 1cm long, terete.  Inflorescences terminal or sometimes axillary at upper leaves, paniculate cymes, 4–16 cm long, densely white-hairy; peduncles 4–14 cm long, terete, sparsely white-hairy; bracts filiform or linear, 3–8 mm long, white-hairy.  Flowers pentamerous, sessile or subsessile; central flower sessile, densely white-hairy and pedicels of lateral flowers, terete, 5–15 mm long, densely white-hairy.  Calyx tube 1–2 mm long, densely white-hairy, 4 or 5-lobed; lobes ovate or triangular, 2–3 mm long, lower densely white-hairy and upper glabrous.  Corolla milky white with pleasant smell; tube, 2–2.5 cm long; lobes 5, ovate, 4–6 mm long, acute at apex. Stamens 2 bright lemon yellow; filaments sessile or subsessile; anthers oblong, 3–4.1 mm long, acute at apex, dithecous, longitudinally dehiscing.  Ovary 2-loculed; ovules 2, less than 1.5mm long; style linear or filiform, 15–20 mm long; stigma bilobed, ca. 1mm long, glabrous.  Drupes ellipsoid or oblongoid, 1–1.5 mm long, glabrous.

Flowering: December–February; Fruiting: March–April.

   Distribution: Endemic to Andaman group of Islands.

Additional specimens examined: CAL0000029896!,  5.xii.1891, India, Andaman & Nicobar Islands: Southern Andaman, North Bay, hill jungle, King’s Collector s.n. ;

5.xii.1892, South Andaman, North Bay, hill jungle, King’s Collector s.n. (CAL!); 20.xii.1892, Dhanikhari, King’s Collector s.n. (CAL!); CAL0000017760!, 17.xii.1915, Middle Andaman: Long Island, C.E. Parkinson 787, North Andaman Island: (holotype CAL0000017747!; isotypes PBL!), 4766, Saddle Peak, 1.xii.1976, 400–700 m, N.P. Balakrishnan & N.G. Nair.

 

Conservation status

This species was first collected by King’s collector in 1891 from North Bay area in southern Andaman.  Later, C.E. Parkinson collected this species from Middle Andamans.  The recent collection of this species dates back to 1976 by Balakrishnan & Nair from Saddle Peak of North Andaman Island.  Mathew & Abraham (1994) rediscovered and reported it from Shoal Bay of Mount Harriet in South Andaman Island.  There was no report on the occurrence of this species thereafter.

Jasminum andamanicum is reported so far only from four locations in Andaman Islands, India.  The extent of occurrence (EOO, Criterion B1) of the species is calculated as ca. 1,139km2 and the area of occupancy (AOO, Criterion B2) of the species is calculated as ca. 16km2 (severely fragmented and with a suspected decline of mature individuals, being sparsely distributed).  The AOO is measured against the grid size of 4km2 for each of the four locations.

Other than Saddle Peak National Park in North Andaman Island, the habitat quality of other places of collection of this species has degraded to a large extent as they are under extreme pressure from human interference, as they do not fall under any protected area.  The quality of habitat in these places also face serious threat due to developmental activities like the construction of a dam in Dhanikhari, tourism activities, and grazing by herbivorous animals.

The species is assessed here as Endangered [B1ab(iii,iv)+2ab(iii,iv)] as per the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species guidelines version 3.1.

 

 

 

References

 

Ahmedullah, M. & M.P. Nayar (1986). Endemic plants of the Indian region. Vol. 1. Botanical Survey of India, Calcutta, 138–139pp.

Balakrishnan, N.P. & N.G. Nair (1981). A new species of Jasminum (Oleaceae) from Andaman Islands. Bulletin of Botanical Survey of India 21: 214–216.

Balakrishnan, N.P. & N.G. Nair (1982). New taxa and record from Saddle Peak, Andaman Islands. Bulletin of Botanical Survey of India 24: 28–36.

Clarke, C.B. (1882). Oleaceae, pp. 591–603. In: Hooker, J.D. (ed.). Flora of British India. Vol. 3. (Caprifoliaceae to Apocynaceae). L. Reeve & Co., London

Green, P.S. (2003). Synopsis of the Oleaceae from the Indian Sub-continent. Kew Bulletin 58(2): 257–295.

IUCN (2018). IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria. Version 3.1. International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, Gland.

Mabberley, D.J. (2017). Mabberley’s Plant-Book. A Portable Dictionary of Plants, their Classification and Uses. Fourth Edition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Mathew, S.P. & S. Abraham (1994). A note on the rediscovery of Jasminum andamanicum Balakr. & N.G. Nair – An endangered endemic species. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 91: 162–163.

Pandey, R.P. & P.G. Diwakar (2008). An integrated check-list flora of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, India. Journal of Economic and Taxonomic Botany 32(2): 403–500.

Singh, P., K. Karthigeyan, P. Lakshminarasimhan & S.S. Dash (2015). Endemic Vascular Plants of India. Botanical Survey of India, Kolkata.

Srivastava, S.K. (1987). Oleaceae in Himalaya. Journal of Economic and Taxonomic Botany 9(1): 187–192.

Srivastava, S.K. (1991). A new name for Jasminum (Oleaceae). Bulletin of Botanical Survey of India 32: 174.

Srivastava, S.K. & S.L. Kapoor (1987). Notes on conservation status of taxa of Indian Oleaceae. Journal of Economic and Taxonomic Botany 9(1): 173–177.