Journal of Threatened Taxa |
www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 January 2020 | 12(1): 15212–15215
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893
(Print)
doi: https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.5053.12.1.15212-15215
#5053 | Received 09 May 2019 | Final received
31 December 2019 | Finally accepted 05 January 2020
Re-collection of the Luminous
Lantern Flower Ceropegia lucida Wall. (Apocynaceae)
from Assam, India
Debolina Dey
1 , Manash Baruah 2 , Nilakshee Devi 3 & Jitendra Nath Borah 4
1,2,3 Department of Botany, Gauhati University, Jalukbari, Guwahati, Kamrup
(Metro), Assam781014, India.
4 All Sanchi Growers Association of
Assam (ASGAA), Alengi
Chariali, Titabor,
Jorhat, Assam 785632, India.
1 devolinadey@rediffmail.com
(corresponding author), 2 manashbaruah555@gmail.com, 3 devinilakshee@gmail.com,
4 jitendranathborah39571@gmail.com
Editor: K. Haridasan,
Palakkad District, Kerala, India. Date of publication:
26 January 2020 (online & print)
Citation: Dey, D., M. Baruah, N.
Devi & J.N. Borah (2020). Re-collection of the Luminous Lantern Flower Ceropegia lucida
Wall. (Apocynaceae) from Assam, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 12(1): 15212–15215. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.5053.12.1.15212-15215
Copyright: © Dey 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: None.
Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: The authors would like to
acknowledge the head, Kew Herbarium Catalogue, Kew; the director, Botanical
Survey of India, Howrah (CAL); the curator, Gauhati
University Botanical Herbarium and Mr. Brahmananda Patiri, Assam Forest Department for his valuable support in
conducting the research work.
Ceropegia lucida Wall. was first described by Wallich from Terrya Ghat, Sylhet, Bangladesh in the year 1831. Following that, the plant was also reported
from the Khasia Hills, Meghalaya by Hooker &
Thomson and by Wallich from Prome,
Burma. It was also reported from China,
Malaysia and Thailand (Siam). King
collected this species from Sikkim in 1874 which was considered as the last
collection of the century making it endangered or possibly extinct in India as
stated by Nayar & Sashtry
until its rediscovery and new distribution record from the Namdapha
National Park, Arunachal Pradesh in 2017.
Nautiyal’s record from Sikkim in 2009 is
considered as a misidentification of Ceropegia
longifolia (Khandal et
al. 2017).
During a recent floristic survey
to the Golaghat District, Assam during the period
from August to October, 2018, the authors came across many interesting plant
specimens. On consultation with the
existing literature (Wallich 1831; Hooker 1883; Kanjilal et al. 1939; Ansari 1984; Kambale 2015) and
herbarium specimens deposited at KEW and CAL, this specimen was confirmed as Ceropegia lucida Wall.
Ceropegia lucida
Wall.
Pl. Asiat.
Rar. 2:33, t.139. 1831; Hook.f.,
Fl. Brit. India 4: 73. 1883; P.C. Kanjilal et al.,
Fl. Assam 3: 309. 1939; H. Huber, Mem. Soc. Brot; 12,
1-203. 1957; Ansari, Fasc. Fl. India 16: 22. 1984; M.P. Nayar
& Sastry (eds.), Red Data Book Indian Pl. 2: 44. 1988; A.P. Jagtap & N.P.
Singh, Fasc. Fl. India 24: 229. 1999.
According to the protologues and
the existing literature, Ceropegia lucida Wall. is a perennial twiner with glabrous stems (Image 1).
The leaves are bright green, glabrous, simple,
opposite and decussate with elliptic to oblong leaf lamina, 5–11cm x2.3–4.9 cm,
petiole 1.4-1.6 cm. The apex is acute to
acuminate and base is narrower.
Inflorescence axillary with 2-6 flowered umbellate cymes, peduncle 1.5cm
(Image 2). Flowers are 1.2–3.2 cm long,
greenish or yellowish-white with purple spots, pedicel 1–1.5 cm. Calyx five partite, linear to subulate. Corolla tube cylindrical with a funnel shaped
throat and rings of hairs in the wider part.
Corolla lobes are greenish-white with purple spots on it, connate at the
apex margined by long translucent hairs (Image 3). Corona is biseriate with five bifid deltoid
lobes on the outside and five erect linear to clavate lobes on the inside.
Flowering: September to November;
fruits not seen.
Specimen examined: Bangladesh,
Sylhet, N. Wallich
(K001129042, image!); INDIA. Cachar, Assam, June
1874, R. L. Keenan s.n. (K001325174, image!); Sikkim
1874, G. King s.n. (CAL0000031920, image!); Kakodanga, Golaghat, Assam,
25.xi.2018, D. Dey & M. Baruah, DDM01
(GUBH).
Distribution: India (Arunachal
Pradesh (Namdapha National Park), Assam (Cachar, Golaghat), Meghalaya (Khasia Hills), Sikkim), Bangladesh (Sylhet), Myanmar (Prome), Thailand, Malaysia, China.
Population and habitat: The
authors came across the plant twining on an abandoned streamside land mass from
the Golaghat District of Assam. The twiner grew in close association with
bamboos, ferns and other climbers like pipers, Paederia
foetida etc.
Since only 5–6 number of individuals were observed growing in a single
population, only a single plant with a single matured flower was collected for
preservation and herbarium making. The
voucher specimen has been deposited at the GUBH, Gauhati
University, Guwahati (DDM01).
Discussion: According to the
Flora of British India, Vol. IV. 73pp. and herbarium specimen (K001325174,
image!); R.L. Keenan had collected this plant from the Cachar
District of Assam in June, 1874 after which it was neither collected nor
reported from anywhere within the state.
Barbhuiya in 2013 categorized it as
“Regionally Extinct” after being unable to locate it in its site of
occurrence. In a significant finding,
the authors came across this plant in Golaghat
District of Assam after a gap of 145 years.
A few photographs of the plant as well as the herbarium specimen DDM01
(Image 4) along with a map (Figure 1) are provided to aid in its proper
identification. Also, a comparative
analysis of Ceropegia lucida
Wall. with other closely related species of northeastern
India (viz., C. macrantha Wight and C. longifolia Wall.) is given in Table 1.
Table 1. A comparative analysis
of Ceropegia lucida
Wall. with other closely related species of northeastern
India.
|
Attributes |
Ceropegia macrantha Wight (Kambale & Yadav
2019). |
Ceropegia longifolia Wall. (Kambale & Yadav
2019). |
Ceropegia lucida Wall. (Kambale & Yadav
2019; present study). |
|
Leaves |
Ovate to lanceolate, 4.5–14 x
2–7 cm. |
Lanceolate to linear, 5.7–20.3
x 0.4–3.8 cm. |
Elliptic to oblong, 5–11 x
2.3–4.9 cm. |
|
Petiole |
1.2–2.4 cm long. |
0.5–0.8 cm long. |
1.4–1.6 cm long. |
|
Inflorescence |
4–5 flowered, subumbellate cymes, peduncle 1.2–2.7 cm long, hairy in
rows. |
5–12 flowered, umbellate cymes,
peduncle 1.8–4 cm long. |
2–6 flowered, umbellate cymes,
peduncle c. 2cm long, fleshy. |
|
Pedicel |
c. 0.8cm long, glabrous. |
0.5–1.2 cm long, puberulous. |
1–1.5 cm long, glabrous |
|
Corolla |
2.5–7.6 cm long with pink spots
throughout, tube cylindrical, 1.8–3.2 cm long. |
1.6–3.8 cm with dark purple
spots restricted to the funnel shaped throat only, tube curved, 0.5–2.5 cm
long. |
1.8–2.7 cm long with purple
spots throughout, tube cylindrical, 1.2–2.5 cm long. |
|
Lobes |
2.4–2.8 cm long, yellow at
lower and dull green at upper half, linear to lanceolate. |
0.5–1 cm long, yellowish-green
with dark purple spots, elliptic to ovate. |
0.7–2.5 cm long, greenish white
with purple spots, broadly or elliptic oblong. |
|
Corona |
Outer of 5 deeply bifid, pink
coloured densely haired lobes, inner of 5 linear lobes. |
Outer of 5 deeply bifid deltoid
lobes, ciliate along and within margins, inner of 5 linear sub-spathulate
lobes. |
Outer of 5 shortly bifid-
deltoid lobes, ciliate along margins, inner of linear-clavate lobes. |
For
figure & images – click here
References
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https://specimens.kew.org/herbarium/K001129042.
https://specimens.kew.org/herbarium/K001325174.