Journal of Threatened Taxa |
www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 January 2020 | 12(1): 15208–15211
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893
(Print)
doi: https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.5306.12.1.15208-15211
#5306 | Received 08 August 2019 | Finally
accepted 24 December 2019
Rhynchotechum parviflorum Blume (Gesneriaceae):
a new record to mainland India
Momang Taram
1, Puranjoy Mipun
2 & Dipankar Borah 3
1,3 Department of Botany, Rajiv
Gandhi University, Rono Hills, Doimukh,
Arunachal Pradesh 791112, India.
2 Centre for Advanced Studies in
Botany, North Eastern Hill University, Shillong,
Meghalaya 793022, India.
1 momangtaram9@gmail.com, 2 mipunpuranjoy@gmail.com
(corresponding author), 3 dipankar.borah@rgu.ac.in
Editor: K. Haridasan,
Palakkad District, Kerala, India. Date of publication:
26 January 2020 (online & print)
Citation: Taram,
M., P. Mipun & D. Borah (2020). Rhynchotechum parviflorum Blume (Gesneriaceae):
a new record to mainland India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 12(1): 15208–15211. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.5306.12.1.15208-15211
Copyright: © Taram
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: Department of Botany,
Rajiv Gandhi University.
Competing interests: The authors
declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: The authors are thankful to
Department of Botany, Rajiv Gandhi University for providing necessary
facilities to conduct the research work. They are also thankful to Mr. Ojar Taku for his support and
cooperation in the field, Prof. A.P. Das, Dr. Hui Tag and Prof. Sumpam Tangjang for their
guidance throughout the course of work.
The genus Rhynchotechum
Blume is a group of understory shrubs distributed in southeastern
and eastern Asia, from India to Japan (Odyuo &
Roy 2017). It is characterised by having
opposite to alternate leaves, pink flowers arranged in cymose
inflorescences and white indehiscent berries.
It has recently been revised by Anderson & Middleton (2013) who
recognized a total of 16 species, of which nine are distributed in India namely
(R. alternifolium C.B.Clarke,
R. calycinum C.B.Clarke,
R. ellipticum (Wall. ex D.Dietr.)
A.DC., R. gracile B.M. Anderson, R. hookeri
(C.B.Clarke) B.M.Anderson, R.
obovatum (Griff.) B.L.Burtt,
R. parviflorum Blume, R. permolle (Nees) B.L.Burtt, and R. vestitum
(Griff.) Wall. ex C.B.Clarke) from which seven (with
the exception of R. parviflorum and R. permolle) are from northeastern
India.
Arunachal Pradesh, the largest
state in northeastern India covering an area of
83,743km2, has the second largest forest cover (67,248km2)
in the country (Gurung et al. 2003). The
state falls under the continuous belt of Himalaya extending from the plains of
Assam to the steppe rugged alpine mountainous belts neighbouring Tibet and
Bhutan. Recent studies on the family Gesneriaceae of the state have led to the publication of
several new species such as Boeica clarkei Hareesh et al.
(2018), Didymocarpus moellerii
A. Joe et al. (2016: 57), Lysionotus bijantiae D. Borah & A. Joe (2018: 232), and L. gamosepalus W.T. Wang (1983) var. biflorus
A. Joe et al. (2017: 337). Rhynchotechum is known in the state by all the five
species present in northeastern India except for R.
hookeri (distributed in Assam, in almost opposite
boundary neighbouring West Bengal and Bangladesh) and R. gracile (known
from previous Assam, which consisted most of the northeastern
states also Arunachal Pradesh, the locality of the type collection is unknown,
and hence its distribution in Arunachal Pradesh is doubtful) (Anderson &
Middleton 2013). Even a new species of Rhynchotechum (under press) is also found from the
state. The genus has very little
economic importance owing to its congeners in the family, though plants under
this genus are known to have some ethnobotanical uses (Kayang
2007). Considering the richness in
diversity, the state has high potential for discovery of both new species and
records for the region.
On recent studies conducted on
the ethnobotany of Adi-Komkar tribe in Upper Siang
District of Arunachal Pradesh, an interesting specimen of Rhynchotechum
was collected. After study of different
literature (Clarke 1874, 1884; Wang et al. 1998; Anderson & Middleton 2013;
Sinha & Datta 2016; Odyuo
& Roy 2017; Roy et al. 2019), and consultation of herbarium specimen housed
at different herbaria (CAL, ARUN, ASSAM, K, E, PE), it was identified as R. parviflorum, the type species of the genus known
previously from Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Sumatra, Kalimantan,
Sulawesi, Indonesian New Guinea, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, and Nicobar
Islands of India. The presence of this
species in the state is not unexpected, considering its distribution in the
neighbouring countries. As there is no
record of this species from mainland India, the authors hereby report the newly
collected specimen as the first authentic distribution record of R. parviflorum in mainland India.
Rhynchotechum parviflorum Blume,
Bijdr. Fl. Ned. Ind. 775 (1826); C.B.Clarke in Hook.f., Fl. Brit.
India 4: 373 (1884); Vietnam 3(1): 25 (1993); B.L.Burtt,
Thai Forest Bull., Bot. 29: 107 (2001) (Image 1 & 2).
Subshrubs, branched or
unbranched; stems 30–150 cm tall, 0.5–1.2 cm diameter. Leaves opposite, to sub-opposite; petiole
1.9–5 cm long, glabrous, green; blade broadly
elliptic to obovate, 16–27 cm × 8–13 cm, apex acute, base narrowly cuneate to
cuneate, margin crenate, adaxially dark green glabrescent,
abaxially pale yellow, rusty woolly at young stage, glabrescent
when mature, brown pubescent on veins; mid vein channelled, impressed above,
raised below, lateral veins opposite to sub-opposite, 12–24 pairs. Inflorescence green to rusty brown, 1.5–3 cm
long, 1–2 branched, rusty villous; bracts widely subulate, pinkish, slightly
membranous, rusty pubescent to glabrous; pedicel 4–7
mm, villous; calyx greenish to pinkish-brown, lobes triangular with apices
rounded 6–8 mm × 1–1.5 mm, villous; corolla glabrous,
pink, zygomorphic with a dark purple spot in the base, tube short upper lobes
1–1.2 × 0.8–1 mm, oblong, apex rounded, lower lobes 1–1.5 × 1–1.2 mm, stamens
inserted at the base of the tube, filaments 0.5–1 mm, anthers 1 mm across,
ovary 1 × 1 mm, shortly puberulent; style white, 3–5 mm long, stigma white,
truncate. Berries not seen.
Phenology: Flowering May–June
Note: Rhynchotechum
parviflorum is nearly similar to R. calycinum and R. hookeri in
having oblanceolate to elliptic ovate leaves, short fascicled inflorescence and
sericeous pedicel whereas differs in having villous calyx lobes (vs. glabrous in R. calycinum),
puberulent and shorter style ( vs. glabrous to
pubescent and longer style in R. hookeri).
Ethnobotany: Tender shoots are
eaten raw; Jongkot (Adi-Komkar)
Ecology and distribution: It
usually prefers cliffs near perennial streams in primary forests as well as in
secondary forests and damp groves near roadsides. It grows in association with Diplazium esculentum, Lysionotus bijantiae, Henckelia pumila, Boeica clarkei, Rhynchotechum vestitum, Pilea insolens, Pilea umbrosa, Mycetia mukerjiana, Cyclosorus parasiticus, Strobilanthes hamiltoniana, Justicia sp. etc.
Conservation status: Least
Concern.
Specimen examined: 5068 (HAU),
18.vi.2018, Sikem, Upper Siang District, Arunachal
Pradesh, India, 28°21’39”N, 95°4’17”E, 300m, coll. M. Taram
and O. Taku (Image 3).
Type: Java, Seribu
mountains, Blume s.n. [barcode: 0834014]
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