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]

 

 

For images - - click here

 

 

References

 

Anderson, B.M. & D.J. Middleton (2013). A revision of Rhynchotechum Blume (Gesneriaceae). Edinburgh Journal of Botany 70(1): 121–176.

Blume, C.L. (1826). Bijdragen tot de Flora van Nederlandsh Indie, vol. 3. Batavia: Ter Lands Drukkerij, pp. 731–1169.

Burtt, B. (2001). Thailand: annotated checklist of Gesneriaceae. Thai Forest Bulletin (Botany) 29: 81–109.

Clarke, C.B. (1874). Commelinaceae et Cyrtandraceae Bengalenses. Spink and Co., Calcutta, 93pp.

Clarke, C.B. (1884). Gesneriaceae. In: Hooker, J.D.(Ed.) The Flora of British India, vol. 4. Reeve & Co. Ltd., England, pp. 336–375.

Kayang, H. (2007). Tribal knowledge on wild edible plants of Meghalaya, Northeast India. Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge 6: 177–181.

Roy, S., T.K. Paul & S.K. Mukherjee (2019). Taxonomic studies of the genus Rhynchotechum of Indian part of Eastern Himalaya, pp. 145–155. In: Agnihotri, P. & J.S. Khuraijam (eds.) Angiosperm Systematics: Recent Trends and Emerging Issues. M/S Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh, Dehradun, India.

Sinha, B.K. & S. Datta (2016). Taxonomic account on the family Gesneriaceae in Northeast India. Nelumbo 58: 1–43.

Wang, W., K. Pan, Z.Li, A.L. Weitzman & L.E. Skog (1998). Gesneriaceae, pp. 244–401. In: Wu, Z.Y. & P.H. Raven (Eds.) Flora of China, Vol. 19. Science Press, Beijing and Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.