A note on Diploprora
championii (Lindl. ex Benth.) Hook. f. (Orchidaceae) - an interesting orchid from Karnataka, India
A.N. Sringeswara ¹ & Sahana
Vishwanath ²
¹ Department of Forestry and Environmental
Science, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK Campus, Bengaluru, Karnataka
560065, India.
² Tree Improvement and Propagation Division,
Institute of Wood Science and Technology, 18th Cross Malleswaram,
Bengaluru, Karnataka 560003, India.
Email: ¹ ansringesh@gmail.com (corresponding
author), 2 sahana_ans@yahoo.com
Date
of publication (online): 26 February 2011
Date
of publication (print): 26 February 2011
ISSN
0974-7907 (online) | 0974-7893 (print)
Editor:N.P. Balakrishnan
Manuscript
details:
Ms
# o2445
Received
24 March 2010
Final
received 12 January 2011
Finally
accepted 22 January 2011
Citation: Sringeswara, A.N. & S. Vishwanath (2011). A
note on Diploprora
championii (Lindl. ex Benth.) Hook. f. (Orchidaceae) - an
interesting orchid from Karnataka, India. Journal
of Threatened Taxa 3(2):
1550-1552.
Copyright: © A.N. Sringeswara & Sahana Vishwanath 2011.Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.JoTT allows unrestricted use of this article in any medium for non-profit
purposes, reproduction and distribution by providing adequate credit to the authors
and the source of publication.
Acknowledgements: We would like to thank anonymous referees for their valuable
suggestions and corrections.
For figures, images -- click here
During the floristic exploration in and around Sringeri
Taluk (Fig. 1) of Chikmagalur District, adjacent to Kudremukh National Park, an
interesting orchid species was collected. After the critical examination of the specimens, it has been identified
as Diploprora
championii (Image
1). The lip of this species is
peculiar in being semi-cymbiform with its long forked setiform tip resembling
the tongue of snake (see arrow in the Image 1). The voucher specimen has been deposited at the Herbarium,
Botanical Garden, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK
Campus, Bengaluru (Coll. No. ANS 187; Acc. No. 3806)
(Image 2).
This species was first described in 1855 by George Bentham
as Cottonia
championii, from
specimens collected from Hong Kong. J.D. Hooker (1890) gives the distribution
of this species from Bhutan Himalaya, Khasi Mountains, Tennasserim, Ceylon and
Hong Kong. Jayaweera (1981), gives its distribution from the Himalayan region, Khasia
Hills and Sikkim in India and from Burma and China. Rao (1996) reported this as new record for Arunachal
Pradesh. Recent
compilation of orchids of Eastern Ghats by Reddy et al. (2005) report the
occurrence of this species form Mayurbhanj District of Orissa. Saldanha (Saldanha & Nicolson 1976)
reported this species from Hassan District, Karnataka and it forms the first
report to southern India. The
species has been reported from Andaman Islands and Banasuranmala in Wayanad
District of Kerala (Rao 1982; Kumar & Manilal 1994, 2004). Recent
compilation on orchids of Karnataka by Rao & Sridhar (2007) refers to the
Saldanha’s collections only, as they have not collected this species. Our
collection is second report of this species in Karnataka after a gap of 35
years.
Diploprora
championii (Lindl. ex Benth.) Hook. f.
Fl. Brit. India. 6(1): 26. 1890 (as championi); Hook.f., Icon.
Pl. 22: t. 2120. 1892; King & Pantl. in Ann. R.
Bot. Gard. Calc. 8: t. 2120. 1898; Saldanha & Nicolson, Fl. Hassan 824.
1976; Liu & Su, Fl. Taiwan 5: 975. 1978. Cottonia
championii Lindl. ex Benth. in Hooker’s J. Bot. Kew Gard. Misc. 7: 35. 1855 Luisia
bicaudata Thw., Enum., Pl. Zeyl. 302. 1861. D.
bicaudata (Thw.) Schltr., Fedde Rep. Beih. 4: 281, in obs. 1919.
Pendulous epiphytes, roots long,
vermiform. Stems non-pseudobulbous, leafy, 5-35 cm long; internodes 0.5-2 cm
long, surrounded by persistent leaf sheaths. Leaves sessile, twisted, falcate
or linear-oblong, 8-12 cm long, ca. 2cm wide, apex acute or sometimes unequally
2-lobed; sheath tubular, oblique at mouth. Racemes 5-8 cm long, zigzag,
leaf-opposed, bracts scale-like, 2mm long. Flowers 3-5, pale yellow, ca. 1.5cm in diam. Sepals oblong
or oblong-oblanceolate, 7-9 mm long, 3-4 mm wide, obtuse or rounded at apex.
Petals linear-oblong, 8mm long, 2-3 mm wide, rounded at apex, 5-veined. Lip white or pale yellow, sometimes
with yellowish or brownish stripes or hues, semi-cymbiform with a process at
the extremity ending in two setiform forks. Anther terminal, 2-loculed, beaked, pollinia globose,
bipartite, appressed to the flat inner surface. Ovary with pedicel 8mm long. Fruit a capsule, linear-fusiform, 4-5 cm long, 6-ribbed.
Flowering and fruiting: March to June
(flowering was observed even during late August in the plants collected and
growing in author’s residence).
Habit and habitat: Growing on branches
of small trees overhanging in thicket (disturbed by frequent cutting of the
plant into bushes for manure dominated by Memcylon and Hopea species) and
semi-evergreen forests.
In the present investigation, we found
that this species grows predominantly on Memecylon
umbellatum trees in semi-evergreen forests and thickets in Sringeri
Taluk. The leaves of this species
have resemblance to the leaves of Pothas scandens. The fast disappearing thickets in Malnad
region poses serious threat to its existence and sustainability in the
region. It needs immediate
attention for conserving this rare species.
References
Hooker, J.D.
(1890). Flora of British India - Vol. 6. L.
Reeve & Co., London, 224pp.
Jayaweera,
D.M.A. (1981). Orchidaceae, pp. 263–266. In: Dassanayake, M.D.
& F.R. Fosberg (eds.). A Revised Handbook to the Flora of Ceylon, Vol. 2. Amerind
Publishing Co., New Delhi, 511pp.
Kumar,
C.S. & K.S. Manilal (1994). A Catalogue of Indian Orchids. Bishen Singh
Mahendra Pal Singh, Dehra Dun, 162pp.
Kumar,
C.S. & K.S. Manilal (2004). Orchids of Kerala, India, pp. 155-237. In: Manilal,
K.S. & C. Sathish Kumar (eds). Orchid Memoirs – A tribute to Gunnar Seidenfaden. Mentor Books,
Calicut, xiii+256 pp.+plates, figs, tables.
Rao, M.K.V.
(1982). Additions to the Orchidaceae of Andaman and Nicobar
Islands. Bulletin of Botanical Survey of India 22: 212-213 (1980
publ. 1982).
Rao, N.A.
(1996). Five new records of orchids from Arunachal Pradesh,
India. Journal of Economic and Taxonomic Botany 20(3): 707-709.
Rao, T.A.
& S. Sridhar (2007). Wild Orchids in Karnataka – A Pictorial
Compendium. Institute of Natural Resources, Conservation,
Education, Research and Training (INCERT), Bangalore, xiv+152pp.+80 colour
plates.
Reddy,
C.S., C. Pattanaik, M.S.R. Murthy & K.N. Reddy (2005). Orchids of
Eastern Ghats, India. EPTRI-ENVIS News Letter 11(4): 6-12.
Saldanha, C.J. & D.H. Nicolson (1976). Flora of
Hassan District, India. Amerind Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi,
viii+915pp.