Journal of Threatened Taxa |
www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 December 2021 | 13(14): 20261–20265
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893
(Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.6603.13.14.20261-20265
#6603 | Received 23 August 2020 | Final
received 08 January 2021 | Finally accepted 26 November 2021
Nomenclatural notes and report of
Boehmeria penduliflora
Wedd. ex D.G. Long from the Terai region of Uttar
Pradesh, India
Amit Gupta 1, Imtiyaz Ahmad Hurrah 2, Aparna Shukla 3 &
Vijay V. Wagh 4
1,2,3&4 Plant Diversity, Systematics and
Herbarium Division, CSIR–National Botanical Research Institute, Rana Pratap
Marg, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh 226001, India.
1,2&4 Academy of Scientific and
Innovative Research (AcSIR), CSIR–HRDC Campus
Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh 201002, India.
1 cnb09695@gmail.com, 2 saithimtiyaz18@gmail.com,
3 aparnashukla602@gmail.com, 4 vijay.wagh@nbri.res.in
(corresponding author)
Editor: Anonymity
requested. Date of publication:
26 December 2021 (online & print)
Citation: Gupta, A., I.A. Hurrah, A. Shukla
& V.V. Wagh (2021). Nomenclatural notes and report of
Boehmeria penduliflora
Wedd. ex D.G. Long from the Terai region of Uttar
Pradesh, India. Journal of
Threatened Taxa 13(14): 20261–20265. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.6603.13.14.20261-20265
Copyright: © Gupta et al. 2021. 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: University Grant Commission,
New Delhi: UGC Ref.No.:768/(CSIR-UGC NET June 2018).
Competing interests: The authors
declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: The authors are thankful to: the
director CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow for facilities and
encouragement; the curators of various Indian herbaria for allowing us to study
the specimens (CAL, LWG, ASSAM); the curators of K, BM, G, KATH, and M herbaria
for providing access to the herbarium specimens online; the forest department
of Pilibhit Tiger Reserve, Uttar Pradesh (India) for
giving us permission for surveying the localities. The first author thanks the
University Grant Commission, New Delhi for financial support (NBRI
communication number: CSIR-NBRI_MS/2020/07/13).
Abstract: Boehmeria
penduliflora Wedd. ex D.G.Long
(Urticaceae) is rediscovered after 81 years in Barahi range of Pilibhit Tiger Reserve, Pilibhit
district, Uttar Pradesh, India. In the present article, detailed description,
digital photographs, illustration, nomenclature update and relevant notes are
provided to facilitate easy identification.
Keywords: Boehmeria penduliflora,
Uttar
Pradesh, cystoliths, floral cluster.
The family Urticaceae
is commonly known as the nettle family, comprising ca. 54 genera and 2,600
species spread throughout the world in tropics, subtropics, and temperate
regions (Christenhusz & Byng 2016). This family
is represented by 29 genera and 153 species in India (Karthikeyan 2000). The
apomictic genus Boehmeria (Yahara 1990) is the largest genus in tribe Boehmerieae. After revisionary study 47
species were reported from both new world and old world (Wilmot-Dear & Friis 1996, 2013), of which 15–20 species are known from
Indian territory, distributed mostly in tropical regions (Gaur 1999). Boehmeria penduliflora Wedd
ex D.G.Long mostly occurs in eastern India, with
maximum concentration in the Naga and Khasi hills of Assam and Meghalaya
(Wilmot-Dear et al. 2013).
During field exploration in Pilibhit district of Uttar Pradesh, a few specimens
belonging to the genus Boehmeria were
collected by the last author (VVW). Based on critical microscopic examination
and review of literature (Weddell 1854; Lindsat et
al. 1874; Hooker 1885; Duthei 1915; Kanjilal 1933, 1940; Wilmot-Dear & Friis
2013) the specimens were identified as Boehmeria
penduliflora Wedd. ex D.G.Long.
From Uttar Pradesh this species was first reported by Kanjilal
(1933) in “Forest flora of Pilibhit, Oudh, Gorakhpur,
and Bundelkhand”, from Kanjilal onwards; there has
been no collection of this species in Uttar Pradesh. Present study reports B.
penduliflora from Uttar Pradesh after 81 years,
and provides detailed description, updated nomenclature, phenology,
photographs, illustration, and relevant notes to facilitate easy
identification.
Material and Methods
Fresh plant materials of Boehmeria were collected during field surveys
conducted in Barahi forest range of Pilibhit Tiger Reserve, Uttar Pradesh, in 2014 (Figure 1).
The habit, habitat features and the geo-coordinates
(latitude/longitude/elevation) of each specimen were recorded. Macro and
micro-morphological characters were examined critically in freshly collected
and herbarium specimens. Plant parts were carefully studied under a
stereomicroscope (Leica S8APO). Comparative studies were made by examining the
relevant taxonomic literature (Yahara 1981; Friss 1993; Wilmot-Dear & Friis
1996, 2013; Acharya et al. 2002). Specimens housed in ASSAM, BSD, BSHC, CAL,
DD, and LWG were studied and digital specimen images were accessed from virtual
herbaria of BM, E, G, K, NHNM, and NYBG. The Shenzhen Code (Turland
et al. 2018) was followed for nomenclature updates and lectotypification of the plant names.
Taxonomic Treatments
Boehmeria penduliflora Wedd. ex D.G.Long
in Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinb. 40(1): 130. 1982. (Image 1–2; Figure 2–3)
= Boehmeria
macrophylla D.Don (1825) 60, nom. illeg., non B. macrophylla Hornem.
(1815).
= Boehmeria
penduliflora Wedd. (1854) Ann. Sci. Nat.,
Bot. sér. 4, 1: 199 (1854).
= Boehmeria
densiflora Hook & Arn.
var. penduliflora (Wedd. ex D.G.Long) Acharya & Yonek.,
Acta Phytotax. Geobot.
53(1): 6.
Type: Nepal, Narainhetty,
5.ix.1802. Buchanan-Hamilton s.n. Lectotype BM barcode
BM000641028 (digital image !), selected by Long 1982: 130.
= Boehmeria
densiflora Hook. & Arn.
var. intermedia Acharya & Yonek., Acta Phytotax. Geobot. 53(1): 8(2002).
Type: Nepal, Gandaki Zone, Gorkha
Dist., Dobremez 673; Holotype BM barcode BM00641035
(digital image !)
= Urtica penduliflora Wall., Numer.
List [Wallich] n. 4595 (1831).
Lectotype (designated
here): Nepal. Wallich, Numer.
List.: No. 4595a, (G barcode G00354049 [digital image !]; isolectotype:
K barcode K000741291 [digital image !])
Perennial, evergreen, small tree
or undershrub, ca. 2 m tall. Ultimate stem 1–2 mm diameter, with appressed
minute hairs. Leaves simple, opposite, superposed, slightly asymmetric;
petiole 0.6–2.4 cm long, cylindrical, pubescent; lamina 9.4–24.6 × 1.6–3.3 cm,
lanceolate-ovate, obtuse or shortly attenuate base, acuminate apex, 3-veined at
base, serrate-dentate margins, adaxially with fine appressed eglandular hairs at young but nearly glabrate during
maturation, dark green, leathery, fairly rough with punctuate cystoliths, abaxially having short dense thick hairs along
main vein and lateral veins in younger and sparse in older ones, rest with tomentose hairs. Stipules 17 × 2.3 mm, falcate, free
lateral, glabrate. Inflorescence borne
on leaf axile, each inflorescence bearing axis
unbranched or branched at base, having clusters of unisexual flowers; male axis
towards the base of branches and comparatively shorter, 5–7 cm, pubescent, 5–10
flowers per cluster. Female axis 10–23 cm long, densely pubescent, each cluster
1.95–2.30 × 1.6–2.8 mm, 0.69–23 mm apart consisting 40-74 flowers. Bract
triangular, 2.5–3.4 × 1.19–1.23 mm, pubescent in centre and ciliate along
margin; bracteoles inconspicuous. Male flower sessile or subsessile,
tetramerous; tepals 4, elliptical, pubescent, fused in bud condition but open
at maturity due to physical force applied by stamens; stamen 4 inflexed in bud,
filament flattened, anther dithecous, basifixed,
longitudinal dehiscent, surrounding the rudimentary carpel. Female flower
1.02–1.76 × 0.21–0.48 mm, sessile or subsessile,
hypogynous; tepal attached with ovary, hairy 0.12–0.18 mm long; ovary
0.55–0.53 mm long, obovate, style 0.38–0.75 mm, stigma penicilate.
Fruit not seen.
Phenology: August to September
Notes: Boehemria
penduliflora is distinct having flower
clusters sparse, from B. densiflora with dense
flower clusters. In addition, the upper surface of the leaf bears distinct
punctate cystoliths. Young leaves and petiole are
more pubescent than the older ones.
Nomenclatural Updates
Boehemria macrophylla D.Don was described by Don (1825)
citing the type of Buchanan-Hamilton collection, mentioning type locality Narainhetty, Nepal. Exactly 10 year before, Hornemann in 1815 had described a new species with same
name, i.e., Boehmeria macrophylla Hornem., and interestingly the two different specimens
cited by D.Don and Hornemann
individually, were collected by Buchanan Hamilton from same locality. As such D.Don’s (1825) assigned name became the later homonym for Hornemann (1815) species and according to ICN later
homonyms are illegitimates (Art. 53).
After that Wallich
listed Urtica penduliflora
Wall. (1831) in his numerical list publication, citing the specimen with
collection number 4595a. As per www.plantlist.com database, and the current taxonomic
status of U. penduliflora is considered as an
unresolved name. Weddell (1854) gave a manuscript name Boehmeria
penduliflora Wedd., without any description and
was the first to cite Urtica penduliflora Wall. as a synonym of B. penduliflora. But Weddell’s name was not validly
published (Art. 38.1). Later D.G. Long provided the detailed description and
validly published Boehmeria penduliflora Wedd. ex D.G.Long
(1982).
In the revisionary study of Boehmeria Jacq. in southeastern
Asia, Acharya followed Wang’s view (1995) and recognised B. densiflora as an accepted name and treated B. penduliflora as a variety of the former (Acharya et al.
2002). Acharya therefore proposed two varieties of B. densiflora,
viz., B. densiflora var. penduliflora and B. densiflora
var. intermidia which failed to get
recognition and later rendered as synonyms of B. peduliflora
as it gets the priority over Boehmeria densiflora.
The detailed critical study of Urtica penduliflora,
based on the literature and virtual specimens, we were able to locate Wallich’s collection of Urtica
penduliflora from three different herbaria with
same collection number 4595a, housed in K, G, and M herbarium (with barcodes
K000741291, G00354049, and M0244322, respectively). As per ICN (Art. 9.6) the
specimens deposited in K, G, and M becomes syntypes (Turland
et al. 2018) and it is required to select one specimen as a lectotype amongst
the three (Art 9.3, Note 2). Here we are designating the specimen housed at
Geneva herbarium [G00354049] (Image 4) as lectotype and the one with barcode
K000741291 as an isolectotype (Turland
et al. 2018).
Habitat: In Barahi
range of Pilibhit Tiger Reserve, this species growing
with ca. 10–15 individuals along the forest margins, on river bank and road
side. The associated species are Cassia tora, Hyptis suaveolens,
also growing under the Shorea robusta trees.
Specimen examined: Nepal, Narainhetty,
05.ix.1802, Buchanan, # s.n., BM000641028
(BM); Wallich, N., 1821, #4595a, G00354049 (G!),
K000741291 (K!), M0244322 (M!); Jagat (Marsyandi),
28.483N,84.366E; 1300 m, 28.xi.1970, Dobremez, J. F.,
#673, BM006641028 (BM!), KATH01222 (KATH!); India, West Bengal, Jalpaiguri, Chilapata,
10.ix.1981, B. Jafari & Party, 10456 (CAL); Assam, Pynursla,
25.xi.1956, G. Panigrahi, 4595; K & G hills, Mawrynklang, 27.i.1957, G.K. Deka, 5233 (ASSAM); Khasi
hill, 4000 ft., 09.x.1913, U. Kanjilal, 2668 (ASSAM);
Rial khwan, Khasi Hill,
4500 ft, 29.x.1913, U. Kanjilal, 2463 (ASSAM); K
& J hill, Syndai, 500 m., 17.viii.1968,
Balakrishnan, 46177 (ASSAM); K & J hill, Mawrynklang,
27.i.1957, G.K. Deka, 5333 (ASSAM); K & J hill, Unsav
forest, 26.x.1938, S.R. Sharma 1729 (ASSAM); Meghalaya, Garo hill, Amchigiri, 220 m., 29.xi.1996, Sankar
Dash, 105213 (ASSAM); Sensong, 25.ii.2007, 114288
(ASSAM); South Garo hill, Romper, 01.ii.2014, D.K. Roy, 91351 (ASSAM); K &
J hill, Barapani, 01.i.1930, P.C. Kanjilal,
8766 (ASSAM); K & J hill, Nongpoh, 26.x.1938,
S.R. Sharma, 17928 (ASSAM); Arunachal Pradesh, Tirap,
Rusa, 08.ix.1958, G. Panigrahi,
17011 (ASSAM); Titap, Nonpong,
10.iii.1958, G.K. Murthy, 12995 (ASSAM); Kameng,
24.iii.1957, G. Panigrahi, 5937 (ASSAM); Siang, Koppu, 731
m., 08.xi.1958, R.S. Rao, 17454 (ASSAM); Siang, Kappu,
731 m., 08.xi.1958, R.S. Rao, 17459 (ASSAM); Kheti,
22.viii.1958, G. Panigrahi, 14601 (ASSAM); Tirap, Nampong, 12.x.1959, R.S.
Rao, 20158 (ASSAM); Tirap, Nompong,
12.x.1959, R.S. Rao, 20005 (ASSAM); Kimin, Subansiri, 230 m., 24.ix.1954, G. Panigrahi,
19345 (ASSAM); Uttar Pradesh, Pilibhit district, Barahi Forest range, 28.602N, 80.182E, 275 m. 11.ix.2014, Vijay V. Wagh, 258047 (LWG).
Distribution:
Boehmeria penduliflora is widely distributed in southeastern Asia (Acharya et. al. 2002). In India this
species is mainly distributed in northeastern region
of India like Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur (Wilmot-Dear & Friis 2013) and also in terai
region of Uttar Pradesh (Kanjilal 1933). We collected
this species from Barahi range of Uttar Pradesh, on
the bank of Sharada water canal (28.602N,80.182E, 275 m).
For
figures & images - - click here
References
Acharya, N.,
K. Yonekura & M. Suzuki (2002). A new species and a new variety
of Boehmeria (Urticaceae)
from the Himalaya with special reference to the status of B. penduliflora Wedd. ex DGLong. Acta
Phytotaxonomica et Geobotanica 53(1):
1–9.
Christenhusz, M.J. & J.W. Byng (2016). The number of known plants
species in the world and its annual increase. Phytotaxa
261(3): 20–217.
Don, D.
(1825). Prodromus Florae Nepalensis.
J. Gale, Londini, 256pp.
Duthie, J.F.
(1915). Flora of
the upper Gangetic plain, and of the adjacent Siwalik and sub-Himalayan tracts.
Supreintendent of Government Printing, Culcutta, 168pp.
Gaur, R.D.
(1999). Flora of the
District Garhwal, North West Himalaya. Transmedia.
Grierson
A.J.C. & D.G. Long (1982). Notes relating to the Flora of Bhutan 5. Notes
from the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh 40(1): 115–138.
Hooker, J.D.
(1888). Urticaceae, pp. 477–594. In: Hooker, J.D. (Eds.). The
Flora of British India, Vol. 5. L. Reeve & Co., London.
Hornemann, J.W. (1815). Hortus Regius
Botanicus Hafniensis 2:
890.
Kanjilal, P.C. (1933). A Forest Flora of Pilibhit. Oudh, Gorakhpur and Bundelkhand. Allahabad.
Kanjilal, U.N., P.C. Kanjilal,
A. Das, R.N. De & N.L. Bor (1934–1940). Flora of Assam. Vols. 1–5. Government of Assam,
Shillong.
Karthikeyan,
S. (2000). A
statistical analysis of flowering plants of India, pp. 201–217. Flora of
India introductory volume part-II.
Kubitzki, K., J.G. Rohwer
& V. Bittrich (1993). Flowering Plants·
Dicotyledons: Magnoliid, Hamamelid and Caryophyllid Families (Vol. 2).
Springer Science & Business Media.
Turland, N.J., J.H. Wiersema, F.R.
Barrie, W. Greuter, D.L. Hawksworth, P.S. Herendeen, S. Knapp, W.H. Kusber,
D.Z. Li, K. Marhold & T.W. May (2018). International Code of
Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (Shenzhen Code) adopted by the
Nineteenth International Botanical Congress Shenzhen, China, July 2017. Koeltz Botanical Books. Glashütten;
2018. (Regnum Veg. 159). https://doi.org/10.12705/Code.2018
Uniyal, B.P. (2007). Flowering plants of
Uttarakhand (A Check List). Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh. Dehradun, 404 pp.
Wallich, N. (1831). Numerical list of dried
specimens in the museum of the honl. East India
Company, London. https://doi.org/10.5962/ bhl.title.1917
Weddell, H.A.
(1854). Revue de la famille de Urticacées. Annales
des Sciences Naturelles; Botanique,
Sér. 4(1): 173–212.
Weddell, H.A.
(1856). Monographie de la famille des Urticées. Nouv. Archives du Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle 9: 1–400.
Weddell, H.A.
(1857). Monographie de la famille des Urticées. Nouv. Archives du Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle 9: 401–592.
Weddell, H.A.
(1869). Urticaceae. In: A. de Candolle (ed.), Prodromus
systematis naturalis regni vegetabilis. Masson,
Paris 6(1): 32–35.
Wilmot-Dear,
C.M. & I. Friis (1996). The New World species of Boehmeria and Pouzolzia
(Urticaceae, tribus Boehmerieae): a taxonomic revision. Opera Botanica
129, Copenhagen, 103 pp.
Wilmot-Dear,
C.M. & I. Friis (2013). The Old World species of Boehmeria (Urticaceae, tribus Boehmerieae). A taxonomic
revision. Blumea-Biodiversity, Evolution
and Biogeography of Plants 58(2): 85–216
Yahara, T. (1981). Taxonomic studies of the Urticaceae: 1. The genus Boehmeria
in Thailand. Acta phytotaxonomica et Geobotanica 32(1–4): 1–21.
Yahara, T. (1990). Evolution of agamospermous races
in Boehmeria and Eupatorium. Plant
Species Biology 5(1):183–96.