Achyranthes coynei Santapau, 1949 (Amaranthaceae) - an addition to the
flora of Karnataka, India
Sandeep
R. Pai 1, Vinayak Upadhya 2, Harsha V. Hegde 3& Sanjiva D. Kholkute 4
1,2,3,4 Regional
Medical Research Centre (RMRC), Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR),
Nehru Nagar, Belgaum, Karnataka 590010, India
4 National
Institute for Research in Reproductive Health, Jehangir Merwanji Street, Parel,
Mumbai, Maharashtra 400012, India
Email: 1 sandeeprpai@rediffmail.com 2 sirsivinayak@yahoo.com, 3 harshavh@rediffmail.com (corresponding
author), 4 sankhol@yahoo.com
Date of
publication (online): 26 June 2011
Date of
publication (print): 26 June 2011
ISSN
0974-7907 (online) | 0974-7893 (print)
Editor: Gopalakrishna
Bhat
Manuscript details:
Ms # o2685
Received 27 January 2011
Final revised received 24 May 2011
Finally accepted 06 June 2011
Citation: Pai, S.R.,
V. Upadhya, H.V. Hegde & S.D. Kholkute (2011). Achyranthes
coynei Santapau, 1949 (Amaranthaceae) - an addition to the
flora of Karnataka, India. Journal
of Threatened Taxa 3(6): 1875–1879.
Copyright: © Sandeep R.
Pai, Vinayak Upadhya, Harsha V. Hegde & Sanjiva D.
Kholkute 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:First author (SRP) gratefully acknowledges ICMR, New
Delhi for financial support in the form of post doctoralfellowship. Authors are indebted
to Dr. Gopalkrishna Bhat, Udupi and Dr. Vinod B. Shimpale, Kolhapur for their
valuable suggestions. The comments
by Botanical Survey of India, Western Circle, Pune is duly acknowledged. Thanks
are due to Mr. Vasanta Kahalkar for providing the literature.
During
exploratory surveys for medicinal plants from the Western Ghats of Belgaum
region, an interesting plant species belonging to the genus Achyranthes (Amaranthaceae)
was collected. After critical
investigation, it was identified as Achyranthes coynei Santapau, 1949. The voucher specimens have been
deposited at the Herbaria of Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC), Belgaum.
The
family Amaranthaceae is circumscribed with 850 species belonging to 71
different genera worldwide, out of which India is endowed with 60 species under
20 genera and an infraspecific taxa (Mishra & Singh 2001). The genus Achyrantheshas about 15 species distributed in tropical and subtropical regions in the
world (Shu 2003) of which 2 species (A. aspera L. and A. bidentata Blume)
have been reported from Karnataka, India (Sharma et al. 1984).
Achyranthes
coynei was first reported by Santapauin 1949 from Khandala, Maharashtra (Santapau 1949). Subsequently, the species was recorded from Raigad,
Sindhudurg, Thane and Amaravati districts of Maharashtra, making it endemic to
Maharashtra State (Singh et al. 2000; Mishra & Singh 2001). This species was categorized as rare in
the Red Data Book of Indian Plants (Sharma & Kulkarni 1987) and in ENVIS
Centre on floral diversity (2009) and as endangered by Mishra & Singh
(2001). The species was earlier
reported only from four locations in Maharashtra State, with an estimated
distribution range of ca. 5,000km2 (Mishra & Singh 2001). The present investigation reports the
extended distribution of A.
coynei to Karnataka State. The repeated random sampling during the present study, resulted in the recording of this plant at three
different localities, namely Madanabhavi of Bailhongal Taluka, Pachapur and
Godachinmalki of Hukkeri Taluka in Belgaum District along the road side and on
canal bunds.
The
collected specimens have been identified with the help of ‘Flora of Maharashtra
State’ (Singh et al. 2000) and confirmed with the original description of the
plant in ‘Flora of Khandala’ (Santapau
1967). The detailed
descriptions of the plant with photographs are provided to enable its easy
identification (Image 1a– h and Image 2).
Achyranthes coynei Santapau, 1949
Sant.in Kew Bull. 1948: 488. 1949 et in Rec. Bot. Surv. India 16 (1), Fl. Khandala 224. 1967 (3rd Rev. ed.); Raghavan & Singh in Jain &
Sastry (eds.), Pl. Cons. Bull. 3:4. 1983 et in
J. Econ. Tax. Bot. 5 (1): 161. 1984; Singh & Raghavan
ibid. 8(1): 34. 1986; Sharma & Kulkarni in Nayar
& Sastry (eds.), Red Data Book Indian Pl. 2: 8, f. 1987; Almeida in J.
Econ. Taxa. Bot. Addl. Ser. 8 (1), Fl. Savantwadi 1;
351. 1990; Kothari & Moorthy, Fl. Raigad 338,
1993; Almeida Fl Maharashtra 2: 194, 1996; Anon., India Glob. Threat.
Taxa 2. 1996; Yadav in Pokle et al. (eds.), Flow. Pl.
Syst. Diver. Pt. 1: 44. 1997. Singh et al. Fl.
Maharashtra State. Dicot Vol.2 779, 2000. Mishra & Singh End. Threat. Fl. Pl.
MH. 196, 2001. Uttarani, Kempu Uttarani
(Kannada), Lal Aghada (Marathi).
Material examined: 10.xii.2010
and 03.i.2011, Godachinmalki, Pachapur and Madanabhavi in Belgaum District,
Karnataka, India, coll. Sandeep Pai, Vinayak Upadhya and Harsha Hegde (RMRC
784, 785 & 790).
A perennial, profusely branching shrub, sub-erect, 2–4.5
m high. Stem terete, branches many, woody, younger ones pubescent, green or with
purple patches, older ones glabrous or glabrescent, brown to purple in colour; nodes swollen. Leaves deciduous; dimorphic, lower ones big 15–23 x 7–10 cm;
upper leaves gradually decreases in size, elliptic or lanceolate, acute or
acuminate; subglabrous above, pubescent beneath especially on the mid rib,
primary nerves and margins; margins entire; petiole 1–3 cm long,
channeled, pink above, green beneath. Flowers in spikes, densely arranged on rachis; rachis
thick, 35–60 cm long, densely pubescent, whitish. Flowers first erect, pointing towards
tip of the inflorescence (mostly buds), later patent, finally deflexed and
appressed to the rachis; opened flowers spreading, up to 1.5cm in dia.; rosy or
purplish in colour. Bract single, persistent, linear, membranous with distinct midrib,
smaller than the longest tepal, up to 5mm long, with rosy tinge; bractioles
two, linear, with thin papery wing like structure beneath, rosy or purplish. Tepals five, in two whorls, up to 8mm
long, 1mm broad, glabrous, green with rosy to pink tinge, ribbed, margins
scarious. Stamens five, filaments
fused at base; staminodes fimbriate, alternatively placed with fertile anthers,
fused together, rosy-pink-purple in colour, half the length of the filaments;
antheriferous filaments and lobes rosy-pink when young. Ovary truncate, one celled; style and
stigma rosy pink; style 0.4cm long, filiform, stigma capitellate. Capsule ca. 5mm, styles persistent; capsule enclosed with persistent hardened sepals. Seed one, cylindrical, smooth, brown.
Flowering and fruiting:September to March.
Habitat:Found along the road side and canal bunds under the shade, growing in
association with Achyranthes asperaL. and Alternanthera sessilis (L.) R. Br. ex. DC., Azadirachta indicaJuss., Acacia nilotica(L.) Willd., Jatropha curcasL., Vitex negundo L., Alternanthera sessalis(L.) R. Br. ex. DC., Peristrophe paniculata(Forssk.) Brummit., Cassia toraL., Lantana camaraL., Agave americanaL. and Cardiospermum helicacabumL.
Distribution:Endemic: Raigad, Amravati, Pune, Sindhudurg and Thane districts in northern
Western Ghats of Maharashtra (Mishra & Singh 2001) and Belgaum District of
Karnataka.
Status:Endangered: its distribution in all the reported locations is rare and
populations are severely fragmented, which needs immediate attention (Mishra
& Singh 2001). In the present
localities only few individuals have been found in Madanabhavi, while fairly
good, fragmented populations were observed between Pachapur to Godachimalki
villages, along a stretch of nearly 10km. Most of these populations are along the road sides,
while a few are on the canal bunds in the agricultural lands. As both habitats are prone to maximum
human interference, the development of conservation strategies for these
populations is needed urgently.
Medicinal use: The
other species of Achyranthes,
especially Achyranthes asperaL. locally known as ‘Uttarani’ or ‘Bili Uttarani’ is widely used by local
traditional practitioners and Ayurvedic physicians in treating several
disorders (Hebbar et al. 2004; Harsha et al. 2004; Upadhya et al. 2009). It was found during the study, that A. coyneiis also named ‘Uttarani’ or ‘Kempu Uttarani’ by the local community who are
using it for purposes similar to A. aspera L. Hence it is
worthwhile to work on the phytochemical and medicinal investigations of A. coynei.
Notes:As pointed out by Santapau, A.
coynei is similar in appearance to A. asperavar. porphyristachyafrom which it differs in profusely branched shrubby habit (3.0–3.5 m
tall); first erect, later patent, finally deflexed nature of flowers on the
inflorescence; opened flowers spreading up to 2.0cm in diameter and their
rosy-purplish colour (Santapau 1967). However, the diagram and the description of A. coyneigiven by Bhogaonkar & Devarkar (1999) did not match with Santapau’s
description. It is interesting to
note that all earlier localities of collection (Pune, Raigad, Sindhudurg and
Thane, excluding Amravati) fall on or near the same longitude as of the present
locality.
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