Journal of Threatened Taxa |
www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 November 2021 | 13(13): 20133–20135
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893
(Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.6707.13.13.20133-20135
#6707 | Received 13 September 2020 | Final
received 25 July 2021 | Finally accepted 11 October 2021
On the IUCN status of Boesenbergia albolutea and
B. rubrolutea (Zingiberaceae)
and typification of B. rubrolutea
K. Aishwarya 1 & M. Sabu 2
1 Department of Botany, University
of Calicut, Kerala 673635, India.
2 Malabar Botanical Garden and the
Institute for Plant Sciences, Kozhikode, Kerala 673014, India.
1 aishwaryakizhakethil12@gmail.com,
2 msabu9@gmail.com (corresponding author)
Editor: Anonymity
requested. Date of publication:
26 November 2021 (online & print)
Citation: Aishwarya. K. & M. Sabu (2021). On the IUCN status of Boesenbergia albolutea
and B. rubrolutea (Zingiberaceae)
and typification of B. rubrolutea.
Journal of Threatened Taxa 13(13): 20133–20135. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.6707.13.13.20133-20135
Copyright: © Aishwarya & Sabu 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: Department
of Science & Technology (DST), New Delhi, India; Department of Biotechnology
(DBT), New Delhi, India.
Competing interests: The authors
declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: We thank the Department of
Science and Technology, Government of India, for the INSPIRE fellowship (No.
DST/ INSPIRE Fellowship/2012) and Department of Biotechnology, Government of
India, for the financial support (BT/PR15275/PBD/16/917/2011). The second
author is thankful to CSIR for awarding the CSIR-Emeritus Scientist Fellowship
at the Malabar Botanical Garden and the Institute for Plant Sciences,
Kozhikode, Kerala, India. We also thank the herbarium Curators and staff of
CAL, MH, ASSAM, BSHC, CAL, CALI, and DD for permission and help in
consultation, and BM, E, K, KEP, LINN, LIV, MO, NY, PBL, SING & W, for
making digital images of the specimens available on the internet. Thanks are
also due to the reviewers for their valuable comments and guidance.
Boesenbergia albolutea
(Baker) Schltr. and B. rubrolutea (Baker)
Kuntze belong to the genus Boesenbergia
Kuntze of the family Zingiberaceae.
The genus is characterized by the two-ranked arrangement of the bracts
of the inflorescence, and was originally described under the genus Gastrochilus Wall. But, finding Gastrochilus as a later homonym for an
orchidaceous genus Gastrochilus Don (Don
1825), Kuntze (1891) proposed the new name Boesenbergia. Subsequently, the genus was treated by
various authors, viz., Baker (1890) for British India, Schumann (1904) for
Borneo and Sumatra, Gagnepain (1908) for Indochina, Valeton (1918) for Java and Malaysia, Ridley (1907, 1924)
and Holttum (1950) for the Malay Peninsula, Das &
Sikdar (1982) for India and Sirirugsa
(1992) for Thailand. In India, the genus is represented by 10 species (Aishwarya
2017) including a new species (B. meghalayensis Aishwarya
& M.Sabu) recently described (Aishwarya et al.
2015).
B. albolutea
and B. rubrolutea are less explored species of the
genus Boesenbergia. They were originally
described under Gastrochilus, as G. albolutens (Baker 1894) and G. rubrolutea
(Baker 1890), respectively. Later, once the genus Boesenbergia
was established, Schlechter (1913) and Kuntze (1891) brought the new combinations of these two
species as B. albolutea and B. rubrolutea, respectively.
Relevant literature and herbaria
related to the species under study were thoroughly studied. The various
herbaria consulted in India include CAL, MH, ASSAM, BSHC, CAL, CALI & DD
(Thiers (2020 continuously updated)). In addition, digital database of world herbaria
like BM, E, K, KEP, LINN, LIV, MO, NY, PBL, SING & W (Thiers (2020
continuously updated)) were also accessed.
The IUCN statuses of these
species have been evaluated against IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria
Version 14 (IUCN 2019) based on repeated field visits for the past 30 years and
herbaria reference.
A revision on the genus shows
that the species B. albolutea and B. rubrolutea are extinct in the wild (IUCN 2019). This is
based on the observation that there has been no report of these species after
type collection [B. albolutea from England
(originally from Andaman; flowering condition from England) and B. rubrolutea from Meghalaya]. Besides, the field
explorations conducted by the senior author over 30 years throughout India
including Andaman & Nicobar Islands as part of the taxonomic revision of
the family Zingiberaceae in India, could not spot
even a single specimen of these species in the field. A thorough search of
various herbaria also could not find any specimen added after the type
collection.
Moreover, Jain & Prakash
(1995) reported the species, B. rubrolutea as
endemic to Meghalaya and as endangered by commenting on the endangered species
of Zingiberaceae as “confined to very small areas of
one state and facing immediate danger of extinction, these species need urgent
conservation.” The present study also tried to locate further collections of
these species, however failed to find any. Based on all these, the present
study recommends assigning these species under the IUCN Red List category,
‘Extinct in the Wild’ (EW) (IUCN 2019).
The study also shows that the
type B. rubrolutea is not yet designated.
Consequently, after studying the literature and herbaria deposition of the
species in detail, the lectotype is being designated here.
Taxonomic Treatment
1. Boesenbergia
albolutea (Baker) Schltr.,
Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni
Veg. 12: 315. 1913; C.R. Das & Sikdar, Bull. Bot.
Soc. Bengal 36: 41. 1982. ≡Gastrochilus albolutens Baker, Gard. Chron. 2: 34. 1894.
Type: England, London, Kew
Gardens, 26 June 1894, s.c. s.n.
(holotype, K; K000640518 image!).
(Image 1A)
Notes: In the protologue, Baker
(1894), while describing the species, noted that the plant was to be collected by Mr. Mann from Andamans
and sent to Kew in 1889, where it flowered and was identified and described as
a new species. As this is the only specimen mentioned in the protologue of the
species, it is the holotype.
Distribution: Endemic to Andaman
Islands.
Recommended IUCN Red List Status:
Extinct in the wild (EW) (IUCN 2019).
2. Boesenbergia
rubrolutea (Baker) Kuntze,
Rev. Gen. Pl. 2:685. 1891; Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg.12:
316. 1913; C.R. Das & Sikdar, Bull. Bot. Soc.
Bengal 36: 44. 1982. ≡Gastrochilus rubrolutea Baker in Hook.f., Fl.
Brit. India 6: 218. 1890.
Type: India, Meghalaya, Khasi
Hills, Thera, 10 October 1886, C.B. Clarke 44985 A (lecto,
K; K000640511image! designated here); ibid., C.B. Clarke 44985 B (isolecto, K; K000640512!).
(Image 1B)
Notes: In the protologue, the specimen/specimens
mentioned by Baker (1890) is the collection/collections by ‘J.D.H. & T.T.,
Clarke’ from Khasi Hills. Herbarium sheets of two specimens that were collected
by C.B. Clarke are now housed at K (Thiers (2020 continuously updated)), viz.,
44985 A & 44985 B. Out of these, following Articles 9.3, 9.12 and 9A.3 of
ICN (Turland et al. 2018), 44985 A’ is selected here
as the lectotype of B. rubrolutea because this sheet
depicts the details of the species, especially the spike, with better clarity compared
to the other. Moreover, the herbarium label in it bears a sketch and a brief
description of the anther, labellum and corolla segments of the species. No
other collection of this species could be located anywhere else.
Distribution: B. rubrolutea is endemic to Meghalaya. Das & Sikdar (1982) noted that B. rubrolutea
is not represented even by a single specimen at CAL. They added, “on the
basis of two localities mentioned in Meghalaya, it is assumed that this species
is restricted to Meghalaya, and therefore may be taken as endemic”.
Recommended IUCN Red List status:
Extinct in the wild (EW).
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