Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 November 2023 | 15(11): 24288–24290

ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print)

https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8422.15.11.24288-24290

#8422 | Received 23 February 2023 | Final received 19 August 2023 | Finally accepted 20 October 2023

Cyperus babakan Steud. (Liliopsida: Poales: Cyperaceae), a new record for southern India

B.S. Anakha ^{1 &} A.R. Viji ²

¹ P.G Department of Botany, Christian College, Kattakada, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala 695572, India.

² P.G Department of Botany, Iqbal College, Peringammala, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala 695563, India.

¹ anakhabs2013@gmail.com (corresponding author), ² vijihari1982@gmail.com

Editor: V.P. Prasad, Botanical Survey of India, Howrah, India. Date of publication: 26 November 2023 (online & print)

Citation: Anakha, B.S. & A.R. Viji (2023). Cyperus babakan Steud. (Liliopsida: Poales: Cyperaceae), a new record for southern India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 15(11): 24288–24290. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8422.15.11.24288-24290

Copyright: © Anakha & Viji 2023. 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 Grants Commission (UGC) - JRF

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Acknowledgements: The authors are grateful to the principal and head of PG Department of Botany, Christian College, Kattakada, for providing facilities in the accomplishment of this research work.We also acknowledge the University of Kerala and University Grants Commission for providing financial assistance and facility to carry out the work. And finally, to the Central Laboratory for Instrumentation Facility (CLIF) University of Kerala for providing facility for SEM analysis.

Cyperus L. is a cosmopolitan genus of the family Cyperaceae and has remarkable species richness in India with about 947 species worldwide (Govearts et al. 2021). Prasad et al. (2020) treated the genus in strict sense and included 82 species in the checklist of flowering plants of India. While conducting field survey on 29 September 2022, for the taxonomic revision of the genus Cyperus L. in Kerala, an interesting specimen allied to Cyperus pilosus Vahl was collected. On critical examination with reliable literature (Steudel 1855; Kern 1952, 1974; Dai et al. 2010), it was identified as Cyperus babakan Steud. This species can be readily distinguished by its simple inflorescence, dense spikes, scabrous nature of glumes and the larger size of achenes.

Steudel (1855) recognized Cyperus babakensis based on the collection of Zollinger (H. 693) from the swamp near Babakan in the Tijikoya region, Java (Indonesian Archipelago). There is no description of C. babakensis in Zollinger’s work (Zollinger, 1854) and it was validly published by Steudel (1855) as C. babakan in his monumental work, Synopsis plantarum glumacerum. During the same period, Miquel (1855) described and validly published Zollinger’s collection (H. 693) as C. babakensis and noted that Cyperus babakan Steud. is “nomen rectius adjective more adhip” (the name is more correctly used as an adjective), hence, subsequent workers followed Miquel (Boeckeler 1868; Clarke 1893, 1909; Kuekenthal 1935). While revising Malaysian Cyperus, Kern (1952, 1974) treated C. babakan as a valid name and cited “the form C. babakensis, accepted by nearly all authors, was still a nomen nudum when C. babakan was already validly published therefore it cannot be upheld.” The latest authors such as Dai et al. (2010), Govearts et al. (2021) and Prasad et al. (2020) accepted the treatment of Kern (1952, 1974).

Cyperus babakan Steud. is included under the section Proceri (Kern, 1952) of subgenus Cyperus; earlier this well-characterized species was placed under the subgenus Pycreus by Steudel (1855) and Miquel (1855). The species is native to Asia, extending from Southeastern parts of Tibet, the Malay Peninsula and the Malay Archipelago. In India, the species has been recorded from a few localities from the eastern and northeastern states (Kern 1974; Rao & Verma 1982; Karthikeyan et al. 1989; Prasad et al. 2020). Therefore, the collection represents a new record for southern India. A detailed description along with, photographs and relevant notes are provided for its easy identification.

Cyperus babakan Steud., Syn. Plant. Glum. 2: 6. 1855.

Type: Indonesia, Java Zollinger, H. 693. (G00191583, image!); (Iso L0042364, Image!)

Synonyms: Cyperus babakensis Steud. ex Miq., Fl. Ned. Ind. 3: 257. 1856. Cyperus pilosus var. babakensis (Steud. ex. Miq.) C.B. Clarke, J. Linn. Soc. Bot. 21: 151. 1884. Duval-Jouvea babakensis (Miq.) H. Pfeiff., Mitt. Inst. Allg. Bot. Hamburg 7: 167. 1928.

Perennials, rhizome emitting slender stolons clothed with brownish scales. Culm solitary, triquetrous, smooth, 60–90 × 0.4–0.6 cm. Leaves 2–3, shorter than or as long as the culm; flat, gradually acuminate, 35–85 × ca. 1 cm, scabrous on the margins towards the apex; basal sheaths often bladeless, leaf sheath and blades septate. Inflorescence simple, 3–10 × 4–10 cm. Involucral bracts 3–4, patent to reflexed; the lower two much longer than the inflorescence, 21–45 × 0.6–1 cm. Rays 2–5, unequal, erect, 2–10 cm long. Spikes ovoid or ovoid-oblong, very dense; rachis hispidulous. Spikelets patent to reflexed, compressed, 0.6–2 × 0.2–0.3 cm, 10–46 flowered; rachilla straight, wingless, persistent; internodes 0.5–0.7 mm long. Glumes membranous, obliquely erect, boat shaped, ovate, subacute at apex, minutely mucronulate, 2–3 × ca. 2 mm, 7–9 nerved, stramineous to reddish brown, keel antrorsely hispid-scabrous at least towards the top, margins hyaline. Stamens 3; anthers oblong-linear, 0.7–1 mm long, connective with apical reddish appendage. Stigmas 3. Achene triquetrous, broadly ellipsoid or obovoid, apiculate, broadly stipitate, 1.2–1.5 × 0.7–0.9 mm, black.

Note: The Scanning Electron Microscopic studies of achene revealed the presence of hexagonal epidermal cells having thin and inconspicuous periclinal wall and with a central dome shaped silica body.

Flowering and fruiting: June–November.

Distribution: Bangladesh, Borneo, Cambodia, China (Hainan, Tibet), Jawa, Malay Peninsula, New Guinea, Philippines, Sulavesi, Thailand, Vietnam, India: Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Kerala: Thiruvananthapuram

Habitat: In marshy areas along with Cyperus tenuispica Steud., Eleocharis acutangula (Roxb.) Schult., E. retroflexa (Poir.) Urb. etc.

Specimen collected: S. 5214 (TBGT), 29.ix.22, India, Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram District, Venjaramoodu, coll. Anakha B.S.

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