Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 March 2024 | 16(3): 25003–25005

 

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

https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8586.16.3.25003-25005

#8586 | Received 12 June 2023 | Final received 13 January 2024 | Finally accepted 07 March 2024

 

 

Smilax borneensis A.DC. (Smilacaceae): an addition to the flora of India

 

Kishor Deka 1, Sagarika Das 2 & Bhaben Tanti 3

 

1,2 P.G. Department of Botany, Darrang College, Mahabhairab Paruwa Road, Mahabhairab, Tezpur, Assam 784001, India.

3 Department of Botany, Gauhati University, Gopinath Bordoloi Nagar, Jalukbari, Guwahati, Assam 781014, India.

1 dekakishor300@gmail.com (corresponding author), 2 das.sagarika5851@gmail.com, 3 btanti@gauhati.ac.in

 

 

Editor: V. Sampath Kumar, Botanical Survey of India, Coimbatore, India.                      Date of publication: 26 March 2024 (online & print)

 

Citation: Deka, K., S. Das & B. Tanti (2024). Smilax borneensis A.DC. (Smilacaceae): an addition to the flora of India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 16(3): 25003–25005. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8586.16.3.25003-25005

  

Copyright: © Deka et al. 2024. 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: None.

 

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

 

Acknowledgements: We are deeply grateful to Mr. Nabam Nido, a social worker for accompanying us in the trip to Kimin and Department of forest, Arunachal Pradesh for their cooperation. We are also thankful to reviewers for their critical comments, which improve the quality of the manuscript. The curators of CAL, ASSAM, ARUN, BSIS, BSHC and BLAT herbaria are acknowledged for providing materials for this study.

 

 

The floristic diversity of the northeastern region of India is not well-documented due to its inaccessibility and difficult terrain. Although a detailed floristic study has already been done on Smilax L. from the state of Arunachal Pradesh (Chowdhery et al. 2009) and other parts of eastern Himalaya (Rae 1994; Baruah et al. 2022), however proper documentation of the genus in the northeastern region is yet to be accomplished. Traditionally, the family Smilacaceae comprised of two genera, Smilax L. and Heterosmilax Kunth, which differ by their connate tepals and the variable number of stamens (3, 6, 9–12) with connate filaments. Qi et al. (2013) merged Heterosmilax Kunth with Smilax L. based on the molecular phylogeny, by which only one genus Smilax exists in the family.

Smilax L. is the type genus of the family Smilacaceae, with 261 species (POWO 2023). These are widely distributed mostly in tropical and subtropical areas, but also found in temperate regions in the Southern and Northern Hemispheres (Chen et al. 2006; Qi et al. 2013). Koyama (1963, 1971, 1975), Noltie (1994), and Baruah et al. (2011, 2017) have reported many species from the eastern Himalayan region. In India, the genus is represented by 33 species, three subspecies  and two varieties, which are distributed in almost all parts of India, especially in Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir, northeastern states, West Bengal, and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Northeastern India hosts 29 species of Smilax, of which 13 species and two varieties are reported from Arunachal Pradesh (Murthy & Bhaumik 2020). However, like other monocots of Northeast India, the Smilacaceae is also yet to be properly documented and studied.

During the botanical exploration trips in the Papum Pare district of Arunachal Pradesh, the authors collected specimens belonging to the genus Smilax. For preliminary identification, all the detailed morphological characters, i.e., leaves, stems, inflorescence, flowers, and fruits were studied (Image 1). A perusal of relevant literature and herbarium materials housed at various Indian herbaria (e.g., CAL, ASSAM, ARUN, BSIS, BSHC, BLAT) the specimens were identified as Smilax borneensis A.DC., a species so far not reported from India. This was further compared and confirmed with the photograph of the type specimen deposited at Kew Herbarium (K) (available at https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:541318-1). A detailed description, ecology, and distribution along with colour photographs are provided for easy identification of the species.

Measurements and morphological character assessments of the specimens examined based on freshly collected material. Three numbers of specimens were collected with flowers and fruits and it was pressed in blotting papers for drying for about one month. After proper drying the specimens were mounted in herbarium sheets and finally deposited in ASSAM and GUBH herbaria. The data have been compared with published descriptions of morphologically similar species (Candolle & Candolle 1878;  Heckroth et al. 2004; Siti & Sulistyaningsih 2019) and type specimens in herbaria (K, FL, CAL). S. borneensis is closely similar to S. gigantea Merr., a native species of Borneo. Both species develop ovate to acute domatia which encloses the stem from all sides, but S. borneensis can be easily differentiated from S. gigantea which have larger leaves (about 35 cm long and wide) and long inflorescence (up to 30 cm) (Siti & Sulistyaningsih 2019).

 

Smilax borneensis A.DC., Monogr. Phan. 1: 202. 1878.

A large, coarse, perennial woody vine, inflorescence-bearing branches terete, with numerous secondary branches, brown, striate, 8–10 mm in diameter, armed with scattered, very stout, narrowly pyramidal spines about 2–3 mm in length. Leaves broadly ovate, 9–18 × 5–10 cm, base broadly rounded and deeply cordate, apex very shortly and abruptly acuminate, coriaceous to subcoriaceous, upper surface smooth, glabrous and shining, lower surface softly and densely pubescent; petioles stout, about 2–3.5 cm long; domatia broadly clasping nodes, ovate to acute, light brown in colour; primary veins 7–9, outer four less prominent, sometimes outermost two barely noticeable. Inflorescence of 1–3 umbels, borne in leaf axil; peduncles 2–4 cm long, straight, slightly compressed; umbel 15–28-flowered. Male flowers slightly greenish, 1.5–2 cm in length, pedicels 1–1.8 cm long; outer tepals broad 4–8 × 1–3 mm; inner tepals thin, 4–6 × 0.2–0.5 mm; stamens 6, 7–12 mm long; anthers white, basifixed. Female flowers pinkish-green, pedicels 1–1.8 cm long; outer tepals broad, 5–9 × 1–3 mm; inner tepals thin, 5–9 × 0.1–1.5 mm; ovary 3-chambered, stigma 3-lobed. Fruits greenish, become red when ripened, fleshy, globose, c. 1 cm in diam., 15 to 28 in each umbel.

Specimens examined: Female plant of Smilax borneensis; India, Arunachal Pradesh, Papum Pare district, Kimin, 27.3229°N & 93.9725°E (Figure 1), 25 August 2021, coll. K. Deka, 2574 (ASSAM), 2575 & 2576 (GUBH).

Flowering May to July, Fruiting August to November.

Habitat & Ecology: Grows in gaps of primary hill forests and scrub jungles, up to 9,000 m. The species is associated with Calamus inermis, Calamus latifolius, Castanopsis indica, Castanopsis tribuloides, Vatica lanceaefolia, and Ficus semicordata in the same ecological community. Smilax borneensis is a facultative ant-plant that provides both shelter (domatia) and food (extrafloral nectar) for opportunistically nesting ants. The native range of this species is Borneo and here reported for the first time from Arunachal Pradesh, India. There is a possibility of its occurrence in Myanmar and Thailand.

IUCN status: Not assessed.

 

For figure & image - - click here for full PDF

 

 

References

 

Baruah, S., S.K. Borthakur, P. Gogoi & M. Ahmed (2011). New distributional record of Smilax china Linnaeus in India. Pleione 5(2): 325–327.

Baruah, S., P. Gogoi & S.K. Borthakur (2022). The Family Smilacaceae in Assam, India. Nelumbo 64(1): 56–63.

Baruah, S., D. Baro & S.K. Borthakur (2017). Petiole anatomy of Indian species of the genera Smilax L. and Heterosmilax Kunth. (Smilacaceae). Annals of Plant Sciences 6(10): 1690–1693.

Candolle, A.L.P.P. de & A.C.P. de Candolle (1878). Monographiaephanerogamarum. 1: 202.

Chen, S.C., Y.X. Qiu, A.L. Wang, K.M. Cameron & C.X. Fu (2006). A phylogenetic analysis of the Smilacaceae based on morphological data.  Acta Phytotaxonomica Sinica 44(2): 113–125.

Chowdhery, H.J., G.S. Giri, G.D. Pal, A. Pramanik & S.K. Das (2009). Materials for the Flora of Arunachal Pradesh, Volume 3, BSI.

Heckroth, H. P., J. Moog, H.I. Janka, B. Fiala, A.Y.C. Chung & U. Maschwitz (2004). Smilax borneensis (Smilacaceae), an unspecific climbing ant-plant from Borneo and myrmecophytic traits in other Asiatic Smilax species. Sandakania 14: 33–50.

Koyama, T. (1963). The Indian species of Smilax. Advancing Frontiers of Plant Sciences 4: 39–77.

Koyama, T. (1971). Smilax. In: Hara, H. (ed.) Flora of Eastern Himalaya- Second Report, pp. 171–173. Tokyo.

Koyama, T. (1975). Liliaceae - Smilax. In: Ohashi H (ed.) The Flora of Eastern Himalaya. Third report. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 134–135.

Murthy, G.V.S. & M. Bhaumik (2020). Smilacaceae. In: Mao, A.A. & S.S. Dash (eds.). Flowering plants of India: An Annotated Checklist (Monocotyledons). Botanical Survey of India, Kolkata, 204–206 pp.

Noltie, H.J. (1994). Notes relating to the Flora of Bhutan: XXVI. Smilacaceae: Smilax. Edinburgh Journal of Botany 51(2): 147–163.

POWO (2023). Plants of the World Online. https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:30001535-2. Accessed on 10 December 2023.

Qi, Z., K.M. Cameron, P. Li, Y. Zhao, S. Chen, G. Chen & C. Fu (2013). Phylogenetics, character evolution, and distribution patterns of the greenbriers, Smilacaceae (Liliales), a near-cosmopolitan family of monocots. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 173(4): 535–548.

Rae, S.J. (1994). Smilacaceae, pp. 24–36. In: Noltie, H.J. (ed.). Flora of Bhutan. Vol. 3(1). Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, UK.

Siti, S. & L.D. Sulistyaningsih (2019). The diversity of Smilax (Smilacaceae) in Besiq-Bermai and Bontang forests, East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 20(1): 279–287.