Journal of Threatened
Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 December 2023 | 15(12): 24402–24408
ISSN 0974-7907
(Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8647.15.12.24402-24408
#8647 | Received 24
July 2023 | Final received 05 October 2023 | Finally accepted 20 November 2023
Three new additions to the flora
of Himachal Pradesh, India from Khokhan Wildlife
Sanctuary, Kullu District
Ashutosh Sharma 1, S. Noorunnisa Begum 2, G.S. Goraya
3, Gopal S. Rawat 4 & Vaneet Jishtu 5
1,2 Foundation for Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions, The University
of Trans-Disciplinary Health Sciences and Technology (FRLHT-TDU), # 74/2, Jarakabande Kaval, Attur,
Bengaluru, Karnataka 560064, India.
3 Former Pr. Chief Conservator of
Forests (HoFF), Himachal Pradesh Forest Department,
Teachers’ Colony, Hira Mahal, Nabha, Patiala
District, Punjab 147201, India.
4 Wildlife Institute of India, Post
Box #18, Chandrabani, Dehradun, Uttarakhand 248001,
India.
5
Himalayan Forest Research Institute (HFRI),
Conifer Campus, Panthaghati, district Shimla,
Himachal Pradesh 171013, India.
1 ashutosh05sn@gmail.com
(corresponding author), 2 noorunnisa.begum@tdu.edu.in, 3 gurinder9@hotmail.com,
4 gsrawat59@gmail.com, 5 vjishtuv@gmail.com
Editor: Asok Ghosh, The
University of Burdwan, West Bengal, India. Date of publication: 26 December
2023 (online & print)
Citation: Sharma, A., S.N. Begum, G.S. Goraya, G.S.
Rawat & V. Jishtu (2023). Three new
additions to the flora of Himachal Pradesh, India from Khokhan
Wildlife Sanctuary, Kullu District. Journal of Threatened Taxa 15(12):
24402–24408. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8647.15.12.24402-24408
Copyright: © Sharma et al. 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: None.
Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
Author details: Ashutosh Sharma is a
plant taxonomist currently pursuing his doctoral studies at The University of Trans-Disciplinary
Health Sciences and Technology (TDU) Bangalore, he is working on the flora of Himachal Pradesh from 2018 with special interest in family Balsaminaceae and Orchidaceae. Dr.
S. Noorunnisa Begum is associate professor at TDU and curator of FRLH National Herbarium of Medicinal Plants and Repository of Raw Drugs, her research over the last 20 years has focused on
establishment of
FRLH Herbarium and Raw Drug Repository of Medicinal Plants used in Indian System of Medicine and traded in the country. Dr. G.S. Goraya has served as former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and HoFF, Himachal Pradesh Forest Department, he is currently independently working on the flora of Himachal Pradesh. Gopal S. Rawat currently works as Senior Research Affiliate at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) Dehradun, formerly he had served at WII as Faculty, Dean and Director. Dr. Vaneet Jishtu is Scientist- E at ICFRE - Himalayan Forest Research Institute, Shimla, he is an experienced field botanist specialising in high altitude Himalayan flora and he has pioneered in setting up an arboretum and botanical garden at HFRI, Shimla.
Author contributions: Ashutosh Sharma designed the research as a part of his master’s thesis work and S. Noorunnisa Begum supervised the work; Ashutosh Sharma & G.S. Goraya carried out field surveys and collected the material; Ashutosh Sharma, Gopal S. Rawat, Vaneet Jishtu S. Noorunnisa Begum & G.S. Goraya drafted the manuscript; Ashutosh Sharma revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Acknowledgements: The first author (AS) is
thankful to Smt. Archana Sharma (ex. PCCF Wildlife, Himachal Pradesh Forest
Department) for providing with the necessary permission to survey in Khokhan WLS; to Smt. Meera Sharma (Director, GHNP, Kullu) and Sh. Nishant Mandhotra
(DFO, GHNP) for their encouragement and support. AS also acknowledge help from
forest guard Mr. Dharamveer and Mr. Sunil Thakur in smoothly conducting the
extensive field surveys. Authors also thank the anonymous reviewers for their
insightful comments, suggestions and refining the manuscript.
Abstract: Chamabainia
cuspidata Wight (Urticaceae),
Debregeasia orientalis
C.J.Chen (Urticaceae), and Hydrocotyle
himalaica P.K.Mukh. (Araliaceae) are being reported here as new additions to the
flora of Himachal Pradesh, India. All three species were collected from Khokhan Wildlife Sanctuary in Kullu
district. Of these, H. himalaica also forms an
addition to the flora of western Himalayan region. Detailed description,
distribution, information on habitat and colour
photographs of all three species are provided for easy identification in the
field.
Keywords: Araliaceae, Debregeasia
orientalis, floristics, taxonomy, Urticaceae, Western Himalaya.
Introduction
The state of Himachal Pradesh,
India forms the central part of western Himalaya, which is one of the important
floristic regions in the Indian sub-continent and is also a part of Himalayan
biodiversity hotspot (CEPF 2023). This region has had a long history of
botanical explorations and its flora is relatively well documented. The flora
of Himachal Pradesh has been studied by a number of workers (Collett 1921; Nair 1977; Chowdhery
& Wadhwa 1984; Aswal & Mehrotra 1994;
Dhaliwal & Sharma 1999; Singh & Rawat 2000; Kaur & Sharma 2004;
Singh & Sharma 2006; Subramani et al. 2014; Singh 2018; Singh et al. 2019;
Sinha et al. 2019). Despite detailed surveys and systematic enumeration of
flora in different sub-regions, several localities still remain under-explored
and fresh collections are lacking for several taxonomically challenging groups.
We selected Khokhan Wildlife Sanctuary (WS) (Image
1), a little-known protected area in Kullu District
of Himachal Pradesh in order to make a floristic inventory and to identify the
species of high conservation significance. Results of detailed surveys
conducted during this work are presented in Sharma (2023). The sanctuary has a
geographical area of about 14.94 km2, and is situated
within the geo-coordinates north (31.8805N, 77.0805E), east (31.8602N,
77.1150E), south (31.8288N, 77.0822E), and west (31.8486N, 77.0552E) and is
characterized by temperate climate and a wide altitudinal range (1,500–2,790 m)
harbouring 510 species of plants (Sharma 2023).
In this communication, we report
the occurrence of three interesting species of angiosperms collected by the
first author from Khokhan WS which form new additions
to the flora of Himachal Pradesh. These species are Chamabainia
cuspidata Wight (Urticaceae),
Debregeasia orientalis
C.J.Chen (Urticaceae) and Hydrocotyle
himalaica P.K.Mukh. (Araliaceae). Perusal of the literature on the flora of
western Himalaya, from the state and ‘Checklist of Flowering Plants of India’
(Karthikeyan et al. 2009; Mao & Dash 2020; Pusalkar
et al. 2022) reveal that so far, they have not been reported from the state.
While C. cuspidata and D. orientalis are previously known from eastern part of
Uttarakhand, Hydrocotyle himalaica is being reported for the first time from the
western Himalayan region. Since all the three species are rather inconspicuous
and little known, we have provided systematic treatment for these three species
along with author citations, morphological description, phenology, updated
global distribution, information on habitat and colour
photographs for easy identification in the field. Additionally, the voucher
specimens are deposited at FRLH, Bengaluru & BSS, Solan
herbarium for the future references (Herbaria code follow Thiers 2023).
Systematic Treatment
Chamabainia cuspidata
Wight, Icon.
Pl. Ind. Orient. 6: 11. t. 1981 (1853); Hook.f., Fl.
Brit. India 5: 580 (1888); Murti & Pusalkar, Fl. Pl. India Annot. Checkl. 1: 516 (2020); Murti
& Pusalkar, Fl. Ind. 24: 28 (2022). Boehmeria squamigera
Wedd., Ann. Sci. Nat., Bot., sér. 4, 1: 203 (1854). Chamabainia squamigera
(Wedd.) Wedd, in A.DC., Prodr. 16(1): 218 (1869).
(Image 2, G–J)
Lectotype: India, Tamil Nadu, Neelgherry [Nilgiris], Oct. 1852,
R. Wight s.n. (K000741409!).
Synonyms
Boehmeria squamigera Wedd. in Ann. Sci. Nat., Bot., sér. 4, 1: 203 (1854)
Chamabainia cuspidata var. denticulosa
W.T.Wang & C.J.Chen in Acta Bot. Yunnan. 3: 16 (1981)
Holotype—China, Yunnan: Fengqing, Wumulung, 2,400 m,
under the bamboo forest, 09.vii.1938, T.T. Yu 16626 (PE).
Chamabainia cuspidata var. morii
(Hayata) W.T. Wang in Acta Bot. Yunnan. 3: 15 (1981)
Chamabainia morii Hayata
in J. Coll. Sci. Imp. Univ. Tokyo 30(1): 282 (1911)
Type—Taiwan, 01.vii.1908, Takiya Kawakami and Ushinosuke
Mori7101 (TAIF8259) (TAIF!)
Chamabainia squamigera (Wedd.) Wall. ex Wedd. in A.P.de
Candolle, Prodr. 16(1): 218 (1869)
Perennial creeping herbs, 10–60
cm long, monoecious or dioecious; stem and branches slender, ascending or
procumbent, creeping and rooting at lower nodes, purplish, reddish-brown,
sometimes greenish, strigose or hairy with mixed pilose hairs. Leaves opposite,
usually equal or sub-equal in pairs (at nodes), sometimes unequal, narrow or
broad ovate to rhombic-ovate, sub-rotund, elliptic or elliptic-ovate, 1.5–6 x
1–4 cm, base rounded or cuneate, oblique, margin bluntly or acutely serrate,
apex acute to acuminate, 3-veined from base, surfaces glabrous, sparsely
pubescent or lower surface pilose or strigose, often densely so along veins.
Petioles 4–15 mm long, strigose; stipules four at each node, orbicular to
obliquely ovate or triangular to oblong-lanceolate, mucronate, to 1 cm long,
brown when dry, persistent, enclosing flower buds. Flowers sessile, subsessile or pedicellate, 0.5–1.5 cm across, in axillary
fascicled glomerules; male glomerules
in distal axils; female dense, proximal or sometimes mixed in the middle part
of the stem. Male flowers subsessile; perianth lobes
3–4, equal or subequal, connate below, gibbous, mucronate, 1.5–3.5 mm long, puberulous or hairy above; stamens 3 or 4, exserted, pistillode rudimentary,
clavate. Female flowers sessile, compactly aggregated into fascicles of 2–4,
embraced by broad ovate, membranous bract; perianth tubular, subcompressed, contracted above, minutely 2–4 toothed,
hirsute, enlarged and thin.
Flowering: July–September; Fruiting:
August–October.
Habitat: Chamabainia cuspidata
is found in
small patches in shady moist forests, especially along stream courses and moist
boulders between 1,900–2,400 m in Khokhan WS in
association with Hydrocotyle himalaica P.K.Mukh.,
Impatiens spp., Onychium lucidum
(D. Don) Spreng., Parochetus
communis Buch.-Ham. ex D.Don, Rubus macilentus Cambess, Sarcococca saligna (D.
Don) Müll.Arg., Selaginella
sp. and Girardinia diversifolia
(Link) Friis.
Distribution: India (Arunachal Pradesh,
Himachal Pradesh (present work), Meghalaya, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand,
West Bengal, Assam), Bhutan, China, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka,
Taiwan, and Vietnam.
Specimens examined: 125441 (FRLH), 23.viii.2022, India,
Himachal Pradesh, Kullu district, Khokhan
WS, stream courses near Munjhag, 2,300 m, coll.
Ashutosh Sharma; 5443 (BSS), 23.viii.2022, India, Himachal Pradesh, Kullu district, Khokhan WS,
stream courses near Munjhag, 2,300 m, coll. Ashutosh
Sharma; s.n. (K000741409) (K), x.1852, India, Neelgherry, coll. Wight; 4592(K000741410) (K), 1821, Nepal,
coll. N. Wallich; 7101 (TAIF8259)(TAIF), 01.vii.1908,
Taiwan, coll. Takiya Kawakami and Ushinosuke
Mori.
Note: Recently
the species was also observed at McLeod Ganj (near Bhagsu
Nag waterfall), Dharamshala, Kangra district,
Himachal Pradesh by the first author (AS).
Debregeasia orientalis C.J. Chen Novon
1: 56 (1991); Murti & Pusalkar
in Mao & S.S. Dash, Fl. Pl. India Annot. Checkl. 1: 517 (2020); Murti
& Pusalkar, Fl. Ind. 24: 32 (2022). (Image 2,
A–F).
Holotype: China, southeastern
Sichuan: Nanchuan Co., Sanquan,
Longguxi, 550 m, alongstreams,
27.iii.1957, G.F. Li 60238 (PE); isotype (SZ).
Shrubs 1–3 m high, generally
dioecious, rarely monoecious; branchlets slender, reddish, sparsely pubescent
with usually fine appressed hairs or subglabrous. Leaf blade adaxially dark
green, oblong to linear-lanceolate, rarely linear, 5–18(–24) × 1–2.5(4) cm,
papery or thinly so, 3-veined at base, lateral ones straight, reaching to
middle, secondary veins 3–5 on each side from middle of leaf, anastomosing
along margins, abaxial surface thinly greenish-grey, sparsely appressed
pubescent on distinct veins, adaxial surface sparsely appressed strigose, often
rugose, base rounded or broadly cuneate, margins finely serrulate or
denticulate, apex acuminate; petioles 0.5–2.5 cm long, pubescent; stipules
oblong-lanceolate, 5–10 mm long, 2-cleft. Inflorescence on previous years’
branches, usually appearing before foliage, axillary, solitary or 1–2 times
dichotomously branched, 0.5–1.5 cm long, with up to 1.5 cm long peduncle,
appressed pubescent; flowers in dense, globose clusters/glomerules,
3–5 mm across; bracts membranous, obovate or triangular, 0.2–1 mm long. Male
flowers: short pedicellate; perianth lobes (3–)4, triangular-ovate, acute,
sparsely puberulent; stamens (3–)4; rudimentary ovary sessile, obovoid. Female
flowers: sessile, obovoid, 0.7–2 mm across; perianth tube membranous, glabrous,
4-denticulate. Fruit orange, of fleshy perianths, enclosing ovoid, subcompressed, 0.5–1 mm long achene.
Flowering: March–May; Fruiting:
June–August.
Habitat: Debregeasia orientalis is found in shady moist forests
especially along ravines between 1,700–2,000 m in Khokhan
WS. Common associates of this species are Bergenia
ciliata (Haw.) Sternb.,
Debregeasia saeneb
(Forssk.) Hepper & J.R.I.Wood, Drepanostachyum
falcatum (Nees) Keng.f., Machilus duthiei King ex Hook.f., Neolitsea pallens (D.Don) Momiy. & H.Hara, Polystichum
squarrosum (D.Don) Fée, Rubus macilentus
Cambess. and Urtica
sp.
Distribution: India (Himachal Pradesh (present
work), Uttarakhand, northeastern India), Bhutan, China, Japan, Nepal, and
Taiwan.
Specimens examined: 125701 (FRLH), 06.iv.2023,
India, Himachal Pradesh, Kullu district, Khokhan WS, Khanogi Nallah, 2,000 m, coll. Ashutosh Sharma & G.S. Goraya; 5450 (BSS), 06.iv.2023, India, Himachal Pradesh, Kullu district, Khokhan WS, Khanogi Nallah, 2,000 m, coll.
Ashutosh Sharma & G.S. Goraya; 45257
(BM014617834) (BM), 22.vii.2023, China, Yunnan Province, Jiangchuan,
1,950–2,150 m, coll. David Edward Boufford, Jian-Ling
Guo, Lin Su, Xin Yu.
Hydrocotyle himalaica P.K. Mukh.,
Indian Forester 95: 470 (1969); P.K.Mukh.,
R.Manik. & Murug. in
Mao & S.S.Dash, Fl. Pl.
India Annot. Checkl. 1: 623
(2020). Hydrocotyle podantha
Molk. in Karthik., Sanjappa
& Moorthy, Fl. Pl. India 1: 111 (2009). Hydrocotyle
javanica Thunb. var. podantha C.B.Clarke
in J.D.Hooker Fl. Brit. India 2: 668. (1879) (Image
3).
Holotype: India, Khursiong, 1,445 m, 24.ix.1884, C.B.Clarke 35825 A (CAL0000015439) (CAL!).
Decumbent, creeping herbs; stem
10–45 cm long, ferruginous tomentose with dark
purple-brown hairs. Leaves simple, alternate, petiolate, stipulate; petiole
2.5–15 cm long, tomentose; lamina orbicular or
reniform, 2–8 cm in diameter, obtuse, repand crenate,
shallowly 5–7 lobed, lobes rounded, sinus wide, chartaceous, both surfaces
sparsely hirsute; main nerves 9, raised on ventral surface, rough and bristly;
stipules opposite, 2–3 mm long, ovate, membranaceous.
Inflorescence solitary, simple, umbellate, densely capitate in flower, about 40
flowered, 1.4 cm in diameter; peduncle leaf opposed, 3–7 cm long, ferruginous.
Flowers 1.5–1.7 mm long, bisexual; pedicels 0.5–0.7 cm long, puberulous. Calyx 5-lobed, minute, ±1 mm long, hairy
outside. Corolla polypetalous, petals 5, white to pale yellowish, 1-1.3 mm
long, triangular, membranaceous, apex slightly
incurved, base broad. Stamens 5, ±1.7 mm long, exceeding the petals, anthers
yellow, dorsifixed, bilobed. Ovary 2-celled, style 1
mm long, bifid; stigma obtuse. Fruit brown to purplish-red, sub-orbicular, 1 ×
1.5–2 mm, broader than long, primary ridge indistinct.
Flowering: July–September; Fruiting:
August–September.
Habitat: Hydrocotyle himalaica is found growing in moist
evergreen forests especially in shaded damp areas between 1,800–2,100 m in Khokhan WS. Common associates of this species include Bistorta amplexicaulis (D.Don) Greene, Chamabainia
cuspidata Wight, Hydrocotyle
javanica Thunb., Lysimachia debilis Wall.,
Oplismenus burmanni
(Retz.) P. Beauv., Potentilla
indica (Andrews) Th.Wolf, Sanicula
elata Buch.-Ham. ex D.Don, Selaginella sp.
and Viola canescens Wall.
Distribution: India (Arunachal Pradesh,
Assam, Himachal Pradesh (present work), Meghalaya, Sikkim, Darjeeling), Bhutan,
China, Myanmar, and Nepal.
Specimens examined: 125442 (FRLH), 30.vii.2022,
India, Himachal Pradesh, Kullu district, Khokhan WS, Kandi, 1,900 m, coll. Ashutosh Sharma; 5440
(BSS), 30.vii.2022, India, Himachal Pradesh, Kullu
district, Khokhan WS, Kandi, 1,900 m, coll. Ashutosh
Sharma; 35825 A (CAL0000015439) (CAL), India, Khursiong,
1,445 m, 24.ix.1884, C.B.Clarke;
s.n. (MW0743359) (MW), 25.ix.2009, Nepal, Mustang
Prov., Larjung village, 2,400 m, coll. A. Sukhorukov & A. Konstantinova.
Note: Recently, the species was also
observed at McLeod Ganj (near Bhagsu Nag waterfall),
Dharamshala, Kangra district, Himachal Pradesh by the
first author (AS).
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