Journal of Threatened
Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 April 2024 | 16(4): 25107–25110
ISSN 0974-7907
(Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8763.16.4.25107-25110
#8763 | Received 04 October 2023 | Final received 11 March 2024 | Finally
accepted 28 March 2024
Uniyala multibracteata
(Gamble) H.Rob. & Skvarla
(Asteraceae: Vernoniae): notes on its identity and
rediscovery
Reshma Raju 1, Joby Joseph 2, K.S. Divya
3, Chethana Badekar 4 &
Jomy Augustine 5
1,3,4,5 Department of Botany, St. Thomas
College, Palai, Kottayam, Kerala 686574, India.
2 Department of Botany, St.
George’s College, Aruvithura, Kerala 686122, India.
1 reshmaraju321@gmail.com, 2 jobyvettukattil@hotmail.com
(corresponding author) 3 divyascariaa@gmail.com, 4 chethana.ajithkumar@gmail.com,
5 jomyaugustine66@gmail.com
Editor: A.J. Solomon Raj, Andhra University,
Visakhapatnam, India. Date of publication: 26 April 2024
(online & print)
Citation: Raju,
R., J. Joseph, K.S. Divya, C. Badekar
& J. Augustine (2024). Uniyala multibracteata (Gamble) H.Rob. & Skvarla
(Asteraceae: Vernoniae): notes on its identity and
rediscovery. Journal of Threatened Taxa 16(4): 25107–25110. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8763.16.4.25107-25110
Copyright: © Raju 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: The authors are grateful to the
principal, St. Thomas College, Pala, Kerala for providing the facilities for
the conduct of this study and Kerala Forest Department for granting permission
to conduct the field study. We are also thankful to the director, JNTBGRI, for
the study of herbarium specimens of Uniyala
(Vernonia) and Rakesh G. Vadhyar, Botanical Survey of
India, Coimbatore for his valuable comments. The authors are thankful to
Universities Grant Commission for funding the doctoral research of the first
author.
The genus Vernonia Scherb. was first described by Johann Christian Daniel Von Schreber in 1791. It comprises c. 335 accepted taxa in the
world (POWO 2023). The genus Uniyala was
segregated from the broad genus Vernonia (Robinson & Skvarla 2009) and the genus Uniyala
consists of 11 species (Senniappan & Kumar 2022),
which are endemic to India and Sri Lanka. Nine species of Uniyala
are strictly endemic to the southern Western Ghats. The genus Uniyala is characterized by long sweeping hairs on
style branches, squamiform outer series of the
pappus, 3–5-costate achenes, capillary bristles of the inner pappus and suboblate pollen grains (Robinson & Skvarla
2009). On the other hand, some botanists do not follow Robinson’s concept and
still follow the broad generic concept of Vernonia (Bhattacharjee 2020).
During the explorations in the
southern Western Ghats, an interesting specimen of Vernonia was
collected from Odamala, Idukki District, Kerala (15
March 1998), which was identified by Augustine (2022) and deposited at CALI
(Coll. No. 17785) as V. multibracteata Gamble.
Recently, as part of the systematic study of genus Uniyala,
we collected specimens of five reported species from the Western Ghats. While
confirming the identity of these, we found that all the previously labelled
specimens as V. multibracteata at Jawaharlal
Nehru Tropical Botanical Garden and Research Institute (JNTBGRI) were
misidentified specimens of V. ramaswamii (Hutch.)
Rob. & Skvarla, V. bourdillonii
(Gabmle) H.Rob.
& Skvarla and V. comorinensis
(W.W.Smith) H.Rob. & Skvarla. Kumar et
al. (2012) reported the rediscovery of Uniyala
multibracteata (= V. multibrateata)
based on the collection from Agasthyamala. But the
critical study on the voucher materials confirmed that these were also U. comorinensis (= V. comorinensis).
Therefore, the previous collection by one of the authors from Odamala and the recent recollections of this species from Memala, Vagamon are reported here
as the rediscovery of U. multibracteata (= V.
multibracteata) after its type collection.
Taxonomy
Uniyala multibracteata (Gamble) H.Rob. & Skvarla. Proc.
Biol. Soc. Washington 122(2): 153.2009. Vernonia multibracteata
Gamble, Bull. Misc. Inform. Kew 1920: 340.1920.
Lectotype: Southern India,
Travancore, Peerumedu, 12.1880, R.H. Beddomes n. (K,
barcode K000372520! & CAL, barcode CAL0000016750!)
Shrubs, erect, 2–3 m high; stems
branched; branchlets thick, 12–20 mm across, white woolly; internode 5–30 mm
long; leaf scars present, lunar. Leaves spirally alternate; petiole 1–2.5 cm
long, woolly, compressed; lamina 7–20 × 3–7 cm, elliptic to lanceolate, acute
to acutely acuminate at apex, attenuate at base, shortly decurrent; margins
crenulate, irregular, wavy; adaxially coarsely rugose with hairs of 0.781 ×
0.071 mm, multicellular, white; abaxially white woolly, webbed, 0.85–1.13 ×
0.014–0.028 mm; tender leaves more woolly; lateral nerves 15–20 pairs,
parallel, reticulate, dichotomously branching near margin; nerves depressed
above. Inflorescence terminal corymbose cyme, 8–15 cm broad; peduncles
elongate,3–14 cm long, white woolly. Heads 2–4 together,2–3.5 cm broad,
secondary peduncle 2.5 cm long, stout, tomentose.
Flowers similar, tubular, violet to purple, 30–42 per head; receptacle flat,
7–8 mm across; involucral bracts multi–layered, four
types, elliptic to lanceolate; outer most 12 × 1.5 mm, lanceolate, sharply
acuminate at apex, aristate – mucronate, white woolly, glabrous inside;
intermediate one elliptic to lanceolate, 12–15 × 2 mm, sparsely pubescent,
glabrous inside, acuminate at apex, aristate-mucronate; inner one
elliptic–subulate 11 mm long, narrower towards apex, white woolly; inner most
bract 8–10 × 3 mm, elliptic to lanceolate, pubescent on apex, glabrous inside,
apex acuminate, mucronate; corolla violet, glabrous, tube cylindrical, 6–8 ×
0.56–0.85 mm; corolla lobes 5, linear-oblong,
recurved, apex acute, 3–4 mm long, violet to purple, valvate; stamens 5,
anther tube 2.5–3 mm long, 0.639–0.78 mm broad, cylindrical, yellowish-brown;
anthers sagittate at base; pollen spherical, 0.0284–0.042 mm, spinate, spines
0.004–0.006 mm long; staminal filaments 1.7–2 mm long, attached near half of
the corolla tube; style 7–9 mm long, with sweeping hairs on upper part; stigma bifid,
2–2.8 mm long, puberulent, hairs 0.04–0.09 × 0.0142–0.028 mm; ovary 2–3 mm
long, 3-angled, glabrous, white with scattered glands on angles. Achene 3–4.5
mm long, inner tetragonous, and outer trigonous (Figure 1 G&H); peripheral achenes broader, 2.5–4 mm broad; tending to trigonous; inner ones relatively narrow, 1–1.5 mm broad, tetragonous; straw coloured,
smooth, angles winged; wings 0.4–1 mm broad, glabrous; pappus white–creamy,
biseriate; outer ones paleaceous, linear–lanceolate
to oblong with fimbriate to serrate, 0.5–1 mm long, 5–8 in number, subequal;
inner pappus deciduous, setaceous, 8–12 in number, 4–6 mm long; hairs on pappus
0.071–0.127 × 0.007–0.0142 mm (Image 1).
Flowering & Fruiting:
October–March.
Distribution: Endemic to Idukki
district of Kerala State; less than 500 individuals.
Ecology: The habitat of this
endemic species is open rocky grasslands and margins of small patches of
evergreen forests in rocky cuttings. The canopy height is of 10–20 m.
Associated species of trees are Litsea wightiana (Nees) Wall. ex Hook.f., Cinnamomum sulphuratum Nees, Vernonia
arborea Buch.-Ham., Bhesa indica (Bedd.) DingHou, Hydnocarpus alpina Wight, Actinodaphne bourdillonii Gamble,
Nothopaegia colebrookiana (Wight)
Blume, Dimocarpus longan
Lour., Gomphandra coriacea Wight, Croton caudatus
Geis., and associated herbs are Cymbopogon
flexuosus (Nees ex Steud.) W.Watson,
Themeda cymbaria Hack.,
Chrysopogon hackellii (Hook.f.) C.E.C.Fischer, Arundinella purpurea Hochst. ex Steud.
Notes: Only one collection (R.H. Beddome’s collection from Peerumedu
in 1880) has been cited in the protologue of Vernonia multibracteata
Gamble (Gamble 1920, 1921). Uniyal (1995) categorized
it as possibly extinct since it is not recollected after the type collection. Sasidharan (2004) assessed the species as endangered. The
detailed analysis of specimens with identification label as V. multibracteata (= U. multibracteata)
at TBGT confirmed that all are misidentifications. The species identification
in this genus is based on narrow differences only, which might have been the
reason for such misidentifications. From our study we noted that characters of involucral bracts, degree of variations in the leaf margin
and pubescence on various plant parts are considerably stable traits to delimit
the taxa within, but the terms ribbed, ridged and winged nature of achenes are
confusing. Two specimens of U. bourdillonii (Coll.
No. 15166, 58025), one specimen of U. ramaswamii (Coll.
No. 20284), and six specimens of U. comorinensis
(Coll. No. 39230, 72908, 69206 (2 specimens), 67942 (2 specimens) are at TBGT
with misidentified label as V. multibracteata
(= U. multibracteata). We studied the voucher
specimens cited by Kumar (2012). All the specimens cited in this publication
(Kumar et al. 2012) are specimens of U. comorinensis
only. Interestingly, Kumar et al. (2012) cited a collection of N. Mohanan from Athirumala (Coll.
No. 10462) housed at TBGT. One of its duplicates was found at CALI, in which
the collector has rightly identified specimen as V. comorinensis.
Since the rediscovery report of U. multibracteata
has not yet been made properly. We report it here based on the collections from
Memala, Urumbikkara, Vagomon and Odamala of Idukki
district, Kerala. Both Uniyala multibracteata and U. comorinensis
are closely similar in their morphology. But the shape, apex and pubescence
of bracts are stable and fit to the protologue and type specimens. The bract
characters are enough to distinguish both the taxa.
The type locality of U. comorinensis is from Tinnevelly
(presently Tirunelvely of Tamil Nadu), and all the
recorded collection are from Tirunelveli and Agasthyamala
and this species is narrow endemic. Similarly, U. multibracteata
is narrow endemic to Peerumedu (type locality)
and surrounding hills (Memala, Odamala,
Vagamon, and Urumbikkara).
Specimens examined: Uniyala multibracteata
- Peerumedu, Idukki district, India, coll. R.H.Beddomes. n. (K,
K000372520 [imageǃ]; CAL, CAL0000016750 [image!]),
xii. 1880 (Lectotypified, Kumar & Senniappan 2021); Odamala, Idukki
District, coll. Jomy Augustine 17785
(CALI), 15.iii.1997.
Key
1a. Leaves 7–20 x 3–7 cm; heads
8–15 mm broad, 32–45-flowered; bracts 35–48, outer one 12 mm long, lanceolate,
mucronate ......... U. multibraceata
1b. Leaves 5–10 x 1–2.5 cm; heads
3.5–7 mm broad, 20–30-flowered; bracts 25–35 outer most bract up to 7.5 mm
long, oblong, obtuse at apex .............. U. comorinensis
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References
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