Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 February 2024 | 16(2): 24816–24818

 

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

https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8798.16.2.24816-24818

#8798 | Received 20 October 2023 | Final received 11 January 2024 | Finally accepted 23 January 2024

 

Hunteria zeylanica (Retz.) Gardner ex Thwaites (Magnoliopsida: Gentianales: Apocyanaceae)—new addition and first genus record to the flora of Karnataka

 

G. Ramachandra Rao

 

Centre for Urban Ecology, Biodiversity, Evolution & Climate change (CUBEC), JAIN (Deemed to be University), 319, 25th Main Road,

KR Layout, JP Nagar Phase 6, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560078, India.

ramachandra.rao@jainuniversity.ac.in

 

 

Editor: Kannan C.S. Warrier, ICFRE - Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, Coimbatore, India.             

 

Date of publication: 26 February 2024 (online & print)

 

Citation: Rao, G.R. (2024). Hunteria zeylanica (Retz.) Gardner ex Thwaites (Magnoliopsida: Gentianales: Apocyanaceae)—new addition and first genus record to the flora of Karnataka. Journal of Threatened Taxa 16(2): 24816–24818. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8798.16.2.24816-24818

  

Copyright: © Rao 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: The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Government of India and Minor research grant, JAIN (Deemed-to-be University) Bengaluru.

 

Competing interests: The author declares no competing interests.

 

Acknowledgements: Author is grateful to Head of office, BSI, SRC, Coimbatore, Dr. W. Arisdason, Scientist ‘E’, Dr. Benjamin Franklin, BSI for plant species species verification and herbarium deposition. I thank officers and forest officials from Karnataka forest department for timely help and logistics. Sincere  thanks to Mr. Akhil C A, KFRI, for various assistance.  Author thanks Dr T V Ramachandra, C.E.S., I.I.Sc., for support and encouragement. Also, thanks to Mr. Vishnu D, Mrs. Gayatri Naik, and Mr. Srikanth Naik for technical and field assistance.

 

 

Hunteria is a genus of Apocynaceae comprising 13 species and was first described in 1824 by Roxburgh (POWO 2023).  In southern India it is mainly represented by the tree species Hunteria zeylanica (Retz.) Gardner ex Thwaites which is native to eastern Africa and to Indo-Malaysia (WCSP 2023). In southern India, it is recorded from the evergreen forests of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. During the field work in Dodmane Ghat of Uttara Kannada district, Karnataka, a small tree was collected from the wet evergreen forest area. On closer identification with local flora (Gamble 1921; Saldanha 1984–1996; Bhat 2003; Punekar & Lakshminarasimhan 2011) and further confirmation from Botanical Survey of India, southern regional centre, Coimbatore, it was confirmed to be Hunteria zeylanica (Retz.) Gardner ex Thwaites. Its earlier distribution was reported from the southern Western Ghats of Wayanad, Palakkad, Thrissur, Idukki, Kollam, & Thiruvananthapuram districts of Kerala and Kanyakumari & Tirunelveli of Tamil Nadu (Sasidharan 2011). The present study reports this evergreen tree Hunteria zeylanica (Retz.) Gardner ex Thwaites, for the first time from Karnataka part of the Western Ghats.

 

Systematic treatment

Hunteria zeylanica (Retz.) Gardner ex Thwaites, Enum. Pl. Zeyl. 191. 1860. Cameraria zeylanica Retz., Obs. Bot. 4: 24. 1786. Hunteria corymbosa Roxb., Fl. Ind. 1: 695. 1832; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 3: 637. 1882; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 808 (568). 1923; Vajr., Fl. Palghat Dist. 281. 1990. Hunteria roxburghiana Wight, Ic. t. 1294. 1846; Mohanan, Fl. Quilon Dist. 253. 1984; Pandurangan et al., Journ. Econ. Tax. Bot. 6: 271. 1985; Manilal, Fl. Silent Valley 174. 1988; M. Mohanan & Henry, Fl. Thiruvanthapuram 291. 1994; Subram., Fl. Thenmala Div. 219. 1995; Sasidh. & Sivar., Fl. Pl. Thrissur For. 280. 1996; Sasidh., Fl. Shenduruny WLS 203. 1997; Sasidh., Fl. Parambikulam WLS 189. 2002; Ratheesh Narayanan, Fl. Stud. Wayanad Dist. 520. 2009; Nayar et al. 2014.

Small evergreen tree  12 m tall; bark greyish-brown, lenticellate; milky latex from plant parts. Leaves simple, opposite, estipulate; petioles 1.2–1.6 cm long, glabrous, slender; lamina 9–15 x 3–5.5 cm, elliptic to elliptic-oblong; base acute or obtuse; apex acuminate; margin entire, slightly wavy, glabrous, coriaceous, shining above; lateral nerves many, slender, glabrous, looped near margin forming intramarginal nerve, intercostae reticulate, obscure. Flowers white, slightly fragrant, bisexual, in terminal to sub-terminal cymes; peduncles c.2 cm long. Calyx lobes five, small, 0.8 cm long, eglandular. Corolla salver shaped, lobes creamy white, acuminate, tips folded and twisted; tube 0.8 mm long; stamens five, inserted at the dilation of the tube, anthers lanceolate, apiculate, orange-brown, filaments hairy below. Carpels two, free, ovules two–four in each cell; style greenish, stigma yellowish-green, conical. Fruit of two fleshy berries.

Specimens collected: 178273 (MH) (Image 1), 2016, Karnataka: Dodmane Ghat, Uttara Kannada district, coll. G.R. Rao.

Habitat: Evergreen to semi-evergreen forests.

Flowering and Fruiting: February–June.

Distribution: Eastern Africa and Indo-Malesia.

Note: This plant slightly differs from southern Western Ghats population with having more broader leaves and corolla more twisted and white with folded petal.

Habitat and associated plants: The tree species occurred in evergreen forest along with several other trees such as Diospyros paniculata, D. pruriens, Holigarna grahamii, Hydnocarpus pentandra, Hopea ponga, and Syzygium gardneri. Only two trees of Hunteria zeylanica were encountered in the region, and were not found elsewhere even after extensive surveys in Uttara Kannada district. Though this species has Indo-Malesian distribution, in India it has a narrow distribution with very small population surviving in the central Western Ghats, Karnataka, while the other populations are in states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Presently the tree species is in a protected forest and is found intact with no immediate threat. But as the numbers are very small, these trees can swiftly cascade towards their inevitable extinction due to anthropogenic pressures such as habitat loss by land encroachment for Areca cultivation along water courses, even inside protected areas. Hence more studies on their distribution, population, and regeneration studies may throw light on mitigating the crisis and planning conservation measures.

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