Journal of Threatened
Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 October 2025 | 17(10): 27777–27781
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.9661.17.10.27777-27781
#9661 | Received 02 February 2025 | Final received 27 September 2025 |
Finally accepted 09 October 2025
2 Department of Botany, Government College of Daman (UT),
Nani Daman, Gujarat 396210, India.
3 Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research
Institute, Palode, Karimankode
P.O., Thiruvananthapuram District, Kerala 695562, India.
4 Gujarat Institute of Desert Ecology, near Changleshwer Temple, Bhuj, Kachchh, Gujarat 370001, India.
5 Department of Botany, R.R. Lalan
College, Bhuj, Kachchh, Gujarat 370001, India.
1 k.prajapati1999@yahoo.com
(corresponding author), 2 dangarsiddharth1@gmail.com, 3
santhoshkumares@gmail.com,
4 vvkchauhan00@gmail.com,
5 dr.ektajoshi21@gmail.com
Editor: Vijayasankar
Raman, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington,
USA. Date of
publication: 26
October 2025 (online & print)
Citation:
Prajapati, K.I., S. Dangar, S.K.E. Sukumaran, V.
Chauhan & E. Joshi (2025). New report of Biophytum
nervifolium Thwaites (Oxalidaceae)
from Gujarat, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 17(10): 27777–27781. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.9661.17.10.27777-27781
Copyright: © Prajapati et al. 2025. 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: No specific funding was received for this study.
Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgments: The authors are thankful to Head, P G Department of Bioscience, Sardar Patel University for herbarium access of prof. G.L. Shah Herbarium permission and Dr. Kalpesh Ishnava, associate professor, P G Department of Bioscience, Sardar Patel University for kind support during access the herbarium. We are also thankful to Mr. Vipul Vaja, PhD scholer, P G Department of Bioscience, Sardar Patel University. The author (SKES) is grateful to the director, JNTBGRI for the facilities provided.
Abstract: During floristic surveys in the
Saurashtra Peninsula of Gujarat, India, specimens of Biophytum
nervifolium Thwaites were collected. After
reviewing relevant literature and type specimens, it was found that this
species was previously known only from Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh, in
India. The present collection of B. nervifolium,
therefore, represents a new record for Gujarat. This paper presents the
taxonomy, ecology, and distribution of the species, along with colour photographs, to facilitate its identification.
Keywords: Distribution, ecology, floristic
study, new record, Saurashtra Peninsula, taxonomy, western
India.
The genus Biophytum DC.
consists of 82 species (POWO 2025) distributed across the tropical regions of
Africa, Madagascar, Asia, and South America (Veldkamp
1971; Lourteig 1980). In India, 24 species of Biophytum have been recorded by various authors
(Manna 1997; Khan et al. 1998; Kumar et al. 2000, 2017; Jisha et al. 2020; Jisha
2023) and are mainly occurring in the Peninsular Indian states of Kerala, Tamil
Nadu, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh (Manna 1997). In Gujarat, two species, Biophytum sensitivum
(L.) DC., and Biophytum reinwardtii
(Zucc.) Klotzsch, have been
reported so far (Shah 1978; Reddy & Sharma 2015).
During the floristic studies in the Kutch and the
Saurashtra Peninsula of Gujarat, specimens of Biophytum
were collected from Bhavnagar and Rajkot districts. These specimens were
initially identified as Biophytum sensitivum (Santapau 1968;
Shah 1978). Biophytum sensitivum
is characterized by flowers with sepals and petals more or less equal in
length, whereas in the present specimens, the sepals are only about two-thirds
in length to the petals. This is a notable feature that differentiates the two
taxa. After a thorough review of relevant literature and examination of type
materials housed at different herbaria, the collected specimens were identified
as Biophytum nervifolium
Thwaites, a species previously reported from southern India and Sri Lanka, with
no prior records of its occurrence in Gujarat (Shah 1978; Shetty & Singh
1987; Bhandari 1990; Singh & Karthikeyan 2001). The description for B. nervifolium in the literature is quite inadequate.
Therefore, a detailed account of the species, including morphological
description, phenology, ecology, distribution map, and a coloured photoplate is provided to facilitate accurate
identification of the species.
Results
Taxonomic
Treatment
Biophytum nervifolium Thwaites, Enum. Pl. Zeyl.: 64. 1858; Manna in Hajra et al. (eds.), Fl.
India 4: 234. 1997. B. sensitivum var. nervifolium (Thwaites) Edgew.
& Hook.f. in J.D.Hooker, Fl. Brit. India 1: 437.1874.
Erect, annual herbs; stem 2–13 cm high, unbranched,
herbaceous, cylindrical, red when young. Leaves 7–20 per plant, paripinnate,
crowded on top of the stem; rachis hairy, 1–7 cm long; leaflets opposite,
sessile, 3–12(–14) pairs, overlapping, green, and glabrous
above, paler beneath, terminal leaflets are the largest, obovate, 11–13 × 3–6
mm, apex obtuse, apiculate, base sharply oblique, margins entire, lateral
leaflets oblong, 2–10 × 3–5 mm, obtuse at apex, apiculate, not asymmetric at
base, entire at margin, slightly hairy along margins (under dissecting
microscope), lateral nerves 6–13 pairs, prominent, sub-opposite or alternate.
Inflorescence shorter than or rarely exceeding the leaves, peduncles 0.8–5(–7)
cm, stiff with appressed glandular hairs. Flowers 3–6 in dense, crowded umbels,
yellow with purple lines; pedicels shorter than bracts, 0.5–1 mm long (fruiting
pedicels around 2 mm); bracts broadly ovate, 1–2 × 0.5 mm; shortly acuminate at
apex, glandular hairy; bracteoles 1–2 mm long, linear, glandular pubescent.
Sepals five, linear-lanceolate, 4–5.5 × 0.5–1 mm, deeply divided to the base,
sharply acuminate at apex, broader at base, glandular hairy, nerves seven,
prominent, parallel, persistent. Petals five, exceeding the sepals,
oblanceolate, 6–7 × 2–2.5 mm, slightly hairy on both surfaces, 3-nerved, middle
nerve prominent. Stamens 10 in two whorls, 5-longer filaments 2.5–3 mm long,
hairy along one side, 5-shorter filaments 1.5 mm long. Ovary ovoid, as long as
broad, 0.8–1 mm, pubescent; styles five, bifid, ca. 0.5 mm long. Capsules
ovoid, shorter than sepals, 3–4 × 2–2.5 mm, glabrous
except the densely hairy apex, 5-valved; seeds 10, 2 per locule,
arillate, strongly transversely ridged, as long as broad, reddish-brown (Image
1).
Flowering & Fruiting: August to December.
Habitat & Ecology: In the
present study, the specimens were collected from two different localities in
the Saurashtra Peninsula. The first is situated in the Shatrunjaya
Hill ranges, characterized by undulating terrain of hills with a mix of dry
deciduous and thorny scrub vegetation. Here, the individuals (nearly 50) of Biophytum nervifolium
grow in microhabitats on rocky cliffs at an altitude of 150–170 m and at c. 300
m. The main associated species in a 5–6 m radius include Aeschynomene
sp., Alysicarpus sp., Blepharis maderaspatensis (L.)
B.Heyne ex Roth, Cassia absus
L., Chorchorus aestuans
L., Crotalaria bifaria L.f.,
Crotalaria hebecarpa (DC.) Rudd, Dalechampia scandens var. cordofana
(Hochst. ex Webb) Müll.Arg.,
Evolvulus alsinoides
(L.) L., Grewia villosa
Willd., Hibiscus lobatus
(Murray) Kuntze, Hyptis
suaveolens (L.) Poit., Indigofera cordifolia
B.Heyne ex Roth, Ipomoea sindica
Stapf, Phyllanthus maderaspatensis
L., Phyllanthus sp., Polygala erioptera
DC., Tephrosia strigosa
(Dalzell) Santapau & Maheshw.,
Tridax procumbens L.,
and Urochloa ramosa
(L.) T.Q.Nguyen.
In the Rajkot location, the second recorded site, all the
individuals (more than 150) are growing along the roadsides among grasses. The
main associated species are Apluda mutica L., Alysicarpus
scariosus (Rottler
ex Spreng.) Graham, Alysicarpus
tetragonolobus Edgew.,
Atylosia scarabaeoides (L.)
Benth., Aristida sp.,
Convolvulus sp., Cymbopogon sp., Dichanthium sp., Euphorbia sp., Merremia gangetica (L.)
Cufod., Mimosa hamata Willd., Orthosiphon pallidus Royle ex Benth., Polygala chinensis L., Rhynchosia
aurea (Willd.)
DC., Sehima nervosa (Rottler) Stapf, Senna uniflora (Mill.) H.S.Irwin
& Barneby, Trichodesma
sp., and Ziziphus nummularia (Burm.f.) Wight & Arn. (Image
2).
Distribution: Sri Lanka and
India. In India, it occurs in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Gujarat.
Specimen examined: INDIA, Gujarat, Bhavnagar District, Shatrunjaya
Hill ranges, 150–170 m, N21.5028373 E71.8130176, 15.ix.2024, Kishan Prajapati & Siddharth Dangar,
KP-036, KP-037; Shatrunjaya Hill ranges, c. 300 m,
N21.5025425 E71.8119276, 22.09.2024, Kishan
Prajapati, KP-038, KP-039; Rajkot District, Munjka to
Ishwariya Village, c. 50 m, N22.2901183 E70.7174083,
16.x.2024 to 10.11.2024, Kishan Prajapati,
KP-040,041,042,043.
Notes
Biophytum nervifolium was described
by Thwaites in 1858 based on the collection by A.O. Brodie (CP 2787) from Puttalum in the Puttalum District
of Sri Lanka. This species is reported to be common on sandy and clayey soils
of the dry zones in Jaffna, Anuradhapura, Mannar,
Batticaloa, and Hambantota districts of Sri Lanka (Dassanayake
1999).
During this study, we observed that B. nervifolium is commonly present in Gujarat, but is
often misidentified as B. sensitivum,
including in regional floras (Santapau 1968; Shah
1978). However, these two species can be easily distinguished by their floral
features. In B. sensitivum, the sepals are
nearly as long as the petals, whereas in B. nervifolium,
the petals are longer than the sepals. The linear glandular bracteoles are one
of the striking characters in B. nervifolium,
but the bracteoles are absent in B. sensitivum.
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