Ceropegia bhatii
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| SRYadav & Shendage |
Ceropegia bhatii is a species of the subfamily of the silk plant family (Asclepiadoideae). It is endemic to a small area of the Malebennur Ghat in the Davangere district in the Indian state of Karnataka . The specific epithet honors Prof. K. Gopalakrishna Bhat from the Department of Botany, Poornaprajna College, Udupi for his contributions in the field of taxonomy and botany.
features
Vegetative characteristics
Ceropegia bhatii is a perennial , herbaceous , twisting plant with a bulbous rhizome. The tubers are 2 to 2.5 cm in diameter. The few roots are fibrous. A single, winding, unbranched, cylindrical shoot is developed, which can be up to 1 m long. In the lower part it is covered with cilia, in the upper part it is bare. It has a diameter of 1 to 2 mm. The short-stalked leaves are simple, the stems 0.5 to 0.8 cm long. The leaf blade is linear to linear-lanceolate. They are 4.5 to 9 cm long and 0.4 to 1.5 cm wide. The end of the leaf is pointed, the base is conical. The upper side of the leaf is sparsely hairy, the underside glabrous. The leaf margin is covered with cilia.
Inflorescence and flowers
The inflorescence is a cyme . The five-fold, zygomorphic flowers are hermaphroditic and have a double flower envelope. The two-flowered inflorescences sit in the leaf axilla or outside. The inflorescence stem is 0.5 to 1 cm long, filiform and glabrous. The bare flower stalks measure 6 to 8 mm in length and 0.5 to 0.8 mm in length. The bald bracts are solitary, 1 to 3 mm long and 0.2 to 0.5 mm long, linear in shape and pointed. The five bald, linearly shaped sepals are pointed at a length of 3 to 5 mm and 0.6 to 0.9 mm at the end. The greenish yellow corolla is 3 to 3.8 cm long, of which the corolla tube accounts for 1.5 to 2 cm. The outside smooth corolla tube is formed by the five petals that are fused in the lower part. It is only moderately swollen at the base. The upper part of this "kettle" has purple-brown stripes on the inside, the lower part is stained. The greenish petal lobes are 1.3 to 1.8 cm long and elongated, linear in shape with a pointed end. They are fused together at the tips and form an egg-shaped, cage-like structure. The interstaminale (or outer) secondary crown consists of five deeply indented, cup-shaped, purple-colored lobes, the edges of which are covered with cilia . The staminale (or inner) secondary crown consists of five linear, purple-colored lobes up to 3 mm long. The pollinarium is 0.3 mm long and 0.15 mm wide.
Fruits and seeds
The paired, straight follicles are spindle-shaped and stand upright. They are bare and are up to 8 cm long, with a diameter of 0.3 cm, the seeds are 4 mm long and 1.5 mm wide, and oblong-egg-shaped. The silky white head of hair is 0.8 to 1.4 cm long.
Similar species
Ceropegia bhatii is similar to Ceropegia noorjahaniae Ansari, but differs in the two-flowered inflorescences (three-flowered in C. noorjahaniae ) and the twisting shoot axes (compared to upright shoot axes in C. noorjahaniae ). The corolla tube kettle is only moderately inflated in Ceropegia bhatii , while in Ceropegia noorjahaniae it swells to over twice the thickness of the minimum diameter of the corolla tube. The edges of the petal lobes are bent back at the base, while they are strongly bent back in Ceropegia noorjahaniae .
The species is from the first descriptors to the series Attenuatae of the Sect. Tiloris counted, which is represented in India with nine species and all of which are endemic to the Indian subcontinent. It differs from all other species of the series Attenuatae ( Ceropegia anantii SR Yadav et al., Ceropegia anja erica Malpure et al., Ceropegia attenuata Hook., Ceropegia fimbriifera Bedd., Ceropegia mahabalei Hemadri & Ansari, Ceropegia mohanramii SR Yadav et al., Ceropegia noorjahaniae MA Ansari and Ceropegia spiralis Wight) through the twisting shoot axes.
Geographical distribution and ecology
Ceropegia bhatii was only found in a small, approx. 5 km² area on the Malebennur Ghat (14 ° 18 '40. N, 75 ° 43' 30.7 E) in the Davangere district in the Indian state of Karnataka .
The species grows in open grassland with isolated bushes at 600 to 625 m above sea level. Associated with it are Anogeissus latifolia (Roxb. Ex DC.), Wall. ex Guill. & Perr., Dolichandrone spathacea (L. f.) K. Schum., Wrightia tinctoria , R. Br., Cymbopogon caesius (Nees) Stapf and Tylophora fasciculata Buch.-Ham. It blooms and bears fruit from August to November.
Taxonomy and exposure
Ceropegia bhatii was first described by Shrirang Ramchandra Yadav and Shankar Maloji Shendage in 2010; the taxon is listed on IPNI (International Plant Name Index). The species is so far only known from the type locality. The authors found "only" 35 plants there. They rate the species as "Critically Endangered".
supporting documents
literature
- Shrirang Ramchandra Yadav and Shankar Maloji Shendage: Ceropegia bhatii, a new species of Apocynaceae: Ceropegieae from Karnataka, India. In: Kew Bulletin , Vol. 65, No. 1, 2010, 107-110, doi : 10.1007 / s12225-010-9189-0