Curcuma roxburghii
| Curcuma roxburghii | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Curcuma roxburghii | ||||||||||||
| Rahman & Yusuf |
Curcuma roxburghii is aspecies of the genus Curcuma in the ginger family (Zingiberaceae) that wasfirst described in 2012. The species is closely related to turmeric and mango ginger , it is so far only known as endemic to the Rangamati district of the Chittagong division in Bangladesh .
description
Curcuma roxburghii is a perennial and herbaceous plant that is 1.20 to 1.50 meters high. The rhizomes are large and branched horizontally. They are light yellow inside and have a slight scent of turmeric. The five to seven alternate leaves are arranged in two rows and are divided into three parts: leaf sheath, petiole and leaf blade. The leaf sheaths are green with a purple pattern and form a pseudostem. The simple leaf blades follow the 20 to 35 centimeters long petioles. They are broadly lanceolate with a length of 55 to 85 and a width of 17 to 21 centimeters. They have a smooth surface and are green throughout.
At the end of the pseudostem there is a cylindrical and spike-like inflorescence 16 to 19 centimeters long and five centimeters in diameter. The twelve to 14 bracts are 3.5 to 3.8 inches long and 2.8 inches wide, egg-shaped, slightly hairy at the base and tip and of a light green color with a purple edge. There are three to four flowers above each bract. The eight to eleven bracts are light purple with a white base, approximately elliptical with 6.1 to 6.5 inches long and 3.3 to 3.8 inches wide. They are hairy at the end and look cut off.
The flowers are hermaphroditic, zygomorphic and threefold with a double flower envelope. The sepals are white and about an inch long, with hairs along the nerves. The three light yellow petals form a three centimeter long corolla tube. The three cream-white corolla lobes are triangular, around 12 millimeters long and ten millimeters wide and have rounded ends, the middle one is larger and has a pointed end. The labellum is spade-shaped with a beak-shaped end, 15 millimeters long and 16.5 millimeters wide, creamy white with a light yellow band in the middle. The stamens have broad and flat stamens 4.0 by 3.5 millimeters and 3.5 millimeter long anthers with two basal spurs each about 2.5 millimeters long. The lower, three-chamber ovary is white and only hairy on top, with a size of 3.5 by 2.5 millimeters. The flowering period is July to August.
Curcuma roxburghii belongs to the same section Masantha as its close relatives turmeric ( Curcuma longa ) and mango ginger ( Curcuma amada ). It differs from both species in a number of morphological details: the purple base of the leaf sheaths, the smooth leaf blades, the light green bracts with a purple edge and the turmeric scent of the rhizomes.
distribution
The type location of Curcuma roxburghii is Rangapani ( 22 ° 58 '49.1 " N , 92 ° 3' 31" O ) is about ten kilometers north of Karnaphuli dam in the CHT , district Rangamati , Division Chittagong . There the species was found in partial shade on the flank of a wooded hill at an altitude of about 570 meters above sea level. Only a few populations were found at the type location. The second known location is Ranganai ( 22 ° 28 '30.4 " N , 92 ° 4' 54.8" O ), between the reservoir and Karnaphuli Chittagong in district Chittagong .
Hazard and protection
As part of the initial description, the authors also carried out a risk assessment on the basis of the criteria published by the IUCN in 1994, which are now outdated. Curcuma roxburghii has so far only been discovered in small numbers at two locations. In the opinion of the authors, the small distribution area and the small number of individuals would justify a classification in the current category not at risk ( LC - Least Concern ) or in the early warning list ( NT - Near Threatened ). Since habitat destruction is the species’s greatest threat, protecting the localities is the most important measure to preserve them. In addition, the species is kept and propagated in the University of Chittagong Botanical Garden.
Systematics
Curcuma roxburghii is with turmeric, mango ginger and a number of other species in the Masantha section of the genus Curcuma . The genus Curcuma is distributed in the South and Southeast Asian tropics with more than 120 species, some species are cultivated. The genus belongs to the subfamily Zingiberoideae in the ginger family (Zingiberaceae).
Initial description
It was first described in 2012 by the Bangladeshi botanist Mohammad Atiqur Rahman from the Botanical Faculty of the University of Chittagong and Mohammed Yusuf from the Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research in Chittagong . In 1993, Rahman and Yusuf had carried out a series of field studies for the Flora of Bangladesh to fully record the ginger family of Bangladesh. They found three not yet described species, Curcuma roxburghii from the Rangamati district, Chittagong division, Curcuma wallachii from the Moulvibazar district , Sylhet division and Curcuma wilcockii from the Tangail district , Dhaka division , whose rhizomes they planted in the botanical garden of the University of Chittagong . The holotype is a specimen collected in July 1993 by the authors of the first description at the type location. It is in the collection of the Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research in Chittagong. With the species name roxburghii , the Scottish doctor and botanist William Roxburgh is honored as the founder of Indian botany and as a collector and researcher of Bengali flora.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Mohammad Atiqur Rahman and Mohammed Yusuf: Three new species of Curcuma L. (Zingiberaceae) from Bangladesh . In: Bangladesh Journal of Plant Taxonomy 2012, Volume 19, No. 1, pp. 79-84, doi: 10.3329 / bjpt.v19i1.10944 .
- ↑ a b Mohammad Atiqur Rahman and M. Enamur Rashid: Status of endemic plants of Bangladesh and conservation management strategies . In: International Journal of Environment 2013, Volume 2, No. 1, pp. 231–249, doi: 10.3126 / ije.v2i1.9224 .