Curcuma wallichii
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| Curcuma wallichii | ||||||||||||
| Rahman & Yusuf |
Curcuma wallichii 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 Lawachari Forest in the Upazila Srimangal , Moulvibazar District , Sylhet Division in Bangladesh .
description
Curcuma wallichii is a perennial and herbaceous plant that grows to a meter high. The rhizomes are large, horizontally branched, and light yellow inside. The six 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 and form a pseudostem. The simple leaf blades follow the 8 to 14 centimeters long petioles. They are broadly elliptical and tapering to a point with a length of 66 to 70 and a width of 21 to 24 centimeters. They have a smooth surface and are green throughout.
At the end of the pseudostem there is a cylindrical and spike-like inflorescence 18 to 20 centimeters long and eight centimeters in diameter. The up to 24 bracts are about 3.0 inches long and 1.8 inches wide, egg-shaped, slightly hairy at the base and tip and light green in color with pink tips. There are four to six flowers above each bract. The up to eleven hairy bracts are light purple or pink with a white base, elliptical to ovoid with about 8.5 centimeters in length.
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 corolla tube 3.2 centimeters long. The three cream-white corolla lobes are triangular, about 16 millimeters long and 12 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, yellow with a yolk yellow band in the middle. The light yellow stamens have broad and flat stamens 3.5 by 3.8 millimeters and 4 millimeter long anthers with about 3 millimeter long basal spurs. The lower, three-chambered ovary is white and only hairy on top, with a size of 4.5 by 3.5 millimeters. The flowering time is in July.
Curcuma wallichii 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 continuous green leaf sheaths, the smooth monochrome green leaf blades, the light green bracts with pink tips, the yellow long stamens and the completely hairy ovaries.
distribution
The type location of Curcuma wallichii located in Lawachari Forest ( 24 ° 19 '41.3 " N , 91 ° 46' 38.6" O ) in the Upazila Srimangal , district Moulvibazar , Division Sylhet . There the species was found in the penumbra of the evergreen rainforest. Only a small population was detected at the type location.
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 wallichii has so far only been discovered in small numbers at the type site. 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 wallichii 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 species not yet described, Curcuma wallichii from the Moulvibazar district, Sylhet division, Curcuma roxburghii from the Rangamati district , Chittagong 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. The species name wallichii honors the Danish botanist Nathaniel Wallich , director of the Indian Museum in Kolkata , assistant to William Roxburgh and one of the most important collectors and researchers of British-Indian 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 .