Curcuma wilcockii
| Curcuma wilcockii | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Curcuma wilcockii | ||||||||||||
| Rahman & Yusuf |
Curcuma wilcockii 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 Bangladesh from the Tangail district , Dhaka division and the Sylhet district .
description
Curcuma wilcockii is a perennial herbaceous plant that grows to 60 centimeters high. The rhizomes are small, without horizontal branches, white inside and with a strong aromatic scent. 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 12 to 16 centimeter long petioles. They are oval and tapering to a point with a length of 39 to 43 and a width of 13 to 17 centimeters. They have a hairless surface with protruding leaf veins and are dark green throughout.
At the end of the pseudostem there is a cylindrical and spike-like inflorescence 16 to 20 centimeters long and eight to nine centimeters in diameter. The 60 to 70 bracts are about 5.0 inches long and 3.0 inches wide, elongated egg-shaped, slightly hairy and light green in color with a rust-colored tinge on the lower leaves.
The flowers are hermaphroditic, zygomorphic and threefold with a double flower envelope. The sepals are white, hairy and 16 to 17 millimeters long. The three orange-yellow petals form a 3.0 to 3.5 centimeter long corolla tube. The three cream-white corolla lobes are triangular, about 18 to 19 millimeters long and 8 to 10 millimeters wide and have rounded ends, the middle one is slightly larger and has a pointed end. The labellum is spade-shaped with a beak-shaped slightly hairy end and an orange-yellow color. The orange-yellow stamens have broad and flat stamens and anthers measuring around 2.0 by 3.0 millimeters without basal spurs. The lower, three-chambered ovary is hairy, with a size of 2.0 by 2.0 millimeters. The flowering period is in August and September.
Curcuma wilcockii 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, of which the orange-yellow flowers, the missing spurs at the bases of the ovaries and the horizontally unbranched rhizomes are the most obvious.
distribution
The type location of Curcuma wilcockii located in Madhupur Forest ( 24 ° 41 '1.7 " N , 90 ° 6' 52.9" O ) at Rasulpur, district Tangail , Dhaka Division . There the species was found on partially shaded moist forest floor. Only a small population was detected at the type location. Another location is located in the hills Tamabil ( 25 ° 10 '19.3 " N , 92 ° 5' 25.5" O ) in the district Sylhet .
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 wilcockii has so far only been discovered in small numbers at two sites. 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 wilcockii is included 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 wilcockii from the Tangail district, Dhaka division, Curcuma roxburghii from the Rangamati district , Chittagong division and Curcuma wallichii from the Moulvibazar district , Sylhet division , whose rhizomes they planted in the botanical garden of the University of Chittagong . The holotype is a specimen collected by the authors of the first description at the type site in August 1993. It is in the collection of the Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research in Chittagong. The botanist Christopher C. Wilcock of the University of Aberdeen is honored with the species name wilcockii for his many years of work on the Flora of Bangladesh and his contributions to the taxonomy and research of the biodiversity of the Bangladeshi 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 .