In Western Ghats, Tamil Nadu

Kottaimuthu R et al. / Journal of Science / Vol 8 / Issue 1 / 2018 / 5-7.

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Journal of Science Microbiology www.journalofscience.net Research article EXTENDED DISTRIBUTION OF MARSDENIA TIRUNELVELICA A. N. HENRY & SUBRAM. (APOCYNACEAE: MARSDENIEAE) IN WESTERN GHATS, TAMIL NADU

R. Kottaimuthu1,2*, S. Selva Kumar1 and K. Suresh1

1Department of Botany, Saraswathi Narayanan College, Madurai-625 022, Tamil Nadu, India. 2Present Address: Department of Botany, Thiagarajar College, Madurai-625 009, India.

ABSTRACT Marsdenia tirunelvelica A. N. Henry &Subram. is an overlooked endemic and endangered asclepiad of Southern Western Ghats is reported for the first time from the High Wavy Mountains, Tamil Nadu. Based on this recent collection, detailed description, photograph and additional information on the taxon are provided here.

Keywords: Endemic, High Wavy Mountains, IUCN, Western Ghats.

Access this article online among them Marsdeniaraziana and M. tirunelvelica are Home page: Quick Response endemic to Western Ghats [5-7]. http://journalofscience.net// code MATERIALS AND METHODS DOI: During the recent field visit to High Wavy http://dx.doi.org/10.21276/jos.2018.8.1.2 Mountains for the documentation of ethno medicinal

plants of Theni District, the second author has collected Received:13.11.17 Revised:25.11.17 Accepted:16.12.17 an interesting specimen of Marsdenia from the evergreen forests of High wavy Mountains, Tamil Nadu. After careful and critical analysis, the species was identified Corresponding Author and confirmed as Marsdenia tirunelvelica A. N. Henry R. Kottaimuthu &Subram. Hitherto this species was known only from Department of Botany, Saraswathi Narayanan College, Tirunelveli hills [8] and Palakkad hills [9]. This Madurai-625 022, Tamil Nadu, India. interesting taxon was so far not been reported in High Email:- [email protected] Wavy Mountains [10, 11]. Hence it is reported here as a new record for this area. Based on the recent collection a INTRODUCTION detailed description, along with photograph is provided The genus Marsdenia R. Br. belongs to tribe here to facilitate its easy identification. Marsdenieae Benth., subfamily Asclepiadoideae R. Br. ex Burnett in the family Apocynaceae [1]. It was described RESULTS by Robert Brown in 1810. He dedicated the genus to the Marsdenia tirunelvelica A. N. Henry & First Secretary of the British Admiralty, William Marsden Subram.in J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 73: 186. 1976; (1754-1836), who was an authority on Sumatran history Ahmed.& M. P. Nayar, End. Pl. Indian Region: 127. and an avid promoter of botany [2]. The genus includes 1986; S. R. Srinivasan in A. N. Henry et al., Fl. Tamil about 300 species from tropical and warm temperate areas Nadu Ser. I. Analy.2: 87.1987; Sasidh.&Swarup.in J. of the world, including central and South America, Econ. Taxon. Bot. 18: 636. 1994; Jagtap& N. P. Singh, Africa, the Mediterranean, Asia, Malesia, Australia, and Fasc. Fl. India 24: 135. 1999; Gopalan& A. N. Henry, Melanesia [3]. India is known to have 15 species [4], End. Pl. India: 300. 2000.

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Kottaimuthu R et al. / Journal of Science / Vol 8 / Issue 1 / 2018 / 5-7.

Climbing shrubs; branchletsterete, glabrous. masses solitary in each anther cell, yellow, waxy, attached Leaves opposite, decussate, elliptic–lanceolate to obovate, by pale brown caudicles. Ovary 2-carpelled, apocarpous, 4-8.5 x 1.8-3.8 cm, coriaceous, glabrous on both sides, many ovuled; style 0.1 cm long, stout; style apex dome- base rounded-cordate, margin revolute, acuminate at shaped. Fruits not collected. apex; lateral nerves 4-5 pairs, prominent beneath, obscure above, curved upwards, looped and joined towards the Phenology margin, dark green above, paler beneath; petioles terete, Flowering: January-April. 1.5-2.8 cm long. Flowers axillary, in umbellate cymes; peduncles 1-3 cm long, glabrous; pedicels 1.8-2 cm long, Distribution glabrous; bracts lanceolate, up to 3 mm long, crowded at INDIA (Western Ghats of Kerala & Tamil the base of pedicels. Calyx 5-lobed, divided up to base, Nadu), Endemic. lobes elliptic-ovate, 2-2.8 x 1.5-1.8 cm, apex acute, margin minutely ciliate, glandular within. Corolla Specimens Examined greenish yellow, urceolate, pubescent within, lobes 5, Tamil Nadu; Theni Dist., High Wavy Mountains, broadly ovate, apex acute, glabrous. Corona staminal, 1480m, 24.12.2015, S. Selvakumar 1280 (Saraswathi uniseriate, 5-lobed, fleshy, adnate below the staminal Narayanan College Herbarium). column. Stamens 5, 0.2-0.3 cm long; pollinia 5, pollen

Fig 1. Flowering twig of Marsdenia tirunelvelica

DISCUSSION Marsdenia tirunelvelica was originally described both in situ and ex situ. More extended distributional by Henry &Subramanyam in 1976, based on the information resulted from intensive field studies would specimens collected by Henry in 1972 from Agastyamalai pave way for developing effective conservation measures hills, Tamil Nadu. Since then it has not been collected [15]. from its type locality in spite of the best efforts put forward by the subsequent flora workers [12, 13]. Later, ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS the species was recollected recollected from Palakkad We are grateful to Dr. G.V.S. Murthy, Scientist faraway from the type locality [9]. However, it was “F”, Botanical Survey of India, Southern Regional Centre, overlooked by the later workers [13, 14] and treated the Coimbatore for giving permission for herbarium species as an extinct asclepiad of Southern Western consultation. We also thank the Management and Ghats. Principal, Saraswathi Narayanan College, Madurai for the facilities CONCLUSION Information on the distribution of endemic and CONFLICT OF INTEREST endangered species is very important to conserve them No interest

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2. Brown R. Prodromus Flora Novae Hollandiaeet Insulae van Diemen. Nuremberg, Leornard Schrag, 1810. 3. Fernando ES and Rodda M. Marsdenia purpurella (Apocynaceae: Asclepiadoideae),a new species from the Philippines. Gardens’ Bulletin Singapore, 65, 2013, 143–148. 4. Karthikeyan S, Sanjappa M and Moorthy S. Flowering Plants of India: Dicotyledons.(Acanthaceae–Avicenniaceae). Botanical Survey of India, Kolkata, 2009. 5. Jagtap A and Singh NP. Asclepiadaceae & Periplocaceae. Fasc. Fl. India. Fascicle 24. Botanical Survey of India, Calcutta, 1999. 6. Nayar, TS, RasiyaBeegam A and Sibi G. Flowering plants of the Western Ghats. TBGRI, Thiruvananthapuram, 2014. 7. Singh P, Karthigeyan K, Lakshminarasimhan P and Dash SS. Endemic Vascular Plants of India. Botanical Survey of India, Kolkatta, 2015. 8. Henry AN and Subramanyam K. A new Marsdenia R. Br. (Asclepiadaceae) from South India. Journal of Bombay Natural History Society, 73, 1976, 186–187. 9. Sasidharan N and Swarupanandan K. Discovery of some rare and interesting asclepiads from Kerala. Journal of Economic and Taxonomic Botany, 18, 1994, 631–637. 10. Ravikumar K. Systematic studies on Dicotyledonous Plants of Madurai District. Ph D Thesis, Bharathiar University Coimbatore India, 1993. 11. Ravichandran P and Karuppusamy S. Checklist of Endemic flowering plants of Western Ghats from Megamalai Wildlife Sanctuary, Tamil Nadu, India. Journal of Biological Records 1, 2016, 36–51. 12. Srinivasan R. Asclepiadaceae. In: Henry AN, Kumari GR and Chithra V. (Eds.), Flora of Tamil Nadu. Series I: Analysis Vol. 2, Botanical Survey of India, Southern Circle, Coimbatore, 1987. 13. Gopalan R and Henry AN. Endemic Plants of India: CAMP for the strict endemics of Agasthiya malai Hills, SW Ghats. Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh, Dehra Dun, 2000. 14. Annamalai R, Muthukumar K, Jacob CT, Knight JDM and Senthil D. Endemic plants of Tamil Nadu. Envis Newsletter 5, 2009, 1–16. 15. Sankar RV, Ravikumar K, Suma TS, Ganesh Babu NM and Ganesan R. Distribution note on Justicia nilgherrensis (Acanthaceae), a southern Indian endemic species. MyForest, 4, 2005, 49–53.

Cite this article: Kottaimuthu R, Selva Kumar S and Suresh K. Extended distribution of Marsdenia tirunelvelica a. N. Henry & Subram. (Apocynaceae: Marsdenieae) in Western Ghats, Tamilnadu. Journal of Science, 2018; 8(1): 5-7. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.21276/jos.2018.8.1.2

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