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P/eionr 41' l " .0 i' '("' f: hi II ...... la·.n,. ...,ncu::~ I ·...:rn:1 1\{1,. rl\ Acampe papillosa (Lindley) Lindley var. flam Das et a/ (var. nov.) from the Duars of West Bengal, India A. P. nns', Tapan Kumar Kat ham' and Suman Nirola l H; ': :n\ \: f n:•rL·nmcrlt~l R·,:: );'\ t lhor.atun ~)cpartmcnr o" Bf·t:ulY l nn•e,,~ 1 i) of ?\..J:I~ Bcnga· <;!11••u. 711(1 l \\ 11 n~·l VPU· J...uth~1mb~c 1 l."· .:;·r...~•run , ;"2 "' \\\; ·1 hl:ntdl. lnt!Jl • rrt,• 1 ~/,, 1)' d• J.. r c1.£l,i,_f_f _!}_' U__:t l !.lli_ ,_j_~ J' \bstrnct 1cumpe pt>pri/)Sa ILIJl(ICVJ I Jrtdn \aJ 'la•,J \1' Das. r r. Kath.t •) ('/.., 1\;Jmla, .l ·lCW \3rJCI)', ·~ describ.:d from the Iluars area <>t t1tc Jnl:'laJ<; J'l Di;trict of\V.:st Bengal. lnd1a. The new variety diffel'; from the type-variety mainly by the absence of •tr:pes and blot~h:::s on dislin.l\y yellow ·;~pals and petals. K~y words· h "r,•p• par i!lo.w '"r '! n·.•l '1< et 'I. New ,. ,. e<\ w .. s, 1:\l'•ll!al lmhu INTRODVCTIO"' Acampe papillm<1t Lindley) L indlcy ,,fOrch,da;.:cae is a common cptphyte m DarJihng foot-hJlls, fcrai and Duars region ofWco;t 13~:;nRal (Pcah & rnbb 2002). In June 2009, some detached and fallen clumps 0fthi<> orchid \Vcre r~.:.,cucd from the road-side ncar Nagrakata in Duars of Jalpatgun district and were placed on ncarb) trc:cs for future ubscrvatiun. These plants started flowering in the followmg November (2009). Interestingly, one of these clumps. though looking exactly similar in all vegetative characters but pn'duced flowers thoo;e are having some easily recognizable differences from A.campe papil/osa. In this plant the f1owers are ycllo\\ and completely devoid of any blotch on any part of the flower and which arc characteristic for A. papi/losa This variant plant is nO\'• trcatcd lb a new vanch of Acampe papJI/osa a::. follows: Acampe papillosn (Lindley) I mdlcv. f< ,J r )r.;hJd. Acarnpe ~·2. nu.5.185J var.jlava vor nov A varietate typica lloribus mmoribus (1.. I 3 .:m dtam.), :,epa! is pctalisque ungustioribus aeque luteis, sepal is lnternli bus asymmetric is, don;a lo ob lanc~o I a to, Ia he !It' I atiore pa II ide cremeo, omnibus part ibus tlornlibus sine macults purpurec br.t•llltt' proprii'> diffcn fYPUS· Nagrnkata Dltars. lalputgur • I r Da' & 7. K Kat ham 119 ~. dated I 7 11.2009 (NBL) The new variety differs from the• tvp~ ','r•etv ( I pipr!lusa var paptf/osa) with a number of flower chara~::ter'i as pr.;o"cntc•d 111 fab'c I l'ablc I. Dilft•ru1n·-, d 1LCI'IIf" f 1Cipiffosa v:\r flat•a Das et al from the Tvpe variet}. Characters A. papillo.m \·ar papillom (Ftg. 1A) f. papil/osa vnr. flcrl'll (Fig I A) ------------~~------------~~~----- Fiowe•·s Larger !: 1.8 1.m o~cruss, llorai Smaller t- I J em across, floral parts pans less lleshy much fleshy and shining Sepals Sepals 6-9 x 2-1 Jtllll. similar. oblong Lateral sepals 6.6 '' 2.5 mm. -elliptic, obtusc. pak had~[!rnund asymmetrically oblong-obtuse. transvcrsclv marked \~tth lmear evenly yellow throughout. markings purplish-bfl'\\Jl hlt'lc he" or blotches absent Characters . 1. papi/lo.m 'ar. papi//tJ.\'0 . I. papillm•a ar. flm•a Dorsal sepal 6.5 x 2 mm, oblanceolatc. obtuse, evenly yellow throughout Petab Lmear-elllpttc, obtuse. 6-9 x 2-3 111111. L mear-elliptic, obtuse. 6.3 x 1.5 mm . trans\ erscly marked with linear evenly yellow throughout purplish-brown blotches Lip White blotched with pink-purple, Uniformly pale-creamy, wany and wany and papillose. 4-6 x 25 mm papillo ·c, blotches absent, 6 x 5 mm Fit?;. I. A. kalllfl<' papillusa var.JI<tpi/losa: B . tcamJil' papillosa var. /lava D Fig. 2: Acampc papdlosa 'ar. tlava. A. Flower in front vic,v: B. Flower in lateral view; C. Labellum 111 lateral' te\\ . 0 . Labellum in front view. The nC\\ 'ariety can be easily recognised with its bright ycllo\\ and immaculate sepals and petal ·: lip '' hlte. inconspicuously stained with opaque yellow on disc or mcsochile which is clearly vi ible on reflex ion: the tlowers arc odoriferous. /)/\lrihulum: Extensive search for ftll1hcr specimens were conducted in numerous probable areas in tarat. Duar~ and htlls of Darjiling. but no other rlant with imilar flowers were located. So. from the present knowledge regarding the distribution of this newly described variety it is now regarded as an cndemte for the Ouars reg1on ofWest Bengal. A. P. Das et al !57 Acknowledgements Authors are thankful to Professor (Dr.) J .F. Veldkamp, Nationaal Herbarium Nederland. Un iversiteit Lei den Branch for the latin translation and to Dr. P. Lakshminarasimhan, Scientist, Botanical Survey of India for his keen interest in our works. ···c . LITERATURE CITED Pearce, N.R. & Cribb, P.J. 2002. The Orchids of Bhutan. Flora of Bhutan, Vol. 3(3): 491. Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh. Pleione 5(2): 3 14 - 323. 2011. ISSN: 0973-9467 © East Himalayan Society for Spermatophyte Taxonomy An account of Cyperaceae A. L. Jussieu of Darjeeling District of Paschimbanga, India Suman Nirola and A.P. Das Taxonomy & Environmental Biology Laboratory, Department of Botany, University of North Bengal, Siliguri 734013, Paschimbanga, India [Received revised & accepted 27.12.2011] Abstract The floristic diversity ofDarjeeling region ofPaschimbanga (formerly West Bengal) is well known. The hills ofDarjeeling are forming a part of Eastern Himalaya. Vast differences in altitudinal ranges, extreme variation in temperature, climate soil character, etc. have created a wide range of variation in habitat stmcture. The Cyperaceae A. L. Jussieu has emerged to be the third dominant family amongst monocots in the district ofDarjeeling after Poaceae and Orchidaceae. Out of about 72 genera and 4000 species world wide and about 38 genera and 485 species in India, a sizeable number of 134 species from 19 genera have been recorded from the study area. The members of the Cyperaceae are widely distributed and are present almost in all types of vegetation starting from hot tropical to chilling sub alpine zones. Species of Schoenoplectus, Eleocharis, Scirpus, Cyperus etc. are most dominant in lower elevations while Carex, Kobresia etc, are mostly present in sub-alpine zone. Habitat wise they may be aquatic, marshy, mesophytic, lithophytic and some times even epiphytic. The present article emphasizes upon the distribution pattern, dominance, RET species, endemism etc. of this important plant family in Darjeeling district. Key words: Cyperaceae, Darjeeling flora, 19 genera, 134 species INTRODUCTION Geographically the Darjeeling district of the Indian state ofPaschimbanga (formerly West Bengal) is located between 26° 31' 053 to 27° 13' 10" N latitudes and 87° 59' 30" to 88° 5' 31" E 2 2 longitudes. It comprises an area of 3351.9 km of which about T! rd (2417.3 km ) lies in the hills 2 2 and rest (934.6 km ) in plains. The forest cover of the district is 1,455 km [46.20%) (Bhujel 1996). The altitude ranges from about 120m amsl at Bidhan Nagar of Siliguri Terai to 3,660 m amsl at Sandakphu. As the area is expanded from the Himalayas to the Terai of Gangetic Plains, it possesses a vast variation in topographical, altitudinal, geographical and climatic features which gave rise to extremely rich vegetation and plant diversity in the area. The area is located within the illCN recognized Himalaya Biodiversity Hotspot. While working on the flora of different parts of the country and adjoining countries, many 1 renowned botanists have explored this area at least since early l9 h century (Das 1995, 2004). Among the well known explorers Clarke (1877, 1886), Hooker (1872 - 1897), Hara (1966, 1971), Hara et al (1978, 1979, 1982), Ohashi (1975), Koyama (1978), Mukherjee (1988), Noltie (1994), Das (1986, 1995, 2004), Hajra & Verma (1996), Rai (2001) and Ghosh (2006) has contributed considerably towards the floristic exploration of the area. Cyperaceae A.L. Jussieu, commonly know as the sedge family is the third dominant family amongst the monocotyledonous flora in the region after Poaceae and Orchidaceae. Worldwide 72 genera with about 4000 species of the family were reported (Mabberley 2005), of which 38 genera with about 485 species are known to grow in India (Karthikeyan et a/1989). Sunwn Nirola & A.P. Oas 315 Most of the members of Cyperaceae love to grow in wet and marshy places, though the number of mesophytic species are not less. Species of Eleocharis, Fuirena, Hypolytrum, Lipocarpha, Rhynchospora, Schoenoplectus, Scirpus etc. grow in wet and marshy lands, low lands, ditches, along streams, rice fields etc. whereas Actinoscirpus, Carex, Erioscirpus, Kobresia, Pycreus, Scleria etc. prefer dry land habitat and members of Bulbostylis, Cyperus, Fimbristylis, Kyllinga, Jsolepis etc. like the both. Some species of Cyperus, Carex etc. are often found growing lithophytic and some times even epiphytically. In the Terai, the sedge flora covers most of the ground vegetation. It seems to be natural phenomenon that many open waste and unused lands the ground flora is fully dominated by the members of Cyperaceae. Most species of Carex, Kobresia etc grow in the temperate regions. It is by vertue the nature of the area has provided almost all the favourable conditions for the occurrence of these plants, therefore the Cyperaceae has emerged as the 3rct dominant family amongst monocots in the district of Darjeeling (Hara 1966, 1971 ; Ohashi 1975; Noltie 2000). MATERIAL AND METHODS Random collections were made while exploring the monocotyledonous flora of the Darjeeling district visiting the different places in different seasons during 2002 to 2009.