A Preliminary Taxonomic Account of Th Xonomic Account of the Family
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Discovery,ANALYSIS53(256),ARTICLEApril 1, 2017 ANALYSIS ISSN 2278–5469 EISSN 2278–5450 Discovery A Preliminary Taxonomic Account of the Family Caesalpiniaceae of Rajshahi Mahbubur Rahman AHM☼, Barman AK Plant Taxonomy Laboratory, Department of Botany, Faculty of Life and Earth Sciences, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi-6205, Bangladesh ☼Address for Correspondence: Dr. A.H.M. Mahbubur Rahman, Associate Professor, Department of Botany, Faculty of Life and Earth Sciences, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi-6205, Bangladesh; E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Publication History Received: 22 February 2017 Accepted: 11 March 2017 Published: 1 April 2017 Citation Mahbubur Rahman AHM, Barman AK. A Preliminary Taxonomic Account of the Family Caesalpiniaceae of Rajshahi. Discovery, 2017, 53(256), 243-254 Publication License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. General Note Article is recommended to print as color digital version in recycled paper. ABSTRACT The present research paper focused on the family Caesalpiniaceae of Rajshahi was carried out. A total of 19 species under 9 genera belonging to the family Caesalpiniaceae were collected and identified. Out of the total number of species, Bauhinia acuminata L., Caesalpinia pulcherrima (L.) Swartz., Cassia fistula L., Delonix regia Raf., Tamarindus indica L., Senna sophera (L.) Roxb., Senna tora (L.) 243 243 243 Mahbubur Rahman and Barman, Page Page Page A Preliminary Taxonomic Account of the Family Caesalpiniaceae of Rajshahi, Discovery, 2017, 53(256), 243-254, www.discoveryjournals.com © 2017 Discovery Publication. All Rights Reserved ANALYSIS ARTICLE Roxb., Saraca indica L., Peltophorum pterocarpum (DC.) K. Heyne. were dominant, Cassia grandis L., Senna occidentalis Roxb., Senna siamea (Lamk.) Irwin & Bar., Senna alata (L.) Roxb. were frequent and Bauhinia purpurea L., Bauhinia variegata L., Brownea coccinea Jacq., Caesalpinia bonduc (L.) Roxb., Cassia javanica L., Cassia renigera Wall ex Benth. were rare species in the study area. For each species, the nomenclature has been brought updated and the synonyms, local name, English name, flowering time, chromosome number, taxonomic description, native and medicinal uses have been provided. Keywords: Preliminary Taxonomic Account, Caesalpiniaceae, Rajshahi, Bangladesh 1. INTRODUCTION Geographical distribution: The Caesalpiniaceae are mostly tropical and subtropical trees and shrubs comprising about 180 genera and 3,000 species. About 23 genera and 85 species of this family have been reported from India. Some of the large represented genera along with their number of approximately reported species include Cassia (500-600), Bauhinia (300), Senna (250), Chamaecrista (250), Caesalpinia (100), Gleditsia (11) and Cersis (7) (Sharma, 2004). The family Caesalpiniaceae consists of 150 genera and 2,200 species, distributed mainly in tropical and subtropical regions, but only few species occur in temperate regions. In Bangladesh, this family is represented by 19 genera and 69 species (Ahmed et al., 2008). Taxonomic description : The leaves are stipulate, alternate, and mostly pinnately compound but may be bipinnate or simple. Like the other legume families the petiole base is commonly enlarged into a pulvinus. The flowers are in racemes, spikes or cymes, are zygomorphic, and are mostly weakly to strongly perigynous. The perianth commonly consists of a calyx and corolla of 5 segments each; the petals are distinct, overlapping (i.e., imbricate) in bud, with the posterior one (flag or banner) innermost in position. The androecium usually consists of 1-10 distinct or variously united stamens, some of which are commonly reduced to nonfunctional staminodes. The pistil is simple, consisting of one style and stigma, and a superior ovary with one locule containing 2-many marginal ovules. The fruit is usually a legume. Taxonomic position: Division : Magnoliophyta Class : Magnoliopsida Subclass : Rosidae Order : Fabales Family : Caesalpiniaceae (Cronquist, 1981) Economic importance: Economically the plants of the family Caesaliniaceae are of fairly great importance. The plants are either ornamental or of medicinal values. A few plants have food and other values. The plants of the family are used as sources of food and beverage, fodder, medicinal, industrial, ornaments, chutney, timber, fibre, fuel, etc. The leaves and flower buds of Bauhinia variegata L. are used as vegetables. The fruits of Tamarindus indica L. are spicy and used as condiment. The young leaves of Senna tora (L.) Roxb. are made into vegetables. The seeds of Tamarindus indica L. yield starch. Twigs of Cassia fistula L. are used as fodder. The pulp of the pods of Cassia fistula L. is utilized as a purgative. The bark decoction of Saraca indica L. is used as a remedy for menstrual disorders. The leaves of the Senna alata (L.) Roxb. are used to cure ring worm and skin diseases. The roots of Chamaecrista mimosioedes (L.) Greene are given in spasms of stomach. The leaf juice of Senna tora (L.) Roxb. is an excellent cure to malaria. Dried leaves and flower buds of Bauhinia tomentosa L. are given in dysentery. The bark of Saraca indica L. is used in uterine disorders. The fruits of Tamarindus indica L. possess carminative and laxative properties (Shukla and Misra, 1979). Review of literatures: The importance of studying local floristic diversity has been realized and carried out in Bangladesh by Khan and Banu (1972), Khan and Hassan (1984), Khan and Huq (2001), Rahman (2013a, 2013b, 2013c), Rahman et al. (2007a, 2007b), Rahman and Akter (2013), Rahman et al., (2014), Rahman and Rahman (2014), Arefin et al. (2011), Islam et al., (2009), Hossain et al., (2005), Rahman et al. (2013), Tutul et al., (2010) and Uddin et al. (2010, 2013). The present study was made taxonomic account of the 244 244 244 family Caesalpiniaceae of Rajshahi, Bangladesh. Mahbubur Rahman and Barman, Page Page Page A Preliminary Taxonomic Account of the Family Caesalpiniaceae of Rajshahi, Discovery, 2017, 53(256), 243-254, www.discoveryjournals.com © 2017 Discovery Publication. All Rights Reserved ANALYSIS ARTICLE 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS Study area: Rajshahi district is a district in north-western Bangladesh. It is a part of the Rajshahi division. The Rajshahi district is bounded by Naogaon district to the north, Natore district to the east, and Chapai Nawabganj district and the river Padma to the south. The Rajshahi district has a sub-tropical monsoon climate, typical of Bangladesh, which falls within a low rainfall zone of the country. 75 percent rainfall occurs during June-September. The annual rainfall is 1350 mm. Temperature of the area is low in January varies from 9.0C to 14.1C. From February an increasing trend of temperature is found up to April and thereafter temperature start to decline. In April temperature varies from 22.6C to 36.9C. The mean relative humidity is found to be low in March (65%) and high in July-September (88-89%) (BBS, 2009). Methodology: A preliminary taxonomic account of the family Caesalpiniaceae was carried out from July 2009 to June 2010. A total of 19 species belonging to 9 genera of the family Caesalpiniaceae were collected and identified. A survey on the determination of the location of different species was made and a list was prepared to be acquainted with the plants available in the selected area. All the species were noted and time to time the areas were visited to see when they flowered. For the morphological study, different types of species were examined again and again in order to see if there was any variation or not. They were collected at flowering stages and herbarium specimens were prepared as vouchers. In this practice standard method was followed. In this regard different types of plant species were collected from different habitats. All the collected plant specimens were kept in the Herbarium, Department of Botany, and University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh. Plant Identification: The major collected materials were identified and described up to species with the help of Hooker (1961), Prain (1963), Kirtikar and Basu (1987) and Ahmed et al. (2008) were consulted. For the current name and up-to-date nomenclature Pasha and Uddin (2013) and Huq (1986) were also consulted. 3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION A preliminary taxonomic account of the family Caesalpiniaceae was carried out. A total of 19 species belonging to 9 genera of the family Caesalpiniaceae were collected and identified. Out of the total number of species, Bauhinia acuminata L., Caesalpinia pulcherrima (L.) Swartz., Cassia fistula L., Delonix regia Raf., Tamarindus indica L., Senna sophera (L.) Roxb., Senna tora (L.) Roxb., Saraca indica L., Peltophorum pterocarpum (DC.) K. Heyne. were dominant, Cassia grandis L., Senna occidentalis Roxb., Senna siamea (Lamk.) Irwin & Bar., Senna alata (L.) Roxb. were frequent and Bauhinia purpurea L., Bauhinia variegata L., Brownea coccinea Jacq., Caesalpinia bonduc (L.) Roxb., Cassia javanica L., Cassia renigera Wall ex Benth. were rare species in the study area. For each species, the nomenclature has been brought updated and the synonyms, local name, English name, flowering time, chromosome number, taxonomic description, native and medicinal uses have been provided. The collected information is comparable with the result of other studies in Bangladesh. A total of 4 genera and 7 species were recorded in Lawachara National Park (Uddin and Hassan., 2010). A total of 5 genera and 11 species were