December 2012 - Journal of Threatened Taxa

December 2012 | Vol. 4 | No. 15 | Pages 3377–3472 

Date of Publication 26 December 2012 

ISSN 0974-7907 (online) | 0974-7893 (print) 

A 

B 

C 

D 

A - Rubus glomeratus; B - Caralluma indica; C - Syzygium laetum; D - Torenia hirsuta 

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Ma n a g in g Ed i t o r 

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continued on the back inside cover

JoTT Co m m u n ic a t i o n 4(15): 3377–3389 

Pollination biology of the crypto-viviparous Avicennia 

species (Avicenniaceae) 

A.J. Solomon Raju 1 , P.V. Subba Rao 2 , Rajendra Kumar 3 & S. Rama Mohan 4 

1,4 

Department of Environmental Sciences, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh 530003, India 

2,3 

Ministry of Environment and Forests, Paryavaran Bhavan, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi 110003, India 

Email: 1 solomonraju@gmail.com (corresponding author), 2 pvsrao8@gmail.com, 3 rajekr.72@gmail.com 

Date of publication (online): 26 December 2012 

Date of publication (print): 26 December 2012 


Editor: Cleofas Cervancia 

Manuscript details: 

Ms # o2919 

Received 20 August 2011 

Final received 06 December 2012 

Finally accepted 06 December 2012 

Citation: Raju, A.J.S., P.V.S. Rao, R. Kumar 

& S.R. Mohan (2012). Pollination biology 

of the crypto-viviparous Avicennia species 

(Avicenniaceae). Journal of Threatened Taxa 

4(15): 3377–3389. 

Copyright: © A.J. Solomon Raju, P.V. Subba 

Rao, Rajendra Kumar & S. Rama Mohan 2012. 

Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported 

License. JoTT allows unrestricted use of this 

article in any medium for non-profit purposes, 

reproduction and distribution by providing 

adequate credit to the authors and the source 

of publication. 

Author Details: See end of this article. 

Author Contribution: The field work was done 

by all but it is mainly carried out by AJSR and 

SRM. All four authors have contributed in the 

preparation of manuscript but Prof. Raju is the 

main person among all. 

OPEN ACCESS | FREE DOWNLOAD 

Abstract: Floral biology, sexual system, breeding system, pollinators, fruiting and 

propagule dispersal ecology of crypto-viviparous Avicennia alba Bl., A. marina (Forsk.) 

Vierh. and A. officinalis L. (Avicenniaceae) were studied in Godavari mangrove forests 

of Andhra Pradesh State, India. All the three plant species initiate flowering following 

the first monsoon showers in June and cease flowering in late August. The flowers are 

hermaphroditic, nectariferous, protandrous, self-compatible and exhibit mixed breeding 

system. Self-pollination occurs even without pollen vector but fruit set in this mode 

is negligible. In all, the flowers are strictly entomophilous and the seedlings disperse 

through self-planting and stranding strategies. 

Keywords: Avicennia species, entomophily, mixed breeding system protandry, selfcompatibility. 

Introduction 

The family Avicenniaceae comprises of only one genus Avicennia. 

The genus consists of at least eight tree species which grow in the intertidal 

zone of coastal mangrove forests and ranges widely throughout 

tropical and warm temperate regions of the world (Tomlinson 1986; Duke 

1991). These species occupy diverse mangrove habitats, either within 

the normal tidal range or in back mangal and a high tolerance of hypersaline 

conditions. Of these, three species occur in Atlantic-East Pacific 

and five species in the Indo-West Pacific (Duke 1992). The East Africa 

and the Indo-Pacific species include A. officinalis, A. marina, A. alba, A. 

lanata, A. eucalyptifolia, A. balanophora and only the first three species 

reached the Indian subcontinent (Duke et al. 1998). A. officinalis has 

a wide range from southern India through Indo-Malaya to New Guinea 

and eastern Australia. A. marina has the broadest distribution, both 

latitudinally and longitudinally with a range from East Africa and the Red 

Sea along tropical and subtropical coasts of the Indian Ocean to the South 

China Sea, throughout much of Australia into Polynesia as far as Fiji, and 

south to the North Island of New Zealand (Tomlinson 1986). A. marina 

has the distinction of being the most widely distributed of all mangrove 

tree species. The ubiquitous presence in mangrove habitats around the 

world is due to the ability to grow and reproduce across a broad range 

of climatic, saline, and tidal conditions and to produce large numbers 

of buoyant propagules annually (Duke et al. 1998). A. alba has a wide 

distribution from India to Indochina, through the Malay Archipelago to 

the Philippines, New Guinea, New Britain, and northern Australia. 

Tomlinson (1986) gave a brief account of the floral biology of 

Avicennia species. A. officinalis is self-compatible and occasionally self- 

Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | December 2012 | 4(15): 3377–3389 3377

Pollination biology of Avicennia 

pollinating. Self-pollination of individuals is unlikely 

due to protandry, but the sequence and synchrony of 

flowering, together with pollinator behaviour favours 

geitonogamy. Clarke & Meyerscough (1991) reported 

that it is pollinated by a variety of insects in Australia. 

These authors also reported that A. marina is visited 

by ants, wasps, bugs, flies, bee-flies, cantherid beetles, 

and moths but the most common visitor is Apis 

mellifera. Tomlinson (1986) described that A. alba, 

A. marina and A. officinalis have very similar flowers 

and hence may well be served by the same class, if 

not the same species of pollinators; when these species 

grow together, there is evidence of non-synchrony in 

flowering times, which might minimize the competition 

for pollinators (probably bees) and at the same time 

spread the availability of nectar over a more extended 

period. This state of information in a preliminary 

mode provided the basis for taking up the present 

study on the pollination biology of crypto-viviparous 

Avicennia alba Bl., A. marina (Forsk.) Vierh. and A. 

officinalis L. in Coringa mangrove forest of Andhra 

Pradesh. This paper describes the details of floral 

biology, sexual system, breeding system, pollinators 

and seedling ecology of these three Avicennia species. 

Further, these aspects have been discussed in the light 

of the existing relevant literature. 

Materials and Methods 

Floral biology 

The crypto-viviparous Avicennia alba, A. marina 

and A. officinalis (Avicenniaceae) occurring in 

Godavari mangrove forest (16 0 30’–17 0 00’N & 82 0 10’– 

80 0 23’E) in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, were 

used for the present study. The study was conducted 

during February 2008–April 2010. Regular field trips 

were conducted to track the flowering season in order 

to take up intensive field studies at weekly intervals 

during their flowering and fruiting season. The flower’s 

morphological characteristics were described based 

on 25 flowers collected at random for each species. 

Quantification of the number of flowers produced per 

inflorescence and the duration of inflorescence were 

determined by tagging 10 inflorescences, which have 

not initiated flowering, selected at random and following 

them daily until they ceased flowering permanently. 

Anthesis was initially recorded by observing marked 

A.J.S. Raju et al. 

mature buds in the field. Later, the observations 

were repeated 3–4 times on different days during 

0600–1400 hr in order to provide accurate anthesis 

schedule for each plant species. Similarly, the mature 

buds were followed for recording the time of anther 

dehiscence. The presentation pattern of pollen was 

also investigated by recording how anthers dehisced 

and confirmed by observing the anthers under a 10x 

hand lens. Twenty five mature but undehisced anthers 

was collected from different plants and placed in a petri 

dish. Later, each time a single anther was taken out 

and placed on a clean microscope slide (75x25 mm) 

and dabbed with a needle in a drop of lactophenolaniline-blue. 

The anther tissue was then observed 

under the microscope for pollen, if any, and if pollen 

grains were not there, the tissue was removed from the 

slide. The pollen mass was drawn into a band, and 

the total number of pollen grains was counted under a 

compound microscope (40x objective, 10x eye piece). 

This procedure was followed for counting the number 

of pollen grains in each anther collected. Based on 

these counts, the mean number of pollen produced per 

anther was determined. The mean pollen output per 

anther was multiplied by the number of anthers in the 

flower for obtaining the mean number of pollen grains 

per flower. The characteristics of pollen grains were 

also recorded. The pollen-ovule ratio was determined 

by dividing the average number of pollen grains per 

flower by the number of ovules per flower. The value 

thus obtained was taken as pollen-ovule ratio (Cruden 

1977). The presence of nectar was determined by 

observing the mature buds and open flowers. The 

volume of nectar from 20 flowers collected at random 

from each plant species was determined. Then, the 

average volume of nectar per flower was determined 

and expressed in µl. The flowers used for this purpose 

were bagged at mature bud stage, opened after anthesis 

and squeezed nectar into micropipette for measuring 

the volume of nectar. Nectar sugar concentration 

was determined using a Hand Sugar Refractometer 

(Erma, Japan). For the analysis of sugar types, paper 

chromatography method described by Harborne (1973) 

was followed. Nectar was placed on Whatman No. 1 

of filter paper along with standard samples of glucose, 

fructose and sucrose. The paper was run ascendingly 

for 24 hours with a solvent system of n-butanolacetone-water 

(4:5:1), sprayed with aniline oxalate 

spray reagent and dried at 120 0 C in an electric oven 

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Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | December 2012 | 4(15): 3377–3389


for 20 minutes for the development of spots from the 

nectar and the standard sugars. Then, the sugar types 

present and also the most dominant sugar type were 

recorded based on the area and colour intensity of the 

spot. Nectar amino acid types present in A. officinalis 

were also recorded as per the paper chromatography 

method of Baker & Baker (1973). Nectar was spotted 

on Whatman No. 1 filter paper along with the standard 

samples of 19 amino acids, namely, alanine, arginine, 

aspartic acid, cysteine, cystine, glutamic acid, glycine, 

histidine, isolecuine, leucine, lysine, methionine, 

phenylalanine, proline, serine, threonine, tryptophan, 

tyrosine and valine. The paper was run ascendingly 

in chromatography chamber for 24 hours with a 

solvent system of n-butanol-glacial acetic acid-water 

(4:1:5). The chromatogram was detected with 0.2% 

ninhydrin reagent and dried at 85 0 C in an electric oven 

for 15 minutes for the development of spots from the 

nectar and the standard amino acids. The developed 

nectar spots were compared with the spots of the 

standard amino acids. Then, the amino acid types 

were recorded. The stigma receptivity was observed 

visually and by H 2 

O 2 

test. In visual method, the stigma 

physical state (wet or dry) and the unfolding of its 

lobes were considered to record the commencement 

of receptivity; withering of the lobes was taken as loss 

of receptivity. H 2 

O 2 

test as given in Dafni et al. (2005) 

was followed for noting stigma receptivity period. 

Pollinators 

The insect species visiting the flowers were 

observed visually and by using Olympus Binoculars 

(PX35 DPSR Model). There was no night time 

foraging activity at the flowers. Their foraging activity 

was confined to daytime only and were observed on a 

number of occasions on each plant species for their 

foraging behaviour such as mode of approach, landing, 

probing behaviour, the type of forage they collect, 

contact with essential organs to result in pollination 

and inter-plant foraging activity in terms of crosspollination. 

The foraging insects were captured during 

1000–1200 hr on each plant species and brought them 

to the laboratory. For each insect species, 10 specimens 

were captured and each specimen was washed first in 

ethyl alcohol, the contents stained with aniline-blue on 

a glass slide and observed under microscope to count 

the number of pollen grains present. In case of pollen 

collecting insects, pollen loads on their corbiculae 


were separated prior to washing them. From this, the 

average number of pollen grains carried by each insect 

species was calculated to know the pollen carryover 

efficiency of different insect species. 

Breeding system 

Mature flower buds of some inflorescences on 

different individuals were tagged and enclosed in butter 

paper bags for breeding experiments. The number 

of flower buds used for each mode of pollination for 

each species was given in Table 1. The stigmas of 

flowers were pollinated with the pollen of the same 

flower manually by using a brush; they were bagged 

and followed to observe fruit set in manipulated 

autogamy. The flowers were fine-mesh bagged without 

hand pollination to observe fruit set in spontaneous 

autogamy. The emasculated flowers were handpollinated 

with the pollen of a different flower on the 

same plant; they were bagged and followed for fruit 

set in geitonogamy. The emasculated flowers were 

pollinated with the pollen of a different individual 

plant; they were bagged and followed for fruit set 

Table 1. Results of breeding experiments in Avicennia 

species 

Breeding system 

No. of flowers 

pollinated 

No. of flowers 

set fruit 

Fruit set 

(%) 

Avicennia alba 

Autogamy (bagged) 40 7 17.5 

Autogamy (handpollinated 

and bagged) 

20 8 40 

Geitonogamy 32 20 62.5 

Xenogamy 28 18 64.28 

Open pollinations 50 21 42 

Avicennia marina 

Autogamy (bagged) 25 3 12 


and bagged) 

30 10 33.33 

Geitonogamy 25 10 40 

Xenogamy 25 17 68 

Open pollinations 45 25 55 

Avicennia officinalis 

Autogamy (bagged) 56 12 21.42 


and bagged) 

35 15 42.85 

Geitonogamy 30 19 63.33 

Xenogamy 56 38 67.85 

Open pollinations 129 75 58.13 

Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | December 2012 | 4(15): 3377–3389 

3379


in xenogamy. If fruit set is there, the percentage of 

fruit set was calculated for each mode. The flowers/ 

inflorescences were tagged on different plant species 

prior to anthesis and followed for fruit and seed set 

rate in open-pollinations. 

Seedling ecology 

Fruit maturation period and hypocotyl or seedling 

growth period prior to detachment from the parent tree 

were also recorded. Rose-ringed Parakeet feeding on 

fruit and/or hypocotyls of A. alba and A. marina was 

observed. A sample of fruits/hypocotyls was collected 

at random from these plant species to calculate the 

percentage of damage. Casual observations on 

seedling dispersal during low and high tide periods 

were made to record the dispersal mode. 

Photography 

Plant, flower and fruit details together with insect 

foraging activity on flowers were photographed with 

Nikon D40X Digital SLR (10.1 pixel) and TZ240 

Stereo Zoom Microscope with SP-350 Olympus 

Digital Camera (8.1 pixel). 

Results 

The three Avicennia species are evergreen trees with 

irregular spreading branches (Image 1a; 2a). Following 

monsoon showers in June, they initiate flowering and 

continue flowering until the end of August. Individual 

trees flower for 35±4 (Range 32–48) days in A. alba, 

33±2 (Range 32–35) days in A. marina and 38±4 

(Range 36–41) days in A. officinalis. In all the three 

species, the flowers are borne in terminal or axillary 

racemes/panicles (Image 1b; 2b; 2a). An inflorescence 

produces 52.34±26.96 flowers (Range 15–123) over a 

period of 25 days (Range 24–28) in A. alba, 47±13.97 

flowers (Range 26–76) over a period of 22 days (Range 

15–22) in A. marina and 32±11 flowers (Range 9–35) 

over a period of 16–25 days in A. officinalis. 

The flowers are sessile, small (4mm long; 3mm 

diameter), orange yellow, fragrant, actinomorphic and 

bisexual in all the three species. They are slightly 

scented in A. alba and A. marina while foetid in A. 

officinalis. The flowers are 4mm long and 3mm 

diameter in A. alba, 6mm long and 5mm diameter 

in A. marina, and 10mm long and 10mm diameter 


in A. officinalis. Calyx is short, elliptic and has four 

ovate, green, pubescent sepals with hairs on the outer 

surface. Corolla has four thick, orange yellow ovate 

petals forming a short tube at the base. The petals are 

glabrous inside and hairy outside in A. marina while 

the adaxial petal is the broadest and shallowly bi-lobed 

in A. officinalis. Stamens are four, epipetalous, occur 

at the throat of the corolla. The anthers are basifixed, 

exserted, introrse and arranged alternate to petals. The 

ovary is 2mm long in A. alba and A. marina while it is 

7mm long in A. officinalis. In all, it is conspicuously 

hairy and bicarpellary syncarpous with four imperfect 

locules and each locule contains one pendulous ovule. 

It is terminated with a 1–2 mm long glabrous style 

tapered to the bifid hairy stigma. The light yellow 

style and stigma arise from the center of the flower and 

stand erect throughout the flower life. In A. officinalis, 

the entire female structure is over-arched by stamens 

above. The style is bent, situated below the adaxial 

corolla lobe but not in the center of the flower. 

The mature buds open throughout the day but most 

buds opening during 0900–1200 hr in A. alba (Image 

1c,d), during 1000–1300 hr in A. marina (Image 2c,d) 

and during 0800–1100 hr in A. officinalis (Image 

3b–d). The petals slowly open and take 3–4 hours for 

complete opening to expose the stamens and stigma. 

The stamens bend inward overarching the stigma at 

anthesis and the all the anthers dehisce ½ hour after 

anthesis by longitudinal slits. The stigma is well 

seated in the center of the flower. In A. officinalis, 

the stamens gradually stand erect and bend backwards 

over a period of three days. After anthesis, the stigma 

grows gradually and becomes bifid on the morning 

of the 2 nd day in A. alba (Image 1e,f) and A. marina 

(Image 2e,f) and on the 3 rd day in A. officinalis (Image 

3e–h). The bifid condition of stigma is an indication 

of beginning of stigma receptivity and it remains 

receptive for two days in A. alba and A. marina, and for 

five days in A. officinalis. The stigmatic lobes recurve 

completely. The flower life is six days in A. alba, five 

days in A. marina and seven days in A. officinalis. The 

petals, stamens and stigma drop off while the calyx is 

persistent in all the three species. 

The pollen production per anther is 1,967±31.824.3 

(Range 1,929–2,010) in A. alba, 1,643.2±31.8 (Range 

1,600–1,690) in A. marina and 2,444±202.4 (Range 

2,078–2,604) in A. officinalis. In all, the pollen grains 

are light yellow, granular, tricolporate, reticulate, muri 

3380 




Image 1. Avicennia alba. a - Habitat; b - Flower unit; c - Mature Bud; d - Flower; e - Stigma condition at anthesis; f - Bifid 

stigma on the 2 nd day; g–i - Flower visitors collecting nectar (g - Fly (unidentified); h - Everes lacturnus; i - Fruit set in 

open-pollinations) 

broad, flat, thick; lumina small irregularly shaped 

and colpi deeply intruding (Image 6a–c). Their size 

is 24.9μm in A. alba and 33.2μm in both A. marina 

and A. officinalis. The pollen-ovule ratio is 1,967:1 

in A. alba, 1,643.2:1 in A. marina and 2,209.3:1 in A. 

officinalis. In all, the flowers begin nectar secretion 

along with anther dehiscence. The nectar secretion 

occurs in minute amount which is accumulated at 

the ovary base and on the yellow part of petals; the 

nectar glitters against sunlight. A flower produces 

0.5±0.1 (Range 0.4–0.7) μl of nectar with 40% sugar 

concentration in A. alba, 0.4±0.08 (Range 0.3–0.5) μl 

of nectar with 38% sugar concentration in A. marina 

and 0.65±0.09 (Range 0.5–0.8) μl of nectar with 39% 

sugar concentration in A. officinalis. The sugar types 

included glucose and fructose and sucrose with the 

first as dominant in A. alba and A. marina and the last 

as dominant in A. officinalis in which the nectar amino 

acids included aspartic acid, cysteine, alanine, arginine, 

serine, cystine, proline, lysine, glycine, glutamic acid, 

threonine and histidine. 

In all three Avicennia species, the results of 

breeding systems indicate that the flowers are selfcompatible 

and self-pollinating. In A. alba, the fruit 

set is 17.5% in spontaneous autogamy, 40% in handpollinated 

autogamy, 62.5% in geitonogamy, 64.28% 

in xenogamy and 42% in open pollination (Image 

1i) (Table 1). In A. marina, the fruit set is 12% in 


3381



Image 2. Avicennia marina: a - Habitat; b - Flowering inflorescence; c - Mature bud; d - Flower; e - Stigma condition at 

anthesis; f - Bifid stigma on the 2nd day; g–j - Flower visitors collecting nectar (g - Unidentified fly; h - Eristalinus arvorum; 

i - Rhyncomya sp.; j - Fruit set in open-pollinations) 

spontaneous autogamy, 33.33% in hand-pollinated 

autogamy, 40% in geitonogamy, 68% in xenogamy 

and 55% in open pollination (Image 2j) (Table 1). In 

A. officinalis, the fruit set is 21.42% in spontaneous 

autogamy, 42.85% in hand-pollinated autogamy, 

63.33% in geitonogamy, 67.85% in xenogamy and 

58.13% in open pollination (Image 5a) (Table 1). 

The insects foraged the flowers of Avicennia 

species during day time from 0700–1700 hr. They 

were Apis dorsata, A. florea, Nomia sp., Chrysomya 

megacephala, an unidentified fly (Image 1g), Danaus 

chrysippus and Everes lacturnus (Image 1h) in A. alba; 

Halictus sp., Chrysomya megacephala, Eristalinus 

arvorum (Image 2h), Rhyncomya sp. (Image 2i), 

an unidentified fly (Image 2g), Polistis humilis and 

Catopsilia pyranthe in A. marina; and Apis dorsata 

(Image 4a), Xylocopa pubescens, Xylocopa sp. (Image 

4b,c), Eristalinus arvorum, Chrysomya megacephala 

(Image 4d), Sarcophaga sp. (Image 4e), Euploea core 

(Image 4j), Danaus chrysippus, D. genutia (Image 4h), 

3382 




Image 3. Avicennia officinalis. a - Flowering branch; b–d - Different stages of anthesis; e - Flower with bent unreceptive 

stigma with dehisced anthers; f - Flower with erect receptive stigma and withered anthers; g - Unreceptive stigma; 

h - Receptive stigma. 

Junonia lemonias, J. hierta (Image 4i), a fly (Image 4f) 

and a wasp (Image 4g) (unidentified) in A. officinalis. 

The flies visited the flowers in groups while all other 

insects visited individually. The bees were both pollen 

and nectar feeders while all other insects only nectar 

feeders. All the insects probed the flowers in upright 

position to collect the forage. In case of Xylocopa 

bees, they made audible buzzes while collecting 

nectar aliquots from the petals. Butterflies landed on 

the petals, stretched their proboscis to collect nectar 

aliquots on the petals and at the flower base. In this 

process, all the insects invariably touched the anthers 

and the stigma; the ventral side of all insects was found 

powdered with pollen. Further, the body washings of 

the all insect species revealed the presence of pollen; 

the average number of pollen grains per insect for each 

species varied from 67.6 to 336.2; in A. alba from 

63.1 to 227.4, in A. marina, and from 73 to 550.2 in A. 

officinalis (Table 2). As the nectar is secreted in minute 

amounts, the insects made multiple visits to most of 

the flowers on a tree and moved frequently between 

trees to collect nectar. Such foraging behaviour was 

considered to be effecting self- and cross-pollination. 

In all Avicennia species, pollinated and fertilized 

flowers initiate fruit development immediately and 

take about 4–6 weeks to produce mature fruits. In 

fertilized flowers, only one ovule produces seed. 

Fruit is a 1-seeded leathery pale green capsule with 


3383



Image 4. Avicennia officinalis - Flower visitors. a - Apis dorsata; b & c - Xylocopa sp.; d - Chrysomya megacephala; 

e - Sarcophaga sp.; f - Unidentified fly collecting nectar; g - Wasp (unidentified); h - Danaus genutia; i - Junonia hierta; 

j - Euploea core. 

persistent reddish brown calyx. It is 40mm long, 

15mm wide in A. alba, 30–35 mm long, 25mm wide 

in A. marina and 30mm long, 25mm wide in A. 

officinalis. It is abruptly narrowed to a short beak 

and hairy throughout. Seed produces light green, 

hypocotyl which completely occupies the fruit cavity 

(Image 5b). Fruit set to the extent of 6% in A. alba 

and to the extent of 4% in A. marina was damaged 

by the Rose-ringed Parakeet Psittacula krameri which 

fed on the concealed hypocotyl in fruits and such fruits 

were found to be empty. In all three Avicennia species, 

the fruit together with hypocotyl falls off the mother 

plant; settles in the substratum immediately at low 

tide period when the forest floor is exposed; it floats 

in water and disperses by tidal currents at high tide 

period until settled somewhere in the soil. The radicle 

side of hypocotyl penetrates the soil and produces root 

system while plumule side produces new leaves and 

subsequent aerial system. The fruit pericarp detaches 

and disintegrates when plumular leaves are produced. 

3384 




Table 2. Pollen pick up efficiency of foraging insects on 

Avicennia species 

Insect species 

Sample 

size 

Range 

Mean±S.D 

Avicennia alba 

Apis dorsata 10 219–476 336.2±88.7 

A. florea 10 129–327 227.5±64.1 

Nomia sp. 10 110–270 200.6±50.7 

Chrysomya megacephala 10 86–117 101.5±11.0 

Fly (unidentified) 10 56–98 67.6±8.5 

Danaus chrysippus 10 79–96 86.2±6.28 

Everes lacturnus 10 57–87 70.1±10.0 

Avicennia marina 

Halictus sp. 10 110–367 215.2±78.8 


Rhyncomya sp. 10 91–110 99.7±7.5 

Eristalinus arvorum 10 96–136 118.2±13.6 

Polistis humilis 10 56–73 63.1±6.0 

Catopsilia pyranthe 10 71–95 83.8±8.61 

Unidentified fly 10 66–106 84.4±14.4 

Avicennia officinalis 

Image 5. Avicennia officinalis 

a - Fruit set in open-pollinations; b - Propagule. 

a 

b 

Xylocopa pubescens 10 452–789 520.2±139.1 

Xylocopa sp. 10 412–681 550.2±125.2 

Apis dorsata 10 325–541 441.3±98.1 

a b c 

Image 6. Pollen grains of Avicennia species 

a - A. alba; b - A. marina; c - A. officinalis 

Eristalinus arvorum 10 142–251 190.5±51.3 


Sarcophaga sp. 10 105–120 110.5±23.1 

Euploea core 10 89–154 124.5±32.6 

Danaus chrysippus 10 56–110 73.0±29.2 

D. genutia 10 79–112 94.3±24.6 

Junonia lemonias 10 56–128 98.6±13.2 

J. hierta 10 91–120 102.5±21.1 

Unidentified fly 10 68–104 81.0±20.4 

Unidentified wasp 10 45–102 85.1±12.5 

Discussion 

All the three Avicennia species studied are 

principally polyhaline evergreen tree species. These 

tree species show flowering response to monsoon 

showers in June; the first monsoon showers seem to 

provide the necessary stimulus for flowering. Opler 

et al. (1976) and Ewusie (1980) have reported such a 

flowering response to light rains in summer season in 

a number of plants occurring in coastal environments. 

The flowering period extends until August in all the 

three species of Avicennia at the study sites, indicating 

that the flowering season is only for three months in a 

year. On the contrary, Wium-Andersen & Christensen 

(1978) reported that in A. marina, flowering occurs 

during April–May. Further, Mulik & Bhosale (1989) 

noted that the flowering in this species is from April– 

September. These authors also mentioned that the 

flowering occurs during March-July in A. officinalis. 

The variation in the schedule and length of flowering 

season in these species may be a response to local 

environmental conditions and to avoid competition for 

the available pollinators depending on the flowering 

seasons and population size of the constituent plant 

species which vary with each mangrove forest. In all 

the three species, the flowers are borne either in terminal 

or axillary inflorescences. But, the average number of 

flowers per inflorescence varies with each species; it 

is the highest in A. alba, moderate in A. marina and 

the least in A. officinalis. This flower production 

rate at inflorescence level may serve as an important 

taxonomic characteristic for the identification of these 

three species. 

In all, the flowers are strongly protandrous and the 

stamens with dehisced anthers over-arch the stigma. 


3385


The stigma shows post-anthesis growth. It is erect and 

seated in the center of the flower in A. alba and A. 

marina while it is bent and situated below the adaxial 

corolla lobe in A. officinalis. The erect stigma does 

not change its orientation throughout the flower life in 

A. alba and A. marina while the bent stigma becomes 

erect on day 3. The stigma is bifid and appressed on 

the day of anthesis in all the three species; it remains 

in the same state also on day 2 in A. officinalis. 

The stigma commences receptivity by diverging in 

dorsi-ventral plane; it is receptive on day 2 and 3 in 

A. alba and A. marina, and on day 3, 4 and 5 in A. 

officinalis. The timing of commencement of stigma 

receptivity in A. officinalis strongly contradicts with 

an earlier report by Reddi et al. (1995) that the stigma 

attains receptivity three hours after anthesis with the 

bent stigma becoming erect. In A. officinalis, stigma 

behaviour is more advanced towards achieving crosspollination. 

In all the three species, self-pollination of 

individual flowers is unlikely on the day of anthesis 

due to protandry but the stamens with dehisced anthers 

over-arching the stigma may facilitate the fall of 

pollen on the receptive stigma when the latter attains 

receptivity. In effect, self-pollination may occur and 

the same is evidenced through fruit set in bagged 

flowers without manual self-pollination. Further, the 

sequence and synchrony of flowering, and pollinator 

behaviour at tree level contribute to geitonogamy 

(Clarke & Meyerscough 1991). Hand-pollination 

results indicate that it is self-compatible and fruit set 

occurs through autogamy, geitonogamy and allogamy. 

The hermaphroditic flowers with strong protandry 

and long period of flower life in these species suggest 

that they are primarily adapted for cross-pollination. 

Clarke & Meyerscough (1991) also reported that A. 

marina is protandrous, self-compatible and selfpollinating 

but the fruits resulting from spontaneous 

self-pollination showed a higher rate of maternal 

abortion reflecting an inbreeding depression. Coupland 

et al. (2006) reported that in A. marina, autogamy 

is most unlikely and emphasized the importance of 

pollen vectors to the reproductive success. This report 

is not in agreement with the results obtained in handpollination 

experiments on A. marina. Primack et al. 

(1981) suggested that protandry promotes out-crossing 

in mangroves, and that insect pollination facilitates 

it. They also suggested that geitonogamy in coastal 

colonizing plants would allow some fruit set in isolated 


colonizing plants, and thereafter the proportion of such 

pollinations would decline as pollen is transferred 

between plants. Pollen transfer between plants in such 

situations would still result in sibling mating. However, 

this is counteracted by dispersal of propagules, 

canopy suppression of seedlings and irregular yearly 

flowering among trees in close proximity. Clarke & 

Meyerscough (1991) reported that in A. marina, some 

trees flower and fruit every year while some others do 

not flower every year. Those with complete canopy 

crops did not produce another large crop the following 

year. A similar pattern observed within a tree where 

fruit is produced on one branch and in the following 

year heavy flowering shifts to another branch. In 

the present study, all the three species of Avicennia 

flowered annually and the flowering is uniform on 

all branches within a tree. The study suggests that 

annual mass flowering, protandry, self-compatibility 

and self-pollination ability are important adaptations 

for Avicennia species to successfully colonize new 

areas and expand their distribution range as pioneer 

mangroves. 

All the three species of Avicennia are hermaphroditic 

and have similar floral architecture. In all, the flowers 

are of open type and shallow with small aliquots of 

nectar which is exposed to rapid evaporation resulting 

in increased nectar sugar concentration. Corbet 

(1978) considered these characteristics as adaptations 

for fly pollination. Hexose-rich nectar is present in 

A. alba and A. marina while sucrose-rich nectar in A. 

officinalis. Hexose-rich nectar is the characteristic of 

fly- and short-tongued bee-flowers while sucrose-rich 

nectar is the characteristic of wasps and butterflies 

(Baker & Baker 1982; 1983). The nectar sugar 

concentration is high and ranged from 38–40 % in 

all the three Avicennia species. Cruden et al. (1983) 

reported that high nectar sugar concentration is the 

characteristic of bee-flowers while low nectar sugar 

concentration is the characteristic of butterfly-flowers. 

Baker & Baker (1982) reported that the floral nectar is 

an important source of amino acids for insects. Dadd 

(1973) stated that insects require ten essential amino 

acids of which arginine, lysine, threonine and histidine 

are present in the nectar of A. officinalis. He also 

reported that proline and glycine are essential amino 

acids for some insects; these two amino acids are also 

present in the nectar of A. officinalis. He further stated 

that other amino acids such as alanine, aspartic acid, 

3386 



glutamic acid, glycine and serine while not essential 

do increase insect growth. All these amino acids are 

also present in the nectar of A. officinalis. Shiraishi 

& Kuwabara (1970) reported that proline stimulates 

salt receptor cells in flies. Goldrich (1973) reported 

that histidine elicits a feeding response while glycine 

and serine invoke an extension of the proboscis. 

The nectars of A. alba and A. marina have not been 

analyzed for amino acids and hence this aspect has not 

been discussed. 

The flowers of all the three species of Avicennia 

with differences in their structural and functional 

characteristics as stated above have been able to 

attract different classes of insects—bees, wasps, flies 

and butterflies. Of these, bees while collecting pollen 

and nectar, and all other insects while collecting nectar 

effected pollination and their ability to carry pollen 

has been evidenced in their body washings. Flies 

are known as short distance fliers and such behaviour 

largely results in autogamy or geitonogamy. Since 

these flies visit the flowers as large groups, there is 

automatically a competition for the available nectar 

which is secreted in small aliquots on the petals of 

all the three Avicennia species. In consequence, they 

shift from tree to tree in search of nectar forage and 

in the process they contribute to both self- and crosspollination. 

All other insects are habitual long-distance 

fliers and effect both self- and cross-pollination. An 

earlier report by Subba Reddi et al. (1995) showed that 

only bees and flies are the pollinators of A. officinalis 

at the study sites. Tomlinson (1986) mentioned that 

Avicennia flowers are bee-pollinated. In Australia, 

A. marina is pollinated by ants, wasps, bugs, flies, 

bee-flies, cantharid beetles and moths (Clarke & 

Meyerscough 1991). 

Tomlinson (1986) documented that A. alba, A. 

marina and A. officinalis have very similar flowers 

and hence may well be served by the same class, if 

not by the same species of pollinators; when these 

species grow together, there is evidence of nonsynchrony 

in flowering times, which might minimize 

the competition for pollinators (probably bees) and at 

the same time spread the availability of nectar over 

a more extended period. In the present study, these 

plant species grow together, flower synchronously 

but served by the same classes of insects. There is 

no competition for pollen among different classes of 

insects since only bees collect pollen while all other 


classes of insects collect only nectar. Fly pollinators 

with their swarming behaviour at the flowers may 

enable the plant species to set fruit to the extent 

possible. Flies and bees are usually consistent and 

reliable when compared to wasps and butterflies. 

Therefore, the study shows flies and bees play an 

important role in the success of sexual reproduction 

in all the three species of Avicennia. Despite being 

pollinated by different classes of insect pollinators and 

having the ability to self-pollinate even in the absence 

of insect activity as evidenced in bagged flowers, 

the natural fruit set stands at 42–58 % in these plant 

species. This low fruit set could be due to maternal 

abortion of self-pollinated fruits as reported by Clarke 

& Meyerscough (1991), non-availability of sufficient 

pollen to receptive stigmas due to pollen feeding 

activity of bees and the nutritional resource constraint 

to the maternal parent. Coupland et al. (2006) while 

reporting on fruit set aspects of A. marina in Australia 

mentioned that fruit set is not pollinator limited but 

resource limited. 

In Avicenniaceae, the flowers have been reported to 

contain four ovules (Tomlinson 1986). In the present 

study, all the three species of Avicennia are 4-ovuled 

but only one ovule develops into mature seed in 

fertilized and fruited flowers as in Rhizophoraceae. The 

production of one-seeded fruits may be due to maternal 

resource constraint or maternal regulation of seed set. 

Fruits grow and mature within 5–6 weeks in A. alba 

and within 4 weeks in the other two Avicennia species. 

The duration of fruit maturation is not in agreement 

with the report of Wium-Andersen & Christensen 

(1978) who stated that the development from flower 

bud to mature fruit takes a few months. The calyx is 

persistent in all the three species but it does not expand 

to enclose the growing fruit. Therefore, the calyx has 

no role in sheltering or protecting the fruit. As the fruit 

is a leathery capsule, it does not require any protection 

from the calyx. 

The single seed formed in the fruit is not dormant 

and germinates immediately to produce chlorophyllous 

seedling which remains within the fruit, while still 

on the maternal parent. This is a characteristic of 

“crypto-viviparous” species; similar situation exists 

in the genera such as Aegiceras, Aegialitis, Nypa and 

Pelliciera (Tomlinson 1986). In all these species, fruit 

is the propagule; the seedling occupies the fruit cavity. 

The chlorophyllous seedling actively photosynthesizes 


3387


while the maternal parent supplies the water and 

necessary nutrients (Selvam & Karunagaran 2004). In 

Avicennia species, the propagules are small, light and 

the entire embryo is buoyant after detachment from 

the maternal parent. Gradually, the fruit pericarp is 

lost exposing the leathery succulent cotyledons to tidal 

water. Rabinowitz (1978) reported that A. marina has 

an absolute requirement for a stranding period in order 

to establish since its propagules always float in tidal 

water. He also felt that the propagules must have 

freedom from tidal disturbance in order to take hold 

in the soil. In consequence, this species is restricted 

to the higher ground portions of the swamp where the 

tidal inundation is less frequent. In the present study, 

Avicennia species exhibit self-planting strategy at low 

tide and stranding strategy at high tide. However, 

their seedlings disperse widely in tidal water but 

establishment is mainly stationed in the polyhaline 

zone. Duke et al. (1998) reported that Avicennia 

seedlings disperse widely and are genetically uniform 

throughout their range. In the study areas, genetic 

studies are required to know whether all the three 

species studied are genetically uniform. When the 

seedlings settle, radicle penetrates the sediment before 

the cotyledons unfold. The first formal leaves appear 

one month after germination and the second pair one to 

two months (Wium-Andersen & Christensen 1978). 

Coupland et al. (2006) reported that Avicennia 

propagules are a rich source of nutrients and attract a 

diverse range of insect predators which in turn influence 

the rate of seedling maturation. Resource constraints 

and insect predation on developing fruit and seedling 

may both act to reduce fruit set. In A. marina and A. 

germinans, the seedlings tend to be high in nutritive 

value and have relatively few chemical defenses 

(Smith 1987; McKee 1995). These species tend to 

exhibit a pattern of very rapid initial predation (Allen 

et al. 2003). In the present study, seedling predation 

has been evidenced in A. alba and A. marina only; in 

both the species, the Rose-ringed Parakeet Psittacula 

krameri attacks propagules prior to their detachment 

from the maternal parent. Seedling predation by crabs 

after detachment from the maternal parent may be 

expected since different species of crabs have been 

found in the study areas. Therefore, seedling predation 

may reduce the success of seedling establishment in 

all the three species of Avicennia. 

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Author Details: 

Pr o f. A.J. So l o m o n Ra j u is Head in the 

Department of Environmental Sciences, Andhra 

University, Visakhapatnam. He is presently 

working on endemic and endangered plant 

species in southern Eastern Ghats forests with 

financial support from UGC and MoEF, and on 

mangroves of Andhra Pradesh with financial 

support from MoEF. 

Dr. P.V. Su b b a Ra o is Assistant Director working 

in the Ministry of Environment & Forests, 

Government of India, New Delhi. 

Mr. Ra j e n d r a Ku m a r is Research Officer 

working in the Ministry of Environment & 

Forests, Government of India, New Delhi, and 

also pursuing PhD (part-time) under Prof. A.J. 

Solomon Raju. 

Dr. S. Ra m a Mo h a n is Assistant Director, 

Department of Horticulture, Government of 

Andhra Pradesh. He has worked under Prof. 

A.J. Solomon Raju for PhD during which he did 

part of the work reported in this paper. 


3389

JoTT Sh o r t Co m m u n ic a t i o n 4(15): 3390–3394 

Philodendron williamsii Hook. f. (Araceae), an endemic 

and vulnerable species of southern Bahia, Brazil used for 

local population 

Luana S.B. Calazans 1 , Erica B. Morais 2 & Cassia M. Sakuragui 3 

1,3 

Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, CCS, Instituto de Biologia, Departamento de Botânica, Av. Carlos Chagas Filho, 373 - 

Sala A1-084 - Bloco A, CEP 21941-902, Ilha do Fundão, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil 

2 

Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Museu Nacional, Departamento de Botânica, Quinta da Boa Vista, CEP 20940-040, Rio 

de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil 

Emails: 1 luanasbcalazans@gmail.com (corresponding author), 2 ericcabarroso@gmail.com, 3 cmsakura12@gmail.com 

Abstract: An updated description and information on ecology, 

geographical distribution, ethnobiology, uses and conservation 

of Philodendron williamsii are presented here. The species has 

a restricted geographical distribution and the roots of its natural 

populations are widely extracted to be used for local handicraft. 

During the fertile period of the plant, areas where the species 

grow were prospected in order to collect, observe, photograph 

and consult people who directly use parts of the plants. Additional 

specimens from five herbaria were analyzed. We propose the 

inclusion of the species as Vulnerable based on the categories 

and the criteria proposed by the IUCN. Environmental education 

for the local extractors and the regularization of its extractive 

activity are suggested here. 

Keywords: Conservation, extractivism, imbé, southern Bahia, 

taxonomy. 

Resumo (Portuguese Abstract): São aqui apresentadas uma 

descrição atualizada, informações sobre a ecologia, distribuição 

geográfica, etnobiologia, usos e conservação de Philodendron 

williamsii. A espécie tem distribuição geográfica restrita e as 

raízes de suas populações naturais sofrem intenso extrativismo 

voltado para o artesanato local. Áreas do habitat natural da 

espécie foram visitadas durante seu período fértil com o objetivo 

de coletar, observar, fotografar e consultar a população local 

que faz uso direto da planta. Espécimes adicionais de cinco 

herbários foram também analisados. A inclusão da espécie na 

Lista Vermelha de Espécies Ameaçadas é proposta com base 

nas categorias e critérios da IUCN. Sugerimos a educação 

ambiental com os extratores locais e a regularização desta 

atividade para conservação da espécie. 

Palavras chave: conservação, extrativismo, imbé, Sul da Bahia, 

taxonomia. 




Editor: Anonymity requested 


Ms # o3124 

Received 16 March 2012 

Final received 01 September 2012 

Finally accepted 24 November 2012 

Citation: Calazans, L.S.B., E.B. Morais & C.M. Sakuragui (2012). 

Philodendron williamsii Hook. f. (Araceae), an endemic and vulnerable 

species of southern Bahia, Brazil used for local population. Journal of 

Threatened Taxa 4(15): 3390–3394. 

Copyright: © Luana S.B. Calazans, Erica B. Morais & Cassia M. Sakuragui 

2012. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. JoTT allows 

unrestricted use of this article in any medium for non-profit purposes, 

reproduction and distribution by providing adequate credit to the authors 

and the source of publication. 

Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Marco Octávio Pellegrini for the 

help with the images and suggestions in the manuscript, Rodrigo Theófilo 

Valadares for the map elaboration, the craftsmen and foresters Mr. Aderval 

and Mr. Gildo for the field assistance, all the people who helped us with 

information, Hugo Fernandes-Ferreira for the help with the ethnobiology 

methodology, Vitor Tenorio da Rosa for the contribution with anatomical 

knowledge and Ana Cecília Castro for suggestions in the manuscript. 


Philodendron williamsii Hook. f. is a poorly known 

species of Philodendron subgenus Meconostigma 

(Araceae), described in 1871 from material collected 

by C.H. Williams in the Bahia State, probably near 

Salvador and has been cultivated at Kew (Mayo 

1991). 

Due to some similar morphological characters 

with P. stenolobum E.G. Gonç. (Gonçalves & Salviani 

2002), many horticulturists believe they have it in their 

collections, however, they actually possess specimens 

of the latter. Populations currently circumscribed 

as P. stenolobum, which is endemic to the Espírito 

Santo state, were treated as P. williamsii in the latest 

revision of the subgenus Meconostigma (Mayo 1991), 

since the author could not have access to the fertile 

material from these populations. The main differences 

between them lie in leaf dimensions and gynoecium 

morphology (Table 1 in Gonçalves & Salviani 2002). 

Despite its ornamental potential for landscaping, P. 

williamsii is rarely found in live collections due to the 

difficulty of its propagation and cultivation. 

The aim of the work is to give new information on 

3390 


Philodendron williamsii 

ecology, geographical distribution, uses, ethnobiology 

and conservation of P. williamsii, an endemic and 

threatened species from the Atlantic Forests of 

southern Bahia. 


Field work was carried out in February and 

December of 2011, searching for Philodendron 

species in Bahia State, specially prospecting areas of 

Itacaré and Una, where the species grows. Special 

effort was made to collect the plants during the fertile 

period. In order to obtain information on its use by 

the local population, semi-structured interviews were 

conducted (Huntington 2000), selecting informants 

(craftsmen, merchants and foresters) who use parts of 

the plants directly in their activities. 

To complement the description, ecological data and 

geographical distribution, material from the following 

herbaria were also analyzed: ALCB, CEPEC, HUEFS, 

RB, RFA (acronyms according to Thiers, constantly 

updated). The descriptions followed Mayo (1991), 

with modifications. The conservation status was 

proposed based on the categories and the criteria 

proposed by the IUCN (2010). 

Results and Discussion 

Philodendron williamsii Hook. f., Bot. Mag. 97: t. 

5899. 1871. Type: near Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, Nov. 

1878, C.H. Williams s/n (holotype K, image!). 

Hemi-epiphyte, terrestrial or rupicolous herb, 

arborescent, internodes less than 1mm long; 

intravaginal squamules numerous, 1–2.5 mm long or 

less, ca. 1–2 mm broad, triangular or multi-toothed, 

inconspicuous, detachable, persistent or deciduous. 

Leaf: Petiole 30–82 cm long, broadly canaliculate 

with acute margins, blade with anterior and posterior 

division, overall length 32–100 cm, overall width 

21.4–50 cm, ovate to elongate-ovate, margin entire 

to repand, subcoriaceous to coriaceous, dark glossy 

green above, paler green below, apex acute to obtuse 

with acuminate tip, base sagitatte, anterior division 

21.6–70 cm long, primary lateral veins 4–5 per side, 

prominent on abaxial surface, paler green above, redtinged 

below, secondary lateral veins evident, posterior 

divisions 7.7–25.3 cm long, basal ribs denuded for 

3.3–5.9 cm. 

Inflorescence: One per floral sympodium; 

peduncle 6.5–10.8 cm; spathe 15.3–30 cm, cymbiform, 

L.S.B. Calazans et al. 

median constriction absent, externally green and 

internally cream; spadix 16-29.5 cm long, male zone 

3.5-7.5 cm, sterile median zone 4-14.5 cm, female 

zone 3,6-8.5 cm. 

Gynoecium: ovary flask-shaped, (10)-11-13-locular, 

locules 3-4-ovulate, axial placentation, style lobes very 

elongated, style body lacking, central dome present, 

short. 

Examined Material: Brazil. Bahia: Cairú, Garapuá, 

caminho para a Mata do Abreu, 12.iv.2003, coll. 

M.L. Guedes & D. Rigueira 10247 (ALCB); same 

city, ramal para os povoados de Torrinha e Tapuía, 

25.x.1984, coll. L.A. Mattos Silva & T.S. dos Santos 

1772 (CEPEC); Ilhéus, Km 35 da estrada Ilhéus - 

Serra Grande, 22.x.1983, coll. A.M. Carvalho et al. 

(CEPEC 33176); Itacaré, Caminho entre as praias da 

Concha e de Rezende, 14 0 16’37.0”S & 38 0 59’03.7”W, 

16.ii.2011, coll. L.S.B. Calazans & E.B. Morais 54 

(HUEFS); same locality, 14.xii.2011, coll. L.S.B. 

Calazans et al. 155 (RFA); same city, 2-3 km ao sul 

da cidade, perto da foz do riacho ao lado de algumas 

barracas, 25.v.1991, coll. S.J. Mayo et al. 771 

(CEPEC, RB); same locality, 28.iv.1991, coll. S.J. 

Mayo 765 (CEPEC, RB); Maraú, 5km SE of Maraú at 

junction with road North to Ponta do Mutá, 14 0 08’S, 

39 0 00’W, 2.ii.1977, coll. Harley et al. 18501 (CEPEC, 

RB); Olivença, 6km a leste da cidade, 14 0 58’15.2”S 

& 39 0 2’11.9”W, 29.ii.2000, coll. E.G. Gonçalves et 

al. 411 (CEPEC); Una, Reserva Biológica do Mico- 

Leão (IBAMA), 15 0 09’S & 39 0 05’W, 13.ix.1993, coll. 

A.M. Amorim et al. 1337 (CEPEC); same locality, 

20.ix.1998, coll. S.C. Sant’Ana et al. 674 (CEPEC); 

same city, road to Ilhéus, 13km, 15 0 13’S & 39 0 04’W, 

23.i.1977, coll. R.M. Harley 18187 (CEPEC); same 

city, Reserva Biológica de Una, 15 0 10.938’S & 

39 0 04.181’W, 11.xii.2011, coll. L.S.B. Calazans et 

al. 139 (CEPEC); Uruçuca, Parque Estadual Serra do 

Condurú, 14 0 28’803”S & 39 0 06’344”W, 28.ix.2000, 

coll. W.W. Thomas et al. (CEPEC 86775); same city, 

Serra Grande, 14 0 25’S & 39 0 01’W, same data, coll. 

A.M. Amorim et al. 641 (CEPEC); same locality, 

06.iii.2001, coll. E.G. Gonçalves et al. 789 (CEPEC); 

Valença, RPPN Fazenda Água Branca, 13 0 19’44”S 

& 39 0 5’25”W, 30.x.2004, coll. P. Fiaschi et al. 2618 

(CEPEC). 

Ecology and Distribution 

Philodendron williamsii has a distribution restricted 


3391



Figure 1. Geographic distribution of Philodendron williamsii. Red points are our collections (Calazans & Morais 54 and 

Calazans et al. 139,155) and black points are other collections from the analyzed Herbaria. 

to the Atlantic Forest on the southern coast of the 

Brazilian state of Bahia, where part of the original 

vegetation remains protected due to ecotourism 

(Oliveira 2002) and cocoa cultivation, which is 

the major crop of the region (Cassano et al. 2009; 

CEPLAC 2011). Although its type locality is pointed 

probably near Salvador, there are no records for the 

region and vicinity and we did not see any population 

around the city. This species can be considered rare in 

nature since there are few herbarium collections and a 

limited area of occurrence (Fig. 1). 

It occurs in the restingas and pluvial forest, 

including flooded areas, as hemi-epiphytes, rupicolous 

or terrestrial. Generally, populations are not too close. 

They were always under median to high luminosity, 

as commonly noted in the Philodendron subg. 

Meconostigma. Terrestrial individuals are generally 

found in forest edges, clearings or sandy soils of 

restinga vegetation. Hemi-epiphytes are more common 

and can reach a great height in the canopy (up to 25m), 

where the light intensity is higher. This feature makes 

these hemi-epiphytes individuals hard to be noticed and 

collected, as reported by many collectors. However, 

once found, it can be promptly recognized by the long 

feeder roots that reach the ground, sometimes growing 

several meters until finally entering the soil (Image 

2b). 

There is a remarkable population growing on 

granitic outcrops rocks at Itacaré beach, a few meters 

from the sea (Image 1a&d). This same population 

a 

c 

Image 1. Philodendron williamsii Hook f. 

a - Rupiculous population (Calazans & Morais 54); b - 

Hemi-epiphyte individual with storied cork recently taken 

(Itacaré, not collected); c - Leaf blade (Calazans et al. 

139); d - Inflorescence in full bloom. (Calazans et al. 155). 

Photos: LSB Calazans & EB Morais. 

b 

d 

3392 



a 

c 

Image 2. Philodendron williamsii Hook f. 

a - Stem (Calazans & Morais 54); b - Feeder roots (Una, 

not collected); c - Storied cork recently extracted from the 

roots; d - Handcraft lampshade made from the storied cork. 

Photos: LSB Calazans & EB Morais. 

was previously related as a form of P. corcovadense 

Kunth with shorter internodes (Mayo 1991), but 

we were able to collect their flowers and fruits and 

verify they belong to P. williamsii. These species are 

morphologically similar and frequently grow in 

similar conditions, both being endemic to the Brazilian 

Atlantic coast. The main differences between them 

are in stem and gynoecium morphology (longer 

internodes, conspicuous intravaginal squamules, 

ovary barrel-shaped, 4-8-locules and style lobes short 

in P. corcovadense). 

Uses and Ethnobiology 

Mayo (1991) reported that P. williamsii fruits were 

appreciated as a native delicacy, called “milho de 

caboclo” (caboclo’s corn), but despite our efforts, we 

couldn’t confirm if this use by the local population still 

b 

d 


occurs. 

The roots are widely used in local craftwork. The 

handicraftsmen refer to the young roots of P. williamsii 

as “imbé” and take the outer layer (storied cork) (Image 

2c) to ornament their pieces, such as lampshades, 

luminaries and trays (Image 2d). These layers are 

very slender and translucid, allowing the passage of 

red-colored light, which adds a special beauty to the 

pieces, making it unique and characteristic of this area 

in Bahia. The mature roots are grey and opaque but 

possess some brightness and are also used to make 

handcrafted, rustic pieces. 

The entire plant is called “mãe do imbé” (imbé’s 

mother) and the leaf scars in the stem are called 

“olhos do imbé” (imbé’s eyes) (Image 2a) due to 

its appearance. The craftsmen are easily able to 

distinguish the Philodendron species that occur in the 

region, almost entirely, based on their use. Thus, P. 

fragrantissimum (Hook) G. Don., a common species 

in the region, is called “mother”, but is a mother 

that never gives “imbé”. Philodendron pedatum 

(Hook.) Kunth and P. hederaceum (Jacq.) Schott are 

not recognized as “mothers”, probably because their 

morphology differs from much of P. williamsii. 

Another folk belief is that P. williamsii plants are 

always born on the tree branches and when the “mother” 

is mature, the “imbé” (roots) drop to the ground. This 

may be partly explained due to the difficulty to find 

young terrestrial individuals, probably due to light 

conditions on forest soil. 

Although the craftsmen who accompanied us said 

that only few roots are taken off each individual, this 

activity must be carefully monitored since it is very 

common in southern Bahia and puts these populations 

at risk. The local population knows by tradition 

that just after a year the roots are ready again to be 

extracted, but they are not aware that the plant might 

die if the roots are completely removed. This shows 

that tradition and popular knowledge doesn’t always 

assure the protection of this species. 

The roots of two others Philodendron subg. 

Meconostigma species that occur in the Atlantic Forest, 

P. bipinnatifidum Schott ex Endl. and P. corcovadense, 

respectively in São Paulo and Paraná states, are also 

used by the local population to create craft items and 

other rural constructions (Schneider & Mello Filho 

2001; Valente & Negrelle 2011). In the Amazonian 

region, various species of the genus Heteropsis Kunth 


3393


are also used for this purpose (Soares et al. 2011). 

Conservation 

In view of its rarity and anthropic pressure, we 

propose the species be assessed for inclusion in the 

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species providing 

support for its conservation. We believe that the 

regularization of extractive activity and environmental 

education is important and will allow the continued 

use of P. williamsii in craftwork without affecting 

their natural populations. This species is known 

only in a small area in southern Bahia (< 20000km²), 

mainly in the moist forests, occurring at least in three 

conservation units, with very few known populations. 

Due to its ecological features and ethnobiology, 

this plant has become increasingly difficult to find in 

the past few years. To help assure the continuation of 

this traditional activity, studies on its propagation in 

vitro and acclimatization would also be desired. 

REFERENCES 

Cassano, C., G. Schroth, D. Faria, J. Delabie & L. Bede 

(2009). Landscape and farm scale management to enhance 

biodiversity conservation in the cocoa producing region of 

southern Bahia, Brazil. Biodiversity and Conservation 18: 

577–603. 

CEPLAC (Comissão Executiva do Plano da Lavoura 

Cacaueira) (2011). Cacau - Informações de 


Mercado (19/09/2011 à 16/12/2011). Ano III, no. 13. 

Downloaded on 24 February 2012. 

Gonçalves, E.G. & E.R. Salviani (2002). New species 

and changing concepts of Philodendron subgenus 

Meconostigma. Aroideana 25: 3–15. 

Huntington, H.P. (2000). Using traditional ecological 

knowledge in science: methods and applications. Ecological 

Applications 10: 1270–1274. 

Mayo, S.J. (1991). A revision of Philodendron subgenus 

Meconostigma (Araceae). Kew Bulletin 46: 601–681. 

Oliveira, J.A.P. (2002). Implementing Environmental Policies 

in Developing Countries Through Decentralization: 

The Case of Protected Areas in Bahia, Brazil. World 

Development 30(10): 1713–1736. 

Schneider, S.M. & L.E.M. Filho (2001). Duas espéices 

ornamentais de Philodendron Schott (subgênero 

Meconostigma) das restingas fluminenses. Boletim do 

Museu Nacional, Nova Série, Botânica 114: 1–15. 

Soares, M.L.C., S.J. Mayo, R. Gribel & D. Kirkup (2011). 

Elliptic Fourier Analysis of leaf outlines in five species of 

Heteropsis (Araceae) from the Reserva Florestal Adolpho 

Ducke, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil. Kew Bulletin 66: 463– 

470. 

Thiers, B. (constantly updated). Index Herbariorum: A global 

directory of public herbaria and associated staff. New York 

Botanical Gardens’ Virtual Herbarium. Online version. Date of download 9 March 

2012. 

Valente, T.P. & R.R.B. Negrelle (2011). Harvesting of cipópreto 

(roots of Philodendron corcovadense Kunth) in the 

South of Brazil. Forests, Trees and Livelihoods 20: 211– 

212. 

3394 



Sonneratia ovata Backer (Lythraceae): status and 

distribution of a Near Threatened mangrove species in 

tsunami impacted mangrove habitats of Nicobar Islands, 

India 

P. Nehru 1 & P. Balasubramanian 2 

1,2 

Division of Landscape Ecology, Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, Anaikatty (P.O.), Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu 

641108, India 

Email: 1 nehrumcc@gmail.com (corresponding author), 2 balusacon@yahoo.com 

Mangrove forests are the most productive ecosystem 

adapted to thrive in the coastal margins of the tropics 

(Ellison & Fransworth 2001). The ecosystem service 

provided by mangroves includes breeding grounds 

for many marine organisms, a carbon sink and is also 

the main source of economy for coastal dwelling 

human communities (Kathiresan & Bingham 2001). 

Mangrove ecosystems play a major role in protecting 

coastal regions from natural calamities such as storms, 

hurricanes and tsunamis. Regardless of the services 

provided, mangrove forests are disappearing from the 

world at an alarming rate of 1% per year and almost 

35% of the mangroves have disappeared in the last 

two decades of the 20 th century (Valiela et al. 2001). 




Abstract: The world’s most productive ecosystem, the 

mangrove forest, is under immense pressure due to natural 

and human induced disturbances. The Indian Ocean tsunami 

on 26 December 2004 had an adverse effect on these habitats 

by breaking and uprooting the mangrove trees. The mangrove 

vegetation and the coastal forest of Nicobar Islands, India, were 

severally damaged by the force of the tsunami and the loss of 

habitat due to the sudden rise in sea level. We studied the recolonization 

of mangroves species that began after the tsunami 

over 19 Islands and 25 locations present in the Nicobar group. 

Sonneratia ovata (Lythraceae), a Near Threatened landward 

mangrove species, is reported for the first time from India. A total 

of 43 individuals of S. ovata was recorded from two sites, namely, 

Oh Hi Poh and Dhili Kadi, on Katchall Island. All the individuals 

of mangrove species ≥ 1cm girth at breast height were counted 

from both sites. The relative density for Bruguiera gymnorhiza 

(77%) and Sonneratia caseolaris (77%) are high at Oh Hi Poh 

and Dhili Kadi, respectively. Global distribution, occurrence 

in India, threats and conservation of S. ovata are discussed in 

detail. The influence of the tsunami in the dispersal of S. ovata 

from the nearest known sources Thailand, Malaysia or Indonesia 

is not very clear. Hence, molecular based study is required for 

the confirmation of the possible seed source location. 

Keywords: Habitat destruction, Indian Ocean tsunami, 

mangrove, recolonization, Sonneratia ovata. 

Editor: Marília Cunha Lignon 


Ms # o3009 

Received 16 November 2011 

Final received 20 August 2012 

Finally accepted 25 October 2012 

Citation: Nehru, P. & P. Balasubramanian (2012). Sonneratia ovata Backer 

(Lythraceae): status and distribution of a Near Threatened mangrove species 

in tsunami impacted mangrove habitats of Nicobar Islands, India. Journal 

of Threatened Taxa 4(15): 3395–3400. 

Copyright: © P. Nehru & P. Balasubramanian 2012. Creative Commons 

Attribution 3.0 Unported License. JoTT allows unrestricted use of this article 

in any medium for non-profit purposes, reproduction and distribution by 

providing adequate credit to the authors and the source of publication. 

Acknowledgements: The financial support received from the Forest 

Department of Andaman and Nicobar Islands is gratefully acknowledged. 

We thank Shri. Negi PCCF (WL), Shri. Ajai Saxena, CCF and Dinesh 

Kannan DFO of Forest Department of Andaman and Nicobar Islands for their 

interest in the project. Comments by Dr. Aris Dason, Assistant professor, 

Madras Christian College and Dr. H. N. Kumara, Scientist, SACON helped 

us to improve the manuscript. Mr. P. Rajan, SACON helped us in map 

preparation. 


The remaining mangrove forests are under immense 

anthropogenic pressure from felling, encroachment, 

shrimp cultivation, hydrological alterations, chemical 

spills, and land conversion (McKee 2005; Giri et al. 

2008). Natural disturbances such as storms, hurricanes, 

tsunamis, land elevation or submergence due to tectonic 

movements, climate change and sea level rise are also 

threatening this biologically important ecosystem. 

The mega earthquake of 9.15 magnitude and the 

following tsunami on 26 December 2004 had a serious 

impact on the human population and on the biodiversity 

of the coastal regions in the Asian countries such 

as India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Burma, Thailand, 

Singapore and Malaysia. The close vicinity of the 

Nicobar Islands to the epicenter of the earthquake 

resulted in a heavy impact on the mangroves and 


Sonneratia ovata on Nicobar 

littoral forests. It was variously estimated that the 

tsunami wiped off 60–70 % of the mangrove forests 

in the Nicobar Islands (Ramachandran et al. 2005; 

Sridhar et al. 2006). More importantly, subduction 

of the Indian plate with the Burma plate during this 

mega earthquake caused the Nicobar Islands to sink 

into the sea by about 1m, this resulted in a rise in the 

sea level in the coastal areas where mangroves and 

littoral evergreen vegetation were prevalent (Sankaran 

2005; Sivakumar 2007). Perennial submergence of 

pneumatophores resulted in the scorching of mangrove 

trees due to the hypoxic condition. This submergence 

also resulted in the formation of new inter tidal areas 

at the expense of flat coastal forests (littoral forest) and 

coconut plantations that existed adjacent to the coast 

(Nehru & Balasubramanian 2011) and mangroves 

started colonizing in these newly formed habitats 

(NFH). 

The post tsunami research work in the Nicobar 

Islands on mangroves are almost all based only on 

remote sensing and GIS (Ramachandran et al. 2005; 

Sridhar et al. 2006; Porwal et al. 2012). A single field 

based study that described the mangrove plant species 

diversity in the NFH of Central Nicobar Group of 

Islands was by Nehru & Balasubramanian (2011). 

The current study describes the population, 

distribution and microhabitat preference of the Near 

Threatened mangrove species Sonneratia ovata Backer 

(Lythraceae) from the NFH after the tsunami impact. 


We surveyed the Nicobar Islands from October 

2010 to July 2011 for assessing the colonization of 

mangrove species in the NFH. Excluding Batti Malv, 

Isle of Man and Megapode Island, the entire coastal 

line of all the other 19 islands, viz., Car Nicobar, 

Chowra, Bombuka, Teresa, Tillanchong, Kamorta, 

Trinket, Nancowrie, Katchall, Great Nicobar, Little 

Nicobar, Kondul, Kobra, Manchal, Pigeon, Pilomilo, 

Tris, Trak, and Meroe of the Nicobar group were 

surveyed (Fig. 1). 

It is to be noted that the Megapode Island which 

was largely covered by mangrove vegetation prior 

to the tsunami was totally submerged into the sea 

after the tsunami (Sankaran 2005). Apart from a 

single scorched tree stump in the middle of the sea, 

no evidence was found during the present study 

confirming the existence of this island. 

P. Nehru & P. Balasubramanian 

Qualitative data on inundation levels, substratum, 

freshwater influx, pre tsunami history of the habitat, 

adjacent forest type, tsunami destruction level, number 

of colonizing mangroves and mangrove associates 

were noted for each NFH by direct observation. 

Geographic coordinates were taken using the Garmin 

76C SX at all the localities and the area was calculated 

using the GE-path software package (ver. 1.4.6). 

All the individuals ≥1cm girth at breast height 

(GBH) of mangroves species present in the NFH were 

enumerated. The whole population of S. ovata was 

enumerated and each individual was tagged. Samples 

of all the mangrove species were collected for 

herbarium purpose. Relative density was calculated 

for mangrove species studied in Katchall Island. 

Results 

In total, 25 localities distributed over eight islands 

were observed to have NFH. S. ovata was observed 

only on Katchall Island (7 0 51’–8 0 01’N & 93 0 17’– 

93 0 28’E) at two localities namely Oh Hi Poh and Dhili 

Kadi where vast stretch of littoral forest existed prior 

to tsunami, but are presently colonized by mangroves 

(Fig. 1). The total area of NFH at these two locations 

was 23.9 and 4.64 ha, respectively. The littoral forest 

existing in these two locations experienced different 

modes of destruction during the tsunami leading to 

the transformation into mangrove forests. At Oh Hi 

Poh, the littoral forest that existed prior to the tsunami 

was uprooted and resulted in the deposition of copious 

amount of logs in the substratum (Image 1a). At 

Dhili Kadi, the entire stretch of littoral vegetation 

was scorched due to salt stress and hypoxia created 

by the rise of sea level leaving a vast stretch of snags 

(Image 1b). A total of 43 live individuals of S. ovata 

were recorded (13 at Oh Hi Poh and 30 at Dhili Kadi) 

along the edges of the NFH abutting the evergreen hill 

forest. The relative density was high for Bruguiera 

gymnorhiza (77%) and Sonneratia caseolaris (77%) at 

the NFH studied at Dhili Kadi (n=114) and Oh Hi Poh 

(n=237), respectively (Figs. 2&b). 

S. ovata was always found intermixed with the 

associated species (viz. B. gymnorhiza, S. caseolaris, 

Barringtonia racemosa and Crataeva religiosa), 

whereas its conspecific S. caseolaris was mostly found 

as mono-dominat patches with out any associated 

species. The substratum in both these sites was muddy 

clay towards the sea and firm clay inland. S. ovata is 

3396 




Figure 1. Nicobar Islands, India, showing the study localities, on Katchall Island, where Sonneratia ovata was observed: 1 - 

Dhili Kadi; 2 - Oh Hi Poh. 

found in the firm clay substratum towards the landward 

mangrove forest edge where constant seepage of 

freshwater from the hill forest was observed. 

S. ovata is distinguished from other species of the 

genus Sonneratia by (i) having verrucose texture on 

the outer surface of the calyx, (ii) fruits are enclosed by 

persistent calyx, and the calyx are either reflexed or flat 

in the other species (iii) and suborbicular coriaceous 

leaves without a mucronate apex. S. ovata normally 

grows in the landward mangrove habitats where sea 

water enters only during full moon and spring tides. 

A detailed description and the nomenclature of the 


3397



© P. Nehru 

© P. Nehru 

Image 1. a - A view of Oh Hi Poh NFH showing deposition of 

logs in the substratum by uprooted trees (23.xi.2010); 

b - A view of Dhili Kadi NFH showing vast stretch of snags 

(28.iv.2011) 

species are given below. 

Sonneratia ovata Backer, Bull. Jard. Bot. 

Buitenzorg Ser. 3, 2: 329. 1920; Qin & al. in Wu & 

Raven, Fl. China 13: 287. 2007. 

Trees up to 8m high; bark lenticellate; 

pneumatophores ca. 20cm high, thin, pointed. Leaves 

opposite, sub-orbicular to ovate-elliptic, 5.5–9 x 4–8 

cm, attenuate to cuneate at base, entire to undulate at 

margins, obtuse at apex, coriaceous; petioles 0.8–1.5 

cm long. Flowers 1–3, terminal, ca. 3 cm across, white. 

Bracts orbicular, ca. 0.5 cm, cauducous. Pedicels 1.5– 

2 cm long. Sepals 6, coriaceous, verrucose outside, 

smooth, pinkish at base inside. Petals 6, linear, 1.5–2 

x 0.1–0.2 cm, white. Stamens numerous; filaments 

2–3 cm long; anthers basifixed. Style 1.8–2.5 cm long; 

stigma capitate. Berry sub-globose, 2.5–3 x 3–4 cm, 

ca. 1/3 of the fruit enclosed within persistent calyx; 

seeds numerous. 

Flowering and fruiting: Throughout the year with 

peaks during February–March and July–August 

(Images 2 a&b). 

Specimen examined: 28.vi.2011, Andaman and 

Nicobar Islands, Nicobar District, Katchall Island, 

Dhili Kadi, P. Nehru (189). The voucher specimen is 

deposited in SACON Herbarium. 

Discussion and Conclusions 

The genus Sonneratia has six species distributed 

in the tropical mangrove forests from East Africa to 

Australia (Mabberley 2005). In India, it is represented 

by four species namely S. alba, S. apetala, S. caseolaris 

and S. grifithii (Banerjee et al. 2002). Occurrence of S. 

ovata within the Indian territory has not been reported 

© P. Nehru 

Image 2. a - Inflorescence of Sonneratia ovata (23.xi.2010); b - Fruiting twig of S.ovata (28.iv.2011) 

3398 




80.00 

60.00 

Relative density (%) 

40.00 

20.00 

0.00 

B. gymnorhiza 

S. ovata 

H. littoralis 

N. fruticans 

B. racemosa 

R. apiculata 

R. mucronata 

C. religiosa 

Species 

80.00 

60.00 

Relative density (%) 

40.00 

20.00 

0.00 

S. caseolaris 

B. gymnorhiza 

N. fruticans 

R. mucronata 

S. ovata 

H. littoralis 

Figure 2. Relative density of mangrove species at Dhili Kadi (a) and Oh Hi Poh (b) on Katchall Island 

(Banerjee et al. 1989; Dagar et al. 1991; Banerjee 

et al. 2002; Mandal & Naskar 2008; Yi-feng et al. 

2011). Thus the present report is a new record for the 

flora of India. This species is distributed in East and 

Southeast Asian countries such as China, Malaysia, 

Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, New Guinea and 

Vietnam (Haining et al. 2007) and categorized as 

Near-Threatened by IUCN due to severe habitat loss 

throughout its distributional range (Polidoro et al. 

2010). 

There are two probable reasons for the occurrence 

of S.ovata on Nicobar Islands. Dagar et al. (1991) has 

noticed an individual of Sonneratia spp. at Katchall 

Island without any reproductive parts and speculated 

its identity as S. grifithii. If it was a misidentification of 

S. ovata, then possibly this species must have existed 

very rarely prior to the tsunami, and later became 

common in the NFH of Katchall Island. Or, the seeds 

of S. ovata from the nearest sources viz. Indonesia, 

Malaysia and Singapore must have been carried by the 

tsunami and established a new population on Katchall 

Island. 

Sonneratia spp. along with Avicennia are usually 

considered pioneers of mangrove swamps and seeds 

of Sonneratia spp. are intolerant to shade, germinating 

on bare or near bare mud banks (Duke & Jakes 


3399


1987). Hence, the scorching of littoral forests due to 

salt stress has resulted in the formation of open area 

and the heliophilic nature of S. ovata has eventually 

ameliorated the species to colonize the NFH. The 

occurrence of S. ovata in the NFH abutting the 

evergreen hill forests confirms the landward movement 

of mangroves when subjected to sea level rise, as 

proposed by Ellison (2005). Landward mangroves are 

vulnerable to sea-level rise, since there may not be any 

habitat to re-establish because mangrove edges are 

highly influenced by human developmental activities 

(Polidoro et al. 2010). 

It is strongly recommended to include landward 

mangrove species such as Sonneratia spp. in the 

mangrove restoration programs as many of the current 

programs give emphasis mainly to seaward mangroves 

such as Rhizophora spp., and Avicennia spp. (Ellison 

2000). Further research based on molecular tools can 

provide more information on the occurrence of S.ovata 

on Katchall Island. 

References 

Banerjee, L.K., A.R.K. Sastry & M.P. Nayar (1989). 

Mangroves in India identification manual. Botanical Survey 

of India, Culcutta,110pp. 

Banerjee, L.K., T.A. Rao, A.R.K. Sastry & D. Ghosh (2002). 

Diversity of Coastal Plant Communities in India. ENVIS & 

EMCBTAP, Botanical Survey of India, Kolkata, 524pp. 

Dagar, J.C., A.D. Mongia & K. Bandopadhyay (1991). 

Mangroves of Andaman & Nicobar Islands. IBH & Oxford 

Publication, New Delhi, 166pp. 

Duke, N.C. & B.R. Jakes (1987). A systematic revision of the 

mangrove genus Sonneratia (sonneratiaceae) in Australia. 

Blumea 32: 277–302. 

Ellison, A.M. (2000). Mangrove restoration: Do we know 

enough?. Restoration Ecology 8: 219–229. 

Ellison, J. (2005). Holocene palynology and sea-level change 

in two estuaries in southern Irian Jaya. Palaeogeography, 

Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 220: 291–309. 

Ellison, A.M. & E.J. Farnsworth (2001). Mangrove 

community ecology, pp. 423–442. In: Bertness, M.D., S. 

Gaines & M.E. Hay (eds.). Marine Community Ecology. 

Sinauer Press, Sunderland, Massachusetts, 550pp. 

Giri, C., Z. Zhu, L.L. Tieszen, A. Singh, S. Gillette & 

J.A. Kelmelis (2008). Mangrove forest distribution and 

dynamics (1975–2005) of the tsunami-affected region of 

Asia. Journal of Biogeography 35: 519–528. 

Haining, Q., S. Graham & M.G. Gilbert (2007). Flora of 


China, Lythraceae. Harvard University Herbaria. Electronic 

database accessible at http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/china/ 

PDF/PDF13/Sonneratia.pdf 

Mabberley, D.J. (2005). The Plant-book: A Portable 

Dictionary of The Vascular Plants. Cambridge University 

press, Cambridge, 858pp. 

McKee, K.L. (2005). Global change impacts on mangrove 

ecosystems. Electronic database accessible at http://www. 

nwrc.usgs.gov/ factshts/2004-3125.pdf. Geological Survey 

National Wetlands Research Center, Lafayette, U.S. 

Mandal, R.N. & K.R. Naskar (2008). Diversity and 

classification of Indian Mangroves: a review. Tropical 

Ecology 49(2): 131–146. 

Nehru, P. & P. Balasubramanian (2011). Re-colonizing 

mangrove species in tsunami devastated habitats at Nicobar 

Islands, India. CheckList 7(3): 253–256. 

Polidoro, B.A., K.E. Carpenter, L. Collins, N.C. Duke, A.M. 

Ellison, J.C. Ellison, E.J. Farnsworth, E.S. Fernando, K. 

Kathiresan, N.E. Koedam, S.R. Livingstone, T. Miyagi, 

G.E. Moore, V.N. Nam, J.E. Ong, J.H. Primavera, 

S.G. Salmo III, J.C. Sanciangco, S. Sukardjo, Y. Wang 

& J.W.H. Yong (2010). The Loss of Species: Mangrove 

Extinction Risk and Geographic Areas of Global Concern. 

Plos One 5(4): 1–10. 

Porwal, M.C., H. Padalia & P.S. Roy (2012). Impacts of 

tsunami on the forest and biodiversity richness in Nicobar 

Islands (Andaman and Nicobar Islands), India. Biodiversity 

and Conservation 21: 1267–1287. 

Ramachandran, S., S. Anitha, V. Balamurugan, K. 

Dharanirajan, K.E. Vendhan, M.I.P. Divien, A.S. Vel, 

I.S. Hussain & A. Udayaraj (2005). Ecological impact of 

tsunami on Nicobar Islands (Camorta, Katchal, Nancowry 

and Trinkat). Current Science 89(1): 195–200. 

Sankaran, R. (2005). Impact of the earthquake and the 

tsunami on the Nicobar Islands, pp. 10–77. In: Kaul, R. & 

V. Menon (eds.). The Ground Beneath The Waves: Posttsunami 

Impact Assessment of Wildlife and Their Habitats 

in India—Vol. 2 - The Islands. Wildlife Trust of India, New 

Delhi, 103pp. 

Sivakumar, K. (2007). Impact of the 2004 tsunami on the 

Vulnerable Nicobar megapode Megapodius nicobariensis. 

Oryx 44(1): 71–78. 

Sridhar, R., T. Thangaradjou, L. Kannan, A. Ramachandran 

& S. Jayakumar (2006). Rapid assessment on the impact 

of tsunami on mangrove vegetation of the Great Nicobar 

Island. Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing 

34(1): 89–93. 

Valiela, I., J.L. Bowen & J.K. York (2001). Mangrove forests: 

one of the world’s threatened major tropical environments. 

BioScience 51(10): 807-815. 

Yi-Feng, Y., S. Bera, K. Naskar, L. Wen-Bo, L. Cheng-Sen 

(2011). A comparative study of mangrove floras in China 

and India. Forestry studies in China 13(3): 173–182. 

3400 



Status, threats and conservation strategies for orchids of 

western Himalaya, India 

Jeewan Singh Jalal 

Botanical Survey of India, Western Regional Centre, 7 Koregaon Road, Pune, Maharashtra 411001, India 

Email: jeewansinghjalal@rediffmail.com 

Abstract: The present study is an attempt to give an account 

of the current status of orchids based on recent surveys since 

2002 to 2010 in various parts of western Himalaya. Based on 

rarity Index of species, orchids are categorised in four groups,— 

very rare, sparse, occasional and common. Results show that 

40% of orchid species are very rare, 26% are sparse, 19% are 

occasional and 15% are common in western Himalaya. For 

the conservation of orchids, two orchid conservation areas are 

identified in Gori Valley and Mandal Valley. 

Keywords: Conservation, Gori Valley, Mandal Valley, orchids, 

Western Himalaya. 

The International Union for Conservation of Nature 

(IUCN) has played a major role in focusing global 

concern on the loss or extinction of species and is now 

the accepted authority on such matters. The first Red 

Data Book was launched by IUCN in 1966. Now, 

it is revised annually and called the IUCN Red List, 

which is available in its electronic version since 2000. 

Threats to orchid species in the Indian region were first 

documented by Pradhan (1971, 1975a,b) and Pradhan 

(1975). Pradhan (1978) contributed the first red data 




Editor: Pankaj Kumar 


Ms # o3062 

Received 09 January 2012 

Final received 08 August 2012 


Citation: Jalal, J.S. (2012). Status, threats and conservation strategies 

for orchids of western Himalaya, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 4(15): 

3401–3409. 

Copyright: © Jeewan Singh Jalal 2012. Creative Commons Attribution 

3.0 Unported License. JoTT allows unrestricted use of this article in any 

medium for non-profit purposes, reproduction and distribution by providing 

adequate credit to the authors and the source of publication. 

Acknowledgements: The author is thankful to Dr. Paramjith Singh, Director, 

Botanical Survey of India for encouragement and facilities. Thanks to 

Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India and Department 

of Science and Technology, Government of India for financial support to 

carry out this work. 


sheet on Indian orchids to the IUCN Plant Red Data 

Book, which served as a model for the production 

of Red Data Book of Indian Plants. Nayar & Sastry 

(1987, 1988, 1990), listed 58 species threatened in 

India. It also included 13 orchid species of western 

Himalaya. In 1984, under the banner of IUCN, the 

Orchid Specialist Group (OSG) was established for 

orchid conservation. It has many regional groups; 

ISROSG—Indian Subcontinent Regional Orchid 

Specialist Group covers the Indian subcontinental 

region. In the international scenario, several treaties 

have been formulated for the protection of biodiversity 

as a whole, which encompasses the protection of wild 

orchids also. The Convention of International Trade in 

Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), 

ratified by India, places all species of Orchidaceae 

under Appendix II, meaning thereby that their trade 

will be only through export permits. 

Orchids are one such group of plants which grow 

in a variety of habitats throughout the globe, but 

they are very sensitive to habitat change. A number 

of species are rare and threatened throughout the 

world, including western Himalaya, owing to habitat 

degradation and fragmentation as a result of various 

anthropogenic influences such as land development 

activities, building of dams, constructions of roads, 

commercial exploitation of the species, overgrazing 

and frequent forest fires. Some orchid species require 

unique habitat and microhabitats so they are confined 

to particular elevations and forest types. Some are 

naturally rare; others are so because of geographic 

distribution, narrow habitat requirements, and lowdensity 

populations. Several species that have 

been reported earlier from the region have not been 

recollected, thus indicating their possible disappearance 

due to habitat changes. As most of the orchids are 

insect pollinated, the depletion in the population of 

insect pollinators may also lead to the depletion in the 

population of particular orchid species. The present 


Orchids of western Himalaya 

study is an attempt to give an account of the present 

status of orchids based on recent surveys. 

Material and Methods 

Study area: The study was conducted in western 

Himalaya of India that lies between 28 0 45’– 36 0 20’N & 

73 0 26’–80 0 24’E (Image 1). The landmass encompasses 

three states viz., Uttarakhand (UK), Himachal Pradesh 

(HP) and Jammu & Kashmir (JK), occupies roughly 

331,402km² area, which is approximately 10.08% 

of India’s total geographic area. Altitude varies from 

300–7800 m. 

Data collection: Data was collected from three 

different sources: 

J.S. Jalal 

(i) Herbaria: The Botanical Survey of India, 

Northern Circle (BSD), Forest Research Institute (DD), 

Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Kumaun University 

Nainital (NTL), H.N.B Garhwal University, Srinagar 

(GUH) and Punjab University Herbarium (PAN) 

were visited and data on habitat, locality, altitude and 

flowering were gathered. Based on this information 

past localities from where the species were collected 

were also visited, to know the present status and 

changes in population-size. 

(ii) Review of literature: Significant literature, 

namely, Collett (1902), Duthie (1906), Raizada et al. 

(1981), Vij et al. (1982, 1983), Chowdhery & Wadhwa 

(1984), Deva & Naithani (1986), Pangtey et al. (1991) 

Image 1. Map of western Himalaya 

3402 



and various research papers published in national and 

international journals were used. 

(iii) Field survey: Extensive field surveys 

conducted from 2002 to 2010 in different seasons and 

various localities covering altitudes from 300–4800 m. 

Various parameters such as habit, altitude, forest types 

and associate species were recorded. The elevation 

zone was divided into nine 500m intervals between 

300m and 4800m (the higher limit of the orchids in 

western Himalaya is 4800m), with the starting zone 

4000m. Eighteen habitat types 

were identified for orchids, based on species presence 

in each habitat. 

No assessment has been done for the conservation 

status of orchids in the past for this region hence 

assigning IUCN categories is somewhat impractical 

here. In most of the cases, information is missing even 

when they were not collected for more than 100 years. 

These species were kept in doubtful categories and are 

not included in the analysis (Table 1). 

Data analysis: A formula was developed for 

convenience to assign a status at local level to each 

species. Six quantification parameters were taken for 

assessing orchids (Table 2). For getting the rarity 

value (R) (on the scale of rarity index; 1–5), the sum 

of all six parameters were divided by six. The species 

with the least number were ranked rarer in comparison 

with those with greater values. All the data were 

entered in an Excel spreadsheet and summarized using 

descriptive statistics. 

R = 

h 1 +s 1 +a 1 +wh 1 +p 1 +p 2 

____________________________ 

6 

where h 1 —number of habitats, s 1 —number of 

sites, a 1 —altitudinal distribution, wh 1 —distribution in 

western Himalaya, p 1 —phytogeographical distribution 

within the Indian subcontinent, p 2 —phytogeographical 

distribution globally. 

Rarity ranking (very rare: 1–2, sparse: 2.1–3, 

occasional: 3.1–4, common: 4.1–5). 


Status of orchids: It is very difficult to make 

an accurate account of orchid species of western 

Himalaya, with its vast size, remoteness and varied 

topographic conditions. The study reveals that 40% 

(88) of orchid species are very rare, 26% are sparse, 

19% are occasional and 15% are common in western 

Table 1. List of doubtful species 

Sno 

Species 

1 Anoectochilus roxburghii 

2 Aphyllorchis gollani 

3 Arundina graminifolia 

4 Calanthe alismifolia 

5 Calanthe brevicornu 

6 Chiloschista usneoides 

7 Coelogyne flaccida 

8 Coelogyne nitida 

9 Cymbidium eburneum 

10 Cymbidium longifolium 

11 Dendrobium moschatum 

12 Dendrobium transparens 

13 Diphylax urceolata 

14 Eulophia mackinnonii 

15 Eulophia obtusa 

16 Gastrochilus garhwalensis 

17 Geodorum densiflorum 

18 Habenaria longifolia 

19 Liparis cordifolia 

20 Liparis nervosa 

21 Oberonia iridifolia 

22 Spiranthes spiralis 

J.S. Jalal 

Himalaya (Fig. 1; Appendix 1). 

Threats to orchids: Orchids are a highly specialized 

group of plants and have modified themselves in such 

a way that they occur in almost every ecosystem. They 

have a peculiar habit of interdependence on mycorrhiza 

for germination and nutrition. Any imbalance in 

the habitat can cease the regeneration and growth 

of orchids. Thus, they are more vulnerable to the 

destruction of habitat. Orchids are usually threatened 

due to habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation. 

These can be caused by natural threats, anthropogenic 

pressures and threats posed by invasive species. 

1. Natural threats: Due to the undulating topography 

and the varying geological set up of western Himalaya, 

several areas have been identified that are prone 

to landslides, floods etc., which affect the natural 

population of many terrestrial and epiphytic orchids 

leading to their extinction. Many host trees growing 

along the river banks at lower and mid altitudes are 

swept away by floods, thus removing several orchids. 

In many areas, landsides were seen to carry away the 


3403


J.S. Jalal 

Table 2. Quantification parameters of rarity for each orchid species 

Sno Parameters Documentation Scoring (Quantification) 

1 Number of Habitats (h¹) 

2 Number of Sites (s¹) 

3 Altitudinal distribution (a¹) 

4 

5 

6 

Distribution in western 

Himalaya (wh¹) 

Phytogeographical 

Distribution (p¹) 


Distribution (p²) 

Number of habitats in which each orchid species 

were found was recorded. 

Number of sites in which each orchid was found 

was recorded. 

4000m (total 9 zones) depending on 

how many species occurred in a particular zone. 

Divided in to 4 divisions 

1. Srinagar valley, Leh, Kargil and Lahul & Spiti 

2. Jammu and its adjoining districts and 

Himachal Pradesh (except Lahul & Spiti) 

3. Garhwal division 

4. Kumaun Division 

Indian sub-continents (Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, 

northeastern states, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh) 

Europe, Sino-Japan, China, Indo-Malaya, Africa, 

Australia, North and South America 

1 to 18 habitats depending on how many habitats, 

a particular orchid occurred in. 

“1” for single site; 

“2” for


epiphytic orchids have reduced the abundance of these 

epiphytic orchids. 

Developmental activities: New roads, dams, 

mines, buildings and other developments strongly 

contribute to habitat loss in this region, not only 

directly by damaging forests but also indirectly by 

displacing them. A typical example is the Snow 

Orchid Diplomeris hirsuta which was reported from 

Dogaon near Nainital and this was the only locality 

in western Himalaya where it was found at the time. 

This locality is very close to the National Highway 

87. Naturally, this species is confined to fragile sand 

stone rocks in the foothills of the area. In 1996, the 

state government took a decision to widen National 

Highway 87, the rocks where the species were growing 

were destroyed and the only remaining population of 

the species vanished from the area. Recent surveys 

show only a small remaining population ca. 110 

individuals of this species growing in a nearby locality. 

Another example of developmental activities is Tehri 

Dam (Uttarakhand). It is one of the largest dams in 

Asia with a submerge area of 44km 2 . This submerge 

stretch was entirely covered by many small patches of 

riverine forests which were an ideal habitat for many 

epiphytic orchids. 

Over exploitation: Although very few orchid 

species are medicinally important in the study area, 

over exploitation of these species coupled with a lack 

of awareness, has resulted in their becoming very rare 

and endangered in natural population and they are 

bound to become extinct in the near future. Terrestrial 

orchids such as Crepidium acuminatum, Malaxis 

muscifera, Platanthera edgworthii, Eulophia dabia 

and Dactylorhiza hatagirea are used in the preparation 

of various medicines by pharmaceutical companies. 

They have been subjected to ruthless collection from 

their natural habitats. 

Overgrazing: The high altitude grasslands, pastures 

and meadows are very important habitats for many 

alpine orchids. These habitats are facing threats due to 

overgrazing practices by many pastoral communities. 

The foothills of the study area are inhabited by 

small groups of nomadic pastoral communities such 

as Gujjars in Siwalik zone, Himachal Pradesh and 

Jammu, and Bokshas and Tharus in the eastern Tarai 

zone. They are forest dwelling, semi-nomadic and 

pastoral indigenous communities. They own large 

herds of cattle and use forest land for grazing. The 

J.S. Jalal 

cattle were often found to be eating not only young 

flowering buds but also whole orchid plants. 

Forest fires: Forest fires are another cause of the 

destruction of orchid host trees and of the thick layer 

of humus as well as of the pollinators. The forest is 

often set on fire by the local communities during the 

summer season to get a good growth of grass following 

the rains. Sometimes it spreads and destroys vast 

tracts of valuable forests. During the study, many 

orchid rich localities were found to be affected by fire. 

For epiphytic orchids, fires at any time of the year 

can cause a drastic change in plant abundance. They 

are mainly affected by burning of plants, degrading 

or removal of the support substrate and alteration 

of the microclimate resulting from fragmentation of 

the canopy. In many places, which were affected by 

previous fires, this phenomenon was observed, but 

this has hardly affected the terrestrial orchids such as 

Nervilia spp., which were seen in good abundance. 

3. Threats by invasive species: 

It was observed during the study that some invasive 

species were suppressing the growth of native flora 

including orchids, in many important orchid habitats. 

A large tract of the foothills and upper Himalayan 

range up to 2500m has been largely encroached by 

invasive species such as Eupatorium adenophorum, 

Eupatorium odoratum, Eupatorium riparium, Lantana 

camara, Parthenium hysterophorus and Ageratum 

conyzoides. Their multifaceted adaptability and fast 

replicating characteristics have created a serious threat 

to the indigenous flora including orchids. Several 

terrestrial orchid species were found to be shockingly 

less in number in such habitats. Orchids that face 

threats by these alien species are Eulophia spp., Liparis 

deflexa, Nervilia spp., Goodyera procera, Habenaria 

marginata, H. plantaginea, H. pubescens, Pachystoma 

pubescens, Peristylus constrictus, P. goodyeroides, 

P. lawii etc. Various dead host species were seen 

heavily loaded with epiphytic orchids in the study area 

particularly in riverine belts. After death, the bark of 

the tree gets loose and as the epiphytic orchids attach 

themselves mainly on the surface of the bark, these 

epiphytic orchids often fall to the ground due to their 

own weight and die. 


3405


Strategies for conservation 

Conservation is “the maintenance of essential 

ecological processes and life-support systems, the 

preservation of genetic diversity and the sustainable 

utilization of species and ecosystems” (Talbot 1980). 

Orchids are an endangered plant group and protected 

by national or local laws in many countries including 

India. International trade and collection of orchids from 

the wild is banned. The wide range of distribution and 

habitats of orchids makes it difficult to have a uniform 

code for conservation. The western Himalaya is such 

a vast landscape spread over a 331,402km² area and 

the distribution of orchids is very patchy so it is very 

difficult to conserve each and every forest patch. The 

question is: ‘Which area should be selected for orchid 

conservation?’ the answer has to be given after a 

thorough evaluation of many aspects. 

Identifying Orchid Conservation Areas (OCAs) 

In order to conserve the orchids, it was necessary 

to identify orchid conservation areas (OCA). Various 

parameters were used to select a conservation area. 

First a region wise orchid Index was calculated (Table 

3). That was calculated as the ratio of the number 

of orchids in a particular region multiplied by 1000 

(IUCN 1996). This helped to get a broad region for 

selection. After getting the orchid index value the 

focus moved to the region that indicated the maximum 

value. Kumaun region showed the maximum value 

at 9.69 followed by Garhwal region at 5.33. Based 

on past and present records, two areas were found to 

be suitable for OCAs. One is Gori Valley in eastern 

Kumaun and the other is Mandal Valley in Chamoli 

District of Garhwal. 

Suggestive measures for conservation 

As mentioned above, all the orchids are threatened 

in the study area. For their long term survival in nature, 

they need to be protected through in situ and ex situ 

conservation. In situ orchid conservation and habitat 

preservation is the first line of defense for safeguarding 

orchid species for the future. The following measures 

are suggested for the long term conservation of orchids 

in western Himalaya: 

(i) 145 species, which are very rare and 

sparse in the study area, need immediate action for 

conservation. 

(ii) Banj-oak forests and riverine forests should be 

Table 3. Orchid Index table 

Sno 

Geographical region 

J.S. Jalal 

protected region wise. Initiate ecological restoration 

of degraded riverine forests and promote afforestation 

of suitable host tree species such as Toona ciliata, 

Engelhadrtia spicata and Quercus leucotrichophora. 

(iii) Endemic and near endemic species need 

special attention. For example, Peristylus kumaonensis 

is an endemic orchid reported by Dr. J. Renz in 1983 

from a locality that is 5km from Nainital towards the 

north, on the way to Ratighat at an altitude of 1800m 

and it is restricted to this area alone. At that time, almost 

130 individuals were counted in this particular locality 

(Y.P.S. Pangtey pers. comm. August 2004). During 

the current survey a drastic change in the whole area 

was observed due to anthropogenic pressures and the 

population now remains around 30 individuals only. 

(iv) Urgent need to conduct a population 

monitoring program together with orchid ecology 

so that we can use this information to design orchid 

conservation plans for the intact regions of habitat 

where orchids still thrive. 

(v) Establishment of orchid seed bank and germ 

plasm banks. The conservation of seeds is the most 

effective means of genetic conservation. 

(vi) Local people should be made aware of this 

wealth by means of awareness programs. Orchid 

conservation areas can be developed for tourists and 

college students so that they can visit these areas 

during their educational trips. 

References 

Area 

(km²) 

Total 

Species 

Orchid 

Index 

1 Jammu & Kashmir 222,236 46 0.21 

2 Himachal Pradesh 55,673 76 1.36 

3 Garhwal region 32,448 173 5.33 

4 Kumaun Region 21,035 204 9.69 

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Himalayas (ecology and distribution). Research Bulletin of 

Panjab University 33(3&4): 163–175. 

Vij, S.P., N. Shekhar, S.K. Kashyap & A.K. Garg (1983). 

Observations on the orchids of Nainital and adjacent hills in 

the Central Himalaya (Ecology and Distribution). Research 

Bulletin. Panjab University 34(3): 63–76. 

Appendix I. List of orchids and their status 

Species Habit Status 

1 Acampe carinata E C 

2 Acampe rigida E SP 

3 Aerides multiflora E C 

4 Aerides odorata E C 

5 Androcorys josephi T SP 

6 Androcorys monophylla T O 

7 Androcorys pugioniformis T SP 

8 Ascocentrum ampullaceum E VR 

9 Brachycorythis obcordata T C 

10 Bulbophyllum affine E O 

11 Bulbophyllum careyanum E SP 

12 Bulbophyllum cariniflorum E O 

13 Bulbophyllum helenae E VR 

14 Bulbophyllum hirtum E VR 

15 Bulbophyllum hookeri E VR 

16 Bulbophyllum leopardinum E VR 

17 Bulbophyllum polyrhizum E SP 

18 Bulbophyllum reptans E O 

19 Bulbophyllum triste E O 

20 Bulbophyllum umbellatum E O 

21 Bulbophyllum wallichii E VR 

22 Calanthe alpina T VR 

23 Calanthe mannii T VR 

24 Calanthe pachystalix T VR 

25 Calanthe plantaginea T SP 

26 Calanthe puberula T SP 


27 Calanthe tricarinata T C 

28 Cephalanthera longifolia T C 

29 Cheirostylis griffithii T SP 

30 Cleisostoma aspersum E VR 

31 Coeloglossum viride T SP 

32 Coelogyne cristata E C 

33 Coelogyne ovalis E O 

34 Coelogyne stricta E SP 

35 Corallorhiza trifida H VR 

36 Crepidium acuminatum T C 

37 Crepidium biauritum T VR 

38 Crepidium mackinnonii T VR 

39 Crepidium purpureum T O 

40 Cryptochilus luteus E VR 

41 Cymbidium aloifolium E SP 

42 Cymbidium cyperifolium E SP 

43 Cymbidium hookerinum E SP 

44 Cymbidium iridoides E O 

45 Cymbidium macrorhizon H SP 

46 Cypripedium cordigerum T SP 

47 Cypripedium elegans T VR 

48 Cypripedium himalaicum T VR 

49 Dactylorhiza hatagirea T O 

50 Dactylorhiza kafiriana T VR 

51 Dendrobium amoenum E O 

52 Dendrobium aphyllum E SP 


3407


J.S. Jalal 


53 Dendrobium bicameratum E C 

54 Dendrobium candidum E SP 

55 Dendrobium chrysanthum E SP 

56 Dendrobium chryseum E O 

57 Dendrobium crepidatum E SP 

58 Dendrobium denudans E SP 

59 Dendrobium fimbriatum E VR 

60 Dendrobium fugax E SP 

61 Dendrobium hesperis E VR 

62 Dendrobium heterocarpum E VR 

63 Dendrobium monticola E SP 

64 Dendrobium primulinum E O 

65 Didiciea cunninghamii T VR 

66 Diphylax griffithii T SP 

67 Diplomeris hirsuta T VR 

68 Epipactis gigantea T VR 

69 Epipactis helleborine T C 

70 Epipactis veratrifolia T O 

71 Epipogium aphyllum H VR 

72 Epipogium roseum H VR 

73 Eria alba E O 

74 Eria amica E VR 

75 Eria bipunctata E O 

76 Eria coronaria E VR 

77 Eria globulifera E VR 

78 Eria graminifolia E VR 

79 Eria lasiopetala E O 

80 Eria muscicola E VR 

81 Eria occidentalis E VR 

82 Eria reticosa E VR 

83 Eria spicata E O 

84 Eulophia bicallosa T VR 

85 Eulophia dabia T SP 

86 Eulophia explanata T VR 

87 Eulophia flava T VR 

88 Eulophia graminea T VR 

89 Eulophia herbacea T VR 

90 Galearis roborovskyi T VR 

91 Galearis spathulata T SP 

92 Galeola falconeri H VR 

93 Gastrochilus acutifolius E VR 

94 Gastrochilus calceolaris E C 

95 Gastrochilus distichus E SP 

96 Gastrodia falconeri H VR 

97 Goodyera biflora T O 

98 Goodyera foliosa T VR 


99 Goodyera fusca T SP 

100 Goodyera procera T O 

101 Goodyera repens T C 

102 Goodyera viridiflora T O 

103 Goodyera vittata T VR 

104 Gymnadenia orchidis T SP 

105 Habenaria aitchisonii T O 

106 Habenaria arietina T SP 

107 Habenaria commelinifolia T VR 

108 Habenaria digitata T SP 

109 Habenaria diphylla T SP 

110 Habenaria ensifolia T SP 

111 Habenaria furcifera T SP 

112 Habenaria intermedia T C 

113 Habenaria marginata T O 

114 Habenaria pectinata T C 

115 Habenaria plantaginea T O 

116 Habenaria pubescens T VR 

117 Habenaria stenopetala T SP 

118 Hemipilia cordifolia T O 

119 Herminium kumaunensis T VR 

120 Herminium lanceum T C 

121 Herminium mackinnonii T VR 

122 Herminium monorchis T SP 

123 Ione bicolor E SP 

124 Liparis caespitosa E SP 

125 Liparis deflexa T VR 

126 Liparis glossula T O 

127 Liparis paradoxa T SP 

128 Liparis platyrachis E VR 

129 Liparis resupinata T VR 

130 Liparis rostrata T C 

131 Liparis viridiflora T O 

132 Luisia brachystachys E VR 

133 Luisia trichorrhiza E O 

134 Luisia tristis E C 

135 Luisiopsis inconspicuua E SP 

136 Malaxis cylindrostachya T O 

137 Malaxis latifolia T VR 

138 Malaxis muscifera T C 

139 Neottia acuminata H VR 

140 Neottia inayatii H VR 

141 Neottia listeroides H O 

142 Neottia longicaulis T VR 

143 Neottia mackinnonii H VR 

144 Neottia microglottis H VR 

3408 



J.S. Jalal 


145 Neottia nandadeviensis T VR 

146 Neottia ovata T VR 

147 Neottia pinetorum T VR 

148 Neottia tenuis T SP 

149 Neottianthe calcicola T VR 

150 Neottianthe secundiflora T VR 

151 Nervilia aragoana T O 

152 Nervilia crociformis T C 

153 Nervilia falcata T VR 

154 Nervilia gammieana T O 

155 Nervilia gleadowii T VR 

156 Nervilia infundibulifolia T VR 

157 Nervilia mackinnonii T O 

158 Nervilia pangteyiana T VR 

159 Nervilia plicata T SP 

160 Oberonia acaulis E SP 

161 Oberonia caulescens E VR 

162 Oberonia ensiformis E SP 

163 Oberonia falconeri E O 

164 Oberonia griffithiana E VR 

165 Oberonia myosurus E VR 

166 Oberonia pachyrachis E O 

167 Oberonia prainiana E VR 

168 Oberonia pyrulifera E SP 

169 Oreorchis foliosa T SP 

170 Oreorchis foliosa var. indica T SP 

171 Oreorchis micrantha T O 

172 Ornithochilus difformis E O 

173 Otochilus lancilabius E VR 

174 Pachystoma pubescens T SP 

175 Pecteilis gigantea T SP 

176 Pecteilis triflora E VR 

177 Pelatantheria insectifera E VR 

178 Peristylus affinis T SP 

179 Peristylus constrictus T C 

180 Peristylus duthiei T SP 

181 Peristylus elisabethae T C 

182 Peristylus fallax T C 


184 Peristylus kumaonensis T VR 

185 Peristylus lawii T VR 

186 Phaius tankervilleae T SP 

187 Phalaenopsis deliciosa E VR 

188 Phalaenopsis taenialis E SP 

189 Pholidata articulata E C 

190 Pholidata imbricata E C 

191 Platanthera arcuata T VR 

192 Platanthera clavigera T C 

193 Platanthera edgworthii T C 

194 Platanthera latilabris T C 

195 Platanthera leptocaulon T SP 

196 Platanthera stenantha T SP 

197 Pleione grandiflora E VR 

198 Pleione hookeriana E SP 

199 Pleione humilis E VR 

200 Pleione praecox E VR 

201 Ponerorchis chusua T O 

202 Ponerorchis renzii T VR 

203 Pteroceras teres E SP 

204 Rhynchostylis retusa E C 

205 Satyrium nepalense T C 

206 Satyrium nepalense var. ciliatum T VR 

207 Smithandia micrantha E C 

208 Spiranthes sinensis T C 

209 Thelasis longifolia E VR 

210 Thunia alba E C 

211 Thunia alba var. bracteata E SP 

212 Tropidia pedunculata T VR 

213 Vanda alpina E VR 

214 Vanda cristata E C 

215 Vanda pumila E VR 

216 Vanda tessellata E O 

217 Vanda testacea E O 

218 Vandopsis undulata E VR 

219 Zeuxine flava T SP 

220 Zeuxine grandis T VR 

221 Zeuxine strateumatica T O 

183 Peristylus goodyeroides T O 

T - Terrestrial; E - Epiphytic; H - Holomycotrophic; VR - Very rare; SP - Sparse; O - Occasional; C - Common 


3409


Conservation status of Dendrobium tenuicaule Hook. f. 

(Orchidaceae), a Middle Andaman Island endemic, India 

Boyina Ravi Prasad Rao 1 , Kothareddy Prasad 2 , Madiga Bheemalingappa 3 , 

Mudavath Chennakesavulu Naik 4 , K.N. Ganeshaiah 5 & M. Sanjappa 6 

1,2,3,4 

Biodiversity Conservation Division, Department of Botany, Sri Krishnadevaraya University, Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh 515003, 

India 

5 

Department of Forestry and Environemental Sciences And School of Ecology and Conservation, University of Agricultural 

Sciences, GKVK, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560065, India 

6 

Botanical Garden, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560065, India 

Email: 1 biodiversityravi@gmail.com (corresponding author), 2 prasad.orchids@gmail.com, 3 bheemantp@gmail.com, 

4 

chenna.phd@gmail.com, 5 knganeshaiah@gmail.com, 6 sanjappas@gmail.com 

Abstract: The current distribution and threat assessment of 

Dendrobium tenuicaule Hook. f. (Orchidaceae), an endemic 

orchid of Middle Andaman Island is presented here. New data 

available from field surveys indicated the species is Critically 

Endangered as per the 2001 IUCN Red List Catagories and 

Criteria. 

Keywords: Conservation status, Critically Endangered, 

Dendrobium tenuicaule, distribution, Middle Andaman. 

Andaman and Nicobar Islands are located about 

1200km from the mainland, India, comprising 572 

islands and islets. The Middle Andaman Island (12 0 15’ 

–13 0 N & 92 0 30’–93 0 E) (Fig. 1) is the largest among 

the 324 islands of the Andaman group. The Andaman 






Ms # o3186 

Received 28 April 2012 

Final received 13 November 2012 

Finally accepted 21 November 2012 

Citation: Rao, B.R.P., K. Prasad, M. Bheemalingappa, M.C. Naik, K.N. 

Ganeshaiah & M. Sanjappa (2012). Conservation status of Dendrobium 

tenuicaule Hook. f. (Orchidaceae), a Middle Andaman Island endemic, 

India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 4(15): 3410–3414. 

Copyright: © Boyina Ravi Prasad Rao, Kothareddy Prasad, Madiga 

Bheemalingappa, Mudavath Chennakesavulu Naik, K.N. Ganeshaiah & M. 

Sanjappa 2012. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. JoTT 

allows unrestricted use of this article in any medium for non-profit purposes, 



Acknowledgements: Authors are thankful to Dr. Murugan, Scientist C, 

Incharge Director, Botanical Survey of India, Port Blair. Authors also thank 

the forest officials of Middle Andaman Division for their kind help in field 

work. Authors acknowledge Department of Biotechnology, Government of 

India, New Delhi for financial assistance. 


group of islands are part of Indo-Burma Biodiversity 

Hotspot, one of the 34 in the world (Myers et al. 2000). 

The climate is warm and humid with the temperature 

ranging between 22 0 C and 30 0 C with average annual 

rainfall ranging from 3000–3500 mm and mean relative 

humidity between 82–85%. Currently, the Andaman 

and Nicobar Islands are known to harbor 2650 species 

of plants (Pandey & Diwakar 2008), of which 308 are 

considered as strict endemics. 

Endemism is a significant attribute of any taxon 

with reference to its restricted distribution and 

endemic species especially of islands hold immense 

significance, as it can be assumed that the smaller 

its geographical distribution and population size and 

the more specific its habitat preferences, the rarer 

the species (IUCN/SSC Orchid Specialist Group, 

1996). An in-depth assessment of their distribution 

pattern within a small geographical range is of great 

conservation concern. The IUCN system (IUCN 

2001) assesses the threat to a species based on five 

core criteria: decline in populations over a period that 

is relevant for the species (based on generation time); 

the distribution of the species together with factors 

that may influence ongoing survival within its current 

distribution; small population size and continuing 

decline; very small populations or small distribution 

area; and quantitative assessment of extinction risk. 

Assessments are always done using the best available 

information, however, there is a dearth of knowledge 

in the case of the distribution pattern for many 

endemic species, especially those in remote islands. 

The recent studies by Rao et al. (2010, 2011) regarding 

conservation status on Cycas beddomei Dyer; and 

Hildegardia populifolia (Roxb.) Schott & Endl. has 

3410 


Status of Dendrobium tenuicaule 

B.R.P. Rao et al. 

Figure 1. Minimum convex 

polygon of Dendrobium 

tenuicaule. 

provided valuable information for population status 

assessments. In the present study, an attempt has been 

made to assess the population and conservation status 

of an orchid species, Dendrobium tenuicaule Hook. f., 

endemic to Middle Andaman Island, India. 

The family Orchidaceae is one of the largest groups 

in the plant kingdom comprising 22,075 species 

(APG III 2009). The family represent 1331 taxa in 

India (Misra 2007) and 151 species from Andaman 

and Nicobar Islands (Pandey & Diwakar 2008). The 

genus Dendrobium Sw., is one of the largest genera 

of Orchidaceae represented by ca. 900 species and 

mostly distributed in the Indo-Malesio-Austrasian 

region (Kumar & Manilal 1994). In India, the genus 

is represented by 116 species (Misra 2007) and in 

Andaman and Nicobar Islands, 19 species (Pandey 


3411


& Diwakar 2008), of which three are endemic to 

Andaman and Nicobar Islands: Dendrobium gunnarii 

P.S.N. Rao, D. shompenii B.K. Sinha & P.S.N. Rao 

and D. tenuicaule Hook. f. 

Methods 

Study area and species: Dendrobium tenuicaule 

Hook. f. is endemic to Middle Andaman Island and 

categorised as Endangered (Balakrishnan & Rao 

1983; Nayar & Sastry 1990; Rao et al. 2003); Extinct 

or Endangered (IUCN 1996). The species is also a 

part in CITES Appendix II (UNEP-WCMC 2003). 

A perusal of literature and herbarium consultation 

in CAL and PBL herbaria has revealed interesting 

information about the species distribution. J.D. Hooker 

(1890) described the species based on a drawing of 

King along with a few dried flowers and cited the 

distribution of the species as Andaman Islands. Later, 

the illustration was published in King’s Annals of the 

Calcutta Garden (King 1895). Since the first herbarium 

collection of the species was by Bhargava (Voucher 

No. 6372 in PBL) from Rangat forests of Middle 

Andaman in 1977, it was claimed as endemic to Middle 

Andaman Island by Nayar & Sastry (1990). There was 

no record of further collections of this extremely rare 

orchid from Middle Andaman till November, 2011 

in Kousalyanagar forest, Middle Andaman Division, 

when it was recollected by the current authors. The 

voucher specimens are deposited in SKU (Department 

of Botany, S.K.University). 

Dendrobium tenuicaule Hook. f. is an epiphytic 

orchid, with many stems clustered together and grow 

40cm long with rooting at base of the branches. 

Pseudobulbs grow to 8cm long and 5cm thick. Leaves 

linear, 15x2 mm, acute, entire with sheathing base. 

Flowers few, terminal, solitary on axils of nodes, 

labellum with white and yellow stripes on lip, very 

delicate, sweet scented. Ovary pedicellate, slender, 

1.5cm long. Dorsal sepal elliptic-ovate, 7-nerved; 

lateral sepals falcate, acute. Petals as long as sepals, 

lanceolate, acute, mentum twice as long as the lateral 

sepals, trumpet-shaped. Lip wedge-shaped, sessile 

at the base of the mentum, membranous; lobes thin, 

flimsy, rounded; mid lobe strongly bent downward, 

orbicular; side lobes short, erect; disc pubescent. 

Pollinia 4, in pairs, unequal, ellipsoid. Fruits oblongellipsoid, 

grayish-brown, 4–5 x 0.4–0.5cm (Image 1). 

Sampling design and population census: After 


the first sighting of the species on Mangifera indica 

in Kousalya Nagar Forest, an intensive survey was 

made in Rangat Forest Division for the next eight 

months taking into consideration the first historical 

collection in Rangat forest. Random sampling method 

was adopted for the study. In epiphyte ecology, the 

sampling unit is often defined as one host tree (or part 

thereof), but unit area and unit forest-volume have 

also been used (van Dunne 2002). Hence we adopted 

IUCN sampling methodology (IUCN Standards and 

Petitions Subcommittee 2011) for determining the 

area of occupancy. Accordingly, the whole terrain of 

Middle Andamans was stratified into 4km 2 grids for 

this purpose. Within each grid, all the trees for locating 

the individuals of D. tenuicaule were observed. The 

localities of occurrence were recorded by Garmin 

Global Positioning System. 

Following Garcia-Gonzalez et al. (2011), we 

counted all the individuals of D. tenuicaule inhabited 

on phorophytes that were found from the base of 

the trunk to the first primary branches; intersection 

between branches at various heights; and branches. We 

also classified the plants of the species by seedlings, 

© K. Prasad 

Image 1. A - habit; B - close up of flower; C - fruit. 

3412 



earliest stage after the protocorm in which the young 

plant first acquires differentiated structures (2mm to 

2cm); juvenile, sexually immature but well developed 

plants (>2cm) and adults, sexually mature plants 

that have flowered at least once. We counted all the 

individuals of each life stage on each of the microsites 

of every phorophyte within the study sites. 

The species has been assessed for its conservation 

status based on 3.1 version of IUCN red list (IUCN, 

2001). The Extent of Occurrence (EOO) and Area of 

Occupancy (AOO) are estimated. 


Of the 100 grids laid in Rangat Forest Division, 

we located the D. tenuicaule only in three grids in 

Kousalyanagar Forest area of Bakunthala Range. We 

found only 56 clumps in the three grids comprising 

41 mature and 12 juvenile individuals and three 

seedlings. All these individuals were found on 41 

phorophytes (host trees) which were either Mangifera 

indica or Areca catechu. No other tree species was 

found hosting this orchid species. Of the 56 clumps, 

47 were found on Mangifera indica, which represents 

84% of the total population and nine clumps on A. 

catechu. It was observed that the species was found 

at an altitudinal range of 5–40 m. The maximum 

number of clumps (29) were found between 10–20 m 

covering about 52% of the total population. Further, 

this species was not found in the interior forests and 

appears to prefer open areas and forest edges. It was 

also observed that only one of the adult clumps was 

found in the fruiting stage. 

Timber harvesting and commercial plantations 

in Kousalyanagar forests are threatening the species 

existence. Further, the historical collection site of 

the species by Bhargava (1977), 25km south-west of 

Rangat in the present Bakultala range is now converted 

into a forest plantation and despite our repeated visits 

we could not locate the species at this point. 

Conservation status 

D. tenuicaule has been assessed as Endangered 

(Balakrishnan & Rao 1983; Nayar & Sastry 1990; Rao 

et al. 2003). Based on the field observations during 

the present study, the conservation status of the species 

has been evaluated following the latest IUCN Red List 

Criteria (Version 3.1; IUCN 2011). Of the five criteria 

(A–E) pertaining to threat categories the species 


qualifies for criterion B1 (Extent of Occurrence - 

EOO) and B2 (Area of Occupancy - AOO) (Fig. 1); 

criterion C and D. 

Criterion B: Dendrobium tenuicaule is restricted to 

a single location and has a highly restricted Extent of 

Occurrence (EOO; B1) and Area of Occupancy (AOO; 

B2). 

Criterion B1: The EOO of Dendrobium tenuicaule 

is estimated to be 2.8km 2 . Continuing decline of 

population is observed and inferred (subcriterion b) 

in terms of area, extent or quality of habitats (iii) and 

in the number of mature individuals (v). Hence the 

species falls under Critically Endangered category as 

its geographical range is less than 100km 2 and satisfies 

subcriterion b(iii and v). 

Criterion B2: The AOO is 1km 2 , and since this 

estimate is less than 10km 2 , the species qualifies for 

Critically Endangered category under subcriterion 

b(iii and v). 

Criterion C: Restricted population size and 

continuing decline. The total estimated population of 

the species comprises of 41 mature individuals. The 

species qualifies for Critically Endangered category. 

Further, there is a continuous decline observed, 

projected, inferred in numbers of individuals 

(subcriterion 2) there are no subpopulations and as the 

whole population contains not more than 50 mature 

individuals it further qualifies for subcriterion a(i). 

Criterion D: Very small or restricted populations. 

Since the species population comprises only 41 

mature individuals it falls under Critically Endangered 

category. 

Based on field observations and overall assessment, 

Dendrobium tenuicaule is assessed as Critically 

Endangered [B1ab(iii,v)+2ab(iii,v); C2a(i); D]. 

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Reassessment of the conservation status of Cycas beddomei 

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3414 



Endemic orchids of peninsular India: a review 

Jeewan Singh Jalal 1 & J. Jayanthi 2 

1,2 

Botanical Survey of India, Western Regional Centre, 7, Koregaon Road, Pune, Maharashtra 411001, India 

Email: 1 jeewansinghjalal@rediffmail.com (corresponding author), 2 jayanthi.bsi@gmail.com 

Orchidaceae is one of the most ecologically and 

morphologically diverse families of flowering plants. 

It is the second largest family of flowering plants in 

the world, comprising of about 779 genera and 22,500 

species (Mabberley 2008). They have diverse habits 

with variously modified vegetative and floral structures. 

Based on their varying habits, orchids are classified as 

holomycotrophic or saprophytic (growing on dead and 

decaying matter), terrestrials (growing on ground) and 

epiphytic (growing on trees or shrubs). They are very 

sensitive to habitat degradation and fragmentation. 

In India, the orchid diversity is represented by 1,331 

species belonging to 186 genera (Misra 2007). 

The Indian subcontinent has diverse climatic 

regimes, forest types and habitat conditions that 

provides a favourable environment for accommodating 

diverse life forms and species. Being separated by 

high mountain ranges of the Himalaya in the north and 

in the south by Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and Indian 

Ocean, the isolation of Indian flora to a large extent 

helps in the evolution of endemic taxa (Nayar 1996). 

Geologically the drifting of the Indian subcontinent 






Ms # o3091 

Received 04 February 2012 

Final received 19 October 2012 


Citation: Jalal, J.S. & J. Jayanthi (2012). Endemic orchids of peninsular 

India: a review. Journal of Threatened Taxa 4(15): 3415–3425. 

Copyright: © Jeewan Singh Jalal & J. Jayanthi 2012. Creative Commons 




Acknowledgements: The authors are thankful to Dr. Paramjith Singh, 

Director, Botanical Survey of India for providing facilities and support. The 

authors are also thankful to Dr. D.K. Singh, Additional Director, Botanical 

Survey of India for encouragement. 


Abstract: The present analysis of endemic orchids shows a total 

account of 130 species belonging to 38 genera in peninsular India. 

Of these, 43 are terrestrial, 85 epiphytic and two holomycotrophic 

(saprophytic). The Western Ghats comprises of 123 endemic 

orchid species, Deccan Plateau has 29 endemic orchid species 

and Eastern Ghats has 22 endemic orchid species. However, in 

the present analysis the number of endemic species is reduced 

from the earlier reports because of the rapid development in the 

taxonomic explorations in the neighboring countries. As a result, 

many species were found to show extended distribution. 

Key words: Deccan Plateau, endemic, Eastern Ghats, orchids, 

peninsular India, Western Ghats. 

from the Gondwanaland through various latitudes 

lead to immigration and extinction of species which 

are engraved in the present day floristic composition 

(Axelrod 1971). The endemism in the flora of a 

country or geographical region provides an important 

insight into the biogeography of that region and also 

to the centers of diversity and adaptive evolution of 

the floristic components of that region (Nayar 1996). 

In India, the peninsular region has a high degree of 

endemism making it the second richest endemic 

centre after the Himalaya. Nayar (1977) surmised, 

the history of flora of peninsular India is one of the 

floristic impoverishments due to flow of Deccan 

lavas during cretaceous-eocene time and spreading 

aridity in Miocene-quaternary period, causing 

depletion of its characteristic flora leaving few relict 

taxa. The peninsular region is a part of Indian plate 

of Gondwanaland and most of the endemic plants of 

this region are palaeoendemics. A large concentration 

of endemic species is found in the tropical moist 

deciduous and tropical semievergreen patches of 

Western Ghats and to a much lesser degree in Eastern 

Ghats (Nayar 1996). 


Peninsular India comprises of seven states viz., 

Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, 

Odisha and Tamil Nadu and one union territory namely 

Pondicherry. It is bound by Vindhyan Mountains in 


Peninsular India orchids 

the north, Arabian Sea in the west, Indian Ocean in the 

south and Bay of Bengal in the east. The geography of 

the region can be divided into three zones namely the 

Deccan Plateau, Eastern Ghats and the Western Ghats 

(Image 1). The Deccan Plateau is the largest plateau 

in India, making up the majority of the southern part of 

the country. Eastern Ghats forms a broken chain of hill 

ranges extending through the states of Odisha, Andhra 

Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. It runs north-east to southwest 

direction in peninsular India. Western Ghats starts 

near the border of Gujarat and Maharashtra, south 

of the Tapti River and runs approximately 1600km 

through the states of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, 

Tamil Nadu and Kerala ending at Kanyakumari. It is 

also one of the 34 Biodiversity Hotspots of the world 

(Myers et al. 2000). The vegetation type of peninsular 

India varies from tropical evergreen forest, tropical 

semievergreen forests, sholas, moist deciduous forests, 

dry deciduous forests, scrub jungles and dry savannah 

forests. 

For the present analysis information on the endemic 

J.S. Jalal & J. Jayanthi 

orchids of peninsular region was collected from 

literature such as Hooker (1888–1890), Blatter (1928), 

Fischer (1928), Cooke (1958), Santapau & Kapadia 

(1966), Saldanha & Nicolson (1976), Pradhan (1976), 

Bose & Bhattacharjee (1980), Yoganarasimhan et al. 

(1981), Nayar et al. (1984), Rathakrishnan & Chitra 

(1984), Rao (1986, 1998), Joseph (1987), Ahmedullah 

& Nayar (1987), Chandrabose & Nair (1988), Manilal 

(1988), Henry et al. (1989), Ansari & Balakrishnan 

(1990), Keshavamurthy & Yoganarasimhan (1990), 

Kumar & Manilal (1994), Lakshminarasimhan 

(1996), Nayar (1996), Pullaiah (1997), Karthikeyan 

(2000), Gopalan & Henry (2000), Mishra & Singh 

(2001), Singh et al. (2001), Kumar et al. (2001), 

Yadav & Sardesai (2002), Rao & Kumari (2003), 

Manilal & Kumar (2004), Sardesai & Yadav (2004), 

Joshi & Janarthanam (2004), Gaikwad & Yadav 

(2004), Misra (2007), Misra et al. (2008), Nayar et 

al. (2008), Bachulkar (2010) and Narayanan et al. 

(2010). The online databases, namely, Govaerts et 

al. (2012) http://apps. Kew.org/wcsp, Tropicos (2012) 

Image 1. Map of peninsular India 

3416 



www.tropicos.org, IPNI (2012) www.ipni.org, eFloras 

(2012) www.efloras.org were also consulted for recent 

updates on the plant names and distribution. Species 

earlier recorded as endemic but now reported from 

the other parts of the world, were excluded from the 

current list and their nomenclatural changes were 

also updated. The endemic orchid species are listed 

based on phytogeographical regions and state-wise 

distribution is also provided. The present work is 

our modest attempt to give an up-to date account of 

the endemic orchids of the peninsular region and to 

include nomenclature changes, new distributional 

records and new species records. 

Results 

Ahmedullah & Nayar (1987) brought out the first 

authentic work on the endemic plants of peninsular 

India and estimated 123 species and 33 genera of 

endemic orchids from this region. While Nayar 

(1996) estimated 136 species, later on Kumar & 

Manilal (1994) recorded 142 species belonging to 38 

genera. Further, Rao (1998) estimated 126 endemic 

species. Singh et al. (2001) recorded 135 species and 

Misra (2007) recorded 160 species. So far the total 

endemic orchids in India are 404 (2.3%) (Misra 2007) 

out of 17,500 total flowering plants, peninsular India 

represents 39.6% of endemic orchids out of 1,331 total 

number of orchids. 

The present analysis resulted with a total of 130 

species belonging to 38 genera endemic to peninsular 

India (Table 1). Of these, 43 are terrestrial, 85 are 

epiphytic and two are holomycotrophic. The analysis 

shows that the genus Habenaria (25 spp.), Oberonia 

Number of species 

140 

120 

100 

80 

60 

40 

20 

0 


Species 

Genus 

Strict endemic 

Western Ghats Deccan Plateu Eastern Ghats 

Figure 1. Species richness of endemic orchids in different 

regions of peninsular India 

(17 spp.), Bulbophyllum (15 spp.), Dendrobium (11 

spp.) and Eria (6 spp.), are among the species rich 

genera representing nearly 60% of total endemic 

orchids of peninsular India. The Western Ghats region 

has maximum 123 endemic orchid species followed 

by Deccan Plateau and then Eastern Ghats (Fig. 1). 

Of the total endemic orchid species of the peninsular 

region, 95 (73%) are strict endemics to Western Ghats 

and five species (4%) are restricted to Eastern Ghats. 

However, there are no strict endemic species in the 

Deccan Plateau (Fig. 1). A state wise analysis of 

distribution of endemic orchids shows that Kerala has 

a maximum number of endemic species followed by 

Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra. The states 

of Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha show very poor 

representation of the endemic species (Fig. 2). A total 

of 27 orchid species earlier considered as endemic to 

the peninsular region are excluded from the list owing 

to their extended distribution in the neighbouring 

countries (Table 2). 

100 

Species 

Number of species 

Genus 

80 

Strict endemic 

60 

40 

20 

0 

GU GO MH KA KE TN AP OD 

Figure 3. Species richness of endemic orchids across different states of peninsular India 


GU - Gujarat 

GO - Goa 

MH - Maharashtra 

KA - Karnataka 

KE - Kerala 

TN - Tamil Nadu 

AP - Andhra Pradeh 

OD - Odisha 

3417



Table 1. List of endemic orchids of peninsular India 

Sno Species Habit 

1 

Aenhenrya rotundifolia (Blatt.) 

C.S. Kumar & F.N. Rasm. 



State wise distribution 

WG Deccan EG GU GO MH KA KE TN AP OD 

T + + + 

2 Aerides crispa Lindl. E + + + + + + + + 

3 Aerides maculosa Lindl. E + + + + + + + + + + + 

4 

5 

Brachycorythis iantha (Wight) 

Summerh. 

Brachycorythis splendida 

Summerh. 

T + + + + 

T + + + 

6 Brachycorythis wightii Summerh. T + + 

7 

Bulbophyllum acutiflorum A. Rich. 

= Bulbophyllum albidum (Wight) 

Hook. f. 

E + + + + 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 

13 

14 

15 

Bulbophyllum aureum (Hook. f.) 

J.J. Sm. 

Bulbophyllum elegantulum 

(Rolfe) J.J. Sm. 

Bulbophyllum fimbriatum (Lindl.) 

Rchb.f. 

Bulbophyllum fuscopurpureum 

Wight 

Bulbophyllum kaitiense Rchb. f. 

= Cirrhopetalum nilgherrense 

Wight 

Bulbophyllum keralense M. 

Kumar & Sequiera 

Bulbophyllum mysorense (Rolfe) 

J.J. Sm. 

Bulbophyllum nodosum (Rolfe) 

J.J. Sm. 

= Rhytionanthos nodosum (Rolfe) 

Garay 

E + + + 

E + + + + 

E + + + + + + 

E + + + + + 

E + + + + + + + 

E + + 

E + + + + 

E + + 

16 Bulbophyllum orezii C.S. Kumar E + + 

17 

18 

19 

20 

Bulbophyllum proudlockii (King & 

Pantl.) J.J. Sm. 

Bulbophyllum rheedei Manilal 

& C.S. Kumar = Rhytionanthos 

rheedei (Manilal & C.S. Kumar) 

Garay 

Bulbophyllum rosemarianum 

C.S.Kumar, P.C.S.Kumar & 

Saleem 

Bulbophyllum silentvalliensis M.P. 

Sharma & S.K. Srivast. 

E + + + + 

E + + 

E + + 

E + + 

21 Bulbophyllum tremulum Wight E + + + + 

22 

23 

24 

25 

Cheirostylis seidenfadeniana 

C.S. Kumar & F.N. Rasm. 

Chiloschista glandulosa Blatt. & 

McCann 

Coelogyne mossiae Rolfe 

= Coelogyne glandulosa var. 

bournei S. Das & S.K. Jain 

= Coelogyne glandulosa var. 

sathyanarayanae S. Das & S.K. 

Jain 

Coelogyne nervosa A. Rich. 

= Coelogyne glandulosa Lindl. 

E + + 

E + + + 

E + + + 

E + + + + 

3418 





26 

27 

28 

29 

Conchidium filiforme (Wight) 

Rauschert 

= Eria dalzellii (Hook. ex Dalzell) 

Lindl. 

Conchidium microchilos (Dalzell) 

Rauschert 

= Eria microchilos (Dalzell) Lindl. 

= Eria tiagii Manilal, C.S. Kumar 

& J.J. Wood 

Conchidium nanum (A. Rich.) 

Brieger 

= Eria nana A. Rich. 

= Eria muscicola var. brevilinguis 

J. Joseph & V. Chandras. 

Dendrobium anamalayanum 

Chandrab., V. Chandras & N.C. 

Nair 





E + + + + + 

E + + + + + + 

E + + + + 

E + + + 

30 Dendrobium aqueum Lindl. E + + + + + + + + 

31 Dendrobium barbatulum Lindl. E + + + + + + + 

32 

Dendrobium diodon subsp. 

kodayarensis Gopalan & A.N. 

Henry 

E + + 

33 Dendrobium heyneanum Lindl. E + + + + + 

34 Dendrobium nanum Hook. f. E + + + + + + 

35 Dendrobium lawianum Lindl. E + + + + 

+ 

36 Dendrobium microbulbon A. Rich. E + + + + + + + 

37 

Dendrobium nodosum Dalzell 

= Flickingeria nodosa (Dalzell) 

Seidenf. 

E + + + + + + 

38 Dendrobium ovatum (L.) Kraenzl. E + + + + + + + + + + 

39 

40 

Dendrobium wightii A.D. Hawkes 

& A.H. Heller 

Didymoplexis seidenfadenii 

C.S. Kumar & Ormerod 

E + + + + 

H + + 

41 Diplocentrum congestum Wight E + + + + 

42 

Disperis monophylla Blatt. ex 

C.E.C. Fisch. 

T + + 

43 Eria albiflora Rolfe E + + + + 

44 

45 

Eria exilis Hook. f. 

= Porpax chandrasekharanii 

Bhargavan & C.N. Mohanan 

Eria meghasaniensis (S. Misra) 

S. Misra 

E + + + + + + 

E + + 

46 Eria mysorensis Lindl. E + + + + + 

47 Eria pauciflora Wight E + + + 

48 Eria pseudoclavicaulis Blatt. E + + + 

49 Eulophia emilianae Saldanha T + + 

+ 

50 Eulophia ochreata Lindl. T + + + + + + + 

51 Eulophia pratensis Lindl. T + + + 

52 

53 

54 

Gastrochilus flabelliformis (Blatt. 

& McCann) C.J. Saldanha 

Gastrodia silentvalleyana C.S. 

Kumar, P.C.S. Kumar, Sibi & S. 

Anil Kumar 

Habenaria barnesii Summerh. ex 

C.E.C. Fisch. 

E + + + + 

H + + 

T + + + 

55 Habenaria caranjensis Dalzell T + + 


3419








56 Habenaria cephalotes Lindl. T + + + + + 

57 Habenaria crassifolia A. Rich. T + + + + + + + + 

58 Habenaria elliptica Wight T + + + + 

59 Habenaria elwesii Hook. f. T + + + + + 

60 

61 

62 

Habenaria flabelliformis 

Summerh. ex C.E.C. Fisch. 

Habenaria foliosa A. Rich. 

= Habenaria digitata var. gibsonii 

(Hook.f.) C.E.C. Fisch. 

= Habenaria foliosa var. foetida 

(Blatt. & McCann) Bennet 

= Habenaria foliosa var. gibsonii 

(Hook. f.) Bennet 

= Habenaria gibsonii Hook. f. 

= Habenaria gibsonii var. foetida 

Blatt. & McCann 

Habenaria grandifloriformis Blatt. 

& McCann 

T + + 

T + + + + + + 

T + + + + + + + + + 

63 Habenaria heyneana Lindl. T + + + + + + + 

64 

65 

Habenaria hollandiana Santapau 

= Habenaria indica C.S. Kumar 

& Manilal 

Habenaria longicornu Lindl. 

= Habenaria decipiens Wight 

T + + + + + + + 

T + + + + + 

66 Habenaria multicaudata Sedgw. T + + + + + + 

67 Habenaria ovalifolia Wight T + + + + + 

68 

Habenaria pallideviridis Seidenf. 

ex K.M. Matthew 

T + + 

69 Habenaria panigrahiana S. Misra T + + 

70 

71 

72 

Habenaria panigrahiana var. 

parviloba S. Misra 

Habenaria panchganiensis 

Santapau & Kapadia 

Habenaria periyarensis Sasidh., 

K.P. Rajesh & Augustine 

T + + 

T + + 

T + + 

73 Habenaria perrottetiana A. Rich. T + + + + 

74 Habenaria polyodon Hook. f. T + + 

75 

Habenaria ramayyana Ram. 

Chary & J.J. Wood 

T + + 

76 Habenaria rariflora A. Rich. T + + + + + + + + 

77 Habenaria richardiana Wight T + + + 

78 Habenaria suaveolens Dalzell T + + + + 

79 

Ipsea malabarica (Rchb. f.) 

Hook. f. 

T + + + 

80 Liparis beddomei Ridl. E + + 

81 Liparis biloba Wight E + + + 

82 Liparis platyphylla Ridl. E + + + 

83 

84 

Liparis vestita Rchb. f. 

= Liparis espeevijii S. Misra 

Liparis walakkadensis M. Kumar 

& Sequiera 

E + + 

E + + 

85 Luisia abrahamii Vatsala E + + 

86 

Luisia macrantha Blatt. & 

McCann 

E + + + 

3420 





87 

Malaxis crenulata (Ridl.) Kuntze 

= Seidenfia crenulata (Ridl.) 

Szlach. 





T + + 

88 

Malaxis intermedia (A. Rich.) 

Seidenf. 

= Seidenfia intermedia (A. Rich.) 

T + + + + 

Szlach. 

89 Nervilia hispida Blatt. & McCann. T + + 

90 

Oberonia agastyamalayana C.S. 

Kumar 

E + + 

91 Oberonia anamalayana Joseph E + + 

92 Oberonia balakrishnanii R. Ansari E + + 

93 Oberonia bellii Blatt. & McCann E + + 

94 

Oberonia brachyphylla Blatt. & 

McCann 

E + + + 

95 Oberonia brunoniana Wight E + + + + + + + + + 

96 

Oberonia chandrasekharanii V.J. 

Nair, V.S. Ramach. & R. Ansari 

E + + + 

97 Oberonia josephi C.J. Saldanha E + + 

98 

99 

Oberonia nayarii R. Ansari & R. 

Balakrishnan 

Oberonia proudlockii King & 

Pantl. 

E + + + + 

E + + + + + + 

100 Oberonia platycaulon Wight E + + + + 

101 Oberonia santapaui Kapadia E + + + + + + + 

102 

103 

104 

Oberonia sebastiana B.V. Shetty 

& Vivek. 

Oberonia seidenfadeniana J. 

Joseph & Vajr. 

Oberonia swaminathanii 

Ratheesh, Manudev & Sujanapal 

E + + + 

E + + + 

E + + 

105 Oberonia verticillata Wight E + + + + + + 

106 

Oberonia wynadensis Sivad. & 

R.T. Balakrishnan 

E + + 

107 Odisha cleistantha S.Misra T + + + 

108 

Paphiopedilum druryi (Bedd.) 

Stein 

T + + + 

109 Peristylus brachyphyllus A. Rich T + + + 

110 Peristylus lancifolius A. Rich. T + + + 

111 

112 

Peristylus stocksii (Hook. f.) 

Kraenzl. 

Pinalia polystachya (A. Rich.) 

Kuntze 

T + + + + + 

E + + + 

113 Porpax jerdoniana (Wight) Rolfe E + + + + + + 

114 Pteroceras indicum Punekar E + + 

115 

116 

117 

118 

119 

Pteroceras monsooniae Sasidh. 

& Sujanapal 

Robiquetia josephiana Manilal & 

C.S. Kumar 

Saccolabium congestum (Lindl.) 

Hook. f. 

Schoenorchis jerdoniana (Wight) 

Garay 

Schoenorchis latifolia (C.E.C. 

Fisch.) Saldanha 

E + + 

E + + + 

E + + 

E + + + + + + + 

E + 

+ 


3421




120 

121 

122 

Schoenorchis manilaliana M. 

Kumar & Sequiera 

Seidenfadeniella rosea (Wight) 

C.S. Kumar 

Smithsonia maculata (Dalzell) 

Saldanha 





E + + 

E + + + 

E + + + + + 

123 Smithsonia straminea Saldanha E + + + 

124 

125 

Smithsonia viridiflora (Dalzell) 

Saldanha 

Taeniophyllum scaberulum 

Hook. f. 

E + + + + 

E + + 

126 Trias bonaccordensis C.S. Kumar E + + + 

127 Trias stocksii Benth. ex Hook. f. E + + + + + 

128 

129 

Xenikophyton seidenfadenianum 

M. Kumar 

Xenikophyton smeeanum 

(Rchb.f.) Garay 

E + + 

E + + + + 

130 Zeuxine lindleyana A.N. Rao T + + 

Total 123 29 22 7 14 36 71 95 80 11 12 

T - Terrestrial; E - Epiphytic; H - Holomycotrophic; WG - Western Ghats; EG - Eastern Ghats; Gu - Gujarat; Go - Goa; MH - Maharashtra; KA- 

Karnataka; KE - Kerala; TN - Tamil Nadu; AP- Andhra Pradesh; OD - Odisha 

Discussion 

Endemic taxa occur in a restricted area usually 

isolated by geographical or temporal barriers 

(Ahmedullah & Nayar 1987). The endemic taxa 

occurring in such isolated/restricted areas are possible 

survivors of their ancient stock that occurred in 

continental areas which were subjected to cataclysmic 

geological and climatic changes (Nayar 1996). The 

major concentrations of endemic orchid species are 

found in the Western Ghats (Subramanayam & Nayar 

1974). Agasthyamalai Hills, Anamalai-High Ranges, 

Nilgiris-Silent Valley-Waynad-Kodagu region, 

Shimoga-Kanara, Mahabaleswar-Khandala and 

Konkan-Raigad are some of the important centers of 

endemism in the Western Ghats. Ninety five endemic 

orchid species are particularly restricted to these areas. 

Eastern Ghats have geological antiquity with isolated 

mountain ranges. The Eastern Ghats have some 

“ecological islands” that harbor endemic orchids. These 

are Ganjam-Koraput range in Odisha, Visakhapatnam 

Hills, Nallamalai-Cuddappah range and Tirupati 

Hills of Andhra Pradesh. Though Eastern Ghats 

possess a few rich forest patches, it has been poorly 

explored floristically as compared to Western Ghats. 

Eria meghasaniensis (S. Misra) S. Misra, Habenaria 

panigrahiana S. Misra, Habenaria panigrahiana var. 

parviloba S. Misra, Odisha cleistantha S. Misra and 

Zeuxine lindleyana A.N. Rao are strictly endemic to 

Odisha State. Aerides maculosa Lindl., Bulbophyllum 

kaitiense (Wight) Rchb.f., Dendrobium aqueum Lindl., 

Dendrobium ovatum (L.) Kraenzl., Eulophia ochreata 

Lindl., Habenaria crassifolia A. Rich., Habenaria 

foliosa A. Rich., Habenaria grandifloriformis Blatt. 

& McCann, Habenaria hollandiana Santapau, 

Habenaria rariflora A. Rich., Oberonia brunoniana 

Wight, Oberonia proudlockii King & Pantl., Oberonia 

santapaui Kapadia, Oberonia verticillata Wight and 

Schoenorchis jerdoniana (Wight) Garay have very 

wide distribution in the peninsular region. 

The endemic orchids of the peninsular region are 

facing various kinds of localized threats like livestock 

grazing and forest fires as well as landscape-level threats 

such as mining, construction of roads, large as well as 

micro-hydal power projects, wind farms, large-scale 

agricultural expansion and creation of monoculture 

plantations. To cite an example Paphiopedilum druryi 

(Bedd.) Stein. which was once found in plenty in 

Agastyamalai Hills in southern India is now difficult 

to locate. 

3422 




Table. 2. Species earlier considered endemic but distributed in other regions 

Sno Plant name Distribution References 

1 Anoectochilus elatus Lindl. Sri Lanka Fernando & Ormerod 2008 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

Bulbophyllum xylophyllum E.C. Parish & Rchb. f. 

= Bulbophyllum agastyamalayanum Gopalan & 

A.N. Henry 

Bulbophyllum sterile (Lam.) Suresh 

= Bulbophyllum nilgherrense Wight 

Chrysoglossum ornatum Blume 

= Chrysoglossum hallbergii Blatt. 

Bulbophyllum fischeri Seidenf. 

= Cirrhopetalum gamblei Hook. f. 

Bulbophyllum sarcophyllum (King & Pantl.) 

J.J. Sm. 

= Cirrhopetalum panigrahianum (S.Misra) 

S. Misra 

China, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam Rao 1998; Govaerts et al. 2012 

Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar Lucksom 2007; Govaerts et al. 2012 

Nepal, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, 

Sumatra, Java 

Sri Lanka, Indo-China 

Lucksom 2007; Raskoti 2009; Govaerts 

et al. 2012 

Fernando & Ormerod 2008; Govaerts 

et al. 2012 

Nepal and Myanmar Lucksom 2007; Govaerts et al. 2012 

7 Dendrobium herbaceum Lindl. Bangladesh Govaerts et al. 2012 

8 Dendrobium jerdonianum Wight Sri Lanka Govaerts et al. 2012 

9 Dendrobium panduratum Lindl. Sri Lanka Govaerts et al. 2012 

10 

Dendrobium salaccense (Blume) Lindl. 

= Dendrobium cathcartii Hook. f. 

Sri Lanka, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, 

Vietnam 

Fernando & Ormerod 2008; Wu & Hong 

2009; Govaerts et al. 2012 

11 Disperis neilgherrensis Wight Sri Lanka, Thailand, Java Kurzweil 2005; Govaerts et al. 2012 

12 Eria reticosa Wight Sri Lanka, E. Himalaya Govaerts et al. 2012 

13 

Eulophia flava (Lindl.) Hook. f. 

= Eulophia cullenii (Wight) Blume 

Nepal, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam Wu & Hong 2009; Govaerts et al. 2012 

14 Habenaria roxburghii Nicolson Sri Lanka Fernando & Ormerod 2008 

15 

Habenaria digitata Lindl. 

= Habenaria travancorica Hook. f. 

Uttarakhand, Assam, Nepal, 

Bangladesh, Laos, Myanmar 

Khanam et al. 2001; Govaerts et al. 

2012 

16 Habenaria longicorniculata Graham Sri Lanka Govaerts et al. 2012 

17 

18 

19 

20 

21 

Hetaeria oblongifolia Blume 

= Hetaeria ovalifolia (Wight) Hook. f. 

Luisia tenuifolia Blume 

= Luisia evangelinae Blatt. & McCann 

Nervilia concolor (Blume) Schltr. 

= Nervilia scottii (Rchb.f.) Schltr. 

Oberonia wightiana Lindl. 

= Oberonia arnottiana Wight 

Pachystoma pubescens Blume 

= Pachystoma hirsuta (J. Joseph & Vajr.) C.S. 

Kumar & Manilal 

Bangladesh, Thailand, Myanmar, Java Govaerts et al. 2012 

Sri Lanka Fernando & Ormerod 2008 

Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar Govaerts et al. 2012 


China, Taiwan, Nepal, Cambodia, Laos, 

Myanmar 

Govaerts et al. 2012 

22 Peristylus lawii Wight Nepal, Myanmar Govaerts et al. 2012 

23 Peristylus spiralis A.Rich. Sri Lanka Fernando & Ormerod 2008 

24 

25 

Phalaenopsis mysorensis C.J. Saldanha 

= Kingidium niveum C.S. Kumar 

Thrixspermum musciflorum A.S. Rao & J. Joseph 

= Thrixspermum musciflorum var. nilagiricum J. 

Joseph & Vajr. 


Arunanchal Pradesh Lucksom 2007; Govaerts et al. 2012 

26 Vanda wightii Rchb. f. Sri Lanka Fernando & Ormerod 2008 

27 

Vanilla wightii Lindl. ex Wight 

= Vanilla wightiana Lindl. 

Sri Lanka Arenas & Cribb 2010 


3423


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Indian region—Vol. 1. Peninsular India, Botanical Survey 

of India, Calcutta, 262pp. 

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3425


Ecology and conservation status of canebrakes in 

Warangal District of Andhra Pradesh, India 

Sateesh Suthari 1 & Vatsavaya S. Raju 2 

1,2 

Plant Systematics Laboratory, Department of Botany, Kakatiya University, Warangal, Andhra Pradesh 506009, India 

Email: 1 suthari.botany@gmail.com, 2 rajuvatsavaya@gmail.com (corresponding author) 

Abstract: The article describes cane-cum-bat roost site at 

Palampet (Warangal District, Andhra Pradesh, India). Although 

notified as a cane reserve by the state government, it is not spared 

off the usual habitat depletion and destruction. The functional 

pyramid formed of Calamus-Terminalia-Pteropus is reported 

here as first of its kind. This article also places on record seven 

more cane sites besides noting the importance of the ecology of 

Morancha Vagu and stressing the need for preserving its banks 

by planting Calamus rotang L. Ecological education to the local 

people about biodiversity value and conservation at all levels of 

its organization is called for. 

Keywords: Bat roosting, canebrakes, conservation, Palampet, 

Terminalia. 




Editor: Sampath Kumar 


Ms # o3207 

Received 18 May 2012 

Final received 04 December 2012 

Finally accepted 11 December 2012 

Citation: Suthari, S. & V.S. Raju (2012). Ecology and conservation status 

of canebrakes in Warangal District of Andhra Pradesh, India. Journal of 


Copyright: © Sateesh Suthari & Vatsavaya S. Raju 2012. Creative 

Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. JoTT allows unrestricted use 

of this article in any medium for non-profit purposes, reproduction and 

distribution by providing adequate credit to the authors and the source of 

publication. 

Acknowledgements: Sateesh Suthari is obliged to Dr. V.K. Dadhwal, 

Project Director, NCP (IGBP), Dr. Sarnam Singh (Deputy Project Director), 

IIRS, Dehra Dun, for the financial assistance through Vegetation Carbon 

Pool study. The authors thank the officials of the Andhra Pradesh Forest 

Department in general and Dr. B. Prabhakar, DFO, Warangal North Forest 

Division, in particular for his concern to conserve cane site and allowing 

us to assess its stand structure, Dr. C. Srinivasulu (Osmania University, 

Hyderabad) for identifying the bat species, and the Head, Department of 

Botany, Kakatiya University, Warangal, for facilities. 


Canes are one of the principal non-timber forest 

product (NTFP) species in India. Canes are otherwise 

called rattans (‘rotan’ is the local Malaya term for 

cane). Indonesia dominates rattan export whilst China 

is a major rattan importer with 59% of global imports 

(Hirschberger 2011). Concerned by the reports of 

depleting rattan resource in the native habitats, World 

Wildlife Fund (WWF) has been piloting new initiatives 

focusing on rattan sustainability and traceability since 

2009 (Hirschberger 2011). In India, the ‘lepidocaryoid’ 

lianas of Arecaceae comprise about 60 species 

spread among four genera, namely, Calamus L., 

Daemonorops Blume ex Schult.f., Korthalsia Blume 

and Plectocomia Mart. & Blume, and distributed in 

three major phytogeographical areas—peninsular 

India, eastern Himalaya and Andaman Nicobar Islands 

(Renuka 2001). Of these, Calamus (Gr. calamos = 

reed) is the largest of the palm genera with around 375 

species (Sunderland 2012). The canes are spiny palms 

belonging to the pantropical subfamily Calamoideae of 

Arecaceae with its members mostly climbing, trailing 

and acauliscent phanerophytes. 

Canebrakes in Andhra Pradesh 

In the “Flora of the Presidency of Madras”, Fischer 

(1932) accounted three species of Calamus from 

coastal districts of the present-day Andhra Pradesh. 

They are, as we assess: (i) C. latifolia Roxb. reported 

from Madgole [Madugula] Hills of Visakhapatnam 

and Dharwada of West Godavari (Ramarao & Henry 

1996), where it is called ‘pemu, peda peka bettam’; 

(ii) C. rotang L. reported as bettam from the drier 

tracts of Kurnool, Nellore and Vizianagaram districts. 

Also recorded from Warangal District along the 

Morancha channel and below the Ramappa tank 

(Khan 1953) of Telangana (former Hyderabad State) 

and Kambakkam Hills of Chittoor District (Chetty 

et al. 2008) of Rayalaseema; and (iii) C. viminalis 

3426 


Canebrakes in Warangal 

Willd. reported from Visakhapatnam District and 

Rampa Hills of East Godavari (Fischer 1932), as well 

from Isakagadda-Seethampet in Srikakulam District 

(G.V. Subbarao 62464: collection at MH). Although 

two cane species are known from Visakhapatnam 

District, Subbarao & Kumari (2008) reported only C. 

viminalis var. fasciculatus (Roxb.) Becc. as a rare cane 

in shade and/or moist localities. It has declined due 

to coffee plantation and ‘podu’ (shifting) cultivation 

(Subbarao & Kumari 2008). Curiously, it is the only 

cane species that was reported to be associated with 

bamboo (‘veduru’ in Telugu) in Vedurupalli Village in 

the region (Subbarao & Kumari 2008). Due to canal 

construction near Krishnanandi (Kurnool District), the 

entire dense population of Calamus rotang disappeared 

in a span of two decades (Ellis 2002) despite being 

continuously fed by the spring waters of Mahanandi. 

Warangal District has a canebrake near Ramappa 

Temple, Palampet, in a small area. It was mapped 

and described by Reddy et al. (2008). For its existing 

biodiversity value, this canebrake was proposed 

for on-site conservation by Andhra Pradesh State 

Biodiversity Board. It is the sole, somewhat big patch 

of cane of about 2ha (which occupied 11.4ha in 1974 

and 5.3ha in 2004 - a decline of 53.5% of the area in 

three decades and about 28.23% loss in the last eight 

years) (pers. obs.), known to survive in the whole of 

Telangana region. The present article is a sequel to 

the recent concerted efforts by the local people to burn 

and convert the cane-habitat-cum-bat-roosting site into 

paddy fields, notwithstanding the fact that is a notified 

reserve residing alongside the road, proximate to the 

Ramappa Temple and Palampet Village. 


1. New canebrake sites discovered: During the 

aboveground vegetational carbon estimation study, 

the authors discovered a series of canebrakes (Suthari 

& Raju 2011) though smaller and patchy along the 

downstream and away from Ramappa tank in a 5km 

stretch in the northwestern direction. It is locally 

called ‘chapa barige teega’. Besides the main patch 

(18 0 15’42.5’’N & 79 0 57’02.9’’E; 201m), the following 

eight new cane sites are found along Morancha Vagu 

and reported here for the first time (Table 1). 

2. Ecology of canebrake at Palampet: In order to 

know the health status of the cane (Calamus rotang 

L.) ecosystem (Palampet Village, Mandal Venkatapur, 

Table 1. New cane patches discovered along the 

downstream of Ramappa and Morancha Vagu. 

Latitude Longitude Altitude (m) 

1 18 0 15’05.8’’ 79 0 56’28.4’’ 205* 

2 18 0 17’02.0’’ 79 0 56’59.3’’ 200 

3 18 0 17’12.9’’ 79 0 56’52.9’’ 199 

4 18 0 17’16.9’’ 79 0 56’52.6’’ 199 

5 18 0 17’19.0’’ 79 0 56’57.7’’ 199 

6 18 0 17’24.7’’ 79 0 57’02.0’’ 198 

7 18 0 17’33.0’’ 79 0 57’01.5’’ 198 

8 18 0 19’43.8’’ 79 0 52’41.8’’ 193** 

S. Suthari & V.S. Raju 

* - Near Ramappa tank; ** - Morancha Vagu, near Dharmaraopet 

Division Mulugu, Warangal District), the ecology of 

the habitat was studied. It is to gather baseline data and 

to find indicator species to facilitate the monitoring of 

vegetational changes due to the driving abiotic and/or 

biotic factors. 

Abiotic environment: It is a prevailing tropical 

environment, with additional humidity realized 

by evapotranspiration from the great water body 

(Ramappa tank) nearby and transpiration from the 

wet paddy fields all around. The region receives 

southwest monsoon between May–August and the 

annual rainfall is 1100mm. The annual temperature 

ranges from 30–43 0 C. Morancha Vagu, the natural 

drain from Ramappa tank with its twists and turns, 

ensures water flow throughout the year and runs about 

35km serving as a drain-cum-water provider to about 

4,856.23ha of agricultural land before emptying into 

Maneru, a tributary of the Godavari River. The sandy 

loam with rich litter contributed by cane and deciduous 

trees and buttresses of arjuna trees holding the wet soil, 

collectively created the swamp. The local temperature 

is 2–3 0 C lesser than the surroundings. 

Biotic environment: It is a tropical dry deciduous 

forest dominated by riparian elements such as 

Terminalia arjuna (Roxb. ex DC.) Wight & Arn. and 

Barringtonia acutangula Gaertn. 

(A) Animal communities residing, resting, foraging 

and passing through the canebrake: The conspicuous 

elements are the noisy fruit bats, Pteropus giganteus 

Brünnich, 1782 roosting on tree tops, Apis dorsata 

Fabricius, 1793 (Giant Honey Bees) housing and 

abandoning the hives on high branches of Arjuna Tree, 

butterfly species (largely members of families Pieridae 

(whites and sulphurs) and Papilionidae (swallow- 


3427


tails) as pollinators, dragonflies, water insects, beetles, 

besides the grazers like cattle, sheep and goats. About 

20 monkeys (Macaca mulatta Zimmermann, 1780: 

Cercopithecidae) including young ones were found 

resting. No conflict was noticed between bats and 

bees, birds or monkeys in our visits. 

(B) Plant Community inside and bordering the 

Canebrake: The species are presented according to the 

growth habit and habitat: (a) Trees - top storey: (i) 

Indigenous forest elements: Albizia odoratissima (L.f.) 

Benth., Cordia dichotoma G. Forst., Ficus virens Aiton, 

Holarrhena pubescens Wall., Holoptelea integrifolia 

(Roxb.) Planch., Terminalia arjuna and T. bellirica 

(Gaertn.) Roxb., (ii) Planted/Naturalized species: 

Acacia nilotica (L.) Delile, Albizia saman (Jacq.) F. 

Muell., Millingtonia hortensis L.f., Prosopis cineraria 

Druce and P. juliflora (Sw.) DC.; (b) Trees - under 

storey (small trees to shrubs): Alangium salviifolium 

(L.f.) Wangerin, Barringtonia acutangula (L.) Gaertn. 

(along the stream), Butea monosperma (Lam.) Taub, 

Ficus hispida L.f., Grewia tiliifolia Vahl, Pavetta indica 

L., Steblus asper Lour. and Strychnos nux-vomica L.; 

(c) Palms/Lianas: Calamus rotang is the predominant 

ascending palm in the core area besides the few planted 

and/or running wild Borassus flabellifer L. and Phoenix 

sylvestris (L.) Roxb. and the liana Derris scandens 

(Roxb.) Benth. along the margin of the swamp; (d) 

Climbers/stragglers: Abrus precatorius L., Capparis 

oblongifolia Forssk., C. zeylanica L., Cardiospermum 

halicacabum L. var. microcarpum (Kunth) Blume, 

Coccinea grandis (L.) J. Voigt, Desmodium triflorum 

(L.) DC., Gymnema sylvestre (Retz.) Schult., Ipomoea 

sepiaria J. Koenig ex Roxb., Momordica charantia 

L., Momordica dioica Roxb. ex Willd., Olax scandens 

Roxb., Operculina turpethum (L.) Silva Manso, 

Phyllanthus reticulatus Poir., Teramnus labialis (L.f.) 

Spreng., Tinospora cordifolia (Willd.) Miers, Tragia 

plukenetii Radcl.-Sm. and Tylophora indica (Burm.f.) 

Merr.; and (e) Ground cover: Achyranthes aspera L., 

Abutilon indicum (L.) Sweet, Anisomeles indica (L.) 

Kuntze, Boerhavia diffusa L., Cynodon dactylon (L.) 

Pers., Cyperus rotundus L., Grangea maderaspatana 

(L.) Desf., Heliotropium indicum L., Kyllinga odorata 

Vahl, Phyllanthus amarus Schumach. & Thonn., 

Plumbago zeylanica L. and Urena lobata L. 

Vegetation of the stream: (a) Aquatic: (i) Rootedsubmerged: 

Ottelia alismoides (L.) Pers.; (ii) Rootedemergent: 

Actinoscirpus grossus (L.f.) Goetgh. & D.A. 


Simpson, Ludwigia octovalvis (Jacq.) P.H. Raven, 

Nymphaea nouchali Burm.f., Persicaria barbata (L.) 

H. Hara and P. hydropiper (L.) Delarbre in the middle of 

the stream and Aeschynomene indica L., Alternanthera 

sessilis (L.) R. Br. ex DC., Ammannia baccifera L., 

Echinochloa colona (L.) Link, Eclipta prostrata (L.) 

L., Hygrophila auriculata (Schumach.) Heine and 

Ipomoea aquatica Forssk. along the margins, and (b) 

Amphibious: Centella asiatica (L.) Urb., Cyanotis 

axillaris (L.) D. Don ex Sweet, Ludwigia perennis L., 

Melochia corchorifolia L., Phyla nodiflora (L.) Green 

and Phyllanthus debilis Klein ex Willd. 

Alien invasives: Along the margin of the canebrake 

are Ageratum conyzoides L., Chromolaena odorata 

(L.) R.M. King & H. Rob., Lantana × aculeata L., 

Senna auriculata (L.) Roxb., S. obtusifolia (L.) H.S. 

Irwin & Barneby, S. occidentalis (L.) Roxb., S. 

sophera (L.) Roxb., Waltheria indica L. and Xanthium 

strumarium L. among the herbs and Millingtonia 

hortensis (found only one tree, planted along the 

roadside and spreading with root suckers), Zizyphus 

mauritiana L. and saplings of Azadirachta indica A. 

Juss. (future threat) amongst the running wild trees. 

Ipomoea fistulosa Mart. ex Choisy, the problematic 

amphibious plant species, occupied the mid stream at 

one place (Image 1g). 

Biodiversity 

The diversity of the canebrake, like any habitat can 

be looked at genetic, species and ecosystem levels. 

(a) Genetic level: Sreekumar & Renuka (2006) 

demonstrated the extent of genetic diversity at intraand 

inter-population levels in Calamus thwaitesii 

Becc., using molecular markers. Interestingly, 

the genetic polymorphism was discovered to be 

more within the population (70.79%) than the inter 

populations (29.21%). Such information is sought for 

C. rotang, for its populations across habitats in India. 

(b) Species level: The habitat is largely occupied 

by the population of a single species, Calamus rotang. 

It is a dioecious, trailing or ascending palm, with 

perennation by rhizome (Image 1j). Both pistillate and 

staminate plants were found with regular flowering and 

fruiting (Image 1b). For a sexually breeding dioecious 

species, sex ratios are important. In this primary 

report, the sex ratio and species diversity indices for 

the site could not be carried out since the habitat is a 

dense thicket and burnt in part. However, there are 

3428 



reports about the breeding system of this species being 

affected due to presence of either of the two morphs in 

a particular habitat. For example, among the planted 

canes at Lalbagh (Karnataka), the populations were 

staminate in C. rotang or pistillate in C. delessertianus 

Becc. (Manohara et al. 2007). 

(c) Ecosystem level: No significant differences in 

growth form, leaf size, cane diameter and phenology 

were noticed along the gradient, that is, altitude of 

the Morancha Vagu, down the stretch of 5km. The 

size of cane (4–6x6–8 m on canopy; 3x6 m on bank) 

was based on the stream bund maintained abutting 

the fields and the trees available for ascending. The 

consistent riparian element found was Barringtonia 

acutangula and at places, the invasive Ficus hispida 

providing the opportunity. The liana competitors are 

Derris scandens and Combretum album Pers. The 

leaves of Calamus are good in intercepting the splat 

effect of rain and thereby improving the water-holding 

capacity of the soil while its litter enriches the soil 

(Image 1c). The fruits are edible. 

If one looks at the cane singularly of the ecosystem, 

it is largely the alpha (population) diversity. It is 

due to the accompanied differences between the two 

morphs of this dioecious species. The beta diversity 

(inter-population variation that is with other patches of 

cane around) is limited. It is because of the presence 

of individuals (clones) of either of the two forms 

(staminate or pistillate) occurring in small patches 

along the Morancha vagu. 

Bat-cane axis: Bats are reported as a dispersal 

agent at least for Calamus thwaitesii whose pulpy 

fruits are sweet and edible (Renuka 1995; Sreekumar 

& Renuka 2006). Primates like macaques and human 

beings are fond of its fruits. This provides a functional 

link among bat-roosting, cane-farming and monkeys 

at places in India. 

Cane site as roost site: The canebrake with its 

associated co-dominant emergent tall-stature trees, 

especially the species Terminalia arjuna and T. 

bellirica (Combretaceae) harbours the Indian Flying 

Fox Pteropus giganteus Brünnich, 1782 native to 

India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, 

Myanmar and China. 

The genus Pteropus Brission, 1762 is represented 

by four species in South Asia. Pteropus giganteus, 

distributed throughout India, is a keystone species 

listed by IUCN as ‘Least Concerned’, for its wide 


distribution and colony-size. It is strongly colonial 

and roosts on high trees in large aggregations. It 

is primarily nocturnal, known for its ecological 

role as pollinator and seed disperser of native tree 

species thereby playing a positive role in tropical 

forest succession and biodiversity nesting. In India, 

Pteropus giganteus has a role in the pollination of 

very important, economic and ethnic plant Madhuca 

longifolia (J. Koenig ex L.) J.F. Macbr. (syn. M. 

latifolia; Nathan et al. 2009) which abounds locally 

aside the cultural value assigned—either considered 

sacred (Marimuthu 1988) or evil. It is phytophagous 

(feeding on fruits, petals and leaves) and is one of the 

13 species of fruit bats found in India. Despite the 

constructive role these bats play, all bat species except 

Salim Ali’s Fruit Bat (Latidens salimalii Thonglongya, 

1972) are categorized as vermin (which can be captured 

or killed) under Schedule V of the Indian Wildlife 

(Protection) Act, 1972 and amended acts. This needs 

to be reversed (Singaravelan et al. 2009). It is also 

the demand of the present authors since the ecological 

services rendered, such as the dispersal of pollen and 

fruit, outweigh the damage done to the ripe fruits of 

orchards. So, Pteropus giganteus is not to be regarded 

as a pest and instead efforts should be made to ensure 

its conservation (Mahamood-Ul-Hassan et al. 2010). 

Pteropus giganteus (vernacular ‘gabbilam’; Image 

1g inset) prefers the tall, robust, emergent (top canopy) 

trees, either heavily foliated, proximate to water 

bodies or near habitations, plantations and agricultural 

fields for roosting whilst feeding on fruits of wild and/ 

or cultivated plants like areca nut, banana, cashew, 

figs, guava, jackfruit, jamaican cherry, litchi, mango, 

papaya, plantain, sapota and tropical almond. Since 

more of these fruits are of cultivated trees, there is a 

conflict between bat conservation and fruit growers. 

Besides, Indian Flying Fox is increasingly not only 

deprived of natural choice of food but also its roosting 

sites. The threats are due to highway development and 

consequent felling of large/huge/aged-trees, rising of 

plantations of neotropical species and/or Australian 

species which bear no edible fruits, selective cutting 

of berry/drupe-bearing native trees in the forests for 

harvesting the fruits, fodder and NTFPs, application of 

pesticides, and capturing bats for the alleged medicinal 

values. The prime roost (arjuna) tree (Image 1h) is a 

well-known cardio-tonic plant besides bearing scores 

of other medicinal uses, serving as the food plant 


3429



Image 1. Canebrake cum bat (Indian Flying Fox) roost site. 

a - View of cane swamp in 2008; b - Fruits (unripe) of cane; c - Emerging cane shoot (ramet) and rich litter accrued; 

d - View of the canebrake after the recent man-made fire (January, 2012); e&f - Natural vegetation of the stream; 

g - Part of the bat roost in the southwest margin of the swamp (inset Pteropus ginganteus), note the invasive alien 

Ipomoea fistulosa choking the stream; h - Main roost on two trees (Terminalia bellirica and T. arjuna from left to right) in 

the core area; i - Dead cane and still burning cut base of Arjuna Tree; j - Regenerating cane and naked ground predisposed 

for invasives; k - The cane site discovered near Ghanpur (Mulugu). 

for tassar silk worm and its ecophysiological role 

(e.g. water-holding capacity, keeping the banks of 

streams intact; natural dispersal by its floating fruits 

with water movement and regeneration from stocks). 

Although coincidence, the wings are common to the 

roosting bat (Pteropus) and the fruits of preferred 

3430 



host the arjuna tree (Pentaptera arjuna as named by 

Roxburgh), providing buoyancy in media like air and 

waters, respectively. The other roost tree, Terminalia 

bellirica, is also an important medicinal plant species, 

being one of the ‘triphalas’ from which the Ayurvedic 

laxative ‘triphala churn’ is prepared. 

In wet evergreen forests of Western Ghats, tall huge 

trees of species of Calophyllum L., Dipterocarpus C.F. 

Gaertn., Garcinia L. and Pterocarpus Jacq. whereas 

the exotic and planted Australian trees like Casuarina 

equisetifolia L. along the coast and species of 

Eucalyptus LˊHér. elsewhere constituted the roosting 

trees for Pteropus giganteus. The liana associates of 

roost trees are species of Derris Lour., Entada Adans. 

and Smilax L. For the first time, Calamus rotang is 

added to this list. The ground of roost site is planted 

with thickets (by bat seeding) of Lantana × aculeata 

as buffer to deter the cattle and people so that the bats 

are undisturbed (Chakaravarty et al. 2008). In the 

present site, it is served by the cane, Streblus asper, 

Alangium salviifolium and the network of climbers 

mentioned above. In Karnataka, a bat roost site on 

one acre land was spared by a private individual for 

conservation as heritage site (Chakravarthy et al. 

2008). It is something exemplary. 

The bat species showed considerable fidelity with 

the present roost site and the corresponding author of 

this article has been observing the colony over the past 

25 years. The huge tall primary forest tree species 

are Terminalia arjuna (erra/tella/veru maddi) and 

Terminalia bellirica (tandra/tani). The former provided 

the required opportunity to the bat with its architecture 

(very high remote branching and radiant canopies), 

smooth shining bark which offers additional visibility 

during night. As we note, it offers a clear view to the 

bat and receives the cool breeze vertically from below 

and horizontally passing breeze from nearby Ramappa 

tank and wet paddy fields around, the required freefall 

take-off, and the coriaceous green foliage put forth 

every year convenes the desired shade, shelter and 

protection from the ultraviolet rays. The bats preferred 

only Terminalia species despite the presence of more 

or less equally tall and strong trees available around, 

monkey menace and Apis dorsata forming the hives. 

The bats were found changing among these trees 

and between the two sub-colonies along the stream, 

separated by 500m. Perhaps, this is the first record of 

Terminalia trees as bat roost. 


Threats to the conservation of cane-cum-bat 

roost site: The canes are known for their ethnic and 

economic uses besides the ecological role. Therefore, 

they are to be conserved forth right against the 

imminent threats like: (i) the occurrence of the cane 

in small or restricted (patchy) fragile ecosystems, (ii) 

habitat destruction, ‘podu’ cultivation and spread of 

fire-promoting invasive plant species with their litter, 

and (iii) monkey menace, grazing by cattle and fuelwood 

collection. 

Political ecology: This subject has an approach 

to increase our understanding of the relationship 

between resource control and governance though 

it has not yet deeply engaged with ethnic studies. 

The destiny of conservation of the present habitat 

at Palampet is mainly driven by the prevailing local 

politico-economic environment. The landless people, 

policy of the government towards ‘podu’ and ‘patta’, 

and the general psyche of the public towards forest 

lands predispose the cane site for land use conversion. 

Our personal enquiry revealed that the local people 

desire the land to be acquired for farming despite the 

consequences. It is because the cane-site is fertile land 

– an island amidst the sea of paddy fields. The people 

believe that the land is wasted by forest department 

to maintain an unworthy plant species (as the locals 

do not use it). They are encouraged by the fact that 

they could manage a portion of land adjoining the 

canebrake for a village common (i.e. burial ground). 

The local politicians and revenue officials concerned 

have their interplay, though it is not their domain. 

Therefore, it is impossible to conserve the surviving 

canebrake unless and until the villagers of Palampet 

are educated and convinced that this cane site is no 

less important than the nearby treasures such as the 

Ramappa temple or Ramappa Lake, both built by the 

Kakatiyas (c.1213). The swamp is to be surveyed and 

fenced and notified to the public through repeated 

announcements that it is a serious offence to cut or 

remove the cane or disturb the bats. One must see 

that the local school/college management adopts 

the site for biodiversity conservation and ecological 

studies by the students, and they are made party to the 

environmental education to the citizens of the villages 

around. 


3431


REFERENCES 

Chakravarthy, A.K., H.M. Yeshwanth, L.V. Kumar & 

N.R.P. Kumar (2008). Giant Indian Fruit Bat Pteropus 

giganteus Brünnich roost in Karnataka, South India: a 

case for preservation as a heritage site. Bat Net CCINSA 

Newsletter 9(1): 13–15. 

Chetty, K.M., K. Sivaji & K.T. Rao (2008). Flowering Plants 

of Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh, India. Students Offset 

Printers, Tirupati, 490pp. 

Ellis, J.L. (2002). Plant diversity niches in the Nallamalais of 

the Eastern Ghats, pp. 1–4. In: Proceeding of the National 

Seminar Conservation of Eastern Ghats. March 24–26, 

2002. Environment Protection Training and Research 

Institute, Hyderabad. 

Fischer, C.E.C. (1932). Flora of the Presidency of Madras. 

[Calamus: 1562–1568]. Vol. III. Adlard & Son, Limited, 

W.C. London, 1347-2017pp. 

Hirschberger, P. (2011). Global Rattan Trade: Pressure on 

Forest Resources, Analysis and Challenges. Ed. E. Duncan. 

WWF, Vienna, Austria, 81 pp. [http://awsassets.panda.org/ 

downloads/global_rattan_trade_report.pdf]. Downloaded 

on 08 May 2012. 

Khan, M.S. (1953). Forest Flora of Hyderabad State. 

Government Press, Hyderabad-Dn, 364pp+i-xix. 

Mahamood-Ul-Hassan, M., T.L. Gulraiz, S.A. Rana 

& A. Javid (2010). The diet of Indian Flying-Foxes 

(Pteropus giganteus) in urban habitats of Pakistan. Acta 

Chiropterologica 12(2): 341–347. 

Manohara, T.N., S.N. Ramaswamy & G.R. Shivamurthy 

(2007). Calamus - dwindling resources? Current Science 

92(3): 290–292. 

Marimuthu, G. (1988). The sacred Flying Fox of India. Bats 

6(2):10–11. 

Nathan, P.T., T. Karuppudurai, H. Raghuram & G. 

Marimuthu (2009). Bat foraging strategies and pollination 

of Madhuca latifolia (Sapotaceae) in southern India. Acta 

Chiropterologica 11(2): 435–441. 


Ramarao, N. & A.N. Henry (1996). The Ethnobotany of 

Eastern Ghats in Andhra Pradesh, India. Botanical Survey 

of India, Calcutta, 259 pp. 

Reddy, C.S., C. Pattanaik, E.N. Murthy & V.S. Raju (2008). 

Mapping and monitoring of Calamus rotang L. in adjoining 

areas of Ramappa Lake, Andhra Pradesh using remote 

sensing and GIS. Current Science 94(5): 575–577. 

Renuka, C. (1995). Reproductive biology of rattans. Report 

of an Expert Consultation held at Los Banos, Phillipines, 

8–11 May 1995, pp. 135–139. In: Williams, J.T., I.V.R. 

Rao & A.N. Rao (eds.). Genetic Enhancement of Bamboo 

and Rattan. Appendix 12. Scenario Publications (India), 

Noida. 

Renuka, C. (2001). Palms of India: status, threats and 

conservation strategies, pp. 197–209. In: Umashanker, 

R., K.N. Ganeshaiah & K.S. Bawa (eds.). Forest Genetic 

Resources: Status, Threats and Conservation Strategies. 

Oxford & IBH Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd., Calcutta. 

Singaravelan, N., G. Marimuthu & P.A. Racey (2009). 

Do fruit bats deserve to be listed as vermin in the Indian 

Wildlife (Protection) & amended acts? A critical review. 

Oryx 43(4): 608–613. 

Sreekumar, V.B. & C. Renuka (2006). Assessment of genetic 

diversity in Calamus thwaitesii Becc. (Arecaceae) using 

RAPD markers. Biochemical Systematics and Ecology 34: 

397–405. 

Subbarao, G.V. & G.R. Kumari (2008). Flora of 

Visakhapatnam District (Andhra Pradesh)–Vol. 2. Botanical 

Survey of India, Kolkata, 536pp. 

Sunderland, T.C.H. (2012). A taxonomic revision of the 

rattans of Africa (Arecaceae: Calamoideae). Phytotaxa 51: 

1–76. [http://www.mapress.com/phytotaxa/content/ 2012/f/ 

pt00051p076.pdf]. Downloaded on 01 October 2012. 

Suthari, S. & V.S. Raju (2011). Further discovery of 

canebrakes in Warangal District, Andhra Pradesh, p.34. 

National Conference on Plants and People, March 29–30, 

2011. Kakatiya University, Warangal. 

3432 


JoTT No t e 4(15): 3433–3435 

Recollection of a rare epiphytic orchid 

Taeniophyllum filiforme J.J. Sm. 

(Orchidaceae) after a lapse of 135 years 

from South Andaman Islands, India 

K. Karthigeyan 1 , R. Sumathi 2 & J. Jayanthi 3 

1 

Central National Herbarium, Botanical Survey of India, 

A.J.C.B. Indian Botanic Garden, P.O. Botanic Garden, Howrah, 

West Bengal 711103, India 

2 

Foundation for Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions 

(FRLHT), 74/2, Jarakabande Kaval, Attur Post (via Yelahanka), 

Bengaluru Karnataka 560064, India 

3 

Botanical Survey of India, Western Regional Centre, 

7 - Koregaon Road, Pune, Maharashtra 411001, India 

Email: 1 karthigeyan.murthy@gmail.com (corresponding author), 

2 

sumathi.ramamurthy@gmail.com, 3 jayanthi.bsi@gmail.com 

The genus Taeniophyllum Blume is a group of small 

monopodial, leafless epiphytic orchid with a minute 

central stem. The generic name denotes the tapewormlike 

long roots. The roots are green, contain chlorophyll 

that performs photosynthesis and the true leaves are 

reduced to tiny scales covering the stem. It belongs to 

the Vandeae group of the tribe Epidendroideae of the 

family Orchidaceae (Seidenfaden 1988; Seidenfaden& 

Wood 1992; Comber 2001; Mabberley 2008). So far 

170 species have been reported which are distributed 

from tropical Africa, India and Sri Lanka, East and 




Editor: N.P. Balakrishnan 


Ms # o2851 

Received 29 June 2011 

Final received 25 July 2012 


Citation: Karthigeyan, K., R. Sumathi & J. Jayanthi (2012). Recollection 

of a rare epiphytic orchid Taeniophyllum filiforme J.J. Sm. (Orchidaceae) 

after a lapse of 135 years from South Andaman Islands, India. Journal of 


Copyright: © K. Karthigeyan, R. Sumathi & J. Jayanthi 2012. Creative 

Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. JoTT allows unrestricted use 

of this article in any medium for non-profit purposes, reproduction and 

distribution by providing adequate credit to the authors and the source of 

publication. 

Acknowledgements: The authors are thankful to Dr. M. Sanjappa, Ex- 

Director, Dr. H.J. Chowdhery, Addl. Director (Retd.) and Dr. P.G. Diwakar, 

Joint Director, Botanical Survey of India for encouragement and facilities. 

They also thank Dr. D. Narasimhan and Dr. C. Livingstone, Madras Christian 

College, Tambaram for encouragement. 


Southeast Asia, to Australia and 

the Pacific Islands (Comber 1990; 

Mabberley 2008). Nine species are 

reported from India including four 

endemics (Kumar & Manilal 1994). Three species are 

known to occur in the Andaman Islands, namely, the 

endemic Taeniophyllum andamanicum N.P. Balakr. & 

Bhargava, T. filiforme J. J. Sm. and T. insulare Seidenf. 

(Rao 1986; Mathew 1998; Pandey & Diwakar 2008). 

The occurrence of Taeniophyllum filiforme in the 

Andaman Islands was first known when Dr. Lars 

Johnson identified this species from the collection 

made by Kurz from the South Andamans in 1867 

deposited in Kew. After that there was no record 

of this extremely rare species from the Andaman 

Islands and the occurrence of this interesting species 

remained a mystery. While inventorising the floristic 

diversity of Rutland Island during the year 2002 this 

flimsy orchid was found growing on the branches of 

Pterocarpus dalbergioides Roxb. ex DC. and only 

a few individuals were observed. On scrutiny of 

literature it was identified as Taeniophyllum filiforme, 

an extremely rare orchid in the inland forests of the 

Andaman Islands. The present collection of this tiny 

orchid from the tropical forests of South Andaman is 

a recollection after a lapse of 135 years. Since this 

orchid is leafless, only the green roots appear on the 

bark of trees, the pale yellow flowers are very short 

lived and this could be one of the reasons for being 

unnoticed over many years. Taeniophyllum filiforme 

is also listed in the CITES Appendix II by the World 

Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP WCMC 

2003). Detailed description and illustration along with 

notes on its ecology and distribution are provided for 

easy identification of this rare orchid. 

Taeniophyllum Blume, Bijdr. 355. 1825; Hook.f., 

Flora British India 6: 76. 1890. Lectotype: T. obtusum 

Blume. 

Taeniophyllum filiforme J.J. Sm. Bull. Inst. Bot. 

Buitenzorg 7: 4. 1900; Seidenf. in Opera Bot. 95: 

21. 1988; J.B. Comber in Orchids Java 360. 1990; 

Seidenf. & J.J. Wood in Orchids Penin. Malaysia & 

Singapore 579. 1992; J.B. Comber in Orchids Sumatra 

980. 2001. T. macrorrhizum Ridl. in Fl. Malay Penin. 

4: 176. 1924. (Fig. 1; Images 1&2). 

Epiphytes. Roots wiry, more or less flat, green. 

Inflorescence arising from the base, 1–2 flowered, 


Taeniophyllum filiforme from Andaman 

K. Karthigeyan et al. 

© K. Karthigeyan 

Image 1. Taeniophyllum filiforme habit 

© K. Karthigeyan 

Figure 1. Taeniophyllum filiforme J.J. Sm. 

a - Habit; b - Flower 

Image 2. Taeniophyllum filiforme close up view of flower 

ca. 5.5cm long, slender. Bracts ca. 1.5mm long, 

membranous. Flowers pale yellow, ca. 1x0.25 cm. 

Pedicel with ovary ca. 4x1 mm. Dorsal sepal narrowly 

oblong, ca. 4x1 mm, obtuse at apex. Lateral sepals 

narrowly oblong, ca. 4x1.5 mm, obtuse at apex. Petals 

oblong - lanceolate, ca. 4.5x1.5 mm, obtuse at apex. 

Lip fleshy, ca. 3.8 x 2.5 mm, pale yellow, sheathing the 

column; spur club - shaped, c. 4.5 x 1.8 mm. Column 

ca. 1mm long, with a long upwardly facing beak on 

the operculum. 

Specimen examined: 28.vi.2002, inland evergreen 

forests, Rutland Island, South Andamans, Andaman & 

Nicobar Islands, India, coll. K. Karthigeyan, 6086 Port 

Blair herbarium (PBL) (Image 3). 

Flowering & Fruiting: June–August. 

Ecology: Extremely rare; in the inland forests 

of Rutland Island growing on the tree trunks of 

Pterocarpus dalbergioides Roxb. ex DC. 

Distribution: India (Andaman Islands); Peninsular 

Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. 

Note: This species can easily escape from sight 

owing to its small leafless habit, green roots that grow 

on the tree trunks either near the forest floor or among 

the dense foliage of smaller twigs. This species is 

distributed in Peninsular Malaysia, Thailand and 

Indonesia. In the Andaman Islands only very few 

individuals were located from a single spot. 

REFERENCES 

Comber, J.B. (1990). Orchids of Java. Royal Botanic Gardens, 

Kew, 360pp. 

Comber, J.B. (2001). Orchids of Sumatra. Royal Botanic 

Gardens, Kew, 980pp. 

Kumar, C.S. & K.S. Manilal (1994). A Catalogue of Indian 

Orchids. Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh, Dehra Dun, 

85pp. 

Mabberley, D.J. (2008). Mabberley’s Plant-book: A Portable 

Dictionary of Plants: Utilizing Kubitzki’s The Families and 

Genera of Vascular Plants (1990) and Current Botanical 

3434 


Taeniophyllum filiforme from Andaman 

K. Karthigeyan et al. 

Literature, Arranged According to The Principles of 

Molecular Systematics - Edition 3. Cambridge University 

Press, xviii+1021pp. 

Mathew, S.P. (1998). A supplementary report on the flora and 

vegetation of the Bay Islands, India. Journal of Economic 

and Taxonomic Botany 22(2): 249–272. 

Pandey, R.P. & P.G. Diwakar (2008). An integrated check-list 

Flora of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India. Journal of 

Economic and Taxonomic Botany 32: 403–499. 

Rao, M.K.V. (1986). A preliminary report on the angiosperms 

of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Journal of Economic and 

Taxonomic Botany 8: 107–184. 

Seidenfaden, G. (1988). Orchid genera in Thailand. XIV. Fifty 

- Nine Vandoid genera. Opera Botanica 95: 1–398. 

Seidenfaden, G. & J.J. Wood (1992). The Orchids of 

Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore. Olsen & Olsen, 

Fredensborg, 579pp. 

UNEP WCMC (2003). Checklist of CITES Species. UNEP 

World Conservation Monitoring Centre, Cambridge, 1– 

339pp. 

Image 3. Herbarium of Taeniophyllum filiforme 


3435

JoTT No t e 4(15): 3436–3442 

Validation and documentation of rare 

endemic and threatened (RET) plants 

from Nilgiri, Kanuvai and Madukkarai 

forests of southern Western Ghats, 

India 

K.M. Prabhu Kumar 1 , V. Sreeraj 2 , Binu Thomas 3 , 

K.M. Manudev 4 & A. Rajendran 5 

1,2,3,5 

Department of Botany, Bharathiar University, Tamil Nadu 

641046, India 

4 

Department of Botany, St. Joseph’s College Devagiri, Kozhikode, 

Kerala 673008, India 

Email: 1 prabhumkrishna@gmail.com, 2 sreerajlakkidi@gmail.com, 

3 

binuthomasct@gmail.com (corresponding author), 

4 

manudevkmadhavan@gmail.com, 5 drarjendra@gmail.com, 






Ms # o3145 

Received 31 March 2012 

Final received 04 September 2012 



Western Ghats 

Special Series 

According to Nayar (1996) there are 60 endemic 

genera and 2,015 species of flowering plants endemic 

to peninsular India. The Western Ghats possess a high 

percentage of endemic species, about 48% of 4000 

species occur in this region (Gopalan & Henry 2000). 

The Western Ghats are on the brink of endemic plant 

Citation: Kumar, K.M.P., V. Sreeraj, B. Thomas, K.M. Manudev & A. 

Rajendran (2012). Validation and documentation of rare endemic and 

threatened (RET) plants from Nilgiri, Kanuvai and Madukkarai forests 

of southern Western Ghats, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 4(15): 

3436–3442. 

Copyright: © K.M. Prabhu Kumar, V. Sreeraj, Binu Thomas, K.M. Manudev 

& A. Rajendran 2012. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. 

JoTT allows unrestricted use of this article in any medium for non-profit 

purposes, reproduction and distribution by providing adequate credit to the 

authors and the source of publication. 

Acknowledgements: The authors are grately thankful to Vanya Orr 

and Siva Kumar, Earth Trust Nilgiris, Nilgiri and Godwin Vasanth Bosco, 

Organizing Secretary of NLRD Programme, Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, 

Nilgiri for giving facilities for this work. Thanks are also due to Dr. M. Sabu, 

Professor, Department of Botany, Calicut University for various helps and Mr. 

A.J. Robi, Research Scholar, KFRI, Peechi for the identification of Lauraceae 

species. We are also thankful to Mr. Mahadevan, Ms. Jayanthi, Ms. Sasi and 

Mr. Aravind, research scholars, Department of Botany, Bharathiar University 

for assistance during the field visit. 

collapse, about 1500 species have a 

highly fragmented population and 

at least 50 endemic species have 

not be relocated after repeated 

surveys (Nayar 1998). 

The current paper is an attempt to study the 

conservation assessment of rare, endemic and 

threatened species (RET) of the southern Western 

Ghats. As part of the Nilgiri Landscape Restoration 

Programme conducted by the British Council 

International Climate Champions in association with 

the Tamil Nadu Forest Department, (Nilgiris North & 

South Divisions), British Council India, Earth Trust 

Nilgiris, Edhkwelynawd Botanical Refuge, Nilgiris; 

the first author visited and validated the RET plants of 

Kolikorai, Melcoupe, Ammagal, Mukurthy National 

Park (MNP) and Doddabetta forests of the Nilgiri 

Biosphere Reserve. After that a detailed field survey 

was carried out by the authors in Kolikorai, Melcoupe, 

Kil Kothagiri, Longwood Shola and Kothagiri forests 

of Nilgiris with the help of Earth Trust Nilgiris, and 

many plants were identified and documented. As a 

part of this we also studied the status of RET plants in 

the Madukkarai Hills and Kanuvai Hills of Coimbatore 

District and recorded the details systematically. 

The Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve (NBR) is a part of 

SWG and a place of incredible diversity in landscape 

and life. It lies between 10 0 45’–12 0 N & 76 0 –77°15’E 

with a total area of 5520km 2 spread across the three 

states of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Altitude 

within the NBR varies from 250–2670 m, and the 

reserve encompasses a diversity of vegetation types, 

ranging from tropical evergreen to thorny scrub 

(Chandrasekhara 2005). NBR is one of the hot spots 

of the world with many rare, endemic and threatened 

plants (Fyson 1932; Nayar 1996). 

Madukkarai is located at 10.9 0 N & 76.97 0 E 

along the hill sides of the southern Western Ghats of 

Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu and also a part of Nilgiri 

Biosphere Reserve. The name “Madukkarai” originated 

from the colloquial use of the words “Mathil” (means 

great wall in Tamil) + “Karai” (means shore in Tamil). 

The publication of this article is supported by the Critical Ecosystem 

Partnership Fund (CEPF), a joint initiative of l’Agence Française 

de Développement, Conservation International, the European 

Commission, the Global Environment Facility, the Government of 

Japan, the MacArthur Foundation and the World Bank. 

3436 


RET plants of southern Western Ghats 

It has one of the oldest cement plants in India. The 

temperature ranges from 47.5 0 C and 16 0 C respectively 

(Jayanthi et al. 2011). Kanuvai Hills are located near 

Maruthamalai forests and the vegetation types are 

tropical dry deciduous forests and thorn shrub forests. 

Result and Discussion: The present study is an 

enumeration of 51 selected endemic species belonging 

to 39 genera, 28 families and two subfamilies 

documented from different forests in Tamil Nadu. 

Among them Berberis nilghiriensis Ahrendt is one 

of the Critically Endangered (B1+2c) species and 

collected by the authors from Ammagal forests of NBR. 

Many rare species were also collected from the study 

area including Crotalaria scabra Gamble, Murdannia 

lanuginosa (Wall. ex Clarke) Brueck. (Nayar & Sastry 

1990), Smilax wightii A. DC., Elaeocarpus recurvatus 

Corner (Nayar & Sastry 1990), Litsea wightiana 

(Nees) Hook. f. var. tomentosa (Meissner) Gamble 

and Dalbergia congesta Graham ex Wight (Sasidharan 

2006). 

Lauraceae and Fabaceae are the dominant 

families having eight species each, Acanthaceae and 

Apocynaceae with three species, Berberidaceae, 

Gentianaceae, Myrtaceae and Scrophulariaceae with 

two species and all the other remaining families having 

one species each. The correct botanical identity, 

common names (if available), family, habit, habitat, 

locality and endemism of documented species are 

given in the table with colour photos (Table 1, Images 

1–3). 

Conclusion: The Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve is one 

of the most diverse floristic areas of India with a mixture 

of both exotic and native species. From the present 

study the authors properly validated and documented 

many RET plants from NBR, Madukkarai and Kanuvai 

Hills of Coimbatore District, Tamil Nadu. Some of the 

threatened factors such as over-exploitation of natural 

resources and other anthropogenic activities adversely 

affect the existing ecosystem and it may lead to the 

rarity of many species in future. There is an urgent 

need for developing pragmatic conservation strategies 

for endemic plants in the southern Western Ghats, 

which may lead to their effective protection. 

References 

K.M.P. Kumar et al. 

Chandrashekara, U.M., P.K. Muraleedharan & V. 

Sibichan (2005). Anthropogenic pressure on structure and 

composition of a shola forest in Kerala, India. Journal of 

Mountain Science 3(1): 58–70. 

Fyson, P.F. (1932). The Flora of the South Indian Hill 

Stations—Vols. 1 & 2. Madras. 

Gopalan, R. & A.N. Henry (2000). Endemic Plants of India. 

Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh, Dehra Dun. 

Jayanthi, P., A. Rajendran, B. Thomas, V. Aravindhan & 

R. Sivalingam (2011). Biodiversity of Lithophytes in 

Madukkarai Hills of Southern Western Ghats of Coimbatore 

District, Tamil Nadu, India. International Journal of 

Biological Technology 2(2): 76–82. 

Kumar, K.M.P., S. George, S. Sreedhar & I. Balachandran 

(2011). Caralluma diffusa (Wight) N.E.Br. (Apocynaceae) 

- a new distribution record for Kerala from Chinnar Wild 

Life Sanctuary, India. The Indian Forester (in press). 

Nampy, S., K.M. Manudev & A.K. Pradeep (2011). Two 

new species of Eriocaulon (Eriocaulaceae) from India. 

Edinburgh Journal of Botany 68(2): 257–263. 

Nayar, M.P. (1996). “Hot Spots” of Endemic Plants of India, 

Nepal and Bhutan. Tropical Botanic Garden and Research 

Institute, Palode, Thiruvananthapuram. 

Nayar, M.P. (1998). Impending endemic plant collapse in the 

Western Ghats. Biodiversity, India. Newsletter issues 3–7. 

Nayar, M.P. & A.R.K. Sastry (1990). Smilax wightii A. DC. 

In: Red Data Book of Indian Plants. Botanical Survey of 

India 1: 352. 

Nayar, M.P. & A.R.K. Sastry (1990). Crotalaria scabra 

Gamble. In: Red Data Book of Indian Plants. Botanical 

Survey of India, 2: 117. 

Nayar, M.P. & A.R.K. Sastry (1990). Murdannia lanuginosa 

(Wall. ex Clarke) Brueck. In: Red Data Book of Indian 

Plants. Botanical Survey of India 2: 99. 

Nayar, M.P. & A.R.K. Sastry (1990). Elaeocarpus recurvatus 

Corner.: Red Data Book of Indian Plants. Botanical Survey 

of India, 3: 115. 

Ramachandran, V.S., S. Joseph, H.A. John & C. Sofiya 

(2011). Caralluma bicolor sp. nov. (Apocynaceae, 

Asclepiadoideae) from India. Nordic Journal of Botany 29: 

447–450. 

Sasidharan, N. (2006). A Database for Flowering Plants of 

Kerala. Kerala Forest Research Institute, Peechi, Thrissur, 

Kerala. 


3437



Table 1. List of species documented in the study area 

Sno Botanical Name/Local Name Family Habit Habitat Locality Status and Distribution 

1 

2 

Anaphalis neelgerryana (Sch.- 

Bip. ex DC.) DC. 

Arisaema leschenaultii Blume 

(Pambucholam, 

Pambumchena) 

Asteraceae Herb Dry exposed slopes MNP Endemic to SWG 

Araceae 

Herb 

Margins of evergreen 

forests, sholas and 

grasslands 

Kothagiri, Kil 

Kothagiri 

Endemic to SWG 

3 Asparagus fysonii J.F. Macbr. Liliaceae Shrub Grass lands Madukkarai Rare, Endemic to SWG 

4 Barleria acuminata Wight Acanthaceae Shrub Deciduous forests 

5 Barleria buxifolia L. Acanthaceae Shrub Wasteplaces 

6 Berberis nilghiriensis Ahrendt Berberidaceae Shrub 

Evergreen and shola 

forests 

Kanuvai 

Hills 

Kanuvai 

Hills 

Ammagal 

Endemic to Peninsular 

India 

Endemic to Peninsular 

India 

Critically Endangered, 

endemic to Tamil Nadu 

7 Canscora pauciflora Dalz. Gentianaceae Herb Evergreen forests Kolikorai Endemic to SWG 

8 Canscora perfoliata Lam. Gentianaceae Herb 

9 

10 

11 

12 

Caralluma diffusa (Wight.) 

N.E. Br. 

Caralluma indica (Wight & 

Arn.) N.E.Br. 

Caralluma bicolor VS. Ramach. 

et al. 

Cinnamomum wightii Meisn. 

(Kattukaruvai) 

Apocynaceae - 

Asclepiadoideae 

Apocynaceae - 

Asclepiadoideae 

Apocynaceae 

Herb 

Wet areas in moist 

deciduous forests 

among grasses 

Scrub jungles 

Ammagal 

Madukkarai, 

Kanuvai Hills 


Near Threatened, 

endemic to SWG 

Herb Scrub jungles Madukkarai Rare, endemic to SWG 

Herb 

Dry deciduous forests 

and Scrub jungles 

Kanuvai 

Hills 

Endangered, endemic 

to Tamil Nadu 

Lauraceae Tree Shola forests Doddabetta Rare, endemic to SWG 

13 Commelina wightii Raiz. Commelinaceae Herb In the plains Kothagiri 

14 Cordia wallichii G. Don Boraginaceae Tree Moist deciduous forests Madukkarai 

15 

16 

Crotalaria heyneana Graham 

ex Wight & Arn. 

Crotalaria pusilla Heyne ex 

Roth 

Threatened, endemic 

SWG 

Endemic to peninsular 

India 

Fabaceae Shrub Semi-evergreen forests Kothagiri Endemic to SWG 

Fabaceae Herb Semi-evergreen forests Kil Kothagiri 


India 

17 Crotalaria ramosissima Roxb. Fabaceae Herb Dry deciduous forests Kanuvai Hills Rare, Endemic to SWG 

18 Crotalaria scabra Gamble Fabaceae Shrub Grasslands Kil Kothagiri Rare, Endemic to SWG 

19 Cryptocarya stocksii Meisn. Lauraceae Tree 


forests 

Longwood 

Shola 

Rare, Endemic to SWG 

20 Curcuma neilgherrensis Wight Zingiberaceae Herb Grasslands MNP Endemic to SWG 

21 

22 

23 

24 

25 

26 

Dalbergia congesta Graham 

ex Wight. 

Elaeocarpus recurvatus 

Corner. (Bhadraksham) 

Eriocaulon pykarense Nampy 

& Manudev 

Ficus laevis Blume var. 

macrocarpa (Miq.) Corner 

Helixanthera wallichiana 

(Schult.) Danser 

Hydnocarpus macrocarpa 

(Bedd.) Warb. (Malamarotti) 

Fabaceae 

Climbing 

shrub 

Elaeocarpaceae Tree Semi-evergreen forests MNP 

Eriocaulaceae 

Moraceae 

Loranthaceae 

Herb 

Tree 

Shrub 

Semi-evergreen forests Avalanche Rare, Endemic to SWG 

Marshy places in 

grasslands. 


forests 

Evergreen forests, also 

in the plains 

Kil Kothagiri 

Long Wood 

Shola 

MNP 

Flacourtiaceae Tree Evergreen forests Avalanche 

Vulnerable, endemic 

to SWG 

Endangered, endemic 

to Tamil Nadu 

Rare, endemic to SWG 

Rare, endemic to WG 

Vulnerable, endemic 

to SWG 

27 Indigofera trita L.f. var. scabra Fabaceae Herb Dry deciduous forests Madukkarai Rare, endemic to SWG 

28 

29 

Indigofera uniflora Buch.-Ham. 

ex Roxb. 

Justicia nilgherrensis (Nees) 

Wall. 

Fabaceae 

Herb 

Deciduous forests and 

denuded hillocks 

Madukkarai 


India 

Acanthaceae Shrub Grasslands Kothagiri Endemic to SWG 

30 Leucas lanceifolia Desf. Lamiaceae Shrub Margins of shola forests MNP 

31 

Litsea quinqueflora (Dennst.) 

Suresh 


India 

Lauraceae Tree Evergreen forests Kil Kothagiri Rare, endemic to SWG 

3438 




Sno Botanical Name/Local Name Family Habit Habitat Locality Status and Distribution 

32 

33 

34 

35 

36 

37 

38 

39 

40 

41 

Litsea floribunda (Blume) 

Gamble (Pattuthali) 

Litsea wightiana (Nees) Hook. 

f. var. tomentosa (Meisn.) 

Gamble 

Litsea wightiana (Nees) Hook. 

f. var. wightiana (Pattuthali, 

Manjakudala) 

Mahonia leschenaultii (Wall. 

ex Wight & Arn.) Takeda ex 

Dunn (Charayapazham, Mullu 

Kadambu) 

Memecylon randerianum SM & 

MR Almeida 

(Kaikkathetti, Koovachekki, 

Kashara, Kazhavu) 

Moringa concanensis Nimmo 

ex Gibs. (Kattu Moringa) 

Murdannia lanuginosa (Wall. 

ex Clarke) Brueck. 

Neolitsea scrobiculata 

(Meisn.) Gamble (Mulakunari, 

Shanthamaram) 

Passiflora leschenaultii DC. 

(Seemavellarai) 

Phoebe wightii Meisn. 

(Chudala, Mulakunari) 

Lauraceae 

Tree 

Evergreen and semievergreen 

forests 

Lauraceae Tree evergreen forests 

Ammagal 

Ammagal, 

Kil Kothagiri 



Lauraceae Tree Shola forests Kil Kothagiri Endemic to SWG 

Berberidaceae Tree Evergreen forests MNP Endemic to SWG 

Melastomataceae 

Moringaceae 

Shrub 

Tree 

Evergreen and semievergreen 

forests, and 

also in sacred groves 

Scrub jungles and dry 

deciduous forests 

Kil Kothagiri 

Madukkarai 

Commelinaceae Herb Grass lands Kothagiri 

Lauraceae 

Tree 


forests 

Ammagal 

Passifloraceae Climber Shola forests Doddabetta 

Lauraceae Tree Evergreen forests 

42 Premna glaberrima Wight Verbenaceae Shrub 

43 

44 

45 

46 

Pterolobium hexapetalum 

(Roth.) Sant & Wagh. (Endam) 

Rhododendron arboretum J. E. 

Smith ssp. nilagiricum (Zenk.) 

Tagg. (Alanchi) 

Rubus glomeratus Blume. 

(Kattu munthiri) 

Smilax wightii A. DC. 

(Karivilanthi, Chooramullu) 

Fabaceae - 

Caesalpinoideae 

Semi-evergreen and 

evergreen forests 

Longwood 

Shola 

Kothagiri 

Climber Dry deciduous forests Madukkarai 



Rare, endemic to 

peninsular India 



India 


India 



India 

Ericaceae Tree Shola forests Avalanche Endemic to SWG 

Rosaceae 

Smilacaceae 

Scandent 

shrub 

Climbing 

shrub 

Evergreen forests and 

grasslands 

Moist deciduous and 

shola forests 

47 Striga densiflora Benth. Scrophulariaceae Herb Dry deciduous forests Kanuvai 

48 

49 

Syzygium laetum (Buch.-Ham.) 

Gandhi (Kollinjaval) 

Syzygium mundagam (Bourd.) 

Chithra (kattuchambai, 

Mundagam) 

MNP 

MNP 


India 



India 

Myrtaceae Tree Evergreen forests Avalanche Endemic to SWG 

Myrtaceae Tree Evergreen forests Doddabetta Rare, endemic to SWG 

50 Torenia hirsuta Willd. Scrophulariaceae Herb Marshy areas MNP Endemic to SWG 

51 

Vaccinium neilgherrense 

Wight. (Manalamaram) 

Vacciniaceae 

Tree 

MNP - Mukkurthi National Park; WG - Western Ghats; SWG - southern Western Ghats 

River banks of 

Evergreen forests 

MNP 



3439



a b c 

d 

e 

f 

g 

h 

i 

j 

Image 1. A & B - Arisaema leschenaultii Blume; C - Barleria acuminata Nees; D - Barleria buxifolia L.; E - Berberis 

nilghiriensis Aherendt; F - Canscora perfoliata Lam.; G - Caralluma diffusa (Wight) N.E. Br.; H - Caralluma diffusa (fruit); I - 

Caralluma indica (Wight & Arn.) N.E.Br.; J - Commelina wightii Raiz. 

3440 




a 

b 

d 

c 

e 

f 

g 

h 

i 

j 

Image 2. A - Cordia wallichii G. Don.; B - Crotalaria heyneana Graham ex Wight & Arn.; C - Crotalaria heyneana (fruit); 

D - Crotalaria pusilla Heyne ex Roth; E - Crotalaria pusilla (fruit); F - Curcuma neilgherrensis Wight; G - Helixanthera 

wallichiana (Schult.) Danser; H - Indigofera trita L.f. var. scabra.; I - Justicia nilgherrensis (Nees) Wall.; J - Leucas 

lanceifolia desf. 


3441



a 

b 

c 

d 

e 

f 

g 

h 

Image 3. A - Litsea wightiana (Nees) Hook. f. var. tomentosa (Meisn.) Gamble; B - Mahonia leschenaultii (Wall. ex Wight & 

Arn.) Takeda ex Dunn; C - Rhododendron arboretum J.E. Smith spp. nilagiricum (Zenk.) Tagg.; D & E - Rubus glomeratus 

Blume; F - Striga densiflora Benth.; G - Syzygium laetum (Buch.-Ham.) Gandhi; H - Torenia hirsuta Willd. 

3442 


JoTT No t e 4(15): 3443–3446 

Ethnobotanical value of dry, 

fallen ovaries of Bombax ceiba L. 

(Bombacaceae: Malvales) 

S. Gopakumar 1 & R. Yesoda Bai 2 

1 

Department of Forest Management and Utilisation, College of 

Forestry, Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur District, Kerala 

680656, India 

2 

Indian Forest Service, Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy, 

Dehradun, Uttarakhand 248006, India 

Email: 1 gopankau@gmail.com (corresponding author), 

2 

yesodabai181@gmail.com 

Indigenous people and their knowledge about 

nature and natural products have foremost importance 

in conservation efforts (Anderson & Putz 2002; 

Ramakrishnan et al. 2005; Rist et al. 2008). Every 

community, especially ethnic ones, has strong 

linkages with plants and the possibility of uncovering 

new information from these relationships still remain 

enormous. Ethnobotany which explores human-plant 

interactions (Pei et al. 2009) is now more important 

than ever before. Numerous non-timber forest products 

(NTFPs) have ethnobotanical values on account of 

their medicinal, food and cultural significance. New 

uses connected with NTFPs are also being reported and 

getting documented for posterity. NTFPs constitute 

an important economic and natural resource, and are 

used for both family consumption and commercial 

trade (Kim et al. 2008). They also meet social needs 




Editor: Kannan C.S. Warrier 

(Griffiths et al. 2003) and contribute 

significantly to the livelihood 

of rural residents (Angelsen & 

Wunder 2003; Sunderlin et al. 

2005). About 80% of the population of developing 

countries use NTFPs to meet some of their health and 

nutritional needs (Beer & McDermott 1996). In many 

of the thickly populated tropical regions, poor people 

still collect a wide range of forest products to sustain 

and supplement their livelihoods and escape hunger 

and poverty. However, information on such collection 

efforts and utilization aspects remains unaccounted 

largely due to the scattered nature of such efforts. 

Bombax ceiba and its ethnobotanical significance 

Bombax ceiba L., (Bombacaceae: Malvales), a 

tall deciduous tree with distinctive woody thorns 

on the trunk and branches (Brock 2001) is found in 

India, Australia (Liddle et al. 1994), Papua New 

Guinea, South-east Asia, China and the Indonesian 

Archipelago (Wightman & Andrew 1989). This very 

common tree produces large crimson coloured flowers 

(Image 1) which are ornithophilous (Bhattacharya 

& Mandal 2000). The flowers have a hard perianth 

with stiff filaments and a well protected ovary. The 

large, showy flowers usually appear when the trees are 

leafless. 

There are many recorded ethnobotanical uses 

of B. ceiba. The Garo ethnic community of Tangail 

District of Bangladesh not only worships it, but also 

uses the paste of its bark to heal wounds. They also 

© S. Gopakumar 


Ms # o2936 

Received 03 September 2011 



Citation: Gopakumar, S. & R.Y. Bai (2012). Ethnobotanical value of dry, 

fallen ovaries of Bombax ceiba L. (Bombacaceae: Malvales). Journal of 


Copyright: © S. Gopakumar & R. Yesoda Bai 2012. Creative Commons 




Acknowledgements: The authors wish to thank Mr. K.V. George and Mr. 

Chacko, local herbal dealers of Thrissur district, Kerala state, India for 

sharing information on the utilization aspects of dried ovaries. 


Image 1. Flowers of Bombax ceiba 


Ethnobotanical value Bombax ceiba 

use a decoction of its root along with some other 

plant species as an aphrodisiac (Anisuzzaman et al. 

2007). The timber is also used for making cheap 

furniture. The leaves of B. ceiba contain shamimin, 

a C-flavonol glucoside which has significant potency 

as a hypotensive agent (Saleem et al. 1999). The 

tree produces floss suitable for mattresses, cushions, 

pillows and quilts (Chand & Singh 1999). The young 

leaves, petioles and seed cake (with very little or no 

gossypol) are used as excellent cattle feed. Aborigines 

in Australia use B. ceiba for making dugout canoes 

and for making twine. The tap roots of young plants 

of this tree species are used as food in Australia (Brock 

2001). 

A detailed account of the ethnobotanical uses of 

B. ceiba can be found in Jain et al. (2009). In India, 

many parts of this tree are being used for a variety of 

purposes. The Munda and Oraon tribes of northeastern 

India consume the flowers, calyx, and roots of young 

plants of B. ceiba (Jain 1996). The immature calyx 

known as “Semargulla” is consumed as a vegetable 

in Uttar Pradesh, in addition to the flowers and fleshy 

calyx (Jain 1996). As per the Council for Scientific and 

Industrial Research (CSIR 1988), the protein content, 

phosphorous and ether extract of the raw calyces 

compare favorably with those of common vegetables 

such as carrot, raddish, turnip, cabbage and pumpkin. 

A paste of its petals is mixed with breast milk and is 

applied externally to cure “red eyes” (Reddy et al. 

2008). The young thorns are used as a substitute for 

betel nut. The root of B. ceiba is used as a tonic to heal 

waist pain (Srivastava 2007). The root tubers have 

high calcium content (Ghate et al. 1988). The gum 

oozing from young bark is edible (CSIR 1988). Gum 

extracted from older bark is used for book binding 

(Bose et al. 1998). During “Holika-dahan”, a tribal 

festival, this tree is burnt down, though this practice 

severely jeopardizes its population in northern India 

(Jain et al. 2009). 


In the main campus of Kerala Agricultural 

University in Thrissur District (10 0 30’N & 76 0 15’E), 

Kerala State, India it was observed that some elderly 

women were regularly collecting fallen and dried 

ovaries (Image 2) from the base of standing B. ceiba 

trees. Based on one-to-one discussions with these 

women, we found that they were paid to collect and 

Image 2. A close view of dried ovaries 

S. Gopakumar & R.Y. Bai 

© S. Gopakumar 

supply these ovaries to the herbal markets located in 

the nearby Thrissur Town. On further inquiry, the 

women also informed us that they are not aware of 

the actual use of these ovaries. The women just sell 

the collected ovaries in the nearby Thrissur herbal 

markets for one hundred Indian Rupees (1 US$= ~45 

Indian Rupees as on 03.12.2010) per kilogram. To 

know the exact use of the ovary, with the help of these 

women, we identified two key contact persons from 

among the local herbal dealers in Thrissur Town. We 

also interviewed 12 other herbal dealers on the actual 

use of these fallen Bombax ceiba ovaries. Information 

regarding the utilization of the ovaries was generated 

through personal interviews with these herbalists. 


The interviewed herbal dealers informed us that 

these ovaries are in great demand in nearby Andhra 

Pradesh and Tamil Nadu states. There it is reportedly 

used in ‘biryani’ (traditional Indian spicy rice dish 

prepared using ‘Basmati’ rice mixed with meat, fish 

or vegetables) preparations. In the biryani, these dry 

ovaries will stabilize the cow’s ghee. The Thrissur 

herbalists employ the local women for collecting 

and delivering the ovaries to their shops. Once the 

item is received, the women get paid depending on 

the stock they supply. Except for random cleaning 

by winnowing, the collected ovaries as such are sold 

to the customers who come asking for it. The herbal 

traders reported that the ovaries are also sought after 

by the commercial cattle feed manufactures located in 

Thrissur District for use in cattle feeds. 

The calyces, flower petals and dried stamens of B. 

3444 



ceiba contain a rich array of chemicals (CSIR 1988; 

Jain et al. 2009). Dried and powdered flowers of this 

species are made into bread with or without corn. 

According to CSIR (1988), the B. ceiba flowers are 

made into a conserve by boiling it along with the seeds 

of poppy and sugar in goat’s milk. Some bird species, 

squirrels and monkeys eat floral parts or whole flowers 

(Raju et al. 2005). However, the use of the fallen, dried 

ovaries in culinary preparations like ‘biryani’ and in 

commercial animal feed manufacture is a new report. 

Conclusions 

Of late, our scientists, natural resource managers 

and policy makers are increasingly recognizing the nonwood 

values of forests, including the socio-economic 

and cultural importance of NTFPs. The Planning 

Commission in its Approach to the 12 th Plan has also 

solicited suggestions to help organize markets, build 

infrastructure, capacity and upgrade skill for carrying 

out trade in NTFPs. The ethnobotanical information 

on NTFPs available in our country still remains to be 

documented. Since the dry, fallen ovaries of a multipurpose 

tree like Bombax ceiba is now observed to 

be used for a specific culinary purpose and is also 

used in cattle feed preparation, a detailed biochemical 

analysis will conclusively establish this additional 

ethnobotanical potential of this tree. If the nutritive 

value is established, the scope of farming this common 

tree species by employing tree improvement strategies 

will gain more significance. The confirmation of 

its nutritive value will also set the record straight in 

the issues related to its intellectual property rights. 

Concurrently, the collection and trade of the dried 

ovaries of B. ceiba will provide our rural populace an 

additional opportunity to supplement their livelihoods 

and reduce poverty. 

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3446 


JoTT No t e 4(15): 3447–3449 

A report of the threatened plant 

Decalepis hamiltonii Wight & Arn. 

(Asclepiadaceae) from the mid 

elevation forests of Pachamalai Hills of 

the Eastern Ghats, Tamil Nadu, India 

V. Anburaja 1 , V. Nandagopalan 2 , S. Prakash 3 & 

A. Lakshmi Prabha 4 

1,2 

PG and Research Department of Botany, National College, 

Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu 620001, India 

3 

Post Doctoral Scholar, VOLCANI Centre, Israel 

4 

Department of Plant Science, Bharathidasan University, 

Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu 620024, India 

Email: 1 vanburaja@gmail.com (corresponding author), 

2 

veenan05@gmail.com, 3 vpsham@hotmail.com, 

4 

dralprabha@yahoo.com 

The Eastern Ghats are a series of discontinuous 

low hill ranges running generally northeast-southwest, 

parallel to the coast of the Bay of Bengal. The Eastern 

Ghats have a rich floristic diversity; more than 2500 

species of angiosperms occur in this region, which 

constitutes about 13% of the flowering plants of India 






Ms # o3053 

Received 04 January 2012 

Final received 14 May 2012 

Finally accepted 28 September 2012 

Citation: Anburaja, V., V. Nandagopalan, S. Prakash & A.L. Prabha 

(2012). A report of the threatened plant Decalepis hamiltonii Wight & Arn. 

(Asclepiadaceae) from the mid elevation forests of Pachamalai Hills of 

the Eastern Ghats, Tamil Nadu, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 4(15): 

3447–3449. 

Copyright: © V. Anburaja, V. Nandagopalan, S. Prakash & A. Lakshmi 

Prabha 2012. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. JoTT 

allows unrestricted use of this article in any medium for non-profit purposes, 



Acknowledgements: We thank the Secretary and Correspondent Thiru. 

K. Raghunathan and the Principal Dr. K. Anbarasu, National College 

(Autonomous), Tiruchirappalli for providing facilities during this research 

work. We also thank Dr. S. Soosai Raj, Assistant Professor, St. Josephs 

College, Trichirappalli for helping me in plant identification. We are grateful 

to R. Rajan, and other officials of Botanical Survey of India, Regional Office, 

Southern Circle, Coimbatore for allowing me to refer the literatures. We 

thank Dravia Dass (Late) for helping me in the field collection. Our thanks 

to M. Sivakumar and other local people of the Pachamalai to help me in 

the field work. 


(Nair & Henry 1983; Saxena & 

Brahmam 1994; Pullaiah 1997; 

Pullaiah & Alimoulali 1997; 

Pullaiah & Chennaiah 1997). 

The Eastern Ghats is rich in medicinal and aromatic 

plant resources and indigenous livelihood traditions, 

therefore under the framework of proper policy and 

guidelines, these resources can be more effectively 

used to benefit local people. 

The loss of biodiversity due to the introduction 

of exotics is damaging native biodiversity. The 

habitat destruction and conversion by shifting 

cultivation, rapid industrialization and excessive 

exploitation of raw materials are some of the reasons 

for the disappearance of many plants and animals. 

Apart from these, developmental projects like dam 

constructions and settlements around have submerged 

a considerable part of the forests. Forest fires, cattle 

grazing and mining in the area are also responsible for 

the biodiversity decline. 

The Pachamalai Hills are a part of the Eastern 

Ghats situated in the central region of Tamil Nadu, 

India (11 0 09’–11 0 27’N & 78 0 28’–78 0 49’E; Image 1). 

They occupy an area of about 527.61km 2 and a range 

of 160–1072 m. The vegetated area is distributed into 

35 reserved forests. The Pachamalai Hills enjoy a 

subtropical climate with temperatures varying from 

25–31 0 C and annual rainfall ranging from 800–900 

mm. It supports many types of vegetation and of 

these the dry evergreen forests have been considered 

significant due to their dense cover, besides their distinct 

composition. Evergreen forests are relatively common 

in the Western Ghats of peninsular India; however, dry 

evergreen forests are meagre in distribution and are 

confined to higher elevations of the Eastern Ghats that 

are discontinuous and in small patches. The presence 

of such vegetation is an indication that the lower 

elevation hills like the Eastern Ghats can harbour good 

vegetation and are the vestiges of a luxuriant vegetation 

cover of the past era and hence need to be protected 

(Soosairaj et al. 2007). The hills are most significant 

socio-culturally, as the most diversified forest patches 

are found here. These hills have been studied earlier 

mainly for floristic analysis (Matthew 1983). 

However, while working on the floral biodiversity 

of mid elevation forests of Pachamalai Hills, we 

collected Decalepis hamiltonii Wight & Arn. in the 


Decalepis hamiltonii from Pachamalai Hills 

V. Anburaja et al. 

Image 1. A view of the Pachamalai Hills 

© V. Anburaja © V. Anburaja 

Image 2. Decalepis hamiltonii with flowers and fruits 

Gangavalli Hills, a part of Pachamalai at an altitude 

of 500–550 m. The plant D. hamiltonii was found as 

a single population in riparian vegetation of the study 

area (Image 2). Before this, D. hamiltonii had not 

been reported from Pachamalai (Matthew 1983). 

D. hamiltonii belongs to the family Asclepiadaceae. 

The habit of the plant is a liana. It is a globally 

endangered species (Raju & Ramana 2009). D. 

hamiltonii is one of the four species in the genus 

Decalepis. It is endemic to peninsular India and is 

known by various names like “Maredu Kommulu, 

Nannari kommulu and Madina Kommulu” in Telugu, 

“Makali ber” in Kannada and “Magali kizhangu” in 

Tamil. The plant root is used in ayurvedic medicines 

and in pickles. 

Regeneration is severely affected since most of 

the plants are harvested prior to seed setting. Roots, 

leaves and follicles have medicinal properties. Roots 

are pickled and marketed on a large scale. This plant 

is also used as a substitute for the real Nannari plant 

Hemidesmus indicus (L) R. Br. Roots are harvested in 

hundreds of tonnes from Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple 

Hills for pickling and medicinal purposes. The 

Conservator of Forests of Vellore and Salem circle 

stated that around 100 tonnes of roots are auctioned 

every year. Girijan Co-operative Society, Andhra 

Pradesh traded 351.6 tonnes of roots from April 1997 

to January 1998. 

The tribal community of the Pachamalai Hills 

utilizes D. hamiltonii as ethnomedicine. It is taken 

orally to rejuvenate the body and is a popular 

health tonic. Ancient tribes in the Western Ghats 

of India have also used the roots of D. hamiltonii 

for several medicinal purposes particularly as an 

anti-inflammatory (Ashalatha et al. 2010). The root 

contains antioxidants. 

Vegetative and reproductive characters: Branchlets 

terete with swollen, winged nodes. Leaves ovate, 

subcoriaceous, longitudinally folded, base attenuate, 

margin entire, apex subacute; petiolate. Cymes 

axillary peduncled trichotomous cymes; bracts and 

bracteoles lanceolate; flowers pedicellate. Calyx - 

lobes oblong, tinged with brown, chartaceous, valvate, 

acute. Corolla cream, campanulate; lobes spreading, 

valvate, villous inside, acute. Stamens connivent; 

pollinia horizontal; pollinial bags closely adherent, 

flat; caudicle indistinct; receptacle minute. Corona 

double with 10 scales; outer scales truncate; inner 

flat, adhering to gynostegium. Glands 5 at the base 

of corolla, alternating with stamens, 2-fid. Ovaries 

subglobose; style present; stigma obtuse. Follicle 

oblong - lanceolate, cylindric; epicarp thick, crinkled; 

seeds ovate; testa angled, chartaceous, tipped with 

long, white, silky coma. 

Phenology: Flowering: May–July. Fruiting: 

January–March. 

Distribution: The species is endemic to peninsular 

India. It is has been recorded in the dry and moist 

deciduous forests of Karnataka (Hassan, Mysore, 

Bellary, Tumkur, Kolar), Andhra Pradesh (Kurnool, 

Chittoor, Nellore, Anantapur, Cuddapah districts) and 

Tamil Nadu (Chengalpattu, Coimbatore, Dharmapuri, 

Nilgiri) 

3448 


Decalepis hamiltonii from Pachamalai Hills 

References 

Ashalatha, K., Y. Venkateswarlu, A.M. Priya, P. Lalitha, 

M. Krishnaveni & S. Jayachandran (2010). Anti 

inflammatory potential of Decalepis hamiltonii (Wight 

& Arn) as evidenced by down regulation of pro 

inflammatory cytokines-TNF-alpha and IL-2. Journal of 

Ethnopharmacology 130 (1): 167–170. 

Matthew, K.M. (1983). The Flora of The Tamil Nadu 

Carnatic—Part II. Rapinat Herbarium Tiruchirappalli, 

Tamil Nadu, India, 944pp. 

Nair, N.C. & A.N. Henry (1983). Flora of Tamilnadu, India— 

Volume 1. Botanical Survey of India. Southern Circle, 

Coimbatore. 

Pullaiah, T. (1997). Flora of Andhra Pradesh—Volume 3. 

V. Anburaja et al. 

Scientific Publishers, Jodhpur. 

Pullaiah, T. & D. Alimoulali (1997). Flora of Andhra 

Pradesh—Volume 2. Scientific Publishers, Jodhpur. 

Pullaiah, T. & E. Chennaiah (1997). Flora of Andhra 

Pradesh— Volume 1. Scientific Publishers, Jodhpur. 

Raju, A.J.S. & K.V. Ramana (2009). Pollination and 

seedling ecology of Decalepis hamiltonii Wight & Arn. 

(Periplocaceae), a commercially important, endemic and 

endangered species. Journal of Threatened Taxa 1(10): 

497–506 

Soosairaj, S., S.J. Britto, B. Balaguru, N. Nagamurugan & 

D. Natarajan (2007). Zonation of conservation priority 

sites for effective management of tropical forests in India. 

Applied Ecology and Environmental Research 5(2): 37– 

48. 


3449

JoTT No t e 4(15): 3450–3453 

Note on Celastrus paniculatus Willd. 

ssp. aggregatus K.M. Matthew ex K.T. 

Matthew (Celastraceae) 

J.W. Francis 1 , M.M. Dandu 2 , M.M. Sardesai 3 & 

A.S. Dhabe 4 

1–4 

Department of Botany, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar 

Marathwada University, Aurangabad Maharashtra 431004, India 

Email: 1 jennetwfrancis@gmail.com, 2 mustafadandu@gmail.com, 

3 

sardesaimm@gmail.com (corresponding author), 

4 

arvindsdhabe@gmail.com 

Celastrus L., a large genus of the family 

Celastraceae, is widely distributed in tropical, 

subtropical, and temperate zones of Asia, Australia, 

and North and South America, as well as in 

Madagascar between 40 0 S and 47 0 N. It is represented 

by ca. 31 species in the world (Mabberley 2008). In 

India, the genus is represented by seven species and 

one subspecies (Francis et al. 2009), of which the 

majority of the species are endemic and distributed 

predominantly in northeastern India. 

Celastrus paniculatus Willd. belonging to 

subgenus Celastrus series Paniculati Rehd. & Wiels., 

section Celastrus, is highly polymorphic and is one 

of the most widespread species distributed chiefly 

in India, Myanmar, Thailand, China, Indonesia and 






Ms # o2912 

Received 13 August 2011 

Final received 10 April 2012 


Citation: Francis, J.W., M.M. Dandu, M.M. Sardesai & A.S. Dhabe (2012). 

Note on Celastrus paniculatus Willd. ssp. aggregatus K.M. Matthew ex K.T. 

Matthew (Celastraceae). Journal of Threatened Taxa 4(15): 3450–3453. 

Copyright: © J.W. Francis, M.M. Dandu, M.M. Sardesai & A.S. Dhabe 

2012. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. JoTT allows 

unrestricted use of this article in any medium for non-profit purposes, 



Acknowledgements: The authors are thankful the Head, Department of 

Botany, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad for 

extending full support and cooperation. We also express our gratitude to 

the directors of BAMU, BLAT, BSI, CNH, HIFP, PBL, MH and SUK for their 

help during our consultation. 


Philippines. 

The wider distribution and 

the variable leaf forms of this 

species have been the cause 

of many synonyms in the past (Ding-Hou 1955). 

Moreover, based on herbarium materials of different 

geographical locations and measurable differences, 

Ding-Hou treated three different populations as three 

subspecies—C. paniculatus Willd. ssp. paniculatus, 

C. paniculatus ssp. serratus (Blanco) Ding-Hou and 

C. paniculatus ssp. multiflorus (Roxb.) Ding-Hou. 

However, there are so many transitional blade forms 

that it is hard to distinguish between them (Zhang & 

Funston 2008). 

Thereafter, Matthew (1991, 1996, 1999) segregated 

C. paniculatus Willd. into two subspecies, namely, 

paniculatus (Images 4 & 5) and aggregatus (Images 

1–3) based on the differences in size of inflorescences, 

number of bisexual flowers, number of capsules per 

infrutescence and shape of the leaf apex. He further 

stated that subspecies aggregatus occurs clearly at 

higher altitudes than the typical variant. 

After 1996, the subspecies aggregatus was not 

recorded by subsequent workers. Later, Francis et 

al. (2009) reported this subspecies from Aurangabad 

District of Maharashtra, at about 600–800 m, followed 

by Hegde & Hegde (2011) from Karnataka State. 

Meanwhile, the present authors consulted different 

herbaria in India such as the Central National 

Herbarium, Howrah, Kolkata (CAL), Botanical 

Survey of India, Western Circle, Pune (BSI); Blatter 

Herbarium, St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai (BLAT); 

Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University 

Herbarium, Aurangabad (BAMU), Shivaji University 

Herbarium, Kolhapur (SUK), Botanical Survey of 

India, Coimbatore (MH) and Herbarium of French 

Institute of Pondicherry, Pondicherry (HIFP), Botanical 

Survey of India, Andaman & Nicobar Circle Regional 

Herbarium (PBL). 

During the herbarium consultation the authors found 

that, all the herbaria specimens of both the subspecies 

are deposited without segregation. The only exception 

was PBL, as it did not possess any herbarium specimen 

of subspecies aggregatus. However, the specimens 

collected from Andaman Islands were deposited at 

CAL. This shows that the subspecies occur in all the 

states of peninsular India and Andaman Islands. 

3450 


Celastrus paniculatus ssp. aggregatus 

The following specimens examined in various 

herbaria belong to the population of Celastrus 

paniculatus Willd. ssp. aggregatus K.M. Matthew 

ex K.T. Matthew. Hence, the present record of this 

subspecies also forms a new report to the states of 

Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Goa and Andaman Island. 

Celastrus paniculatus Willd. Sp. Pl. 1: 1125. 1795 

ssp. aggregatus K.M. Matthew ex K.T. Matthew in 

Kew Bull. 46: 540, f. l, 2. 1991; K.M. Matthew, Ill. Fl. 

Palni Hills: t. 122. 1996 & Fl. Palni Hills 1: 216. 1999; 

Francis et al. Rheedea 19 (1&2): 73–74. 2009. Hegde 

& Hegde in J. Threat. Taxa. 3(4): 1731–1734. 2011. 

Scandent shrubs. Leaves alternate, broadly 

elliptic, subcoriaceous, apex abruptly acute or retuse, 

base obtuse, margins shallowly crenulate, to 10×6 

cm. Flowers in condensed panicles, greenish white, 

polygamous. Sepals suborbicular. Petals ovate to 

oblong, reflexed. Capsule loculicidal, to 1.2×1.1 cm. 

Seeds 1-6 per capsule, broadly ellipsoid, completely 

covered with deep orange fleshy aril. 

Flowering and fruiting: July–December. 

Illus.: K.M. Mathew, loc. cit. 

Specimens examined: 

Andaman Islands: ix.1900, Andaman Islands, coll. 

Prain, 86181 (PBL). 

Andhra Pradesh: 19.ix.1956, Addatigala, E. 

Godavari, coll. S.K. Wagh, 09891 (BLAT); 19.ix.1956, 

Addatigala, E. Godavari, coll. S.K. Wagh, 09892 

(BLAT); 13.x.1964, Golugonda, coll. G.V. Subbarao, 

21647/41178 (MH); 21.viii.1965, Vishnu Nandi, coll. 

J.L. Ellis, 25419/49572, 49573 (MH); 28.viii.1966, 

Chitapalli, coll. G.V. Subbarao, 28137/53878 (MH); 

30.ix.1974, Papavinashinam Chittor, coll. G.V. 

Subbarao, 45907/89290, 89291 (MH); 12.xi.1975, 

Vallakadu, coll. Vivekananthan, 46652/90858,90859 

(MH); 24.ix.1994, Thattilanga, coll. V.S. 

Chandraseler, 103414/167606, 167607,167616 (MH) 

27.viii.1995, Bhadrachalam, coll. V.S. Chandraseler, 

104308/167932, 167933 (MH). 

Goa: 24.viii.1963, Todalowwary, Conacona, coll. 

K.C.Kanodia, 41553; 13.x.1964, Margao, coll. K.K. 

Ahuja, 48151 both deposited in BSI. 

Karnataka: 30.viii.1961, Namadachilume 

Forests, Mysore, coll. R. Seshagiri Rao, 38038 

(BSI); 24.viii.1964, Bandipur, coll. B.D. Naithani, 

22149/40437,40438(MH); 17.vii.1965, Bannuhalla, 

Hassan Dt., coll. C. Saldanha, 14151 (CNH); 

J.W. Francis et al 

29.xi.1971, Kalhatti-Masinagndi, coll. N.C. 

Rathakrishnan, 39079/76290, 76291 (MH); 09.x.1976, 

Mangala Devi Temple, coll. K. Vivekananthan, 

48626/94067, 94068 (MH); 19.ix.1980, Barangi, 

coll. G.V. Subbarao, 67577/137334,137934 (MH); 

28.iii.1977, Tlaspacanvery, coll. Pascal, 004118/819 

(HIFP); 28.iii.1977, Tlaspacanvery, coll. Pascal, 

004118/819 (HIFP); 08.vi.1985, Hatuebera Belta, 

coll. B.R. Ramesh, 004123/1220 (HIFP); 08.vi.1985, 

Hatuebera Belta, coll. B.R. Ramesh, 004124/1220 

(HIFP); 01.iv.1964, Malleshwara, coll. R. Sundara 

Raghvan, 46087 (BSI); 15.ix.1974, Joginath St. Forest 

Chitradurg, coll. N.P. Singh, 111184 (BSI); 29.iv. 

2007, Belgaon, N.V. Malpure, s.n. (SUK). 

Kerala: 15.ix.1928, Ponnemodi, coll. V. 

Narayanswamy, 1647/77773 (MH); 26.x.1929, 

Wayanad, coll. J.S. Gamble, 10024 (MH); 16.xi.1975, 

Thekkady, coll. K. Vivekananthan, 46689/90932, 

90933 (MH); 20.xii.1979, Chandanthode, coll. 

V.S. Ramchandran, 65351/114916,114917 (MH); 

26.iii.1980, Munnar to Kunnili, coll. Ramamurthy, 

66392/121965,121966 (MH); 25.ix.1981, Kulamavu, 

coll. C.N. Mohanan, 71974/137665,137666(MH); 

09.xii.1992, Peryar WLS. Kottayam, coll. Ramesh & 

De Frances che, 004128 (HIFP); 09.xii.1992, Peryar 

WLS. Kottayam, coll. Ramesh & De Frances che, 

004129 (HIFP). 

Maharashtra: 25.iv.1902, Amboli, Belgaum 

Vengrula Road, coll. G.A. Gammie (BSI); 20.x.1965, 

Pokhri Ghat, coll. J.A. Vasavada, 2529 (BSI); 

04.vii.1965, Tamboli,Ratnagiri, coll. P.J. Cherian, 

96502 (BSI); 09.xi.1965, Chankul near Amboli, 

Ratnagiri, coll. B.G. Kulkarni, 62243 (BSI); 

09.xi.1965, Chaukul near Amboli, Ratnagiri, coll. 

B.G. Kulkarni, 96500 (BSI); 18.vii.1966, Bahre- 

Nansi, Nashik, coll. R. Seshagiri Rao, 66882 (BSI); 

18.vi.1967, Mosai Village, Dhasai Range, Thane, 

coll. K.V. Billore, 73971 (BSI); 18.vii.1967, Kiratmal 

Point Range, Nashik, coll. John Cherian, 66854 (BSI); 

29.v.1970, Derwan, Ratnagiri, coll. B.G. Kulkarni, 

963387 (BSI); 07.v.1983, Vasi, Mumbai, coll. P.L. 

Narasimhan, 107029 (BSI); 15.xi.1983, Sonaburdi 

Forest River area, Buldhana, coll. P.G. Diwakar 

123063 (BSI); 29.ix.1984, Boripoda round, Nashik, 

coll. P.L. Narsimhan, 102023 (BSI); 27.v.1951, 

M.R.B.C mar. Parwati, Pune, coll. B.A. Razi, 09981 

(BLAT); 04.ix.1954, Waghai, Pimpri road, coll. Fr. 

Santapau S.J., 09939 (BLAT); 17.vii.1960, Karanja 


3451


Gram, coll. P. Divakar, 09939 (BLAT); 23.viii.1960, 

Gram hill, coll. P. Divakar, 09966 (BLAT); 10.vi.1975, 

Chauka, Aurangabad, coll. Pokle D.S., 003161 

(BAMU); 15.ix.1977, Nagzari, coll. B.R. Zate, 003146 


(BAMU);15.ix.1977, Nagzari, coll. B.R. Zate, 003148 


(BAMU); 09.viii.2000, Amba, Kolhapur Dist., coll. 

P.D. Mahekar, SUK68 (SUK); 21.vii.2008, Mhaismal, 

Aurangabad, coll. J.W. Francis & A.S. Dhabe, 

004902 (BAMU); 23.viii.2008, Ratnagiri, coll. J.W. 

Francis & A.S. Dhabe, 004904 (BAMU); 05.xi.2008, 

Lamangaon, Aurangabad, coll. J.W. Francis & A.S. 

Dhabe, 004909 (BAMU); 04.vii.2009, Gautala, 

coll. J.W. Francis & A.S. Dhabe, 004917 (BAMU); 

28.viii.2009, Radhanagri, Kolhapur, coll. J.W. Francis 

& A.S.Dhabe, 004922 (BAMU); 7.v.2011, Sulibanjan, 

Aurangabad, coll. A.S. Dhabe & J.W. Francis, 004936 

(BAMU). 

© M.M. Dandu 


Tamil Nadu: 30.xii.1902, Udhagamandalam, 

coll. C.A. Barber, 5372/10033 (MH); 30.xii.1902, 

Udhagamandalam, coll. C.A. Barber, 5372/72866 

(MH); 09.ix.1969, Panagudi, coll. B.V. Shetty, 

32314/62492,62493 (MH); 20.v.1971, Nanduvattam, 

coll. J.L. Ellis, 38490/75109,75110 (MH); 23.i.1972, 

Madanand, coll. E. Vajravelu, 39596/77237,77238 

(MH); 25.xi.1972, Edapalayam, coll. B.D. Sharma, 

41666/80203, 80233(MH); 15.ix.1957, Shiriman 

Hills, Chennai, coll. Wallithanam, 09926 (BLAT) 

REFERENCES 

Ding-Hou (1955). A revision of the Genus Celastrus. Annals of 

the Missouri Botonical Garden 42(3): 215–302. 

Francis, J.W., A.S. Dhabe & M.M. Sardesai (2009). Celastrus 

paniculatus subsp. aggregatus (Celastraceae), an addition to 

the Flora of Maharashtra State. Rheedea 19(1&2): 73–74. 

Hegde, G.R. & G.R. Hegde (2011). Report on the extended 

distribution of two endemic plants (Angiospermae) in 

the central Western Ghats of Karnataka, India. Journal of 


Mabberley, D.J. (2008). Mabberley’s Plant-Book: A Portable 

Dictionary of Plants, Their Classification and Uses (Third 

© J.W. Francis 

Image 1. Celastrus paniculatus spp. aggregatus 

Image 2. Celastrus paniculatus spp. aggregatus 

Key to the subspecies of Celastrus paniculatus Willd. 

1a. Inflorescence on lateral shoots, shorter than leaves ............................................................ ssp. aggregatus 

1b. Inflorescence on terminal shoots, twice as long or more than twice as long as the leaves ..... ssp. paniculatus 

3452 




© M.M. Dandu 

Image 4. Celastrus paniculatus spp. paniculatus 

© M.M. Dandu 

Image 3. Herbarium specimen of Celastrus paniculatus 

ssp. aggregatus 

Edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 

1–1021pp. 

Matthew, K.M. (1991). Precursory Notes for a Flora of the 

Palni Hills, South India. Kew Bulletin 46(3): 539–546. 

Matthew, K.M. (1996). Illustrated Flora of Palni Hills. t. 122. 

The C.L.S. Press, Madras, 1-979pp. 

Matthew, K.M. (1999). Flora of Palni Hills. Vol. 1: 216. The 

C. L. S. Press, Madras. 

Zhang, Z. & A.M. Funston (2008). Flora of China, pp. 466– 

474. In: Zhengyi, W., P.H. Raven & H. Deyuan (eds.). Flora 

of China—11. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, 622pp. 

Image 5. Celastrus paniculatus spp. paniculatus 


3453

JoTT No t e 4(15): 3454–3461 

Checklist of Ericaceae in Tuensang 

District of Nagaland, India with special 

reference to Mt. Saramati 

S. Panda 

Post Graduate Department of Botany, Darjeeling Govt. College, 

Darjeeling, West Bengal 734101, India 

Email: bgc.panda@gmail.com 

During the course of revisionary work on Indian 

Ericaceae carried out at the Central National Herbarium 

(CAL) under the “Flora of India Project” (1999–2004), 

an attempt was made to survey the inaccessible and 

dense virgin flora of Mt. Saramati besides other parts 

of Tuensang District. Earlier under the leadership of 

N.L. Bor, an expedition team consisting of F. Kingdon- 

Ward, J.H. Hutton and B.S. Hartland surveyed a part 

of Tuensang District including Mt. Saramati in 1935 

(Bor 1936). After six decades, T.M. Hynniewta 

(1994) surveyed a part of this district including the 

mountain. Only a few ericaceous taxa (12 taxa) were 

enumerated earlier mostly confined to the vicinity of 

Mt. Saramati. A team of six members, including the 

author, from the Botanical Survey of India, Eastern 

Circle, Shillong surveyed different parts of Tuensang 

District including Mt. Saramati during March–April, 




Editor: P. Lakshminarasimhan 


Ms # o2939 

Received 09 September 2011 

Final received 09 May 2012 


Citation: Panda, S. (2012). Checklist of Ericaceae in Tuensang District 

of Nagaland, India with special reference to Mt. Saramati. Journal of 


Copyright: © S. Panda 2012. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported 

License. JoTT allows unrestricted use of this article in any medium for nonprofit 

purposes, reproduction and distribution by providing adequate credit 

to the authors and the source of publication. 

Acknowledgements: The author is grateful to Dr. M. Sanjappa, ex-Director, 

Botanical Survey of India for guidance and providing all facilities during field 

survey to Tuensang district including Saramati Mt. in 2003. Thanks are 

also due to Mr. Chuwayuti Cheng, Extra-Assistant Commissioner, Kiphire 

for his kind permission to survey and providing one Amakhangese guide 

as interpretator, and to Dr. A.A. Mao, Jt. Director, Arunachal Field Station, 

Itanagar (then Scientist C at ASSAM) and Dr. T.M. Hynniewta, In-Charge 

of ASSAM for their all sorts of help for Saramati visit. 


2003 and enumerated 30 taxa 

of Ericaceae, of which 25 were 

collected from Mt. Saramati. 

Mt. Saramati lies approximately 

between 26 0 2’–26 0 7’N & 97 0 6’–97 0 13’E with an area 

of about 200km 2 and altitudes ranging from 2400– 

3826 m on the Barail range in Tuensang District 

under Kiphire subdivision of Nagaland. Mt. Saramati 

harbours both temperate as well as Himalayan alpine 

vegetation (2400–3841 m). Alpine vegetation starts 

at the base camp area of Mt. Saramati (3000m) and 

extends up to the peak (3841m). Although Changkija 

& Kumar (1997) mentioned that “the alpine vegetation 

is met with at high altitudes in ridges of Saramati 

range, which remains covered with snow for a major 

part of the year from October to April”. The journey 

from Kohima (state capital) to Kiphire (subdivision 

of Tuensang District), took about 10 hours by jeep 

(254km) and from Kiphire to Penkim Village through 

Pungro (Circle H.Q.) and Salumi by jeep through a 

narrow and muddy non-metal road took one day (about 

62km). From Penkim Village (2100m) it took three 

days of trekking to reach the peak of Mt. Saramati 

through Thanamier Village (Fig. 1). A part of Mt. 

Saramati falls within Myanmar. Besides Mt. Saramati, 

other places in Tuensang District like Kiphire, Lothar, 

Pungro, Salumi, Penkim, Fakim Wildlife Sanctuary 

and Thanamier were also surveyed. 

Climate of Mt. Saramati and its vicinity: During 

summer, the average rainfall is between 200–250 

cm and the bulk of precipitation is received through 

the south-west monsoon. The temperature varies 

between 10–20 0 C. In winter, the climate is generally 

dry with low precipitation. The temperature varies 

between 10–5 0 C and heavy snowfall occurs at higher 

elevations. 

Topography: Mt. Saramati lies on the Barail range 

which flanks the boundary with Myanmar. The area is 

entirely hilly and the terrain is one of the most rugged 

with successive hills of varying heights (Image 1A). 

The family Ericaceae Juss. comprises ca. 117 

genera and 3850 species, cosmopolitan except deserts, 

usually montane in tropics (Mabberley 2008). A total 

of 13 genera and ca. 200 species occur in India (Panda 

2008). The family is represented by nine genera and 

37 species in Nagaland (Panda 2008). In this paper, the 

currently accepted names, habitat, available field data, 

3454 


Ericaceae in Tuensang District 

S. Panda 

Figure 1. Field study areas and collection sites in Tuensang District (Kiphire to Saramati Mt.) showing detailed distribution 

of taxa (March–April 2003) 

distribution, threats, relative abundance and specimens 

examined of 30 taxa belonging to Ericaceae recorded 

from Tuensang District along with images of live 

and herbarium specimens of some taxa are provided 

for easy identification in the field. The enumeration 

includes, one new taxon, two new records from India 

and three new distributional records for Nagaland. 

Of the 30 taxa enumerated, five are endemic to Naga 

Hills and two are endemic to Naga Hills and Eastern 

Himalaya. Ten taxa are classified as threatened 

(Anonymous 2009; Vie et al. 2009) due to rapid 

habitat degradation as a result of natural weathering 

and rising jhum cultivation practices among different 

Naga ethnic groups (Image 1B). 

Enumeration 

A. Subtropical region (1100–1700): It includes 

Kiphire, Pungro Circle including Salumi areas. 

(i) Lyonia ovalifolia (Wall.) Drude: Corolla greywhite, 

tubular. Habit—stout erect shrub to treelet up 

to 3m high. Habitat—growing along rocky slopes. 

Field status—common. 

Distribution: India (Himalaya and northeastern 

India excluding Tripura), Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, 

Bangladesh, western China, Taiwan, northern 

Myanmar, Thailand, Malesia and Japan. 

Specimens examined: 30.iii.2003, Kiphire to 

Pungro, 1600m, coll. S. Panda s.n. (CAL); 31.iii.2003, 

near Thanamier Village, Tuensang District, 1800m, 

coll. S. Panda 30861 (CAL) (Image 2B). 

(ii) Vaccinium exaristatum Kurz: Corolla white 

to pinkish. Habit—stout erect shrub to treelet up to 

5m high. Habitat—growing along rocky slopes. Field 

status—common. 

Distribution: India (northeastern India: Nagaland, 

Manipur and Mizoram), China, Myanmar, Thailand, 

Laos and Vietnam. Newly recorded from India from 

Naga Hills (Image 3F). 

Specimens examined: 30.iii.2003, near Pungro 

village, Tuensang District, 1300m, S. Panda 30857 

(CAL). Newly recorded from India from Naga Hills 

(Image 3F). 

B. Subtropical-temperate mixed region (1700–2300 


3455


S. Panda 

A 

B 

Image 1. A - View of Saramati Mountain Peak from the Ridge; B - Jhum cultivation practice by Amakhangese Nagas at 

Thanamier. 

m): It includes Penkim, lower part of Fakim Wildlife 

Sanctuary and Thanamier areas. 

(iii) Agapetes borii Airy Shaw: Corolla lemon 

yellow. Habit—dwarf bushy shrub up to 0.5m high. 

Habitat—growing as epiphyte on Rhododendron 

arboretum. Field status—threatened (mass cutting of 

forest trees due to jhum cultivation practices). 

Distribution: Endemic to Naga Hills in India 

(northeastern India: Nagaland and Manipur). 

Specimens examined: 01.iv.2003, above Thanamier 

Village, ca. 2200m, coll. S. Panda s.n. (CAL). 

(iv) A. incurvata (Griff.) Sleumer: Corolla 

light green. Habit—dwarf shrub up to 0.3m high. 

Habitat—growing as epiphyte on Quercus incana. 

Field status—threatened (mass cutting of forest trees 

due to jhum cultivation practices). 

Distribution: India (eastern Himalaya: Sikkim, 

Arunachal Pradesh; northeastern India: Meghalaya 

and Nagaland), Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and 

China (southeastern Xizang). Newly recorded from 

Nagaland. 


Village, ca. 2100m, coll. S. Panda s.n. (CAL). 

(v) Lyonia macrocalyx (J. Anthony) Airy Shaw: 

Flowers not seen, fruits green. Habit—stout erect 

shrub to treelet up to 2m high. Habitat—growing 

along rocky slopes. Field status—threatened (only 

two small populations were observed). 

Distribution: India (eastern Himalaya: Arunachal 

Pradesh and northeastern India: Nagaland) western 

China and N Myanmar. Newly recoded from India as 

well as from Naga Hills (Image 2C). 

Specimens examined: 31.iii.2003, Penkim to 

Thanamier Village, Tuensang District, 1800m, coll. S. 

Panda 30858. 

(vi) Rhododendron arboreum Sm.: Corolla blood 

red. Habit—treelet up to 2m high. Habitat—growing 

along rocky slopes. Field status—common. 

Distribution: India (Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, 

Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram), China (Yunnan, 

Guizhou), northern Myanmar and northern Thailand. 


Thanamier, ca. 2000m, coll. S. Panda 30856 (CAL). 

(Image 2D). 

(vii) Vaccinium vacciniaceum (Roxb.) Sleumer: 

Corolla light green to light yellow. Habit—stout erect 

shrub up to 1m high. Habitat—epiphytic on old tree 

trunks of Quercus incana. Field status—Common. 

Distribution: India (eastern Himalaya: Darjeeling 

in West Bengal, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh and 

northeastern India: Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur 

and Mizoram), Nepal, Bhutan, southwestern China 

and northern Myanmar. 

Specimens examined: 01.iv.2003, Thanamier 

Village, 2000m, coll. S. Panda 30865 (CAL) (Image 

3E). 

(viii) V. manipurense (Watt ex Brandis) Sleumer: 

Corolla light pink, immature fruits green. Habit— 

stout erect shrub up to 1m high. Habitat—growing as 

epiphyte on Quercus sp. Field status—threatened. 

Distribution: Endemic to India (eastern Himalaya: 

Arunachal Pradesh and northeastern India: Meghalaya, 

3456 



Nagaland, Manipur), Nepal, Bhutan, southwestern 

China and northern Myanmar. 


Village, Tuensang District, 2300m, coll. S. Panda 

30864 (CAL) (Image 3B). 

(ix) V. dunalianum Wight: Flowers not seen, fruits 

berries, black. Habit —pendent dwarf shrub up to 1m 

high. Habitat—growing as epiphyte on Quercus sp. 


Distribution: India (eastern Himalaya and 

northeastern India excluding Tripura and Mizoram), 

Nepal, Bhutan, western China, Taiwan, northern 

Myanmar and Vietnam. 


Thanamier, 2000m, coll. S. Panda s.n. (CAL). 

C. Temperate region (2300–2800 m): It includes 

7km away from Thanamier Village up to Saramati 

ridge. 

(x) Gaultheria hookeri C.B. Clarke: Corolla 

urceolate, pinkish. Habit—dwarf bushy shrub up to 

0.5m high. Habitat—growing along rocky slopes. 



in West Bengal, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh 

and northeastern India: Nagaland), Nepal, Bhutan, 

southwestern China and northern Myanmar. Newly 

recorded from Naga Hills (Image 2A). 

Specimens examined: 02.iv.2003, Saramati ridge, 

Tuensang District, 2800m, S. Panda 30872 (CAL). 

(xi) G. nummularioides D. Don: Flowers not seen, 

fruits capsule, black. Habit—mat forming procumbent 

dwarf shrub up to 0.2m high. Habitat—growing along 

rocky slopes and ridges. Field status—common. 

Distribution: India (Himalayas and northeastern 

India: Meghalaya, Nagaland and Manipur), Pakistan, 

Nepal, Bhutan, western China, northern Myanmar, Sri 

Lanka and Malesia. 

Specimens examined: 02.iv.2003, Saramati Ridge, 

2800m, S. Panda 30874 (CAL). 

(xii) Pieris formosa (Wall.) D. Don: Corolla 

urceolate, snow white. Habit—stout erect shrub to 

treelet up to 5m high. Habitat—growing along rocky 

slopes. Field status—common. 


in West Bengal, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and 

northeastern India: Meghalaya, Nagaland and 

Manipur), Nepal, Bhutan, southwestern China, 

S. Panda 

northern Myanmar and Vietnam. 

Specimens examined: 02.iv.2003, Saramati Ridge, 

2700–3200 m, coll. S. Panda 30868 (CAL). 

(xiii) Rhododendron wattii Cowan: Corolla rose 

red to pink. Habit—treelet up to 1m high. Habitat— 

growing along rocky slopes. Field status—threatened 

(only three plants were observed throughout Mt. 

Saramati). 


(Nagaland and Manipur). 


2600m, coll. S. Panda s.n. (CAL) (Image 2E). 

(xiv) R. thomsonii Hook. f.: Corolla deep crimson 

to blood red. Habit—treelet up to 2m high. Habitat— 

growing along rocky slopes. Field status—common. 

Distribution: India: eastern Himalaya (Sikkim, 

Arunachal Pradesh) and northeastern India (Nagaland), 

Bhutan and southwestern China. 


2600m, coll. S. Panda 30898 (CAL). 

(xv) R. hodgsonii Hook. f.: Corolla rose-purple. 

Habit—treelet up to 4m high. Habitat—growing 

along rocky slopes. Field status—common. 

Distribution: India: eastern Himalaya (Sikkim, 

Darjeeling in West Bengal and Arunachal Pradesh) 

and northeastern India (Nagaland), Nepal, Bhutan and 

western China. 

Specimens examined: 02.iv.2003, Saramati ridge 

proper, 2600m, coll. S. Panda 30899 (CAL). 

(xvi) R. formosum Wall. var. inaequale (Hutch.) 

Cullen: Corolla white flushed pink. Habit—treelet up 

to 1m high. Habitat—growing along rocky slopes. 

Field status—threatened (two small populations were 

observed along Saramati ridge and its vicinity). 

Distribution: Endemic to India (eastern Himalaya: 

Arunachal Pradesh and northeastern India: Meghalaya, 

Nagaland and Manipur). 


proper, 2600m, coll. S. Panda s.n. (CAL). 

(xvii) Vaccinium amakhangium Panda & 

Sanjappa: Corolla urceolate, light green. Habit— 

dwarf shrub up to 0.5m high. Habitat—growing as 

epiphyte on Quercus incana. Field status—threatened 

(mass cutting of large trees due to jhum cultivation 

practices). This is a newly described species (Panda & 

Sanjappa 2008) (Image 3C). 

Distribution: Endemic to Nagaland in India. 



3457


S. Panda 

Image 2. A - Gaultheria hookeri; B - Lyonia ovalifolia; C - L. macrocalyx; D - Rhododendron arboreum; E - R. wattii; 

F - R. wightii 

Village, on the way to Mt. Saramati, 2300m, coll. S. 

Panda 30862 (CAL). 

(xviii) V. lamellatum P.F. Stevens: Corolla tubulourceolate, 

whitish-green. Habit—stout and erect 

dwarf shrub up to 0.5m high. Habitat—grown as 

epiphytic on Quercus incana. Field status—threatened 

(mass cutting of large trees due to jhum cultivation 

practices). 


(Nagaland and Manipur). Newly recorded from 

Nagaland (Image 3A). 


Village, Tuensang District, 2300m, coll. S. Panda 

30863 (CAL). 

(xix) V. retusum (Griff.) Hook. f. ex C.B. Clarke: 

Corolla urceolate, light pink. Habit—stout erect dwarf 

shrub up to 1m high. Habitat—growing along moist 

rocky slopes. Field status—common. 

Distribution: India (eastern Himalaya and 

northeastern India: Nagaland and Manipur), Nepal, 

3458 



S. Panda 

Image 3. A - Vaccinium lamellatum; B - V. manipurense; C - V. amakhangium; D - V. retusum; E - V. vacciniaceum; 

F - V. exaristatum 

Bhutan, southwestern China and northern Myanmar. 


proper, 2600m, coll. S. Panda s.n. (CAL) (Image 3D). 

(xx) V. nummularia Hook. f. & Thomson: Corolla 

urceolate, pinkish. Habit—stout pendent dwarf shrub 

up to 1m high. Habitat—growing along moist rocky 


Distribution: India (Sikkim, West Bengal and 

Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland), Nepal, Bhutan, 

southwestern China, and northern Myanmar. 

Specimens examined: Saramati ridge, 2800m, 

02.iv.2003, coll. S. Panda 30875 (CAL). 

D. Border of temperate and sub-alpine region 

up to 3300m: It includes the whole Saramati ridges 

including the base camp area. 

(xxi) R. wightii Hook. f.: Corolla yellow with 

purple flecks on the posterior lobe and blotch at base. 

Habit—treelet up to 4m high. Habitat—growing along 

moist rocky slopes. Field status—threatened (4 plants 

observed along ridge and its vicinity). 

Distribution: India: Eastern Himalaya (Sikkim and 

Arunachal Pradesh) and northeastern India (Nagaland), 

Nepal, Bhutan and western China. 

Specimens examined: Saramati ridge, 2650 m, 


3459


02.04.2003, S. Panda s.n. (CAL) (Image 2F). 

(xxii) R. barbatum Wall. ex G. Don: Corolla blood 

red with darker nectar pouches at base. Habit—treelet 



Distribution: India: Himalaya (Uttarakhand, 

Sikkim, Darjeeling in West Bengal, Arunachal 

Pradesh) and northeastern India (Nagaland), Nepal, 



2650m, coll. S. Panda s.n. (CAL). 

(xxiii) R. maecabeanum (Watt ex Balf. f.) Cullen: 

Corolla lemon yellow. Habit—treelet up to 3m high. 

Habitat—growing along moist rocky slopes. Field 

status—common. 


(Nagaland and Manipur). 


to Base camp area, coll. S. Panda s.n. (CAL). 

(xxiv) R. dalhousii Hook. f.: Corolla funnelcampanulate, 

white with pinkish tinge. Habit—treelet 



Distribution: India (Darjeeling in West Bengal, 

Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh), Nepal; Bhutan and 

China (southeastern Xizang). 


to Base camp area, coll. S. Panda s.n. (CAL). 

(xxv) R. griffithianum Wight: Corolla snow white. 

Habit—treelet up to 2m high. Habitat—growing 

along moist rocky slopes. Field status—threatened 

(observed 3 plants only along ridge and its vicinity). 

Distribution: India: Eastern Himalaya (Sikkim, 

Darjeeling in West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh) and 

northeastern India (Nagaland), Nepal, Bhutan and 

southwestern China. 


to Base camp area, ca. 3100m, S. Panda s.n. (CAL). 

(xxvi) R. kendrickii Nutt.: Corolla scarlet red. 

Habit—treelet up to 3m high. Habitat—growing along 

moist rocky slopes. Field status—threatened. 

Distribution: India: Eastern Himalaya (Arunachal 

Pradesh) and northeastern India (Nagaland), Bhutan 

and western China. 


to Base camp area, ca. 3100m, coll. S. Panda 30897 

(CAL). 

S. Panda 

E. Alpine region (3300–3841 m): It includes above 

Base camp area up to the peak. 

(xxvii) Cassiope fastigiata (Wall.) D. Don: 

Vegetative. Habit—decumbent dwarf shrub up to 0.1m 

high, often growing in tufts. Habitat—growing along 

moist alpine rocky slopes. Field status—common. 

Distribution: India (Darjeeling in West Bengal, 

Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh & Nagaland), Nepal, 

Bhutan and China (southeastern Xizang). 

Specimens examined: 02.iv.2003, Saramati peak, 

3700m, coll. S. Panda s.n. (ASSAM). 

(xxviii) G. trichophylla Royle: Vegetative. Habit— 

procumbent mat-forming dwarf shrub up to 0.1m high. 

Habitat—growing along moist alpine rocky slopes. 


Distribution: India: Himalayas (Jammu & Kashmir, 

Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Sikkim, West Bengal 

and Arunachal Pradesh) and northeastern India 

(Saramati peak of Nagaland), Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, 

southwestern China and northern Myanmar. 

Specimens examined: 02.iv.2003, Saramati peak, 

3700m, coll. S. Panda s.n. (ASSAM). 

(xxix) R. lepidotum Wall. ex G. Don: Corolla 

greenish-white. Habit—Dwarf shrub up to 0.3m high. 



Distribution: India: Himalaya (Jammu & Kashmir, 

Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Darjeeling in 

West Bengal and Arunachal Pradesh) and northeastern 

India (Nagaland), western Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, 

southwestern China and northeastern Myanmar. 

Specimens examined: 02.iv.2003, base Camp to 

Saramati peak, ca. 3500m, S. Panda 30896 (CAL). 

(xxx) R. anthopogon D. Don: Flower buds 

light yellow. Habit—dwarf shrub up to 0.3m high. 



Distribution: India: Himalayas (Uttarakhand, 

Sikkim, Darjeeling in West Bengal and Arunachal 

Pradesh) and northeastern India (Nagaland), Nepal, 


Specimens examined: 02.iv.2003, base Camp to 

Saramati peak, c. 3500m, coll. S. Panda s.n. (CAL). 

3460 



REFERENCES 

Anonymous (2009). A Users’ Guide to the IUCN Red List 

Website version 1.0 (March 2009) . 

Bor, N.L. (1936). A Trans-Frontier Tour in the Naga Hills. 

Indian Forester 62: 69–79. 

Changkija, S. & Y. Kumar (1997). Forest types of Nagaland 

and its floristic elements. Higher Plants of Indian Subcontinent 

6: 127–141. 

Hynniewta, T.M. (1994). Botany of Mt. Saramati and its 

environs. Bulletin of the Botanical Survey of India 36: 

178–188. 

Mabberley, D.J. (2008). Mabberley’s plant-book: a portable 

dictionary of plants: utilizing Kubitzki’s The families and 

S. Panda 

genera of vascular plants (1990) and current botanical 

literature, arranged according to the principles of molecular 

systematic. 3 rd Revised Edition. Cambridge University 

Press, Cambridge, 313pp. 

Panda, S. (2008). Taxonomic Revision of Some Selected 

Genera of Ericaceae in India. PhD Thesis. Submitted to 

Vidyasagar University, Midnapore, 294pp. 

Panda, S. & M. Sanjappa (2008). A New Species of Vaccinium 

L. (Ericaceae) from India. Bulletin of the Botanical Survey 

of India 50: 1–8. 

Vie, J.-C., C. Hilton-Taylor & S.N. Stuart (eds.) (2009). 

Wildlife in a changing World - An Analysis of the 2008 

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Gland, Switzerland, 

180pp. 


3461

JoTT No t e 4(15): 3462–3472 

Chasmophytic grasses of Velliangiri 

Hills in the southern Western Ghats of 

Tamil Nadu, India 

Binu Thomas 1 , A. Rajendran 2 , K. Althaf 

Ahamed Kabeer 3 & R. Sivalingam 4 

1,2,4 

Department of Botany, School of Life Sciences, Bharathiar 

University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu 641046, India 

3 

Botanical Survey of India, Southern Circle, Coimbatore, Tamil 

Nadu 641003, India 

Email: 1 binuthomasct@gmail.com, 2 drarajendra@gmail.com, 

3 

althafgrass@gmail.com, 4 drsivar@gmail.com (corresponding 

author) 

Rock crevices play a key role in forming a major 

habitat for many plants, and host rich biodiversity within 

a small area. The rocky habitat provides extremely 

harsh physical environment for plants that leads to the 

development of specialized plant communities with 

endemic and habitat specific species. The microhabitat 

like rock crevices possess diverse forms of plants, which 

are mainly seasonal herbs. These habitats differ from 

each other due to changes in geographical terrain and 

soil cover (Porembski 2000). 

Chasmophytes are plants rooted in clefts of rocks 

that are filled with detritus. In these clefts particles of 






Ms # o3107 

Received 21 February 2012 



Citation: Thomas, B., A. Rajendran, K.A.A. Kabeer & R. Sivalingam (2012). 

Chasmophytic grasses of Velliangiri Hills in the southern Western Ghats of 

Tamil Nadu, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 4(15): 3462–3472. 

Copyright: © Binu Thomas, A. Rajendran, K. Althaf Ahamed Kabeer & R. 

Sivalingam 2012. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. 

JoTT allows unrestricted use of this article in any medium for non-profit 

purposes, reproduction and distribution by providing adequate credit to the 

authors and the source of publication. 

Acknowledgements: We are all thankful to Professor and Head, 

Department of Botany, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore and Head of 

Office, Botanical Survey of India, Southern Circle, Coimbatore for providing 

necessary facilities to carry out the present research. 


Western Ghats 

Special Series 

earth conveyed by wind and water 

accumulate. The amount and rate of 

accumulation depend upon the width 

and situation of the clefts (Davis 

1982). The soil thus constituted 

facilitates plants to establish and their dead fragments 

further add to the supply of the nutritive material in 

the clefts (Bashan et al. 2002). The chasmophytic 

vegetation inhabiting rock crevices and cliffs represent 

specific habitat with extreme ecological conditions such 

as extreme drought, temperature fluctuations, width of 

the cliffs, rate of accumulation, limited soil volume and 

scarce nutrients, nature of the rock types, rock hardness 

and sediment porosity and water holding capacity of the 

substratum (Nagy & Proctor 1997; Bashan et al. 2002, 

2006). 

The grass family occupies 23% of the land area of 

the world, playing a significant role in the life of human 

beings and animals, and has a paramount role as a food 

provider, accounting for more than 80% of the world’s 

calories (Kabeer & Nair 2009). A comprehensive account 

of the grasses of Tamil Nadu was published by Kabeer 

& Nair (2009) in their floristic studies. However, there 

has been no study of chasmophytic features of grasses as 

yet. A comprehensive study was carried out to assess the 

chasmophytic diversity of grasses from Velliangiri Hills 

of southern Western Ghats of Tamil Nadu (Fig. 1). 

Study area and Methods: Velliangiri Hills are 

floristically rich and socio-religiously important 

range of southern Western Ghats situated 40km west 

of Coimbatore City, Tamil Nadu. The study area lies 

between 6 0 40’–7 0 10’E and 10 0 55’–11 0 10’N between 

520–1840 m. A famous temple called ‘Velliangiri 

Aandavar’ temple also called “Thenkailayam” (South 

Kailas) is situated at the peak of the hills (1840m). The 

range of study area consists of seven hills with different 

altitudes and topography. 

Correct nomenclature, habit, habitat, phenology and 

pattern of distribution available are given (Table 1). Plant 

specimens were identified with regional and local floras 

(Gamble & Fischer 1988; Mathew 1983; Chandrabose 

& Nair 1988; Henry et al. 1989; Kabeer & Nair 2009). 

The voucher specimens are deposited in the herbarium 

The publication of this article is supported by the Critical Ecosystem 

Partnership Fund (CEPF), a joint initiative of l’Agence Française 

de Développement, Conservation International, the European 

Commission, the Global Environment Facility, the Government of 

Japan, the MacArthur Foundation and the World Bank. 

3462 


Chasmophytic grasses of Velliangiri Hills 

B. Thomas et al. 

© Binu Thomas 

Image 1. View of Velliangiri hill top 

Figure 1. Study area 

of Botany Department, Bharathiar University (BUH), 

Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. 

Results and Discussion: The data presented here 

are the outcome of a series of extensive and intensive 

studies conducted during September 2010–October 2011 

had resulted in the documentation and collection of 30 

species of wild chasmophytic grass taxa from Velliangiri 

Hills of southern Western Ghats of Tamil Nadu (Images 

1–35). 

The present study incorporated 30 species of 

chasmophytic grasses distributed in 26 genera (Table 1). 

Among these genera Eragrostis is the dominant genus 

with four species, namely, aspera, tenella, nigra and 

uniloides. Some of the notable chasmophytic grasses 

are used by the local tribe ‘Malasars’. The stalks of 

Apluda mutica are used for making hats. Cymbopogon 

flexuosus is used to extract the lemon grass oil for 

medicinal purposes. Ash of Pogonatherum crinitum 

are used for skin problems. The spikelets of Setaria 

palmifolia and Melinus repens are highly attractive 

and used ornamentally. Most of the grasses are used as 

fodder. 

Some of the threats like heavy influence of pilgrims, 

recreational pressures, collection of fire wood, lack of 

suitable management and other construction activities 

adversely affect the existing ecosystem. It is suggested 

that the chasmophytic vegetation needs to be protected 

through sustainable utilization. 

Image 2. Pogonatherum crinitum (Thunb.) Kunth. 

Image 3. Melinis repens (Willd.) Zizka 

References 



Bashan, Y., H. Vierheilig & B.G. Salazar (2006). Primary 

colonization and breakdown of igneous rocks by endemic 

succulent plants of the deserts in Baja California, Mexico. 

Naturwissenschaften 93: 344–347. 


3463



Table 1. Chasmophytic grasses of Velliangiri Hills, southern Western Ghats of Tamil Nadu 

Sno Botanical name (accession number) Habit Habitat Phenology Distribution 

1 Apluda mutica L. (BUH: 7298) (Image 6) Tufted perennial 

2 

3. 

4. 

5. 

Arthraxon hispidus (Thumb.) Makin. 

(BUH: 7123) (Image 7) 

Arundinella pumila (Hochst. ex A. Rich) Steud. 

(BUH: 7126) (Image 8) 

Axonopus compressus (Sw.) P. Beauv. 

(BUH: 7125) (Image 9) 

Capillipedium assimile (Steud.) A. Camus 

(BUH: 7142) (Image 10) 

6. Cenchrus ciliaris L. (BUH: 7151) (Image 11) 

7. 

8. 

9. 

10. 

11. 

12. 

13. 

14. 

15. 

16. 

17. 

18. 

19. 

20. 

21. 

22. 

23. 

24. 

25. 

26. 

27. 

28. 

29. 

30. 

Centotheca lappacea (L.) Desv. 

(BUH: 7153) (Image 12) 

Cryptococcum oxyphyllum (Steud.) Stapf. 

(BUH: 7174) (Image 13) 

Cymbopogon flexuosus (Nees ex Steud.) Will. 

(BUH: 7183) (Image 14) 

Cryptococcum trigonum (Retz.) A. Camus 

(BUH: 7389) (Image 15) 

Eleusine indica (L.) Gaertn. 

(BUH: 7297) (Image 16) 

Eragrostis aspera (Jacq.) Nees. 

(BUH: 7200) (Image 17) 

Eragrostis nigra Nees ex Steud. 

(BUH: 7203) (Image 18) 

Eragrostis tenella (L.) P. Beauv. 

(BUH: 7202) (Image 19) 

Eragrostis uniloides (Retz.) Nees ex Steud. 

(BUH: 7204) (Image 20) 

Garnotia arundinacea Hook. 

(BUH: 7202) (Image 21) 

Heteropogon contortus (L.) P. Beauv. 

(BUH: 7220) (Image 22) 

Melinis repens (Willd.) Zizka 

(BUH: 7267) (Image 23) 

Oplismenus compositus (L.) P. Beauv. 

(BUH: 7275) (Image 24) 

Panicum curviflorum Hornem. (Samaikarunai) 

(BUH: 7281) (Image 25) 

Paspalidium flavidum (Retz.) A. Camus 

(BUH: 7282) (Image 26) 

Pennisetum polystachion (L.) Schult. 

(BUH: 7286) (Image 27) 

Pogonatherum crinitum (Thunb.) Kunth. (BUH: 

7310) (Image 28) 

Rottboellia cochinchinensis (Lour.) Clayton 

(BUH: 7325) (Image 29) 

Setaria palmifolia (J. Koenig) Stapf. 

(BUH: 7333) (Image 30) 

Sorghum halepense (L.) Pers. 

(BUH: 7337) (Image 31) 

Spodiopogon rhizophorus (Steud.) Pilger 

(BUH: 7202) (Image 32) 

Sporobolus indicus (L.) R. Br. var. flaccidus 

(Roem & Schult) (BUH: 7341) (Image 33) 

Themeda triandra Forssk. (Erigaithattuppullu) 

(BUH: 7341) (Image 34) 

Zenkeria elegans Trin. (Kallubothai) 

(BUH: 7362) (Image 35) 

Tufted annual 

Rock crevices of hill slopes up 

to 1700m 

Rock crevices of hill slopes up to 

1800m. 

Throughout 

the year 

Apr–Feb 

Common 

Tufted annual On dripping rocks Nov–Mar Rare 

Uncommon 

Perennial grass Rock crevices up to 1500m Jun–Feb Common 

Tufted perennial Cliffs of hill slopes 900–1800 m Oct–Mar Uncommon 

Stoloniferous 

perennial 

Decumbent 

perennial 

Tufted perennial 

Moist places of rocky cliffs 

Throughout 

the year 

Common 

Moist shaded places of hilly cliffs Apr–Nov Uncommon 

Rock crevices of forest floor up 

to 1400m 

Jul–Apr 

Uncommon 

Tufted perennial Grassland rocky cliffs at 1700m Jul–Apr Common 

Stoloniferous 

perennial 

Tufted annual 

Cliffs of moist shady places Jul–Apr Uncommon 

Rocky cliffs at 600–800 m 

Throughout 

the year 

Annual Rocky cliffs of hill slopes Nov–Feb Rare 

Uncommon 

Tufted perennial Rock crevices of marshy areas June–Mar Uncommon 

Tufted annual 

Tufted annual 

Tufted annual 


Tufted annual 

Rocky cliffs of foot hills 

Rock crevices of marshy areas 

Rock crevices of open areas at 

about 1500m 

Rock crevices of hills at about 

400–600 m 

Rocky cliffs of open dry areas at 

about 600–800 m 

Throughout 

the year 

Throughout 

the year 

Jul–Feb 

Throughout 

the year 

Throughout 

the year 

Uncommon 

Uncommon 

Uncommon 

Common 

Common 

Creeping annual Rocky cliffs of shaded areas Jul–Mar Common 

Tufted annual 

Rocky cliffs of grass lands at 

about 1300m 

May–Feb 

Common 

Tufted annual Moist shady places of rocky cliffs May–Mar Uncommon 

Tufted annual 

Tufted annual 


Rocky cliffs of marshy areas at 

1250m 

Rocky cliffs of hill slopes at 

1200m 

Rocky cliffs along streams at 

1200m 

Jul–Apr 

May–Mar 

Throughout 

the year 

Uncommon 

Common 

Uncommon 

Tufted perennial Rocky cliffs of marshy areas Jul–Apr Uncommon 

Rhizomatous 

perennial 

Tufted annual 

Tufted annual 

Rock crevices of hills at about 

600–800 m 

Rocky cliffs along hill slopes at 

1300m 

Rocky cliffs of forest floor at 

600–800 m 

Oct–Jan 

Nov–Dec 

May–Mar 

Common 

Uncommon 

Common 

Tufted perennial Rocky cliffs of hill slopes May–Mar Common 

Tufted rhizomatous 

perennial 

Massive clumps in rocky areas 

at 1700m 

Jun–Jan 

Uncommon 

3464 




Image 4. Sporobolus indicus (L.) R. Br. var. flaccidus 



Image 5. Arundinella pumila (Hochst. ex A. Rich.) Steud. 

Image 6. Apluda mutica L. 

Bashan, Y., C.Y. Li., V.K. Lebsky & M. Monero (2002). 

Colonization of chasmophytic plants in arid Baja California, 

Mexico. Plant Biology 4: 392–402. 

Chandrabose, M. & N.C. Nair (1988). Flora of Coimbatore. 

Botanical Survey of India, Coimbatore, 322–356pp. 

Davis, P.H. (1982). Cliff vegetation in the Eastern Mediterranean. 

Journal of Ecology 39: 63–93. 

Henry, A.N., V. Chitra & N.P. Balakrishnan (1989). Flora of 

Tamil Nadu. Analysis—Volume 3. Botanical Survey of India, 

87–146pp. 

Kabeer, K.A.A. & V.J. Nair (2009). Flora of Tamil Nadu - 

Image 7. Arthraxon hispidus (Thunb.) Makin. 

Grasses. Botanical Survey of India, Calcutta, 1–525pp. 

Mathew, K.M. (1983). The Flora of The Tamilnadu Carnatic— 

Volumes 1–3. The Rapinat Herbarium, St. Joseph’s college, 

Thiruchirapalli, 1789–1915pp. 

Nagy, L. & J. Proctor (1997). Soil Mg and Ni as casual factors 

of plant occurrence and distribution at the Meikle Kilrannoch 

Ultramafic site in Scotland. New Phytology 135: 561–566. 

Porembski, S. (2000). Biotic diversity of isolated rock outcrops 

in tropical and temperate regions. Journal of Ecology 146: 

177–208. 


3465



Image 8. Arundinella pumila (Hochst. ex A. Rich.) Steud. 

Image 9. Axonopus compressus (Sw.) P. Beauv. 

Image 10. Capillipedium assimile (Steud.) A. Camus Image 11. Cenchrus ciliaris L. 

3466 




Image 12. Centotheca lappacea (L.) Desv. 

Image 13. Cryptococcum oxyphyllum (Steud.) Stapf 

Image 14. Cymbopogon flexuosus (Nees ex Steud.) Will. 

Image 15. Cryptococcum trigonum (Retz.) A. Camus 


3467



Image 16. Eleusine indica (L.) Gaertn. 

Image 17. Eragrostis aspera (Jacq.) Nees 

Image 19. Eragrostis tenella (L.) P. Beauv. 

Image 18. Eragrostis nigra Nees ex Steud. 

3468 




Image 20. Eragrostis uniloides (Retz.) Nees ex Steud. 

Image 21. Garnotia arundinacea Hook. 

Image 22. Heteropogon contortus (L.) P. Beauv. 

Image 23. Melinis repens (Willd.) Zizka 


3469



Image 24. Oplismenus compositus (L.) P. Beauv. 

Image 25. Panicum curviflorum Hornem. 

Image 26. Paspalidium flavidum (Retz.) A. Camus 

Image 27. Pennisetum polystachion (L.) Schult. 

3470 




Image 28. Pogonatherum crinitum (Thunb.) Kunth. 

Image 29. Rottboellia cochinchinensis (Lour.) Clayton 

Image 30. Setaria palmifolia (J. Koenig) Stapf. 

Image 31. Sorghum halepense (L.) Pers. 


3471



Image 32. Spodiopogon rhizophorus (Steud.) Pilger 

Image 33. Sporobolus indicus (L.) R. Br. var. flaccidus 

(Roem. & Schult.) 

Image 34. Themeda triandra Forssk. 

Image 35. Zenkeria elegans Trin. 

3472 


Dr. Ullasa Kodandaramaiah, Cambridge, UK 

Dr. Pankaj Kumar, Tai Po, Hong Kong 

Dr. Krushnamegh Kunte, Cambridge, USA 

Prof. Dr. Adriano Brilhante Kury, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 

Dr. P. Lakshminarasimhan, Howrah, India 

Dr. Carlos Alberto S de Lucena, Porto Alegre, Brazil 

Dr. Glauco Machado, São Paulo, Brazil 

Dr. Volker Mahnert, Douvaine, France 

Dr. Gowri Mallapur, Mamallapuram, India 

Dr. George Mathew, Peechi, India 

Dr. Rudi Mattoni, Buenos Aires, Argentina 

Prof. Richard Kiprono Mibey, Eldoret, Kenya 

Dr. Lionel Monod, Genève, Switzerland 

Dr. Shomen Mukherjee, Jamshedpur, India 

Dr. Shomita Mukherjee, Coimbatore, India 

Dr. Fred Naggs, London, UK 

Dr. P.O. Nameer, Thrissur, India 

Dr. D. Narasimhan, Chennai, India 

Dr. T.C. Narendran, Kozhikode, India 

Mr. Stephen D. Nash, Stony Brook, USA 

Dr. K.S. Negi, Nainital, India 

Dr. K.A.I. Nekaris, Oxford, UK 

Dr. Tim New, Melbourne, Australia 

Dr. Heok Hee Ng, Singapore 

Dr. Boris P. Nikolov, Sofia, Bulgaria 

Prof. Annemarie Ohler, Paris, France 

Dr. Shinsuki Okawara, Kanazawa, Japan 

Dr. Albert Orr, Nathan, Australia 

Dr. Geeta S. Padate, Vadodara, India 

Dr. Larry M. Page, Gainesville, USA 

Dr. Arun K. Pandey, Delhi, India 

Dr. Prakash Chand Pathania, Ludhiana, India 

Dr. Malcolm Pearch, Kent, UK 

Dr. Richard S. Peigler, San Antonio, USA 

Dr. Rohan Pethiyagoda, Sydney, Australia 

Mr. J. Praveen, Bengaluru, India 

Dr. Mark R Stanley Price, Tubney, UK 

Dr. Robert Michael Pyle, Washington, USA 

Dr. Muhammad Ather Rafi, Islamabad, Pakistan 

Dr. H. Raghuram, Bengaluru, India 

Dr. Dwi Listyo Rahayu, Pemenang, Indonesia 

Dr. Sekar Raju, Suzhou, China 

Dr. Vatsavaya S. Raju, Warangal, India 

Dr. V.V. Ramamurthy, New Delhi, India 

Dr (Mrs). R. Ramanibai, Chennai, India 

Prof. S.N. Ramanujam, Shillong, India 

Dr. Alex Ramsay, LS2 7YU, UK 

Dr. M.K. Vasudeva Rao, Pune, India 

Dr. Robert Raven, Queensland, Australia 

Dr. K. Ravikumar, Bengaluru, India 

Dr. Luke Rendell, St. Andrews, UK 

Dr. Heidi Riddle, Greenbrier, USA 

Dr. Anjum N. Rizvi, Dehra Dun, India 

Dr. Leif Ryvarden, Oslo, Norway 

Prof. Michael Samways, Matieland, South Africa 

Dr. Yves Samyn, Brussels, Belgium 

Dr. V. Shantharam, Chittor, India 

Prof. S.C. Santra, Kalyani, India 

Dr. Asok K. Sanyal, Kolkata, India 

Dr. K.R. Sasidharan, Coimbatore, India 

Mr. Kumaran Sathasivam, Madurai, India 

Dr. S. Sathyakumar, Dehradun, India 

Dr. M.M. Saxena, Bikaner, India 

Dr. Hendrik Segers, Vautierstraat, Belgium 

Dr. R. Siddappa Setty, Bengaluru, India 

Dr. Subodh Sharma, Towson, USA 

Prof. B.K. Sharma, Shillong, India 

Prof. K.K. Sharma, Jammu, India 

Dr. R.M. Sharma, Jabalpur, India 

Dr. Tan Koh Siang, Kent Ridge Road, Singapore 

Dr. Arun P. Singh, Jorhat, India 

Dr. Lala A.K. Singh, Bhubaneswar, India 

Dr. K.G. Sivaramakrishnan, Chennai, India 

Prof. Willem H. De Smet, Wilrijk, Belgium 

Mr. Peter Smetacek, Nainital, India 

Dr. Brian Smith, Iverson Blvd, USA 

Dr. Humphrey Smith, Coventry, UK 

Dr. Hema Somanathan, Trivandrum, India 

Dr. C. Srinivasulu, Hyderabad, India 

Dr. Ulrike Streicher, Danang, Vietnam 

Dr. K.A. Subramanian, Pune, India 

Mr. K.S. Gopi Sundar, New Delhi, India 

Dr. P.M. Sureshan, Patna, India 

Prof. R. Varatharajan, Imphal, India 

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Dr. R.K. Verma, Jabalpur, India 

Dr. W. Vishwanath, Manipur, India 

Dr. Francesco Vitali, rue Münster, Luxembourg 

Dr. E. Vivekanandan, Cochin, India 

Dr. Gernot Vogel, Heidelberg, Germany 

Dr. Dave Waldien, Austin, USA 

Dr. Ted J. Wassenberg, Cleveland, Australia 

Dr. Stephen C. Weeks, Akron, USA 

Prof. Yehudah L. Werner, Jerusalem, Israel 

Mr. Nikhil Whitaker, Mamallapuram, India 

Dr. Andreas Wilting, Berlin, Germany 

Dr. Hui Xiao, Chaoyang, China 

Dr. April Yoder, Little Rock, USA 

Dr. Nathalie Yonow, Swansea, UK 

English Editors 

Mrs. Mira Bhojwani, Pune, India 

Dr. Fred Pluthero, Toronto, Canada 

Journal of Threatened Taxa is indexed/abstracted 

in Bibliography of Systematic Mycology, Biological 

Abstracts, BIOSIS Previews, CAB Abstracts, EBSCO, 

Google Scholar, Index Copernicus, Index Fungorum, 

JournalSeek and Zoological Records. 

NAAS rating (India) 4.5

Jo u r n a l o f Th r e a t e n e d Ta x a 


December 2012 | Vol. 4 | No. 15 | Pages 3377–3472 

Date of Publication 26 December 2012 (online & print) 

Communication 

Pollination biology of the crypto-viviparous Avicennia 

species (Avicenniaceae) 

-- A.J. Solomon Raju, P.V. Subba Rao, Rajendra Kumar & 

S. Rama Mohan, Pp. 3377–3389 

Short Communications 

Philodendron williamsii Hook. f. (Araceae), an endemic 

and vulnerable species of southern Bahia, Brazil used 

for local population 

-- Luana S.B. Calazans, Erica B. Morais & Cassia M. 

Sakuragui, Pp. 3390–3394 

Sonneratia ovata Backer (Lythraceae): status and 

distribution of a Near Threatened mangrove species 

in tsunami impacted mangrove habitats of Nicobar 

Islands, India 

-- P. Nehru & P. Balasubramanian, Pp. 3395–3400 

Status, threats and conservation strategies for orchids 

of western Himalaya, India 

-- Jeewan Singh Jalal, Pp. 3401–3409 

Conservation status of Dendrobium tenuicaule Hook. f. 

(Orchidaceae), a Middle Andaman Island endemic, India 

-- Boyina Ravi Prasad Rao, Kothareddy Prasad, Madiga 

Bheemalingappa, Mudavath Chennakesavulu Naik, K.N. 

Ganeshaiah & M. Sanjappa, Pp. 3410–3414 

Endemic orchids of peninsular India: a review 

-- Jeewan Singh Jalal & J. Jayanthi, Pp. 3415–3425 

Ecology and conservation status of canebrakes in 

Warangal District of Andhra Pradesh, India 

-- Sateesh Suthari & Vatsavaya S. Raju, Pp. 3426–3432 

Notes 

Recollection of a rare epiphytic orchid Taeniophyllum 

filiforme J.J. Sm. (Orchidaceae) after a lapse of 135 

years from South Andaman Islands, India 

-- K. Karthigeyan, R. Sumathi & J. Jayanthi, Pp. 3433–3435 

CEPF Western Ghats Special Series 

Validation and documentation of rare endemic and 

threatened (RET) plants from Nilgiri, Kanuvai and 

Madukkarai forests of southern Western Ghats, India 

-- K.M. Prabhu Kumar, V. Sreeraj, Binu Thomas, K.M. 

Manudev & A. Rajendran, Pp. 3436–3442 

Ethnobotanical value of dry, fallen ovaries of Bombax 

ceiba L. (Bombacaceae: Malvales) 

-- S. Gopakumar & R. Yesoda Bai, Pp. 3443–3446 

A report of the threatened plant Decalepis hamiltonii 

Wight & Arn. (Asclepiadaceae) from the mid elevation 

forests of Pachamalai Hills of the Eastern Ghats, Tamil 

Nadu, India 

-- V. Anburaja, V. Nandagopalan, S. Prakash & A. Lakshmi 

Prabha, Pp. 3447–3449 

Note on Celastrus paniculatus Willd. ssp. aggregatus 

K.M. Matthew ex K.T. Matthew (Celastraceae) 

-- J.W. Francis, M.M. Dandu, M.M. Sardesai & A.S. Dhabe, 

Pp. 3450–3453 

Checklist of Ericaceae in Tuensang District of Nagaland, 

India with special reference to Mt. Saramati 

-- S. Panda, Pp. 3454–3461 

CEPF Western Ghats Special Series 

Chasmophytic grasses of Velliangiri Hills in the 

southern Western Ghats of Tamil Nadu, India 

-- Binu Thomas, A. Rajendran, K. Althaf Ahamed Kabeer & 

R. Sivalingam, Pp. 3462–3472 

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