Ceropegia shivrayiana A. P. Jangam, Kambale & N.V. Pawar, 2024

Jangam, Akshay P., Kambale, Sharad S., Yadav, Shrirang R., More, Ratan V. & Pawar, Nilesh V., 2024, Ceropegia shivrayiana (Apocynaceae: Ceropegieae), a new species from Western Ghats, India, Phytotaxa 662 (1), pp. 102-108 : 103

Ceropegia shivrayiana A. P. Jangam, Kambale & N.V. Pawar sp. nov. ( Fig. 1 , 2 & 3 )

Diagnosis: Ceropegia shivrayiana is similar to Ceropegia lawii Hooker (1983: 67) , but distinct in having climbing habit (vs. erect), pilose peduncle (vs. puberulous peduncles), obovate corolla cage with reflexed corolla lobes (vs. subglobose corolla cage with non-reflexed to reflexed corolla lobes at the base).

Type:— INDIA, Maharashtra, Kolhapur District, Vishalgad fort (16°54’ 6.1416’’ N, 73°44’ 27.2076’’ E), 700 m elevation, 16 th August 2023, A. P. Jangam, R. V. More, N. V. Pavar APJ-CS 01 (Holotype CAL!, Isotypes SUK!, BSI!).

Description:— Perennial twining herbs. Rootstock tuberous, tubers 3–4.5 cm in diameter, sub-globose; roots fibrous. Stems up to 2 m long, slender, terete, branched, greenish, glabrous; internodes 11–18 cm, 1–2 mm in diameter. Leaves simple, petiolate glabrous; petiole 1.5–2.5 cm long, 0.5–1.0 mm in diameter, glabrous; leaf blades 10–12.5 × 2.5–6 cm, smooth, discolourous (adaxially green, abaxially bright green), upper lamina elliptic-lanceolate, laminae cordate at base, acute at apex. Inflorescence 3 to 8 flowered cymes; peduncles 4–5.5 cm long, brown, pilose; bracts 3–5 mm long, 1–2 at base of pedicel, linear, apex acute, margin entire, green, glabrous; pedicels 1.5–2.0 cm long, green to brown, sparsely hairy. Sepals 2–3 mm long, linear, green, glabrous, Corolla 1.5–2.5 cm long, straight or slightly curved, greyish white, glabrous; tube 1–1.3 cm long, dilated at base, globose, dark purple in lower part and white in upper part within, glabrous inside; corolla lobes 0.8–1.2 × 0.5–0.7 cm, completely reflexed, connate at tips forming obovate cage, 0.5 to 1 cm in diameter, basal third is white and pilose, the apical two third is cream coloured and glabrous. Corona 5–5.5 × 4.5–5 mm, biseriate; outer corona saucer-shaped with 5-bifid triangular lobes, conspicuous, hairy within; inner corona lobes erect, linear, straight, 3–3.5 mm long, hairy, yellow with red spots. Pollinia ca. 0.8 × 1 mm, broadly ovoid, yellow, corpusculum brown, attached to pollinia by caudicles, caudicles ca. 0.1 mm long, terete. Follicles and seeds not seen.

Phenology:— Flowering: August–September.

Distribution:— India, Maharashtra, Kolhapur District, Vishalgad fort (type locality).

Etymology:— The specific epithet ‘ shivrayiana ’ honours the great King of Maratha empire and an unparalleled Warrior Chhatrapati Shivaji Shahaji Bhosale, who was popularly known as Chhatrapati Shivray or Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. He had built and won several forts, which have become important protected sites for several endemic and rare species. Even he had issued mandate for Biodiversity Conservation which is popularly known as ‘ Adnyapatra’. As this species has been discovered from one of his historical forts Vishalgad, it has been named in his honour.

Habitat:— Grows along hill slopes with scattered shrub vegetation, in association with Euphorbia neriifolia Linnaeus (1753: 451) , Phyllanthus reticulatus Poiret (1804: 298) , Bridelia stipularis (Linnaeus 1776:127) Blume (1826: 597) , Ceropegia evansii McCann (1945: 209) , Ceropegia huberi Ansari (1968: 219) and Carissa carandas Linnaeus (1767: 52) .

Other white flowered species viz., Ceropegia lawii , C. maccannii Ansari (1980: 227) and C. panchganiensis Blatter & McCann (1933: 534) of the section Indopegia prefer various habitats and found growing along the slopes dominated by Strobilanthes callosa Nees (1832: 85) . Ceropegia rollae Hemadri (1969: 123) found growing on open areas on the plateaus and along boulders while C. sahyadrica Ansari & Kulkarni (1971: 688) grows in variety of habitats viz., hill slopes, and soil rich as well as soil deficient plateaus.

Conservation Status:— Ceropegia shivrayiana is so far only known from its type locality. Only four individuals were located from Vishalgad fort. The area is visited by many tourists and pilgrims, specially near the type locality. However, so far there is no threat to the habitat of this species. There is need for thorough survey of adjacent areas with similar habitats and altitude to confirm its distribution, area of occupancy, population size and threats. According to IUCN (2019), the species is assessed here as Data Deficient (DD).

Taxonomic discussion:— Ceropegia shivrayiana falls under Ceropegia sect. Indopegia Huber which is characterised by erect and climbing herbs, glabrous to pubescent, petiolate leaves, two to many flowered cymes and corona uni to bi-seriate. This section consists of white flowered species like Ceropegia huberi , C. lawii , C. maccannii , C. panchganiensis , C. rollae , C. sahyadrica and C. santapaui Wadhwa & Ansari (1968: 95) . Among these only C. huberi and C. santapaui are climbers, rest others are erect herbs.

Ceropegia shivrayiana is closely allied to Ceropegia santapaui and Ceropegia lawii . It differs from Ceropegia santapaui by reflexed corolla lobes, obovate corolla cage with hairs and conspicuously bi-seriate corona.

It differs from Ceropegia lawii and other white flowered species viz., C. maccannii , C. panchganiensis , C. rollae and C. sahyadrica in having climbing habit, reflexed corolla lobes, obovate corolla cage with pilose corolla lobes and corolla tube to corolla lobe length ratio ca. 3:2 (vs 4:1). ( Table 1 & Fig. 3 ).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Ceropegia shivrayiana. A. habit; B. Tuber; C. Leaf, I) adaxial side; II) adaxial side; D. Inflorescence; E. Single flower; F. Top view of corolla; G. Longitudinal Section of flower; H. Corona; I. Side view of corona; J. Top view of corona; K. Pollinia.

FIGURE 2. Ceropegia shivrayiana. A. habit; B. Tuber; C. Leaf; D. Single flower; E. Top view of corolla; F. Longitudinal Section of flower; G. Corona; I. Pollinia.

FIGURE 3. A. Ceropegia shivrayiana: Single Flower; B. Ceropegia lawii: Single flower; C. Ceropegia shivrayiana: Longitudinal Section of flower; D. Ceropegia lawii: Longitudinal Section of flower; E. Ceropegia shivrayiana: Flower with corona; F. Ceropegia lawii: Flower with corona; G. Ceropegia shivrayiana: Corona; H. Ceropegia lawii: Corona.