Distimake rhynchorhiza (Dalzell) Simões & Staples Bot. J. Linn. Soc.

Simões, Ana Rita & More, Sushant, 2018, Distimake rhynchorhiza (Dalzell) Simões & Staples (Convolvulaceae) back from the brink: synopsis and lectotypification of a little known species from the Western Ghats (India), Phytotaxa 357 (1), pp. 52-58 : 53-54

Distimake rhynchorhiza (Dalzell) Simões & Staples Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 183 (4): 561–586. 2017.

Basyonym: Ipomoea rhyncorhiza Dalzell , Hooker’s J. Bot. Kew Gard. Misc. 3: 179. 1851. Dalzell & Gibson, Bomb. Fl.: 167 (1861);

Clarke, Fl. Brit. India 4: 214 (1883); Woodrow, Journ. Bomb. Nat. Hist. Soc. 12: 172 (1898); Talbot, Talb. Trees Bomb. ed 2: 252 (1902).

Merremia rhynchorrhiza (Dalzell) Hallier f. Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 16(4–5): 552. 1893; Cooke, Fl. Pres. Bombay 2: 239 (1905); Staples, Gardens’ Bulletin Singapore 61(2): 500 (2010).

Type :— INDIA. ‘in montibus Syhadree, prope Tulkut-ghat’ Dalzell s.n. (Lectotype, designated here: K000830863 K!; isolectotypes: K000830864 K!, K000830865 K!, K001081776 K!) .

A slender prostrate herb with well-developed tubers, deeply palmately lobed leaves with irregularly dissected margins; very long peduncles in relation to the petioles, and medium sized bright yellow funnel form corolla (Fig. 1).

Prostrate herb. Roots tuberous, the tuber sub-woody, oval compressed, moderately rostrate. Stem filiform, glabrous. Leaves deeply 5–7 palmately lobed, cordate in outline, the central lobe acuminate, the lateral lobes with an emarginated, shortly mucronate apex; leaf size c. 4 × 5 cm; margins irregularly dissected; adaxial surface hispid with yellowish simple hairs, abaxial surface glabrous; petiole glabrous, 1–1.5 cm long. Inflorescences axillary cymes with one or two flowers; peduncles filiform, glabrous, c. 5–7 cm long, nearly the same length as the leaves, about 4 times longer than the petiole; bracteoles lanceolate, c. 2mm long; pedicel filiform, glabrous, 0.3 cm long. Sepals 5, adnate to the corolla tube, glabrous, unequal, the 2 outer shorter, narrow elliptic, 1.4 cm × 0.3 cm, apex shortly acuminate; inner ones longer, narrow elliptic, 2 cm – 0.3 cm, apex shortly acuminate. Corolla funnelform, bright (sulphur) yellow, 3.5–4 cm long, glabrous. Stamens unequal in length, 2 shorter and 3 longer, shortly pubescent at the base of the filaments, yellow; anthers white, spirally twisting at dehiscence; pollen not known. Style filiform, glabrous, white; stigma with 2 globose lobes. Fruit (only young fruits seen) capsular, 11 mm × 10 mm, glabrous, 4-locular, 4-valved; sepals entirely reflexing back and enlarging in fruit, up to 2 cm long and 0.5 mm wide; seeds 3 or 4, rotund, 5mm long, glabrous.

Phenology: Flower and fruiting from July to October.

Distribution: INDIA. Gujarat: Bhavnagar Dt.; Gir somnath Dt.; Narmada Dt.; Panchmahal Dt.; Valsad Dt.: Pendha; Khatradevi, Umarpada ( Ranal & Nagar, 2017: 751); Maharashtra: “Tulkut-ghât” (Talkat, Sindhudurga District), Amboli (Sindhudurga District). Karnataka: Kankumbi (Belgaum, District) (Map 1).

Habitat and ecology: Geophyte ( Gaikwad et al. 2015: 8), growing on rock crevices in open rocky lateritic plateau, 690m – 1000m.

Uses: Tuberous roots and leaves are eaten as vegetables by local people ( Dalzell 1851: 179).

Vernacular name: “Sada bhaji” [sada = plateau; bhaji = vegetable] (Marathi).

Conservation status: Vulnerable (VU).

Specimens: INDIA. Maharashtra. Concan: Talkat, ‘in montibus Syhadree, prope Tulkut-ghat’, Dalzell s.n. (K!) ; same locality, 01.10.201 7, ASSM 31 (BLAT!) ; “ Malabar, Concan , etc., regio trop.” Stocks, Law & Co s.n. (BR!, F, UPS, S). Ghat: Amboli, 16.09.201 6, ASSM 30 (BLAT!) ; Karnataka: Belgaum , Kankumbi, 17.8.200 8, Shimpale 3342 (NCK) ; crevices of rocks at 1,000 m altitude, SUK-SPG 1305 (SUK).