Geranium janakianum, Aparna Shukla & V. Wagh, 2023

Shukla, Aparna R., Sahu, Nayan, Hurrah, Imtiyaz A., Ahmad, Mairaj & Wagh, Vijay V., 2023, Geranium janakianum (Geraniaceae), a new species from Uttarakhand, India, Phytotaxa 630 (2), pp. 123-132 : 127-129

Affinities of Geranium janakianum with its closely allied species

The distinctions between the newly described species and its closely allied species are summarised in Table 1 . Geranium janakianum shares its closest resemblance with G. himalayense and Geranium wlassovianum , both of which belong to the subgen. Geranium and share common features as perennials, thriving in alpine environments.

The primary closely related species of Geranium janakianum is Geranium himalayense . Geranium janakianum can be distinguished from latter by several key characteristics: stem length ranging ca. 42–84 cm long (vs ca. 20–60 cm long), leaves pentamerous, middle segment with 7–19 lobes and a main sinus length to middle segment length ratio of 0.5–0.7 (vs leaves reniform, middle seg. with 8–15 lobes and a main sinus length to middle segment length ratio of 0.5–0.8), stipule 10.5–15.2 mm long, apex bifid or tetrafid (vs stipule 3.9–11 mm long, apex not splitting), petals apex rounded, basal abaxial surface sometimes with hairs (vs petals apex slightly notched, basal abaxial surface glabrous), staminal filament deltoid or dilated, 9.5–12 mm long, occasionally abaxial surface with hairs on the basal part (vs staminal filament lanceolate, ranging from 4–11 mm long, with a glabrous abaxial surface).

Another closely related species is Geranium wlassovianum . It can be distinguished from Geranium janakianum by several notable differences. In Geranium janakianum , the lamina is palmately partite and pentamerous with 7–19 lobes, main sinus length to middle segment length ratio of 0.5–0.7 (vs the lamina is palmately cleft with 7–10 lobes and main sinus length to middle segment length ratio of 0.7–0.8), length of the pedicel 0.2–1.5 cm (vs 2–6.2 cm), petals bluish-violet (vs deep purplish magenta petals), staminal filaments base with few hairs on abaxial surface (vs densely pilose throughout and has ciliation in the proximal half).

Geranium janakianum can also be closely related with Geranium pratense Linnaeus (1753: 681) ; however, several distinctive features set them apart. In fact, Geranium janakianum stem lengths vary significantly, typically measures between 42–84 cm (vs 23–150 cm long), presence of stomatal openings on all parts (vs stomatal opening absent except leaf), leaves are palmatipartite, pentamerous, adaxial surface with sericeous eglandular hairs, abaxial surface with villous eglandular hairs (vs polygonal, palmatisect, covered with appressed eglandular hairs on both sides), leaf segments with 7–19 lobes (vs 10–30 lobes), petal bluish-violet, rounded shapes, slightly clawed at base, basal abaxial surface with hairs (vs bluish, purplish, or white petals without a claw and glabrous on both surface).