Arisaema tuberculatum Fischer (1935

Prabhukumar, Konickal Mambetta, Chhabra, Tarun, Robi, Aloor Jose, Jagadeesan, Raveendran & Balachandran, Chandrasseril Narayanan Sunil And Indira, 2017, Rediscovery of Arisaema translucens (Araceae) and notes on A. tuberculatum, two strict endemics of Nilgiris, India, Phytotaxa 306 (1), pp. 85-90 : 89

Arisaema tuberculatum Fischer (1935 : errata slip opposite p. 66).

Replaced: Arisaema convolutum Fischer (1934: 167) , not Arisaema convolutum Nakai (1929) .

Type:— INDIA. Tamil Nadu: Nilgiris district, Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, Parson’s Valley, 7000–7500 ft., 20 May 1933, Barnes AR.7 ( K!). Fig. 3 .

Notes:— Fischer described A. convolutum (1934) based on the Barnes collection from the shola forests of Parson’s Valley of Ootacamund, Tamil Nadu in 1933. After one year, he proposed a new name to the species as A. tuberculatum because he found that the name A. convolutum had already been used by Nakai in 1929. Presently, A. convolutum is synonymized under A. serratum ( Thunberg 1794: 338) Schott (1832: 17) . Recently Ramachandran & Paulraj (2008) rediscovered the species from Bangitappal of Mukurthi National Park based on the collection by Ramachandran and Anil Varghese on 2001, but there are no colour photographs available of this species for morphological identification. Here we are giving the habit and floral photographs of this taxon for future reference. Recently the third author has also collected the species from Sispara region of Silent Valley National Park in Kerala. The flowering of the species is observed during March-May and fruiting in May-July.

Interestingly, few previous literature ( Sivadasan 1999, Sasidharan 2006, 2013; Nayar et al. 2014) reported the distribution of A. translucens from Idukki and Palakkad districts of Kerala. A detailed herbarium survey revealed that there is no specimen of this species deposited in any of the Indian herbaria from Kerala. On the perusal of this data and the information collected through personal communication with some of the authors of the previous reports and experts working on the genus in India, it is confirmed that the previous reports of this species from Kerala is without any scientific evidence.

Distribution:— Endemic to Tamil Nadu and Kerala region of Western Ghats.

Specimens examined: — INDIA. Tamil Nadu, Nilgiris district, Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, Parsons Valley , Pennant Shola ± 2350 m. alt. 03 June 2016, Prabhukumar, Tarun Chhabra, Sunil & Binu Prakash 9165 ( CMPR!) ; Bangitappal , 27 April 2011, V. S. Ramachandran & C. P. Anil Varghese 2899 ( KNASCH) ; Kerala, Palakkad district, Silent Valley National Park, Sispara , ± 2250 m. alt. 9 March 2016, Robi 22335 ( KFRI!) ; Tamil Nadu, Nilgiris district, Parson’s Valley, Pennant Shola , Barnes , s. n, Barcode no. K000950296 , K000950297 , K000950298 ( K!) .

Figures

FIGURE 3. Arisaema tuberculatum C.E.C.Fisch.A. Habit; B. Abaxial and adaxial view of leaflets; D. Mouth showing caudate limb with a filiform thread; E. & F. Inflorescence.