Dipcadi ursulae Blatter var. ursulae

Rodrigues, Hensal Salvador, Dutta, Suchandra Ranjit & Chakral, Kiran Gangadhar, 2024, Resolving the taxonomic identities of some Dipcadi species from India, Phytotaxa 645 (1), pp. 1-17 : 12-13

3. Dipcadi ursulae Blatter var. ursulae 1928: 736;

Deb & Dasgupta 1977: 63; Deb & Dasgupta 1981: 10; Raghavan & Singh 1984: 163; Singh & Raghavan 1986: 35; Bole & Almeida 1986: 590; Kamble & Pradhan 1988: 255; Lakshminarasimhan 1996: 133; Almeida 2009: 178; Mao et al. 2020: 195; Nayar et al. 2014: 1453.

Type:— INDIA. Maharashtra: Satara, Tableland of Panchgani , August 1925, Blatter No. P74, (lectotype if not holotype BLAT!)

= Dipcadi maharashtrense Deb & Dasgupta ‘maharashtrensis’ 1976: 822; Deb & Dasgupta 1977: 75; Deb & Dasgupta 1981: 3; Raghavan & Singh 1983: 10; Raghavan & Singh 1984: 163; Singh & Raghavan 1986: 35; Ahmedullah & Nayar 1987: 240; Deb & Dasgupta 1987: 175; Karthikeyan et al. 1989: 93; Deshpande et al. 1995: 598; Laskshminarasimhan 1996: 130; Samaddar & Roy 1997: 124; Yadav 1997: 46; Yadav et al. 1997: 8; Tetali et al. 2000: 127; Mishra & Singh 2001: 228; Mishra & Singh 2001: 114; Almeida 2009: 177. syn. nov. Type:— INDIA. Maharashtra: Satara, Panchgani , 5 September 1955, Rukmini Bai BR 933 (holotype BLAT!) Fig. 4E .

Bulbs tunicate, ovoid-ellipsoid, neck present 0.4–1.6 cm long, 1.0–2.3 × 1.6–3.5 cm. propagating vegetatively by bulblets and splitting of the mother bulb. Roots fibrous fleshy, arise from the basal disc. Leaves 3 to 8, 8.0–48 × 0.3–1.0 cm, linear, channelled or not, glabrous green with central white band, basal undersoil portion white, apex involute, leaves shorter than inflorescence, 1 to 6 leaves persistent in infructescence, 8 to 9 veined. Scape 1 (or 2), 13–37 × 0.1–0.4 cm long, glabrous, terete and green; raceme, 5–29 cm long, dense. Pedicel 4–15 × 0.5–1 mm long. Bract 10–25 × 3–6 mm long, green coriaceous with scarious margins clasp the pedicel, base about triangular, apex 5–18 mm, acuminate, completely scarious in infructescence, 3–9 nerved. Flowers, 4 to 18 per scape, 10–17 mm long, tubular, white with green or brick red, fragrant at night and day; perianth arranged in two rows of 3 each, outer perianth equal to inner perianth; perianth tube, 4.0–7.0 × 3.0–5.0 mm, green or brick red; outer perianth lobes 7.0–11.0 × 3.0–5.0 mm, elliptic-oblong, recurved 6.0–11.0 mm, white with central olive green or brick red band, tip hooded and papillose, 7 to 8 nerved; inner perianth lobes 6.0–10.0 × 2.0–3.0 mm, recurved 2.0–3.0 mm, deltoid with acute apex, white with central olive green or brick red band, tip papillose, 7 to 8 nerved, perianth tube half smaller than the perianth lobes. Stamens 6, 4.0–6.0 mm long; filaments, 3.0–5.0 × ca. 1.0 mm narrowing towards the apex, white, adnate to perianth; anthers 1.5–2.5 × 0.5–0.6 mm, sagittate, apiculate when young-inconspicuous, dorsifixed, yellow, projecting out of tube 0.5–1.0 mm at anthesis, dehiscing longitudinally, filament as long as or twice as long as anther. Pistil 9–13 mm long; ovary tricarpellary, 4.0–5.0 × 2.0–3.0 mm trigonous, obovoid, green, stipitate, stipe 1–2 mm long, conspicuous septal nectary present in the ovary; style 4.0–7.0 × 0.8–1.0 mm glistening white, cylindrical with longitudinal striations, style as long as the ovary; stigma 0.1–0.2 mm thicker than the style, 1 mm in diameter, white, papillose hair, vaguely trigonous, each lobe is bilobed, the trilobed condition clearly observed when the pistil is young, 3 nectar droplets at the angle of the stigma lobes that projects out of tube at anthesis. Fruit loculicidal capsule, 10.0–16.0 mm (with stipe) long, 6.0–12.0 × 9.0– 12 mm, longer than or equal to the width, dehiscing longitudinally, pericarp thick, green when young and thin, light yellowish-green-brown at maturity, bracts persistent. Seeds, 4–6 × 4–5 mm, superposed, orbicular-ellipsoid, compressed with slightly raised margin; shiny black, 8–16 per locule.

Distribution:— INDIA. Maharashtra: Pandavleni, Kas plateau Jungti plateau, Sadawagapur, Mhavashi plateau, Masai plateau, Thoseghar, Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary, Yekiv, Kas-Mahableshwar road, Dadholi, Ambheri Ghat, Khatav, Dapoli Borundi, Pune, Vidharbha, Akola, Khaperdari ( Kamble & Pradhan 1988, Almeida 2009, Jehan et al. 2014, inaturalist 2023, pers. comm.)

Habitat:—Growing on laterite, high elevation ca. 20–800m and above. Prone to strong winds and fluctuated sun and rain.

Phenology:—July–October.

Specimens examined:— INDIA. Maharashtra: Satara, Panchgani Tableland , August 1925, Blatter 074 ( BLAT!) ; ibid., 01 August 1953, Chennaveeraiah 15756 ( BLAT!) ; ibid., 28 August 1973, Rekha Datar ( AHMA!) ; ibid., 20 September 1955, Vartak 1208 ( AHMA!) ; Kas Plateau , September 2010, Datar ( AHMA!) ; ibid., September 1991, M. P. Bachulkar-Cholekar 5136 ( SUK!) ; ibid., 28 September 2021, H. Rodrigues & Chakral HSK222439, HSK222410 ( RDNCP!) ; Chalkewadi , 17 August 2010, Lekhak MML323 ( SUK!) ; ibid., August 1995, M. P. Bachulkar-Cholekar 20620 ( SUK!) ; Sadawagapur , 25 September 2021, H. Rodrigues & S. Dutta HSK222407, HSK222406 ( RDNCP!) .

Figures

FIGURE 4. Dipcadi ursulae: A–B habit; C–D inflorescence; E Holotype of D. maharashtrense © BLAT; F, G bract; H variation in ovary shape.