Dipcadi concanense var. devrukhense H.Rodrigues, S.R.Dutta & Chakral

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 : 10-11

1. Dipcadi concanense var. devrukhense H.Rodrigues, S.R.Dutta & Chakral var. nov.

Type:— INDIA. Maharashtra: Ratnagiri district, Devrukh , Sadavali , 17°5’11.706’’N, 73°35’59.226’’E, 16 July 2022, H.Rodrigues, S.R.Dutta & Chakral HSK06 (holotype CAL!, isotypes BLAT!, RDNCP!, VCH!) .

Diagnosis:—Leaves with central white band, inflorescence with 8 flowers per scape in lax raceme, flowers 33–37 mm long, pure white tubular, fragrant at night & day, bracts with 1–3 mm long acute apex 10 to 12 nerved, outer perianth 1 mm longer than inner perianth, perianth tube 1.5 times as long as perianth lobes, pistil stipitate, capsule 6–8 × 11–18 mm, seeds shiny brownish-black.

Bulbs tunicate, ovoid-ellipsoid, neck absent, 1.0–2.0 × 0.8–2.0 cm. propagating vegetatively by bulblets and splitting of the mother bulb. Roots fibrous fleshy, arise from the basal disc. Leaves 5 to 8, 25–40 × 0.7–1 cm, linear, glabrous green with a central white band and basal undersoil portion white, channelled and equally persistent in infructescence. Scape 1 (or 2), 40–55 × 0.3–0.5 cm long, glabrous, terete and green; raceme, 9–13 cm long, lax. Pedicel 6–10 × ca. 1–1.5 mm. Bract 5–7 × 4–5mm (7–10 mm in bud condition) green coriaceous with scarious margins that clasp the pedicel, base about triangular, apex ca. 1 mm acute, completely scarious in infructescence, 10 to 12 nerved. Flowers, 6 to 8 per scape, 33–37 mm long, tubular, fragrant day–night, mild during day, strong at night; perianth arranged in two rows of 3 each, outer perianth lobes 1 mm longer than inner perianth lobes; perianth tube, 18–20 × 3.5 mm; outer perianth lobes 12–14 × ca. 6 mm, elliptic, recurved, white, tip hooded and papillose, 7 to 8 nerved; inner perianth lobes 5–7 × 4 mm, recurved, white, tip papillose 7 to 8 nerved; perianth tube: outer perianth lobes is 1.5:1. Stamens 6, 6–8 mm long; filaments, ca. 8 × 1 mm narrowing towards the apex, white, adnate to perianth; anthers ca. 4 × 2 mm, sagittate, apiculate, dorsifixed, yellow, projecting out of tube 1 mm at anthesis, dehiscing longitudinally, filament twice as long as anther. Pistil ca. 30 mm long; ovary tricarpellary, 4 × 3 mm trigonous-obovoid, green, stipitate, stipe c. 3.5 mm long, conspicuous septal nectary present in the ovary; style ca. 22 × 0.7 mm glistening white, cylindrical with longitudinal striations, style five times longer than ovary; stigma 0.2 mm thicker than the style, 1 mm in diameter, white, papillose hair, vaguely trigonous, each lobe is bi-lobed, 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, ca. 16 mm long with stipe, (stipe 5–8 mm long in fruit), 6–8 × 11–18 mm, broader than the length, dehiscing longitudinally, pericarp thick, green when young and thin, light yellowish-green-brown at maturity, bracts persistent. Seeds, ca. 6 × 5 mm, superposed, orbicular-ellipsoid, compressed with slightly raised margin; shiny brownish-black, ca. 8 per locule.

Distribution:— INDIA. Maharashtra: Ratnagiri district, Devrukh, Sadavali.

Habitat:—grows on low lying open lands where the soil is saturated with water during the monsoon.

Phenology:—July–August.

Etymology:—The variety ‘ devrukhense’ is named after the type locality Devrukh, Maharashtra from where the new variety was first collected.

Associates:— Smithia sensitiva Aiton (1789: 496) , Cyperus nemoralis Chermezon (1921: 553) , Chamaecrista absus ( Linnaeus 1753: 376) H.S. Irwin & Barneby 1982: 664 , Crinum bulbispermum ( Burman 1768: 9) Milne-Redhead & Schweickerdt 1939: 161 , Rhamphicarpa fistulosa ( Hochstetter 1841: 374) Bentham 1846: 504 , Neanotis lancifolia (Hooker f. 1880: 73) W.H. Lewis 1966: 39 , Alysicarpus vaginalis ( Linnaeus 1753: 746) de Candolle 1825: 353 and species from genera, Rotala Linnaeus (1771: 143) , Justicia Linnaeus (1753: 15) , and species from families such as Cyperaceae , Poaceae and Hydrocharitaceae .

Specimens examined:— INDIA. Maharashtra: Ratnagiri, Devrukh , Sadavali , 24 July 2022, H.Rodrigues, S.RDutta & Chakral HSK222436, HSK222437 ( RDNCP!) ; ibid., 16 July 2022, H.Rodrigues, S.RDutta & Chakral HSK222416, HSK222415 ( RDNCP!) .