Utricularia kamarudeenii V.S.A.Kumar & S.Arya, 2020

Arya, Sindhu, Raju, Reshma, Arunraj, Parappurakkal Thazhe, Vishnu, Walsan Kalarikkal, Biju, Punnakot & Kumar, Venugopalan Nair Saradamma Anil, 2020, Utricularia kamarudeenii (Lentibulariaceae): a new species from Kerala, India, Phytotaxa 447 (1), pp. 68-72 : 71-72

Utricularia kamarudeenii V.S.A.Kumar & S.Arya sp. nov.

Utricularia kamarudeenii is similar to U. aurea , but differs mainly in having monomorphic traps without appendages, scales on the inflorescence stalk, a deeply bilobed corolla lower lip, a spur exceeding the lower lip and hexagonal seeds.

Type:— INDIA. Kerala, Kottayam District, Manarcaud, 5 th January 2019, S. Arya, R.Raju and V. S. Anil Kumar 7680 (holotype CMPR; isotype TBGT, MH)

Description: —Herb, rhizoids up to 30 cm long, ca. 0.5–0.7 mm thick, branched, slender, capillary, eglandular, sparsely pubescent. Stolons 1.5–2 × 0.1–0.2 cm, linear-lanceolate, tip obtuse, glabrous. Traps on rhizoids and stolons, 1.5–2 × 0.6–0.9 mm, globose to sub-orbicular, appendages absent, mouth basal. Inflorescence a raceme, straight, up to 15 cm long, ca. 2 mm thick, glabrous, olive green, 10–12 flowered, scales 3–4 ca. 3 × 1 mm, lanceolate to triangular, tip acute to obtuse, green, glabrous. Pedicel 2–2.5 cm long, erect, slightly grooved, pale green. Flowers 1.2–2 cm long, calyx lobes slightly unequal, upper lobe 0.5–0.6 × 0.2–0.3 cm, ovate, apex emarginated, nerved or reticulate, lower lobe 0.4– 0.5 × 0.2–0.3 cm, oblong at apex; corolla yellow, upper lip 0.8–1 × 0.5–0.8 cm, oblong, wavy at margin, glabrous at base, obtuse at apex, lower lip 1–1.2 cm × 0.6–0.8 cm, ovate, glabrous, truncate, deeply bilobed; spur equal or shorter than lower lip, glabrous, obtuse at apex. Stamens ca. 2 mm long, filaments curved, dilated above, papillose. Pistil 3 mm long. Capsules 2 mm across, sub-globose or oblong without any beak. Seeds 0.1–0.3 mm across, hexagonal.

Phenology:— flowering and fruiting from December to March

Etymology: —The specific epithet honors Dr. M. Kamarudeen Kunju (former Associate Professor, Department of Botany, University of Kerala, Kariavattom, Thiruvananthapuram, South India, who passed away in the year 2019) for his contributions in the field of angiosperm taxonomy.

Taxonomic notes:— Utricularia kamarudeenii always has three rhizoids that are up to 30 cm long, while in U. aurea , rhizoids are mostly 4 when present. The stolons are linear to lanceolate and 2-times shorter than in U. aurea . In U. kamarudeenii , the trap is globose to sub-orbicular, without appendages, and always with a basal mouth, while U. aurea bears dimorphic traps: one kind obovoid, naked or with two appendages and having a lateral mouth, the other subglobose, without appendages and having a basal mouth. In the new species, scales on the stalk are present (they are absent in U. aurea ), and they are lanceolate to triangular, with an acute to obtuse tip, green, glabrous. The calyx lobes are slightly unequal, ovate and become reduced in fruit, while the lobes are sub-equal, ovate and becomes much larger and reflexing in fruit in U. aurea . The upper lip of corolla is oblong with a wavy margin and the lower lip limb is deeply bilobed, each lobe ovate to truncate with a rounded apex; the base of the lower lip limb is bigibbous and the spur slightly exceeds the lower lip, whereas in U. aurea , the upper lip is broadly ovate with a rounded apex and the lower lip limb is transversely elliptic with a base having a bilobed swelling, the apex is rounded or emarginated and the spur equals the length of the lower lip. The seeds are viable, hexagonal in shape in U. kamarudeenii without any winged appendages, while in U. aurea they are discoid, angular and the margin is winged. A comparison of the new species with U. aurea is given in Table 1.

The new species is similar to U. australis Brown (1810: 430) with respect to the length of the spur (4 mm), but differs in having a bilobed lower lip (vs. obovate lower lip in U. australis ), a spur narrow and obtuse at the apex (vs. laterally conical spur in U. australis ) and a sub-orbicular to globose trap (vs. ovoid in U. australis ).

Distribution and ecology: —The new species grows in the paddy fields and associated waterlogged areas in several locations of Kottayam district of Kerala. During field exploration, populations of the species have been observed in twenty paddy fields at the post-harvest stage which are ca. 2–3 Km far from each other (with an average area of 2 ha per standing). The plants are floaters, confined to a particular ecological niche of the paddy field. The polymorphic U. aurea has also been reported in paddy fields of Kerala (Rutishuaser 1993), confirming the close relationship of this species with our new species concerning the ecological aspect.

Additional specimens examined (paratypes): — Utricularia kamarudeenii . INDIA. Kerala: Kottayam District, Manarcaud, 35 m a.s.l. 9.5960° N, 76.5864° E, 26 January 2019, Anil Kumar, Arya & Reshma Raju 87288 (TBGT), Viloonni, 30 m a.s.l. 9.5960° N, 76.5864° E, 17 February 2019, Reshma Raju 87299 (CMPR). Maniyaparambu, 21 m a.s.l., 9.5960° N, 76.5864° E, 24 February 2019, Reshma Raju, Anil Kumar & Arya 87300 (CMPR).

underlined.