Crotalaria lamelliformis P. Sivaramakrishna, P. Yugandhar & L.J. Singh, 2021

Sivaramakrishna, Pasupuleti, Yugandhar, Pulicherla & Singh, Lal Ji, 2021, Crotalaria lamelliformis (Fabaceae: Crotalarieae), a new species from Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh, Peninsular India, Phytotaxa 490 (1), pp. 71-81 : 72-74

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.11646/phytotaxa.490.1.6

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03D28768-8602-2C15-48D3-FAF2FCE2FE14

treatment provided by

Marcus

scientific name

Crotalaria lamelliformis P. Sivaramakrishna, P. Yugandhar & L.J. Singh
status

sp. nov.

Crotalaria lamelliformis P. Sivaramakrishna, P. Yugandhar & L.J. Singh View in CoL sp. nov., Figs. 1–4 View FIGURE 1 View FIGURE 2 View FIGURE 3 View FIGURE 4 )

Type:— INDIA. Andhra Pradesh: Chittoor District, Near Sadasivakona , elev. ca. 315 m. a.s.l, 13°50’31.49”N latitude, 79°61’72.33”E longitude ( Fig. 5 View FIGURE 5 ), 15 July 2018, P . Sivaramakrishna , P . Yugandhar & L. J . Singh , 0011 (holotype: CAL!, isotype: BSID!)

Diagnosis: C. lamelliformis is morphologically similar to C. albida , but it differs from the later in having leaf glabrous on upper surface and adpressed white hairs beneath, Inflorescence terminal racemes with flowers 6-8, rarely up to 10, calyx lobes unequal (anterior two lobes completely fused), standard petal emarginated at apex (notched), standard petal with short claw surrounded by white hairs, lamelliform callosities, standard and wing petals equal in length, keel petals lanate at base and margins, pod oblong, sub-cylindric, glabrous, seeds 3-8, brown and shiny. The details of the characteristic differences between C. lamelliformis and C. albida are given the Table 1.

Description: Prostrate to ascending herb growing up to 30 cm, profusely branched, branches radiating from the root stock, stem terete, adpressed with white hairs, leaves simple, alternate, petiole 1 mm long, stipules 2, 1 mm, minute, lanceolate, hairy on the upper surface; Lamina 1–2.8× 0.3–0.6 cm, narrowly elliptic–oblanceolate, leaf base cuneate, mucronate at apex, margin entire, densely covered with adpressed white hairs on lower surface and glabrescent above, abaxial hairs protrude at margins, mid vein prominent, blade lobes involute; Inflorescence racemes, terminal, peduncles up to 6–8 cm long rarely up to 10 cm, slender, clothed with adpressed white hairs; Flower across 0.8× 0.8 mm, distinctly pedicillate, pedicel 2.5–3mm long, hairy; bract linear–lanceolate, minute, 1 mm long, bracteols 2, linear–lanceolate, minute, 0.5 mm long, appressed to calyx tube on lateral side of anterior sepals, hairy on upper surface, sericeous; Calyx tube 5 mm long, calyx lobes unequal, bilipped calyces, anterior two sepals broad, connate, notched at the apex, brownish green, ventral surface glabrous, brown, three nerved, three lower sepals linear–lanceolate, connate basally and apically, acute at apex, hairy on the upper surface; Corolla bright yellow, exerted, petals 5, standard petal 7× 7 mm across, sub–orbicular, base with short claw, surrounded by white cottony hairs, faint reddish brown striations arising from the base up to the middle, apex emarginated, notched, callosities lamelliform 2× 3 mm; wing petals 7× 3 mm, oblong–lanceolate, clawed; keel petals 7× 3 mm, base and margins lanate, fused; stamina sheath 5 mm long, stamens 10, monodelphous, dimorphic, dithecous, basifixed, free longer filaments 3.5 mm long, anthers ovoid 0.5 mm, anthers having short filaments are sagittate, 3 mm long; Gynoecium, ovary sessile, glabrous, 3.5–4× 1 mm, ovules up to 10, style 5–6 mm long, geniculate, sparsely hairy, hairs in single row arranged spirally (S–pattern), stigma brush type, densely hairy; Pod oblong or sub–cylindric, short, 7 mm long, slightly exceeding the calyx, oblong, glabrous, curved and beak conspicuous, ripened pod black or dark brown, calyx and style persistent; Seeds 3–8, 1 mm long, reniform, without aril, brown, polished.

Etymology: —The specific epithet lamelliformis is based on the lamelli form callosities .

Phenology:— Flowering and fruiting: July–November.

Distribution: —The new species is so far only known from the type localities of Sadasivakona, Kailasakona and Pudi areas, which are the part of Southern Eastern Ghats, Andhra Pradesh, India.

Habitat ecology: — Crotalaria lamelliformis grows in dry pasture lands with red sandy soil at hilly tops with grasses and herbaceous plants, short stature and having short flowering and fruiting season. Temperature of its type localities ranges between 27–45 0 C and the rainfall is seasonal, June–November. The new species grows in association with Aristida hystrix L.f., Carissa spinarum L., Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers., Dactyloctenium aegyptium (L.) Willd., Desmodium triflorum (L.) DC., Evolvulus alsinoides L., Indigofera glabra L., Justicia procumbens L., Oldenlandia umbellata L., Phyllanthus virgatus G. Forst. and Polygala arvensis Willd.

Proposed conservation status: — Crotalaria lamelliformis is sparsely scattered and confined to few localities of geographically separated three distinct areas of Eastern Ghats viz. Sadasivakona, Kailasakona and Pudi. This disjunctive distribution indicates that it is quite probable that the type species also found in other regions. Due to lack of data on population distribution, the preliminary conservation status of C. lamelliformis was assessed as ‘Data Deficient’ (DD) category according to the IUCN criteria ( IUCN 2020).

Additional examined specimens (paratypes):— INDIA, Andhra Pradesh: Chittoor District, Near Kailasakona , elev. ca. 164 m. a.s.l, 13°39’08.72”N latitude, 79°62’65.88”E longitude, 25 August 2019, P. Sivaramakrishna & P. Yugandhar, 0014; Near Pudi, elev. ca. 132 m. a.s.l 13°56’47.75”N latitude, 79°49’15.55”E longitude ( Fig. 5 View FIGURE 5 ), 25 September 2020, P. Sivaramakrishna & P. Yugandhar, 0016 GoogleMaps .

P

Museum National d' Histoire Naturelle, Paris (MNHN) - Vascular Plants

L

Nationaal Herbarium Nederland, Leiden University branch

J

University of the Witwatersrand

CAL

Botanical Survey of India

BSID

Botanical Survey of India

Kingdom

Plantae

Phylum

Tracheophyta

Class

Magnoliopsida

Order

Fabales

Family

Fabaceae

Genus

Crotalaria

Darwin Core Archive (for parent article) View in SIBiLS Plain XML RDF