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| Goniothalamus sericeus Sujana & Vadhyar
in Sujana & Vadhyar, 2020
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Abstract
Goniothalamus sericeus is described as a new species from southern Western Ghats of India. The species shares some common morphological traits between G. keralensis E. S. S. Kumar, Shaju, P. E. Roy & Raj Kumar and G. wightii Hook.f. & Thomson, which are endemic to the southern Western Ghats. The photographs, illustrations and conservation status of the species are provided here for easy identification and to formulate better conservation and management strategies.
Keyword: Annonaceae, Goniothalamus sericeus, India, Kanyakumari wildlife sanctuary, new species, Tamil Nadu
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| Fig. 1. Goniothalamus sericeus. A: Flowering branch. B: Lateral view of flower. C: Apical view of flower. D: A sepal E: Abaxial view of an outer petal. F: Adaxial view of an outer petal. G: Abaxial view of an inner petal. H: Adaxial view of an inner petal. I: Receptacle with carpels. J & K: Carpels. L: A stamen. M: Mature monocarps. N: Monocarp. O: Seed. – Drawn by A. T. Durgadas |
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| Fig. 2. Goniothalamus sericeus. A: Habit. B: Bark. C: A slash showing inner bark. D: Flowering twig, young innovation (in sight). E: Lateral view of a flower. F: Dorsal view of a flower. G: Receptacle with sepals and carpels. H: Immature carpels. I: Mature carpels. J: Seed. |
Goniothalamus sericeus Sujana & Vadhyar, sp. nov.
Goniothalamus sericeus is morphologically similar to G. wightii, which is also endemic to the southern Western Ghats. But differs from it in having smaller leaves (8–11 × 1.8–2.1 cm), deciduous sepals in fruits, rhomboid inner petals with densely sericeous abaxially and glabrous adaxially. The connective of the anther is papillate, rounded at apex and densely hairy. Ripen carpels are sessile, yellow in color with black strigose hairs basally. The new species is having some affinities with G. keralensis by having sessile monocarps and caducous sepals (Kumar et al., 2013). But G. keralensis differs from the new species by having much longer leaves (up to 28 cm), funnel shaped stigma and orange-brown ripen carpels. The distinguishing characters of G. sericeus from its allied taxa are given in Table 1.
Distribution: So far known only from Kanyakumari wildlife sanctuary, Tamil Nadu, South India.
Etymology: The specific epithet 'sericeus' refers to the presence of dense sericeous hairs on petals.
Kanjiraparambil Arjunan Sujana and Rakesh Gopala Vadhyar. 2020. A New Species of Goniothalamus (Annonaceae) from the Western Ghats of Tamil Nadu, India. Taiwania. 65(2); 176-180. DOI: 10.6165/tai.2020.65.176
