Tuesday, September 7, 2021

[Botany • 2021] Euphorbia lakshminarasimhanii (Euphorbiaceae) • A New Pygmy Succulent Species from Konkan Region of Maharashtra, India


Euphorbia lakshminarasimhanii Malpure, Chandore, P. S. Raut and B.DeJong 

in Malpure, Raut, Chandore & De Jong, 2021. 
 
Abstract
Euphorbia lakshminarasimhanii (Euphorbiaceae), a new pygmy species belonging to the genus Euphorbia subg. Euphorbia sect. Euphorbia is described and illustrated from the Konkan region of Maharashtra, India. It is easily distinguished from all known Indian species by its unique sparsely-branched pygmy habit, closely spaced and horizontally flattened tubercles, trapezoidal spine shields which are very close and overlapping at the apical region, giving a pouch like appearance, bifurcated spines completely separated by the leaf scar, leaves forming a crown, long bracts extending past the gland edge, coral red colored glands with indented margins, male florets 10 per fascicle, and capsule having globose cocci with thin keels.

Keywords: genus Euphorbia, Indian succulent euphorbia, new species, Old World Clade, section Euphorbia, subgenus Euphorbia, taxonomy



Euphorbia lakshminarasimhanii Malpure, Chandore, P. S. Raut and B.DeJong sp. nov.  

Etymology: The species is named after the late plant taxonomist Dr. P. Lakshminarasimhan, for his prodigious and lasting contributions to Indian botany.


Nilesh V. Malpure, Prashant S. Raut, Arun N. Chandore and Bruce E. De Jong. 2021. Euphorbia lakshminarasimhanii: A New Pygmy Succulent Species from Konkan Region of Maharashtra, India. Nordic Journal of Botany. DOI: 10.1111/njb.03142