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| Sonerila janakiana Ratheesh, Sunil & Sivadasan, in Narayanan, Sunil, Sivadasan, ... et Sameh, 2017. |
Abstract
Sonerila janakiana, a new tuberous, scapigerous and stoloniferous species of Melastomataceae collected from exposed wet rocks of evergreen and semi evergreen forests in the Nilgiris and Wayanad districts of Tamil Nadu and Kerala states on the Western Ghats in India is described and illustrated. Apart from other characteristics, it is distinguished from all hitherto known species of the genus in India by having stolons and dimorphic leaves. The stolons produced from tubers terminate and develop into new tubers producing new plants.
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| Sonerila janakiana sp. nov. (A) habit, (B) flower bud, (C) single flower, (D) petal, abaxial view, (E) stamen, (F) hypanthium, (G) seeds. Rl = rudimentary leaf, st = stolon. Drawings by V. V. Naveen Kumar. |
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| Sonerila janakiana Ratheesh, Sunil & Sivadasan sp. nov. (A) habit, (B) habit showing stolon, (C) tubers with stolon, (D) base of the plant showing rudimentary leaves, stolon and tubers, (E) apical portion of peduncle with flower buds and immature fruits, (F) single flower, (G) petal, abaxial view, (H) stamen, (I) fruit. Rl = rudimentary leaf, st = stolon. |
Sonerila janakiana Ratheesh, Sunil & Sivadasan sp. nov.
A species resembling S. wallichii in general morphology, but differing by having a stoloniferous habit, up to 11 leaves, inflorescence with up to 15 flowers, glabrous peduncle, pedicel and hypanthium, urn-shaped glabrous capsules and seeds with non-excurrent raphe. It also resembles S. vatphouensis in its stoloniferous tubers and S. tuberosa in its foliar dimorphism, but strikingly differs in size, shape, structure and texture of petioles and flowers.
Etymology: The epithet is proposed in honor of the late Dr E. K. Janaki Ammal, a renowned Indian botanist, in recognition of her valuable contributions in cytogenetics, phytogeography and ethnobotany and also for her service in reorganizing the Botanical Survey of India (BSI) in her initial capacity as Officer on Special Duty and later as the Director-General of the BSI. She was honored with several prestigious awards and recognitions including the award Padma Shri by the Government of India. Th e Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India has instituted the E. K. Janaki Ammal National Award on Taxonomy, in her commemoration to encourage and promote taxonomy in India.
M. K. Ratheesh Narayanan, C. N. Sunil, M. Sivadasan, M. K. Nandakumar, V. V. Naveen Kumar, A. H. Alfarhan and M. H. Sameh. 2017. Sonerila janakiana sp. nov., A Stoloniferous Species of Melastomataceae from India. Nordic Journal of Botany. 35(4); 417-422. DOI: 10.1111/njb.01297
