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| Crotalaria luteopurpurea Dalavi, Ramesh, Basavraj, Sanjappa & S.R.Yadav, in Dalavi, Ramesh, Basavaraj, Yadav, Jadhav-Rathod et Sanjappa, 2025. |
Abstract
Crotalaria luteopurpurea Dalavi et al. is described with photo-plate here as a new species from Bagalkot district of Karnataka, India. It is an annual, procumbent, sparingly branched herb with dimorphic leaves, usually solitary flowers, bicolored corolla (standard petals bright yellow on both surfaces, wing petals purple with yellow nectar guides), densely hirsute blotched pods and polished seeds with mottled testa. The newly proposed species grows sympatrically with C. bifaria L.f. and maintains consistent differences without any intermediate form. The blooming time of flowers also differs in both species (C. bifaria flowers open in the early day hours and close in the evening, whereas C. luteopurpurea flowers bloom in the late afternoon or evening hours and remain open whole night). Due to this reproductive isolation, we could not collect any intermediate forms between these species. The new species is described with informative photo plates, identification keys, and ecological notes.
Keywords: Badami, Karnataka, Crotalaria, Fabaceae, Rattlepod
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| Crotalaria luteopurpurea Dalavi, Ramesh, Basavraj, Sanjappa & S.R.Yadav: a. Habit; b & c . Dimorphic leaves; d. Bracts; e. Flower–front view; f. & g. Flower–lateral view; h. Flower–dorsal view; i. Calyx; j. Dissected corolla; k. Enlarged portion of wing; l. Standard petal–dorsal view; m. Androecium; n. Gynoecium; o & p. Pods; q. Seeds (from J.V. Dalavi, R. Pujar & B. Saliyavar BCV-001; photos by Jagdish Dalavi). |
Crotalaria luteopurpurea Dalavi, Ramesh, Basavaraj, Sanjappa & S.R.Yadav, sp. nov.
It is allied to C. bifaria L.f. (Fig. 2) but differs in its habit (much branched vs. procumbent sparingly branched), leaves (lower leaves ovate to orbicular and upper ovate to oblong, less than 1.5 times longer than lower leaves vs. lower leaves orbicular to ovate and upper leaves elliptic-lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, 1.5–3 times longer than lower ones), peduncle (diffused, weak and creeping vs. erect to sub-erect) corolla (entirely blue on ventral surface side while standard yellow with brown veination on backside vs. bicolored ventral surface while standard bright yellow on both the surfaces and wings purple colored), standard (as long as or broader than long, blue inside vs. longer than broader and bright yellow inside), wings (blue with white shade near claw vs. purple with bright yellow near claw), and seeds (usually brown to black shiny rarely slightly blotched or mottled vs. faint brown, always distinctly blotched or mottled).
Etymology: The specific epithet ‘luteopurpurea’ is
derived from color of the corolla, standard bright
yellow (latin luteo = yellow) and purple wing and
keel petals (latin purpurea = purple).
Dalavi J.V., Ramesh P., Basavaraj S., Yadav S.R., Jadhav-Rathod V.D. and M. Sanjappa. 2025. Crotalaria luteopurpurea (Fabaceae) A New elegant Rattlepod from Drylands of Karnataka, India. Rheedea. 35(1); 13–18. DOI: 10.22244/rheedea.2025.35.01.03 https://rheedea.in/journal/1Qk5udtv [31-Mar-2025]
