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| Sonerila gigantea Karadakatti & Kakkalameli, in Karadakatti et Kakkalameli, 2025 |
Abstract
The Sonerila gigantea is a new acaulescent species found in Mallalli Falls, Kodagu District, Karnataka, India, part of the Western Ghats. This species has distinguishable characteristics like habit from the genus Sonerila worldwide. S. gigantea is compared with Sonerila wallichii Benn. & Sonerila grandis Ridl. The species shown differ in several characteristics like habit, leaf and inflorescence, described in a table form with taxonomic keys and even explained micro morphology characters like pollen and seed. This report deliberates on the new species Sonerila gigantea from the Western Ghats, India.
Keywords: Acaulescent, giant habit, Kodagu, stemless sonerila, white patches
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| Sonerila gigantea a. Habit, b. Leaf dorsal, c. Leaf ventral, d. Flower side view, e. Flower front view, f. Hypanthium, g. Petal abaxial, h. Petal adaxial, i. Anthers, j. Anther lobe, k. Gynoecium, l. Fruit. (Illustration by Prashant Karadakatti) |
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| Sonerila gigantea. a. Habit, b. Tuber, c. Petiole, d. Leaf dorsal, e. Leaf ventral, f. Inflorescence, g. Flower, h. Hypanthium, i. Petal dorsal, j. Petal ventral, k. Anthers, l. Gynaoecium, m. Fruit. (Photograph by Prashant Karadakatti & Shreyas Betageri) |
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| Sonerila gigantea upper image landscape of species origin, lower image species location map. |
Sonerila gigantea Karadakatti & Kakkalameli sp nov.
The Sonerila gigantea can be easily distinguished by its size of the habit. Leaf size varies from 15 –30 cm, and the texture of the lamina shows white patches, 20 –40 flowers in each inflorescence, fruit glabrous, variations of pollen shape and size, and even seed texture. S. gigantea resembles the mentioned key characteristics of S. grandis Ridl. from Indonesia and S. wallichii Benn. from Karnataka, India described.
Etymology: The specific epithet refers to the plant being a giant or large individual (gigantic/gigantea) compared to the existing Sonerila species in the world, except the species reported from the Indonesia Sonerila grandis Ridl., hitherto the plant described with the word using the largest habit. However, it shows a lot of variation in morphology, with the present report on Sonerila gigantea. The plant is located on Mallalli Falls Road, Coorg District, Karnataka, India.
Prashant Karadakatti and Siddappa B Kakkalameli. 2025. Sonerila gigantea (Melastomataceae): A New Species from Western Ghats, India. Asian Journal of Research in Botany. 8(1); 289-297. DOI: doi.org/10.9734/ajrib/2025/v8i1264 [13 June 2025]
