Dear Sir, Tinospora codifolia (or T. glabra), T. sinensis (T. malabarica) and T. formanii are the three species of Tinospora occuring in Kerala. Your first posting was Tinospora cordifolia and the second one Mr Neil Soares is T.sinensis. I have no doubt about it. T. sinensis is usually seen in deciduous forests, hairy throughout the leaves and young stem whereas T. cordifolia is entirely glabrous.
Santhosh 2009/9/12 Gurcharan Singh <[email protected]> > Sending photographs of Tinospora cordifolia ID 120909GS1 for verification > and help > > Needing help in clearing my doubts on Tinospora cordifolia, which was in > news recently as cure for swine flue. > > We have one species of Tinospora reported from our area: Tinospora > cordifolia, and that was fine until I consulted Efloras of Pakistan and > China. Both Flora of British India and Indian Trees by Brandis > differentiate T. cordifolia Miers and T. malabarica Miers as followes: > > T. cordifolia: Leaves cordate, glabrous, 5-10 cm diam., acute or acuminate; > petiole 4-7 cm long.(flowers yellow; drupes red, size of small cherry or > pea) > > T. malabarica: Leaves ovate-cordate, pubescent above wooly beneath, 7-15 cm > diam, acuminate. petiole 10 cm, hairy. (flowers yellow, drupes red) > > I have not seen plant in flowering but have noticed a few things. The > leaves in our specimens are totally glabrous, but may reach size of up to 20 > cm, especially in open situations climbing on trees. I have also noticed > that although in deep forest areas leaves are totally shed for atleast 4-5 > months, few branches have leaves for almost the whole year in open > situations. > > Eflora of Pakistan believes that T. cordifolia of Hook.f. & Thoms. is not > the T. cordifolia of Miers, and rather T. malabarica Miers. which is widely > cultivated in India, Pakistan, Burma and Sri Lanka. It is locally known as > Giloe. > > Flora of China, on the other hand do not mention anything about T. > malabarica Miers (which is correctly (DC) Miers), relegate both T. > malabarica (Lam.) Hook.f. et Thoms. and T. tomentosa (Coleb.) Hook.f. & > Thoms. of FBI as synonyms of T. sinensis (Lour.) Merrill. > > With this information, the correct identity of our material is further > confusing. Any member having photographs of true T. malabarica (with > tomentose leaves and branches) may kindly upload the same, to help resolve > the issue. > I am uploading my photographs of what I know as T. cordifolia, growing in > Delhi > > > Dr. Gurcharan Singh > Associate Professor > SGTB Khalsa College > University of Delhi, Delhi > India > http://people.du.ac.in/~singhg45 > > > > -- SANTHOSH ----------------------------------- Dr. E S SANTHOSH KUMAR Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute, Palode Thiruvananthapuram-695562 Kerala, India www.drsanthosh.wetpaint.com Please consider your environmental responsibility:Before printing this e-mail, ask yourself whether you need a hard copy! --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "indiantreepix" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.co.in/group/indiantreepix?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
