---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Varun Sharma <[email protected]> Date: 20 December 2015 at 09:23 Subject: To: JM Garg <[email protected]>
Dear Sir, Please find attached files. *Balanophora involucrata* Hook.f. & Thomson Location: Spiti valley, Lahaul Spiti, Himachal Pradesh, India Altitude: 3515m (sml) Lat Long: 32°18'4.38"N, 77°25'10.94" Habitat: Found parasitic to *Rhododendron campanulatum* roots. Literature Reference: Flora of India Vol 23, Botanical Survey of India *Balanophora involucrata* Hook.f. in Trans. Linn. Soc., London 22: 30, 44, tt. 4 - 7. 1856 & Fl. Brit. India 5: 237. 1886.Syn: *Balania involucrata* (Hook. fil.) van Tiegh.; *Bivolva involucrata* Van Tiegh. Plants monoecious or dioecious (inflorescences bisexual or unisexual), erect, fleshy, glabrous, yellowish white to yellow or red, 8 - 15 (-20) cm long from fusion point with host root; tubers in a mass, up to 10 cm in diam., branching from base; single tuber urceolate with more or less irregularly lobed rim, 3 - 5 x 1.5 - 2 cm. Stems stout, bursting through the rootstock, sheathed halfway by 2 - 4 verticillate scaly leaves in one whorl at the middle of the stem, partially connate, ovate, 2 - 3 x 1 - 1.5 mm. Spadices unisexual or bisexual, ovoid or subglobose, 2 - 3.5 x 1 - 2 cm, red or yellow. Male flowers in bisexual spadices confined to a zone of about 5 mm high, just below the female portion or when unisexual, the spadices ovoid, 1 - 3.5 x 0.9 - 3.5 cm; bracts short, truncate or in unisexual flowers connate together, forming more or less hexagonal alveoles from the bottom of which male flowers appear; pedicels 2 - 7 mm long; perianth limb lobes 3 (4 or 5), broadly ovate-obtuse, ca 1.7 mm long, thick; synandrium subglobose, much depressed; anthers 4, transversely oblong. Female flowers: spadices ovoid, 1 - 2 x 0.8 - 2; spadicles obconical; flowers on main rachis of inflorescences only, numerous, interspersed with globulate or clavate bracts, 0.5 - 0.8 mm long; cuticular ridges on top cells narrow, forming complicated labyrinth-like system; ovary ovoid, compressed, ca 0.2 mm long; largest flowers with pistils up to 700 μm long; carpels ca 200 μm long. *Fl.* June - Oct., *Fr*. July - Dec. *Distrib.* India: Cool montane coniferous forests, 1500 - 4500 m on Himalayas from Kashmir to NE. India and Peninsular India. Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet, China to E. Asian subcontinent. *Notes.* Parasitic on *Acer* spp., Araliaceae, *Berberis * spp., *Rhododendron * spp., *Quercus * spp., *Pinus * spp., *Rubus * spp., etc. The rootstock forms large woody knots on tree roots, which find use for making drinking cups in Bhutan and Sikkim Used in ethnomedicinal system by locals to cure cough & cold, piles and rheumatism. Kind regards, Varun <https://sigads.rediff.com/RealMedia/ads/click_nx.ads/www.rediffmail.com/signatureline.htm@Middle?> Get your own *FREE* website, *FREE* domain & *FREE* mobile app with Company email. *Know More >* <http://track.rediff.com/click?url=___http://businessemail.rediff.com?sc_cid=sign-1-10-13___&cmp=host&lnk=sign-1-10-13&nsrv1=host> -- With regards, J.M.Garg 'Creating awareness of Indian Flora & Fauna' <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jmgarg1> Winner of Wipro-NFS Sparrow Awards 2014 for efloraofindia <https://sites.google.com/site/efloraofindia/award-for-efloraofindia>. For identification, learning, discussion & documentation of Indian Flora, please visit/ join our Efloraofindia Google e-group <https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/indiantreepix> (largest in the world- more than 2500 members & 2,25,000 messages on 18.6.15) or Efloraofindia website <https://sites.google.com/site/efloraofindia/> (with a species database of more than 11,000 species & 2,00,000 images). The whole world uses my Image Resource <http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:J.M.Garg> of more than a thousand species & eight thousand images of Birds, Butterflies, Plants etc. (arranged alphabetically & place-wise). You can also use them for free as per Creative Commons license attached with each image. Also author of 'A Photoguide to the Birds of Kolkata & Common Birds of India'. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "efloraofindia" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/indiantreepix. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
