Flora of Bhutan have taken a broad circumscription of *A. littledalei* giving no consideration to merosity of flowers (sepals-5 in *A.pharensis* while sepals 4 in *A.littledalei*) considering it as a variation; thus merging these species into *A. littledalei*. It is very similar to the case of *Cotoneaster* genus where Fryer consider up to 400 species worldwide while broader circumscription gives 50-70 species in world. (Pl. See note in Flora of Nepal at- http://www.floraofnepal.org/page/onlineflora?wildcard=1051). All these species mentioned by you (*A.pharensis* (=*Goringia pharensis*), *A.littledalei*, and few others from China like *A.reducta*, *A. saginoides* etc are closely related to each other and belong to subgenus *Odontostemma* section ‘*Reductae*’ (mentioned in some Chinese works). These species are included and differentiated in Flora of China <http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=102519#KEY-1-82> .
*Arenaria thangoensis* is now known as *Odontostemma thangoensis* (pl. See http://www.ipni.org/ipni/idPlantNameSearch.do?id=77155319-1&output_format=lsid-metadata&show_history=true) after a recent splitting of *Arenaria* genus following the molecular studies. *A.thangoensis* is close to *A. pharensis* (a 5-sepal species) but differ from it by one line of hairs on stem (2 in *A.pharensis*), leaves biconvex, succulent, obovate to oblanceolate (linear to linear lanceolate in *A.pharensis*), 2-5 stamens (2-3 in *A.pharensis*). However, these characters are not very convincing and a revision of this Sino-Himalayan group of *Arenaria* is needed. It is worth mentioning here that no species of this group (baring *A.thangoensis *recorded by us) are known from Indian western Himalaya. Finally, the type specimens (Holo and iso) collected by Smith and Cave in 1909 are in Central National Herbarium, Howrah (CAL) and DD and were examined by me personally to compare our specimen. Arenaria s.l. has been splitted to may genera recently. We now have Arenaria s.str., Odontostemma, Shivparvatia (=Solitaria) and Eremogone. DSRawat Pantnagar On Sunday, June 5, 2016 at 9:59:15 PM UTC+5:30, D.S Rawat wrote: > > World environment day is appropriate time to inform our eFI family that in > last year’s botanical exploration we managed to rediscover a threatened > endemic species from a remote Himalayan locale after nearly 106 years. > > *Arenaria thangoensis* W.W.Sm. (Caryophyllaceae) is a tiny plant and this > species was described in 1911 from Tangu (Thangu) area of Sikkim in the > Eastern Himalaya. This species was never recollected after type collection > either from type locality or anywhere in the Himalaya or Tibet and, > therefore, known by the type collection only (Srivastava et al. 2015 > <http://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/article/view/2114/3261>). > During a floristic exploration in the Kuari Pass alpine zone (3600-3700m > above sea level, Chamoli district, Uttarakhand), which happens to be the > type locality of ‘Endangered and endemic’ *Arenaria curvifolia* Majumdar, > my student Satish collected *Arenaria thangoensis.* This collection is a > rediscovery of this threatened species after 106 years and demonstrates > that it is an extant (living) species and thriving well in the area. > Rediscovery from nearly 950 km (aerial distance) away from its originally > known population makes it more interesting. > > Image of the species attached here is a first ever photo of live specimens > of this species in the world. > > Rediscovering a species is a joy for me and sharing it with ardent nature > lovers of eFI fraternity increases it manifolds. > This rediscovery is yet not published, though in communication with a > journal. > > Dr D.S.Rawat > Department of Biological Sciences, G.B. Pant University of Agriculture & > Technology Pantnagar-263 145 Uttarakhand, INDIA > *eflorapantnagar* <https://sites.google.com/site/eflorapantnagar/home> > displaying wild flora of Pantnagar > -- 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.
