Thanks for your response which raises a number of really important issue as to
the identification of plants in general as well as specifically in connection
with this taxon.
I shall respond and comment both about the general issues and about
A.thangoensis but this must wait a bit as I am rather busy at present with
another lecture to prepare for early next week and have an awful lotstill to
complete to finalise the March 2017 Journal of the Himalayan Plant Association
- of which I am both Editor and major contributor!
Some of my comments will need to be worded with care.....
Best Wishes,
Chris Chadwell
81 Parlaunt Road
SLOUGH
SL3 8BE
UK
www.shpa.org.uk
From: D.S Rawat <[email protected]>
To: efloraofindia <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, 1 March 2017, 9:26
Subject: [efloraofindia:264744] Re: Arenaria thangoensis (Caryophyllaceae)
rediscovered: June 2016_DSR_1/1
Flora of Bhutan havetaken a broad circumscription of A. littledaleigiving no
consideration to merosity of flowers (sepals-5 in A.pharensis while sepals 4 in
A.littledalei) considering it as avariation; thus merging these species into
A.littledalei. It is very similar to the case of Cotoneaster genus where Fryer
consider up to 400 species worldwidewhile broader circumscription gives 50-70
species in world. (Pl. See note inFlora 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. saginoidesetc are closely related to each
other and belong to subgenus Odontostemma section ‘Reductae’ (mentioned in some
Chineseworks). These species are included and differentiated in Floraof
China.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 Arenariagenus following the molecular studies.
A.thangoensis is close to A.pharensis (a 5-sepal species) but differ from it
by one line of hairs onstem (2 in A.pharensis), leavesbiconvex, succulent,
obovate to oblanceolate (linear to linear lanceolate in A.pharensis), 2-5
stamens (2-3 in A.pharensis). However, these charactersare not very convincing
and a revision of this Sino-Himalayan group of Arenaria is needed. It is
worthmentioning here that no species of this group (baring A.thangoensis
recorded by us) are known from Indian westernHimalaya.Finally, the
typespecimens (Holo and iso) collected by Smith and Cave in 1909 are in
CentralNational Herbarium, Howrah (CAL) and DD and were examined by me
personally tocompare our specimen. Arenaria s.l. has beensplitted 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 timeto inform our eFI family that in last
year’s botanical exploration we managedto rediscover a threatened endemic
species from a remote Himalayan locale afternearly 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 EasternHimalaya.
This species was never recollected after type collection either fromtype
locality or anywhere in the Himalaya or Tibet and, therefore, known by thetype
collection only (Srivastava et al. 2015). During afloristic 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’
Arenariacurvifolia Majumdar, my student Satish collected Arenaria thangoensis.
This collection is a rediscovery of thisthreatened species after 106 years and
demonstrates that it is an extant(living) species and thriving well in the
area. Rediscovery from nearly 950 km (aerialdistance) away from its originally
known population makes it more interesting.Imageof the species attached here is
a first ever photo of live specimens of thisspecies in the world.Rediscoveringa
species is a joy for me and sharing it with ardent nature lovers of
eFIfraternity increases it manifolds. This rediscovery is yet not published,
though incommunication with a journal.
Dr D.S.RawatDepartment of Biological Sciences, G.B. Pant University of
Agriculture & Technology Pantnagar-263 145 Uttarakhand, INDIAeflorapantnagar
displaying wild flora of Pantnagar
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