Bioscience Discovery, 4(1): 25-29, Jan. 2013 ISSN: 2229-3469 (Print) TYPHONIUM KHANDWAENSE (ARACEAE: AREAE), A NEW SPECIES FROM MADHYA PRADESH, INDIA S. Mujaffar1, C.M. Yasin2 , S. Moinuddin2 and S. Mustakim2 1* Department of Botany, Gujarati Science College, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India 2 Department of Botany, S.N.P.G. College, Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh, India. shaikhmujaffar@gmail.com ABSTRACT Typhonium khandwaense Mujaffar, Yasin & Mustakim, a new species of Typhonium from Khandwa district in Madhya Pradesh, India is described and illustrated. The new species resembles Typhonium roxburghii, Typhonium trilobatum & Typhonium inopinatum in its ovatereniform, hastate or triangular lamina and spathe-limb twisted at tip. But the new species differs from these in having subcylindric tubers, with male zone yellow, sterile flowers filiforms and decurved covering female zone partially. KEY WORDS: Typhonium, Araceae, Khandwa district, Madhya Pradesh, India. INTRODUCTION Typhonium Scott (Araceae:Areae) is a genus containing about 60 (44) species (Schott, 1832; Airy & Willis, 1973; Sriboonma & Iwatsuki, 1994; Hay, 1993-1997; Mayo & Boyce, 1997; Hetterscheid & Boyce, 2000; Hetterscheid & Nguyen, 2001; Wang & Bian, 2002 & Dao & Heng, 2007), excluding Sauromatum Schott species which was removed from Typhonium by Hetterscheid & Boyce (2000). The genus Typhonium Schott is generally distributed in South, Southeast and East Asia and extends throughout the pacific area to Australasia. In India the genus is represented by nine species. Of these are Typhonium listeri Prain, T. diversifolium Wall; T. bulbiferum Dalzellet; T. flagelliforme (Lodd.) Blume; T. blumei Nicolson; T. roxburghii Schott; T. trilobatum (L.) Schott; T. inopinatum Prain & T. gracile (Roxb.) Schott (Nicolson, 1981; Karthikeyan et al, 1989). During intensive botanical studies of Flora of East Nimar region Madhya Pradesh, India, the authors collected an interesting specimens from Babri forest at about 5 km. south of Khandwa city. This turned out to be a new species of Typhonium of which description, illustration, photographs and distributional details are : Typhonium khandwaense Mujaffar, Yasin & Mustakim sp. nov. (Figs 1 & 2). Typhonio roxburghii et T. trilobato similis in foliis ovatis, reniformibs, hastatis vel triangularibus, spathae limbo apicaliter torto. A T. roxburghii differt tuberibus subcylindricis, spathae limbo extus viridi http://biosciencediscovery.com intus viridulo pallide purpureo 3.5 cm longa, zona foeminea viridula c. 0.5 mm longo, zona sterili lutea c.0.4 mm longa. A T. trilobato et T. inopinato differt zona mascula lutea, floribus sterilibus filiformibus decurvatis zona foeminea partim tegentibus. Typus. India, Madhya Pradesh, Khandwa district, Babri forest, open wet area, 21048’53.0” N, 76021’34.4” E, 318 m, 25 July 2012, S. Mujaffar -4578. Tubers subcylindric, 2-6 cm long. and 1-3 cm in diam, developing several small oblong offsets, with roots 3-10 cm long, c. 1 mm diam. Leaves 2-8; petioles 14-30 cm long, and 0.11cm diam. greenish, sheath 3-5 cm long; lamina ovate, varying to hastate, reniform or triangular forms, 5-12 cm long, 5-16 cm broad. Anterior lobes narrowly ovate, acuminate, posterior ones spreading obliquely ovate-oblong. Inflorescence spadix appearing with leaves; peduncle hidden in the soil, smooth, 1-1.5 cm long, 0.3-0.5 mm diam. greenish, shorter than petiole; tube ovate, 1.2-2 cm long ss and 0.5-1 cm broad, greenish. Spathe broadly ovate-lanceolate, 8-10 cm long, 2-3.5 cm broad, limb sgreenish outside, light greenish-purple inside; revoluate, purplish marginally, twistedacuminate at apex. Floral axis shorter than spathe, with greenish stipe c. 0.2 mm long; pistillate flowers at base, sterile ones in the middle, preceded by naked zone and than by staminate flowers towards apex; pistillate zone conical, 0.4 mm x 0.2 mm in daim; naked zone, 0.6 cm long, staminate zone 0.5-1cm long and 0.2-0.3 cm in diam., cylindric. Pistillate flowers: 25 ISSN: 2231-024X (Online) Mujaffar et al., Figure 1. Typhonium khandwaense Mujaffar, Yasin & Mustakim sp. nov. 1 whole plant with flowering branch; 2. leaves; 3. tuber; 4. open spathe; 5. remove spathe; 6. portion of spadix; 7. lowers part of spadix; 8. male zone. http://biosciencediscovery.com 26 ISSN: 2231-024X (Online) Bioscience Discovery, 4(1): 25-29, Jan. 2013 ISSN: 2229-3469 (Print) Figure 2. Typhonium khandwaense Mujaffar, Yasin & Mustakim sp. nov. 1. whole plant with flowering branch; 2. portion of spadix; 2a. upper appendage; 2b. staminate flowers; 2c. sterile flowers; 2d. pistillate flowers; 3. lowers part of spadix; 3a. sterile zone; 3b. female zone; 4. staminate flowers; 5. pistillate flowers; 6. t.s. ovary. purplish-white; sterile zone ca. 0.3-0.4 mm long; ovary sessile, sub-globose or oblong, greenish, c. 0.2 mm long, 1-locular, 1-ovuled; style very short, cylindrical, stigma sessile, punctate, greenish; sterile flowers 1-4 rows, yellowish, distinctly filiform, 3.5 mm long, flat, decurved, covering http://biosciencediscovery.com female zone partially. Staminate flowers: yellow, free, sessile, anthers dehiscent by apical pores. Spadix appendix cylindrical, 6.5 cm long, c. 0.2-0.4 mm diam., narrowly conical, light purplish, smooth, base truncate. 27 ISSN: 2231-024X (Online) Mujaffar et al., Table 1: Diagnostic morphological characters of Typhonium khandwaense and related species. Characters T. roxburghii T. trilobatum T. inopinatum T. khandwaense sp. nov Tubers subglobose or globose subglobose subglobose subcylindric Spathe-limb outside purplish mixed with dirty greenish flush inside deep rich purple Spathe-limb spreading Female zone Sterile zone Sterile flowers 10 cm wide pinkish, 0.5 mm long yellow, 1.5-2.2 cm long papillose, densely covered, curved downward outside green, inside greenish-light outside green, inside dark purple to reddish outside brownishpurple, inside dark purple 10 cm wide 4 cm wide 3.5 cm wide pinkish, 0.4-0.5 mm long pinkish, 0.3 mm long filiform, partially covered, slightly horizontal or some time with curved, bifurcate tip greenish, 0.4 mm long yellow, 0.3-0.4 mm long pinkish, 1 cm long white, 2-3 cm long filiform, densely covered, curved Distribution India Specimens examined India : Madhya Pradesh: Khandwa district, Babri forest, open wet area, 21048’53.0” N, 76021’34.4” E, 318 m, 25 July 2012, S. Mujaffar-4578 (holotypus: CAL!; Isotypi: BSI! and Gujarati Science College, Indore, M.P.). Habitat: Grows in open wet area and in grassland at altitudes of 318 m in association with Alternanthera sessilis (L.) R. Br., Sida cordifolia L., and Oplismenus burmannii (Retz.) P. Beauv etc. Conservation status: Known only from Khandwa district in open wet area and grassland. Following IUCN (2001) criteria this taxon should therefore be treated as Data Deficient. Phenology: Flowering July-September. Etymology: The specific epithet khandwaense indicates the place of collection Khandwa district, a part of Madhya Pradesh. Typhonium khandwaense resembles T. roxburghii Schott, Typhonium trilobatum (L.) Schott and Typhonium inopinatum Prain in having leaf blade purple filiform, partially covered, decurved ovate, reniform, hastate, or triangular and spathelimb twisted at tip, but differs from T. roxburghii by its tubers subcylindric, spathe-limb greenish outside, light greenish-purple inside, 3.5 cm wide; female zone greenish, ca 0.5 mm long and sterile zone yellow, 0.4 mm long. It differs from T. trilobatum & T. inopinatum in having male zone yellow, sterile flowers filiform and decurved covering female zone partially and tip pointed in T. khandwaense (Table 1). ACKNOWLEDGMENT Authors are thankful to Dr. M. Sivadasan, Department of Botany & Microbiology, College of Science, King of Saud University, Saudi Arabia, for his expert comments on the species, to Dr. J.F. Veldkamp, National Herbarium Netherland, Leiden University, Netherlands, for Latin diagnosis and to Principal and also Head Department of Botany, Gujarati Science College, Indore, for the Laboratory facilities. LITERATURE CITED Airy shaw HK and Willis JC, 1973. A Dictionary of flowering plants ferns, Revised Eighth Edition, Cambridge. Dao ZL, Chen ST, Heng JY and Heng Li, 2007. Typhonium baoshanense. Dao, Z.L & H. Li., a new species of Araceae from western Yunnan, China, Acta Phytotaxonomica Sinica, 45 (2):234-238. http://biosciencediscovery.com 28 ISSN: 2231-024X (Online) Bioscience Discovery, 4(1): 25-29, Jan. 2013 ISSN: 2229-3469 (Print) Hay A, 1993. The genus Typhonium (Araceae:Areae) in Australasia, Blumea 37:345-376. Hay A, 1997. Two new species and a new combination in Autralian Typhonium (Araceae tribe Areae). Edinburgh Journal of Botany, 54:329-336. Hettercheid WLA and Boyce PC, 2000. A reclassification of Sauromatum Schott and new species of Typhonium Schott (Araceae). Aroideana 23:48-55. Hetterscheid WLA and Nguyen VD, 2001. Three new species of Typhonium (Araceae) from Vietnam. Aroideana, 24:24-29. Hetterscheid WLA, Sookchaloem D and Murata J, 2002. Typhonium (Araceae) of Thailand: New species and a revised Key. Aroideana, 24:33-55. Karthikeyan S, Jain SK, Nayar MP and Sanjappa M, 1989. Indicae Enumeration-Monocotyledonae, BSI, Calcutta p.p.7-16. Mayo SJ, Bogner J and Boyce PJ, 1997. The Genera of Araceae. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Nicolson DH and Sivadasan M, 1981. Four frequently confused species of Typhonium Schott (Araceae). Blumea, 27:483-497. Sriboonma D, Murata J, Iwatsuki K, 1994. A revision of Typhonium (Araceae). Journal of the Faculty of Science, the University of Tokyo, Section 3, Botany, 15:255-313. Wang ZL H Li and Bian F, 2002. Typhonium jinpingense, a new species from Yunnan, China, with the Lowest Diploid Chromosome Number in Araceae, 12:286-289. How to Cite this Article: S Mujaffar, CM Yasin, S Moinuddin and S Mustakim, 2013. Typhonium khandwaense (Araceae: Areae), a new species from Madhya Pradesh, India. Biosci. Disc., 4(1):25-29. http://biosciencediscovery.com View publication stats 29 ISSN: 2231-024X (Online)