taxonID	type	description	language	source
03D3985DFFB6FFA6243B45BA86C5C6C2.taxon	description	Flowering & fruiting: Flowering from April to May and fruiting from May to June. Habitat: Grows in open sunny habitats, wastelands, gardens and parks; associated species include: Bellis perennis L. and Taraxacum officinale F. H. Wigg. (both Asteraceae), Medicago polymorpha L. and Trifolium dubium Sibth. (both Fabaceae), Veronica persica Poir. (Plantaginaceae), Lolium temulentum L. and Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers. (both Poaceae). Distribution: The plant has been reported to occur in Korea, Japan mainlands and Nansei-shoto (POWO, 2021), and now recorded from the Kashmir Himalaya in India. Specimens examined: INDIA, Jammu and Kashmir, University of Kashmir Campus Srinagar, 20.04.2021, Ruquia Gulzar & Anzar A. Khuroo 45833 (KASH); Sopore, Baramulla, 05.05.2021, Ruquia Gulzar & Anzar A. Khuroo 45834 (KASH); Wachi, Shopian 30.05.2021, Ruquia Gulzar & Anzar A. Khuroo 45835 (KASH). Notes: The present study reports V. polita subsp. lilacina as a new record for India from the Kashmir Himalaya. The taxon was originally described as a variety of another species: V. didyma var. lilacina (Yamazaki, 1957). Veronica didyma is now regarded as a synonym of V. polita (POWO, 2021). Yamazaki (1993) raised the variety to subspecies level: V. polita subsp. lilacina (Iwatsuki et al., 1993; POWO, 2021). During the present study, the taxon was primarily determined based on the examination of freshly collected specimens from the Kashmir Himalaya (Ruquia Gulzar & Anzar A. Khuroo 45833, 45834, 45835 KASH) and their comparison with the diagnostic characters provided in the protologue of V. polita subsp. lilacina (Iwatsuki et al., 1993). Our specimens were distinct from V. polita subsp. polita and clearly resembled the protologue of V. polita subsp. lilacina in characters, such as stem length, pedicel length, corolla colour and seed shape (Table 1).	en	R., Gulzar, A. A., Khuroo, T., Hassan, Rashid, I. (2022): Veronica polita subsp. lilacina (Plantaginaceae), a new plant record for India from Kashmir Himalaya. Rheedea 32 (1): 101-105, DOI: 10.22244/rheedea.2022.32.01.07
