Lepidagathis diffusa C.B.Clarke

Lepidagathis diffusa C.B.Clarke View in CoL in Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 4: 518. 1885. Lectotype (designated by Dhatchanamoorthy et al., 2017): INDIA, Deccan Peninsula , R. Wight s.n. (K [ K000950052 , digital image!]).

Lepidagathis decumbens Dhatchan. & Soosairaj, Adansonia View in CoL , sér. 3, 44(24): 322. 2022 View Cited Treatment , syn. nov. Type: INDIA, Tamil Nadu, Dharmapuri district, Thippampatti village , c. 358 m, 25.10.2013, N. Dhatchanamoorthy 1295 (holo HIFP; iso RHT) .

Barleria diffusa Wight ex C.B.Clarke View in CoL in Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India 4: 518. 1885, pro syn. FiGS. 1–4 View FiG View FiG View FiG View FiG

Prostrate to decumbent perennial herbs with woody rootstock; stems 30–45 cm long, greenish when young, ash-coloured when old, 4-angled, tomentose to hirsute when young terete, glabrous when old; internodal distance 0.8–2.5cm.Leaves sessile,opposite-decussate, linear, oblong-elliptic or oblanceolate to obovate, 1–5 × 0.2–0.7 cm, base cuneate or obtuse, margins entire or minutely serrulate, apex acute with a mucronulate to spinous process, sparsely scabrous throughout; lateral veins 3–5 pairs; leaves at the base of inflorescence linear-oblong, 15–18.5 × 1.7–2 mm, stiff and grooved, sericeous towards base. Inflorescence a spike, 1–4 cm long, arising from the lower nodes and less frequent from the axils of leaves on branches; basal spikes often dried or charred (to 4 cm long) with fresh annual spikes 1–3 cm long. Bracts: sterile bract 1 per node, lanceolate–ovate, 8–12 × 2.5–3.2 mm, apex caudate to acuminate with a spinose process, densely tomentose intermixed with sericeous throughout, basal sterile bracts scale-like, 1–2 pairs at the base of each spike; fertile bracts 1 per flower, lanceolate to lance-ovate to oblong, or elliptic, 8.8–13.2 × 2.4–3.5 mm, otherwise as sterile bracts. Bracteoles 2 per flower, dimorphic, lanceolate to lance-ovate or elliptic, 8.6–11.5 × 1.4– 2.8 mm, otherwise as bracts. Calyx 5-lobed; lobes heteromorphic, apex caudate to acuminate with a spinose process, densely tomentose intermixed with sericeous hairs throughout; anticous lobes 2, equal, elliptic to lance-ovate, 8.5–12 × 3–4 mm, connate at base (more than half of their total length, i. e., 4.4–7.3 mm long); posticous lobe lance-ovate to narrowly elliptic, 9–12.8 × 2.8–3.6 mm; lateral lobes 2, linear, 8.4–11.6 × 0.8–1.5 mm. Corolla 12–14 mm long, pinkish-white with many purplish-brown markings on throat and limb inside and yellow patches on palate; tube 7.3–8 mm long, cylindrical below for 3.7–4 mm, abruptly expanded above for 3.6–4 mm, retrorsely hirsute outside; upper lip arcuate, 2.3–2.5 × 4.3–5 mm, margins entire, minutely 2-lobed ( 0.2–0.4 mm long) at apex, each lobe 3-veined; lower lip 3-lobed, with a membranous portion on either side of the centre of the palate with a line of silky hairs, 4.6–5.3 mm long including lobes; middle lobe broader than the lateral lobes, suborbicular, 2.4–3 × 3.8–4.3 mm, crenulate, 3-veined; lateral lobes oblong, 2.5–3.3 × 2–2.4 mm, 3-veined. Stamens 4, didynamous; filaments white with purplish-brown spots, adnate at the base of the expanded corolla tube, glabrous, anticous filaments 3–3.6 mm long, posticous filaments 2–2.4 mm long; anthers bithecous, oblong, divergent, 1.3–1.8 mm long, purplish-brown to white, sparsely hairy at base of the suture and at the connectives, dehiscing longitudinally. Pollen grains prolate, 30.6–32.4 × 18.7–20.3 µm, tricolporate; tectum reticulate more open in area adjacent to apertures. Ovary subglobose, 1.4–1.7 × 1–1.3 mm, glabrous, 2-loculed; ovules 2 in each locule; nectary disk cupulate; style 6.2–6.7 mm long, bristled-glandular-hairy; stigma entire. Capsules ovoid, 5.5–7 × 2.2–3 mm, glabrous, yellowish; seeds 2 per capsule, ovoid, 3–4.5 × 2–3 mm, densely clothed with hygroscopic hairs (longer than seeds) on both surfaces.

Flowering & fruiting: Flowering from October to January and fruiting from November to February.

Habitat: Grows on dry open and lightly wooded scrubs and abandoned farmlands, at elevations ranging from 100 to 400 m.

Distribution: Endemic to India.

Specimens examined: INDIA, Peninsula Indiae Orientalis, s.d., s.coll. Wight 2647 ( E [ E01024272 ] digital image). Karnataka, Mysore, 1857, s.coll. s.n. ( MH [ MH00110011 ]); Mysore, 3000 ft., October 1910, A. Meebold 11392 ( CAL); Mysore, Hassan district, Tiptur to Arsikere road, 19.12.1968, C. J. Saldanha 11912 (US [02863729] digital image); Arsikere town, 20.06.1969, C. J. Saldanha 13815 ( CAL, US [02863726, digital image]); Hassan, 25.11.1958, B. M. Wadhwa 44699 ( BSI [ BSI0000069387 About BSI ]); Tiptur to Arsikere road, 25.01.1971, T. P. Ramamoorthy HFP1262 View Materials (US [02863728] digital image); Bellary, s.d., R. H. Beddome s.n. ( K [ K000950051 ], BM [ BM013860273 ] digital images]); Bellary, on open hill, Gadiganur, 20.01.1979, S. B. Manohar KFP5923 ( CAL); Hasanur reserve forest, Kollegal, 11.02.1924, K. C. Jacob 17311 ( MH [ MH00110012 , MH00110013 , MH00110014 , MH00110015 ]); Ramapuram, 21.11.2008, MVS & VSR 33010 ( SKU); without specific locality, June 1857, G. Bhide s.n. ( MH [ MH00110088 ]); s. loc ., s.d., K. Drew s.n. ( E [ E01024276 ] digital image). Tamil Nadu, Dharmapuri district , Thippampatti village , N 12°14’54.3”, E 78°16’31.8”, 387 m, 25.09.2021, A. F. J. King 12808; Ibid., 06.01.2022, G. Gnanasekaran & A. F. J. King 12851; Ibid., 26.11.2022, A. F. J. King 12976 (Madras Christian College Herbarium, Chennai) GoogleMaps .

L. decumbens Dhatchan.

Characters L. diffusa C.B. Clarke Present observations

& Soosairaj

Plant Prostrate Erect or decumbent Prostrate plants are also seen in the type locality of L. decumbens ( Fig. 3b View FiG ).

Stem Leaf scars indistinct, Leaf scars prominent, The leaf scars on stem are highly variable internodes long, up to internodes short, up to trivial. The internodal distance ranges

3 cm 1 cm from 8 to 25 mm.

Leaf E l l i p t i c -l a n c e o l a t e, Linear-oblong to The leaf shape varies from ellipticnerves prominent on lanceolate, nerves lanceolate to linear-oblong or both surfaces, grooved prominent on abaxial oblanceolate to obovate and veins are along the lateral nerves surface and indistinct prominent on both surfaces.

on the adaxial surface on adaxial surface

Inflorescence Spikes sometimes Spikes not aggregated The spikes are distributed densely on the aggregated at base, at base, oblong, 3–6 cm lower nodes and sparsely in the axils of globose-ovoid, up to 2 long leaves in the branches. The spikes at the

cm long basal nodes are often from the previous year’s growth, with dried up floral structures up to 4 cm long, whereas the fresh spikes are 1–3 cm long and always at the tip of the perennial dried-up spike.

The small-sized ( 1.5–2.5 cm) spikes on the axillary and at the tip of the old and dried spikes are also seen in the type locality of L. decumbens ( Fig. 3d–f View FiG ).

Calyx 7 × 3 mm, anterior 9 × 4 mm, anterior The size of anticous calyx lobes is 8.5–12 sepals united 1/4 of the sepals united 1/2 of the × 3–4 mm, and the lobes are united about way way half or more than half of their total length

( Fig. 2h View FiG ).

Pollen 34.66 × 23.60 μm, exine 41.81 × 28.22 μm, exine The size of the pollen grains (collected thick, c. 4.14 μm thin, c. 3.52 μm from the type locality of L. decumbens )

ranges from 30.63–32.25 × 18.66–20.27

µm ( Fig. 3g, h View FiG ).

Capsule 6 × 2 mm 6 × 4 mm The capsule size is 5.5–7 × 2.2–3 mm.

Seeds Oblong, 3 × 1.5 mm Ovoid-suborbicular, The seed shape is always ovoid and the

3.5 × 3 mm size is 3–4.5 × 2–3 mm.

Conservation status: The estimated Extent of Occurrence (EOO) and Area of Occupancy (AOO) for this species are 82,908.8 km 2 and 48 km 2, respectively. Although the AOO of this species fits the Endangered [EN] category, the species is known to occur in many localities across three southern Indian states. Therefore, this species is provisionally assessed here as ‘Least Concern’ [LC].