Salvia misella Kunth (1818: 290)

Salvia misella Kunth (1818: 290) View in CoL .

Type:— MEXICO, Humboldt & Bonpland s.n. (holotype P! [sheet no. P00670423 ]; isotype P! [sheet no. P00136263 ]) . Fig. 1 View FIGURE 1 , 2 View FIGURE 2

= S. riparia Kunth (1818: 300) . Type:— PERU, Humboldt & Bonpland 3530 (holotype P! [sheet no. P00670440]).

= S. obscura Bentham (1833: 245) . Type:— JAMAICA, Distin (holotype K! [sheet no. K000479224]).

Annual or biennial herb, erect or ascending, 30–90 cm tall; stem acutely quadrangular, sulcate, slightly bulging above nodes, often rooting below, small dark brown spots all over and denser near nodes, profusely branching, minutely gland dotted, covered with hispidulous or pilose hairs up to 1 mm long. Leaves membranaceous, broadly ovate or rhombicovate, 2.5–6.5 × 1–4 cm, acute, margin serrate, base broad, abruptly contracted and decurrent upon the length of petiole, dull green, densely hispid on both sides with 1 mm long hairs, dense on lower veins; petiole not well demarkated. Inflorescence simple, terminal, racemes 10–20 cm. long, with 8–12 interrupted verticils of 2–3 flowers, peduncle 2–7 cm long, densely covered with glandular hairs throughout. Bracts persistent, broadly ovate, tip blunt with a point, margin entire, 3–3.5 × 2–2.5 mm, glabrous inside, glandular-pilose outside; flowers with 1–1.5 mm long pedicel, up to 3 mm long in fruits. Calyx campanulate, 4.5–5 mm long at anthesis, 6–6.5 mm in fruits, clothed with dense, 0.5 mm long gland tipped sticky hairs all over, and yellow punctiform glands dispersed on the surface, longitudinaly 10–12 veined, lips shortly cleft; posterior lip 2.5 mm broad, broadly ovate to truncate, middle cuspidate with a rostrate beak, sides declined to conceal throat in fruits; anterior lip 2-lobed, each lobe with single 1 mm long teeth, rostrate. Corolla blue, white towards base 8–8.5 mm long; posterior lip concave, 2.5–3 mm long, 0.75–1 mm wide, short glandularcapitate hairs along the ventral margins; anterior lip 4.5–5.5 mm long, trilobed, middle lobe 4–4.5 mm wide at free end, emarginated, lateral lobes 0.75–1 mm wide; tube 3–3.5 mm long, 1.5–2 mm wide. Stamens scarcely 0.5–1 mm long, exerted beyond or included in corolla tube, articulated on a ca. 1.5–1.8 mm long filament, connectives produced, upper arm 1.5–1.7 mm long, geniculate, bearing 1–1.2 mm long anthers at end, lower arm 1.9–2.1 mm long, bearing rounded tooth at lower end, connectives adnate towards lower half and pubescent with short, violet hairs. Style 5–5.2 mm long, glabrous, included; stigma bilobed, the upper branch 0.5–0.6 mm, ovate, tip acuminate, arcuate, lower branch 0.2–0.3mm long, 0.4–0.5 mm wide. Ovules ca. 0.75 mm long, gynobase horn ca. 1 mm tall. Mericarp oblong, 1.5–1.6mm long, ± 1 mm wide, smooth, grey, with dark streaks, mucilaginous when wet.

Distribution:—This species has been reported previously from Central America ( Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, United States, Venezuela, West Indies), Australia (Queensland and Northern Territory), Papua New Guinea and Central Africa ( Burundi, Congo, Rwanda) ( Randall 2002, GBIF 2015, Tropicos.org 2015). Now, it is also know along southern Western Ghats of India ( Fig. 3 View FIGURE 3 , 4 View FIGURE 4 ).

Ecology, habitat and phenology:— Salvia misella is interpreted as a weedy species in tropical America ( Williams 1972). Richardson and Keng (2010) mentioned that it spreads well in watered gardens in south Texas and is becoming a pest there. The Discover Nature Research team of The James Cook University, Australia has listed Silena as a weed in their official website. In southern Western Ghats, this species is often found growing along several other herbs such as Ageratum conyzoides L., Chromolaena odorata (L.) R.M.King & H.Rob., Vernonia cinerea (L.) Less., Mimosa pudica L. and grasses such as Chloris barbata Sw. , Sporobolus indicus (L.) R.Br. var. diander (Retz.) Jovet & Guédès and Eragrostis atrovirens (Desf.) Trin. ex Steud. The newly discovered populations grow at moderate elevations (800–1200 m) on open sandy soils in southern part of Western Ghats in southern India. Flowering and fruiting from November to March.

Specimens Examined:— INDIA. Kerala: Idukki district, Kattappana , 9°45.1072´N, 77°6.7238´E, 15 November 2014, P. Sunojkumar CU 88177 ( CALI!) GoogleMaps ; Santhanpara , 9°47.203´N, 77°9.483´E, 16 November 2014, P. Sunojkumar CU 88179 ( CALI!) GoogleMaps .