Ampelocissus araneosa (Dalz.) Planch. ex Gamble (1918: 230)

Ampelocissus araneosa (Dalz.) Planch. ex Gamble (1918: 230) View in CoL ; Shetty & Singh (2000: 249).

Cissus araneosa Dalz. , in Dalzell & Gibson (1861: 41). ‘as C. araneosus ’.

Vitis araneosa (Dalz.) Lawson (1875: 651) . ‘as V. araneosus ’.

Neotype (designated here): — INDIA. “ Pulney Mountanis Septibus ”, 1836, Herb. Wight 518 (K! ( K000701009 ) ; isoneotype K! ( K000701010 )) . ( Fig 1 View FIGURE 1 ).

Slender climber. Stem cylindrical, slightly ridged, sparsely hairy with pale arachnoid hairs becoming flocculent and minute puberulent hairs to 0.1 mm long; tendril 2–3-furcate, born beside the inflorescence at the tip of a common peduncle, tendril peduncle straight to 4 × 1 mm, then bifurcating and each branch to 7–8 cm × 1 mm, branches can bifurcate again, hairy as on stem. Leaves compound, trifoliolate (rarely 2-foliolate), alternate; petiole 1–4 cm × 1–1.5 mm, petiolules 0.3–1 cm long, hairy as on stem; central leaflet blades ovate, 4–9 × 1.5–3 cm, base cuneate, 1 midrib, 6–7 pairs of secondary veins; lateral leaflet blades ovate often with a lateral lobe on the lower outer part of the leaflet, 2.5–7 × 1–4.5 cm, base oblique, 2 main basal veins, 2–4 pairs of secondary veins; margin dentate with broad (to 0.5 cm wide) equal teeth with a mucronate apex, apex acuminate, adaxial side hairy with very scattered pale arachnoid hairs and puberulent hairs to 0.2 mm long, abaxial side sparsely hairy with pale arachnoid hairs and puberulent hairs mostly concentrated on veins. Inflorescence leaf-opposed, bearing a tendril, mostly dichotomous, corymbose, lax, with the pedicels arising from the same point at the end of the terminal-most axis; common peduncle 3.5–10 cm × 1 mm, primary floral peduncle to 2.5–5 cm long, densely hairy as on stem, pedicels 1.5–2.5 mm, papillose with hairs 0.05–0.1 mm long. Buds quadrate to oblong, 1–1.25 x 1–1.25 mm, apex slightly corniculate. Calyx cupuliform, entire, sinuate 0.5 x 1.25 mm, puberulent. Corolla petals 5, broadly ovate, 1–1.5 x 0.5–0.75 mm, inside apex cucullate, outside apex slightly corniculate, spreading out at anthesis, glabrous. Stamens 5; filaments filiform, 0.7–1 mm long; anthers orbicular, 0.4–0.6 mm long, medifixed. Ovary adnate to the disc; disc with 5 lobules, 0.5 x 1 mm, puberulent with hairs arranged in lines from the centre outwards. Style conical, 0.3–0.5 x 0.4–0.5 mm, stigma inconspicuous. Fruit unavailable.

Distribution: — India, Thailand.

Distribution in Thailand: —PENINSULAR: Prachuap Khiri Khan. Fig. 2 View FIGURE 2 .

Ecology: — 700–1525 m elev. Flowering and fruiting May to October.

Specimens examined: — INDIA. Tamil Nadu: Dindigul District, Pulney [Palni] Hills, 1836, Herb Wight 518 (K (K000701009), K (K000701010)) ; Nilgiris District, Gudalur ghat, 1,371 m, October 1884, J.S. Gamble 14902 (K) ; Nilgiris District, Gudalur ghat, 1,524 m, May 1889, J.S. Gamble 20522 (K) ; Salem District, Salem Yercaud, Lady’s seat, 1,475m, 28 July 1976, K.M. Matthew & D.I. Arockiasamy 2755A (K) ; Salem District, Shevaroy Hills , 27 September 1897, A. G. and Lady Bourne s.n. (K) . THAILAND. Prachuap Khiri Khan: Sam Roy Yot , 700 m, 28 June 1974, K. Larsen & S.S. Larsen 33900 (L, P) .

Notes: —During the preparation of the account of Thai Ampelocissus the first author came across one specimen identified by the late Prof. Li as A. thailandensis and realised that no description of this species had been published. The specimen examined showed similarities with Ampelocissus divaricata (Wall. ex M.A. Lawson) Planch. , but was most similar to the Indian species A. araneosa . It differs from A. divaricata because of the presence of a sparse arachnoid indumentum on the abaxial side of the leaflets (as opposed to a dense arachnoid indumentum) and the presence of hairs on the ovary. This specimen, although very similar to the description of A. araneosa , has some differences. Typically, A. araneosa specimens have the abaxial side of the leaflets with an uniform brown dense arachnoid indumentum and leaflets 7–13 cm long; whilst the Thai specimen has the abaxial side of the leaflets sparsely hairy with pale arachnoid hairs and puberulent hairs mostly concentrated on the veins and leaflets 2.5–9 cm long. Although we believe that these morphological differences could warrant subspecies status, until more specimens are collected in Thailand and the morphological characters are suitably compared, we have kept this material conspecific to A. araneosa . In addition, this is the first record of A. araneosa outside India and therefore the first and only one for Thailand.

In the protologue for Cissus araneosa Dalzell (1861) mentions that this is a rare plant “on the highest Ghauts west of Jooneer” [Maharashtra]. Dalzell cites no specimens and there appear to be no Dalzell specimens suitable for lectotypification, Cooke (1903: 256) commented “I have seen no specimens from the Bombay Presidency, those in herb Kew being from the Pulney hills ex herb. Wight”. With no original material available, a neotype needs to be selected, and even though Wight’s specimens were collected 1000 km south of the type locality, these are the most suitable herbarium specimens available. There are two duplicate specimens in Wight’s herbarium at K., and we have selected as the neotype the specimen from the Hooker Herbarium (barcode K000701009) annotated in pencil on the Wight Herbarium distribution label ‘ Vitis araneosus Dalz. ?’, perhaps by Lawson, as it is a better representative of the species as described by Dalzell. Furthermore, this specimen was later determined as Ampelocissus araneosa Planch. by Gamble in 1919.