Ceropegia pusilla Wight & Arn., Contr. Bot.

Ceropegia pusilla Wight & Arn., Contr. Bot. View in CoL India 31. 1834; Decne. in DC., Prodr. 8: 643. 1844; Wight, Icon. Pl. Ind. Orient. 4, t. 1261.

1848; Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India 4: 66. 1883. Fyson, Fl. Nilgiri & Pulney 2: 191. 1915; Gamble, Fl. Madras 4: 856. 1921; H. Huber, Mem. Soc. Brot. 12: 53. 1957; B.D. Sharma et al., Fl. Karnataka, Analysis 166. 1984; Ansari, Fasc. Fl. India 16: 28.1984; M.P. Nayar & Sastry, Red Data Book Indian Pl. 1: 68. 1987; S.R. Sriniv. in Henry et al., Fl. Tamil Nadu Ind., Ser I: Analysis 2: 84. 1987; S.M. Almeida, Fl. Savantwadi 1: 258. 1989; A.P. Jagtap & N.P. Singh, Fasc. Fl. India 24: 236. 1999; F. Albers & Meve, Ill.Handb. Succ. Pl. Asclepiadaceae 96. 2002; Karthik. et al., Fl. Pl. India 1: 163. 2009. Lectotype (designated by Singh, 2015): INDIA, Tamil Nadu, Neelgherries (Nilgiri), s.d., R. Wight cat. n. 1514 (E00179559 image!). Fig. 58 View Fig

Perennial erect herbs. Rootstock tuberous; tubers 2–2.6 cm in diam., globose; roots fibrous. Stem 3–17 cm long, usually single from an individual tuber, rarely two, glabrous. Leaves sessile, crowded at apex; lamina 2.2–5.5 × 0.3–0.5 cm, linearlanceolate-spathulate, channeled above, acute at apex, narrow at base, glabrous. Flowers solitary, extra-axillary; pedicels c. 2 cm long, puberulous. Sepals linear, glabrous, purplish. Corolla 1.3–2.8 cm long, glabrous; tube 0.8–2 cm long, dilated at base, cylindrical otherwise, glabrous within, striated with deep purple bands outside, purple within at base, pale at above; lobes 4–8 mm long, linear-oblong, sub-spathulate, connate at tip forming ovoid cage, glabrous. Corona bi-seriate; outer of 5-bifid, narrowly deltoid, ciliate along margins, brown lobes; inner erect, linear, glabrous. Follicles c. 4.6 cm long, swollen towards base, narrow at apex, glabrous. Seeds comose, ovoid.

Flowering & fruiting: June–September.

Habitat: Grows amidst grasslands of hill slopes.

Distribution: South India (Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu). Report by Almeida (1996) is doubtful since no specimens have been located during this study from the mentioned Amboli, Maharashtra.

Chromosome number: n = 11 & 2 n = 22 ( Sreedevi & Namboodiri, 1977).

Specimens examined: INDIA, Kerala, Idukki district, Munnar, Kuttiay valley , 29.07.1982, Nambiar & Sasidharan 1860 ( KFRI!) . Tamil Nadu, Madurai district, Meghamalai, Varaiyattumottai , 28.05.1989, A . Rajendran 86776 ( MH!); Nilgiris district, way to Nilgiri peak, Mudimundu , 26.10.1972 J . L . Ellis 43388; Nilgiri Peak Reserve Forest , 14.05.1971, J . L . Ellis 38460; Ooty, Nanjanad , 17.09.1930, V . Narayanaswami 4429; Pakasuramalai , 29.08.1957, K . M . Sebastine 3933; view point, Kodanad , 12.11.1970, E . Vajravelu 36855 ( MH!) .

Ceropegia spiralis Wight, Icon. Pl. Ind. Orient. View in CoL 4(1): 15, t. 1267. 1848; Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India 4: 66. 1883; Gamble, Fl. Madras 4: 856. 1921; H. Huber, Mem. Soc. Brot. 12: 127. 1957; K.M. Matthew, Fl. Tamil Nadu Carnatic 2: 937. 1983; Ansari, Fasc. Fl. India 16: 30. 1984; B.D. Sharma et al., Fl. Karnataka, Analysis 166. 1984; M.P. Nayar & Sastry, Red Data Book Indian Pl. 1: 71. 1987; S.R. Sriniv. in Henry et al., Fl. Tamil Nadu Ind., Ser I, Analysis 2: 84. 1987; Manilal, Fl. Silent Valley 177. 1988; Hanumanthappa in Pull. & Moulali, Fl. Andhra Pradesh 2: 586. 1997; A.P. Jagtap & N.P. Singh, Fasc. Fl. India 24: 239. 1999; F. Albers & Meve, Ill. Handb. Succ. Pl. Asclepiadaceae 101. 2002; T.S. Nayar et al., Fl. Pl. Kerala 87. 2006; Karthik. et al., Fl. Pl. India 1: 164. 2009; Kambale & S.R. Yadav, Asklepios 115: 38. 2013. Lectotype (designated by H. Huber, 1957): INDIA, Kerala, Palakkad Hills (Balaghat hills near Madras), s.d., R. Wight s.n. (K000894294 image!).

Ceropegia munronii Wight, Icon. Pl. Ind. Orient. 4: 15, t. 1264. 1848. Lectotype (designated by Kambale

& Yadav, 2015): Wight, Icon. Pl. Ind. Orient. t. 1264. 1848. Fig. 59 View Fig

Vernacular name: Amruthanjana gadde (Kannada).

Perennial erect herbs. Rootstock tuberous; tubers 2–10.5 cm diam., globose-discoid; roots fibrous. Stem c. 7–30 cm long, terete, unbranched, pubescent. Lamina 2.3–12 × 0.2–1.2 cm, linear to elliptic-lanceolate, falcate, acute at apex, narrowed at base, glabrous; petioles 4–6 mm long, channeled above, glabrous. Flower solitary, extra-axillary; peduncles 2–3 mm long, terete, glabrous; bracts solitary, c. 3 mm long, linear, glabrous; pedicels 5–7 mm long, terete, glabrous. Sepals 4–5 mm long, subulate, glabrous. Corolla 4.6–6.3 cm long; tube 1.2–2 cm long, curved in almost 900 to the axis, much dilated at base, narrow at the middle, funnel-shaped at throat, bulbous based conical trichomes present throughout tube within, dilated portion glabrous within, cream coloured, mottled with pink, deep purple band within; lobes 3.6–4.2 cm long, spirally coiled, acute, reflexed, connate at the tip forming spiral cage, cylindrical and hollow clavate trichomes present along margins, unicellular clavate trichomes present within at the base of corolla lobes. Corona bi-seriate; outer of 5-bifid lobes, c. 1.5 × 3 mm, saucer-shaped, glabrous along margins, hairy within; inner erect, linear, c. 3 mm long, alternate with outer corona, whitish-yellow with purple tinge at tip. Follicles 18–19 cm long, tapering towards apex, usually unequal, glabrous. Seeds comose; coma silky white.

Flowering & fruiting: August–February.

Chromosome number: 2 n = 22 ( Gosavi et al., 2012).

Habitat: Grows along hill slopes in association with grasses. It also grows at drier hill tops and plains in association with succulent Euphorbias.

Distribution: India (Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu).

Specimens examined: INDIA, Andhra Pradesh, Annamayya Project , 29.09.2007, B . Sadasivaiah & S. K . Basha 30642 ( SKU!); Chittoor district, Somala , 10.02.2008, M. V . Suresh Babu 31158 ( SKU!); Cuddapah district, Cuddapah hills, 1881, R. H . Beddome s.n. ( MH!); Guntur district, Bollapalli , 16.07.2007, B. R. P . Rao & B . Sadasivaiah 29580 ( SKU!) . Karnataka; Bangalore, Bannerghatta , 12.09.1978, T. M . Ramakrishna TMR 1327 ( MH!); Namada Chilume, 08.11.2013, M . Sanjappa , K . Ravikumar & S. S . Kambale SSK 201 ( SUK!); Tumkur district, Siddara Betta , 06.11.2013, S. S . Kambale , S. R . Yadav & A. R . Gholave SSK 100; Ibid. , 11.10.2014, S. S . Kambale SSK 325 ( SUK) . Kerala, Thiruvanathapuram, Pallikondanparai , 11.10.1928, V . Narayanaswamy 991 ( MH!) . Tamil Nadu, Dharmapuri district, Devarbetta , behind forest rest house, 29.10.1981, K. M . Matthew , S. J . Britto & N . Rani 28516 ( RHT!); Madurai district, Madura , way to high wavy Ghats , 06.09.1925, K. R. C . Jacob 17526 ( MH!) .

Conservation status: Nayar and Sastry (1987) assessed it as Vulnerable. After extensive survey in all possible localities of occurrence of the species, it has been observed that populations are represented by few individuals at each locality. A thorough study is required to assess its present status. Therefore it is treated here as Data Deficient (DD).

Notes: Ceropegia spiralis is similar to C. attenuata , but differs by its spirally coiled corolla lobes, basally dilated corolla tube hairy within and habitat, i.e. hills of drier parts of South India. It is also close to C. fimbriifera but differs from it in having spirally coiled corolla lobes. All these three species belongs to Ceropegia sect. Tiloris ser. Attenuatae by H. Huber (1957). While describing the species, Wight (1848) did not provide any information regarding collection number and locality on the specimen. Huber (1957) inadvertently designated a lectotype by citing “Typus: Wight in Herb. K.”