Lepidagathis beddomei T.Anderson, J. Linn. Soc., Bot.

Lepidagathis beddomei T.Anderson, J. Linn. Soc., Bot. View in CoL 9: 499. 1867. Lectotype (designated here): INDIA. Madhya Pradesh, Jubbulpore, 1858, R.H. Beddome s.n. (CAL [ CAL0000020097 digital image!]); isolecto: BM [BM013860249 digital image!]. Fig. 4 View Fig

Perennial herbs, erect to decumbent, up to 75 cm high. Stems well-branched towards apex, 4-angled when young, cylindrical with 4 wings when old; internodal distance 0.8–3.2 cm long, glabrous throughout except hairy nodes. Leaves sessile, decussate, linear to narrowly elliptic, 4.2– 12 × 0.6–1.1 cm, base rounded, margins entire to serrulate due to swollen hair bases, acute and mucronulate at apex, glabrescent on upper surface, pubescent at veins of lower surface; venation eucamptodromous, midvein broad at base, lateral veins 3–8 pairs, conspicuous on lower surface. Spike basal and in the lower axils of branching nodes, compounded into dense synflorescences to form globose heads or cushions with scale-like sterile bracts at the base, each up to 6 cm in diam. Bracts: sterile ones in 4–10 (2–5 pairs) at the base of each spike, lanceolate to lance-ovate, 10.2–11.5 × 1.8–3.3 mm, base truncate, margins sparsely ciliate, apex acuminate with spinose apical process, sparsely sericeous throughout; fertile bract 1 per flower, lance-ovate to narrowly oblong, 11–13.6 × 1.8–3.5 mm, base obtuse or truncate, margins ciliate with short glandular hairs towards apex, apex acuminate to cuspidate with spinose process, sericeous hairs on outer surface, glabrescent on inner surface. Bracteoles 2 per flower, heteromorphic, lanceolate to oblanceolate, 11.3–14.2 × 1.4–2.3 mm, base cuneate or obtuse, margins ciliate with short glandular hairs towards apex, apex acuminate with spinose process, sericeous at midvein of outer surface, glabrescent on inner surface. Calyx 5-lobed; lobes heteromorphic, acuminate or caudate at apex, margins ciliate with short glandular hairs intermixed towards apex, sericeous throughout; anticous lobes 2, elliptic (oblong in fruiting calyx), 8.5–13 × 3–4 mm, connate at base (almost three quarters of its total length, i.e., 4.2– 9.7 mm), overlapping; posticous lobe 1, elliptic to oblanceolate-ovate (oblong in fruiting calyx), 8.9–13.9 × 2.7–4 mm; lateral lobes 2, linear, 7–12.2 × 0.8–1.9 mm. Corolla bilabiate, 9.6–13.5 mm long, pinkish white with many purple markings on throat and limb inside and yellowish brown dots or patches on the palate; tube 6.3–6.7 mm long, cylindric below, 3.3–3.8 mm long, glabrous inside, abruptly expanded above, 2.7–2.9 mm long, retrorsely hairy outside; upper lip arcuate, 1.5–1.9 × 2.5–3.2 mm, entire at margins, minutely 2-lobed ( 0.2–0.35 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 an adjacent line of silky hairs, 3.3–4.5 mm long, including lobes, lobes spreading at throat for 5.9–7.1 mm long; middle lobe broader than the lateral lobes, sub-orbicular, 1.9–2.3 × 3.2–3.7 mm, crenulate, 3-veined; lateral lobes broadly oblong, 2–2.2 × 1.8–2.5 mm, 3-veined. Stamens 4, didynamous, adnate at the base of expanded corolla tube; filaments purple to white, glabrous; anticous (longer) filaments 1.3–1.7 mm long; posticous (shorter) filaments 1–1.2 mm long; anthers oblong, 0.7–1 mm long, white, sparsely hairy at base of the suture, scabrous at the connectives, longitudinally dehiscing. Ovary sub-globose, c. 1.3 × c. 1 mm, glabrous, 2-loculed; ovules 2 in each locule; nectary disk cupulate; style 6–6.2 mm long, bristled glandular-hairy; stigma entire to bilobed. Capsules ovoid in face view, 6.5–7.5 × 3.1–3.5 mm, glabrous, green to yellowish-brown; retinacula c. 1.6 mm long. Seeds 2 or 1 per capsule, fertile, ovoid in face view, 3.7–3.9 × 2.7–3.2 mm, flat, densely clothed with hygroscopic white hairs (longer than seeds) on both surfaces.

Flowering & fruiting: Flowering from October to January and fruiting from November to February. Habitat: This species usually grows on grasslands with sandy or gravelly soils, at elevations ranging from 250 to 390 m.

Distribution: Endemic to India. A critical study of the description provided in the state and regional Floras of India, and examination of specimens housed at the national and international herbaria (digital images) show that this species is endemic to India with an almost country-wide distribution, except for the northeastern region. The species is distributed in the following states: West Bengal ( Nees von Esenbeck, 1832; Prain, 1903), Punjab ( Nair, 1978), Rajasthan (Pandey & Singh, 1991), Odisha (Saxena & Brahmam, 1995), Uttar Pradesh (Sharma & Dhakre, 1995), Andhra Pradesh (Pullaiah & Moulali, 1997), Madhya Pradesh ( Khanna et al., 1997), Bihar (Singh et al., 2001), Maharashtra ( Moorthy, 2001), Chhattisgarh ( Khanna et al., 2005), Jharkhand (Paria & Chattopadhyay, 2005) and Telangana ( Pullaiah, 2015). During the present study, a specimen of L. hamiltoniana was collected from Dahod and Kutch districts in Gujarat. The occurrence of this species has never been reported from the state until now, thus the present collection forms an addition to the flora of Gujarat state. However, a critical scrutiny of the description provided in the ‘Flora of Gujarat State’ by Shah (1978) shows that this species was erroneously identified and documented as L. cristata . Furthermore, we have come across a specimen of this species collected from Mysore (MH [MH00110039]), which forms a new record of distribution of this species to the flora of Karnataka. However, an extensive field exploration is required to confirm its present distribution in Karnataka.

Specimens examined: INDIA. Andhra Pradesh, Chittoor district, Kambakam hills, 07.05.1913, s.coll., 8967 (MH); East Godavari district, Donkarayi near Mangampadu, 325 m, 31.12.1967, G.V. Subba Rao 29679 (MH); Nellore district, Rudrakota, 373 m, 18.11.1997, B.R.P. Rao & S. Swetha 20178 (SKU); Rudrakota to Nallamalais, 13.02.2004, S.K. Nazeeruddin 27606 (SKU); Visakhapatnam district, Chinagora Reserve Forest, 12.12.1923, K.C. Jacob 17194 (MH). Chhattisgarh, Chota Nagpur, 10.10.1873, C.B. Clarke 21017 ( US [ US 02863703 digital image]); C.B. Clarke 21022 (BM [BM013860250digitalimage]); Ibid., 04.11.1883, C.B. Clarke 34079 (BM [BM013860248 digital image]); south bank of Konar river, 04.11.1951, F.H.W. Kerr 1293 (BM [BM013860246 digital image]); Ibid., 11.11.1951, F.H.W. Kerr 2146 (BM [BM013860247 digital image]). Gujarat, Dahod district, Rampura Grassland, N 22°47’34.4148’’, E 74°10’1.6248’’, 18.12.2021, Sujitkumar & Rohitkumar 12828 (Madras Christian College Herbarium, Chennai); Dahod district, Rampura Grassland, N 22°48’12.7116’’, E 74°10’9.482’’, 25.03.2023, A.F.J. King & Sujitkumar 12991 (Madras Christian College Herbarium, Chennai); Lakhpat, Near Kateshwa Buddha caves, N 23°46’25.3992’’, E 68°52’36.606’’, 23.03.2023, A.F.J. King & Rohitkumar 12987 (Madras Christian College Herbarium, Chennai); Bhachau, Sarasla, N 23°27’14.8644’’, E 70°31’24.3948’’, 24.03.2023, A.F.J. King & Sujitkumar 12988 (Madras Christian College Herbarium, Chennai). Karnataka, Mysore, 1857, s.coll. s.n. (MH). Madhya Pradesh, Barwani district, West of Choral to Balwadi road, 21.10.1962, A.S. Rao 83971 (BSI); Jabalpur district, Jabalpur, 1000 ft, 24.12.1875, O. Kuntze 7321 (NY [NYBG04204668 digital image]); Narsinghpur district, Narsinghpur, 1000 ft, 24.12.1875, O. Kuntze 740 (NY [NYBG04204661, NYBG04204655 digital images]). Maharashtra, Akola district, Chikhalwal, 20.02.1978, S.Y. Kamble 152700 (BSI); Patur to Akola, 19.02.1978, S.Y. Kamble 152663A (BSI); Buldhana district, Gaumal forests, 15.12.1982, P.G. Diwakar 163066 (BSI); Chandrapur district, Mohrale Range, North Chanda Forest, 12.12.1957, Sethi & Negi Raizada 25745 (L [L2838013 digital image]); Mohrale Range to Chandrapur district, 21.10.1972, B.M. Wadhwa 130282 (BSI); Vasalher nele, 26.10.1972, B.M. Wadhwa 127352 (BSI); Nanded district, Rampur to Nagz, 14.10.1966, R.D. Pataskar 110073 (BSI). Odisha, Ganjam district, Bindogorha, 1000 ft, March 1884, J.S. Gamble 14073 (MH). Punjab, s.loc., s.die, J.R. Drummond 26446 (E [E01024275 digital image]). Rajasthan, Kota district, Kota to Darah, 26.10.1957, Jain 28793 (BSI). Telangana, Khammam district, Edurallapalli forest, ± 250 m, 17.11.1993, R. Chandrasekaran 98757 (BSID [BSID0005357 digital image], MH); Nizamabad district, Ibrahimpet block, 27.09.1987, T. Pullaiah & B.R.P. Rao 6127 (SKU); Gandhari Reserve forest, 09.10.1988, B.R.P. Rao & C.P. Raju 7233 (SKU); Mamidipally Reserve forest, 05.11.1989, B.R.P. Rao & S.P. Balu 9605 (SKU). Uttar Pradesh, Jalaun district, Kalpi block near Kalpi, 05.02.1950, W.W. Sen (NY [NYBG04204634 digital image]).

Conservation status: The species is provisionally assessed here as ‘Least Concern’ [LC] as per the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria version 15.1 ( IUCN, 2022).