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The life and work of geologist and botanist Alfred Prentice Young (1841-1919) are outlined. His collection of plants from Western India, Kashmir and Pakistan (1878-1881) was given to the Natural History Museum, London (BM) in 1884. Details of his botanical collections and new taxa based on them are provided, and a new species, Commelina youngii, is described.
A new species of Salacia is described from Karnataka and Kerala states of the Western Ghats, India. It is unique within the genus on account of its obliquely dehiscing anthers and 7-10 cm long, prolate to broadly ellipsoid or ovoid, keeled, greenish-yellow 5- to 8-seeded fruit with thin epicarp and dry mesocarp. Salacia megacarpa can be grouped with S. fruticosa Heyne ex M.A.Lawson and S. oblonga Wight & Arn. Which are the only other species from the sub-continent which exhibit axillary, ramiflorous, dichotomously branched cymes.
One of the annual species of dew flower is described from Chandrapur District of Maharashtra as Murdannia ugemugei . It is very unique and has faintly striated, elliptic petals and other characters.
The new species is named after Taxonomist from Vidharbha Dr. Ugemuge, who has written the Flora of Nagpur District and has great contributions in the field of plant taxonomy.
This paper is jointly communicated from NGCPR and Nagpur University. Please see the link for further details
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00837792.2016.1138202
A new species of Commelina is described from dryland hillocks of Karnataka, India. Commelina rupestris shares morphological similarities with C. badamica, C. hirsuta and C. attenuata, but differs in its perennial habit, knotted rhizomatous, definite base, broadly elongate, thickened tuberous roots, characteristically ligulate, linear to lanceolate leaves, minutely fused spathes, one- to two-seeded bilocular capsules, and stramineous to light brown, rostrate seeds.
It is named after the type locality: Badami, a tourist destination in Karnataka, India, famous for cave temples, inscriptions and sculptures.
Please see the link for further details
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00837792.2018.1540743
The new species Commelina littoralis is described from Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India and it can be distinguished by its white antherodes and appendaged seeds.
The species epithet littoralis refers to the coastline habitat of the species.
Please see the link for further details
The new species is collected and described from Saddle Peak National Park, Andaman Islands and named Oldenlandia smitacrishnae. It is similar to O. corymbosa, O. pseudocorymbosa and O. herbacea in a combination of characters like erect or prostrate habit, sessile to subsessile leaves and globose to ovoid ovary. However, the new species can be easily distinguished by the abaxially puberulous leaf, divaricate stipules, obovoid hypanthium, pink-striped corolla lobes, puberulous tube, inserted and 20-30 seeded capsules.
A new species named after Mrs. & Mr. Crishna (Smita Godrej Crishna and Vijay Mohan Crishna), Directors of the Naoroji Godrej Centre for Plant Research in Shirwal, Satara, India, to honour their promotion of plant taxonomy and conservation.
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Brachystelma naorojii belongs to the Milk weed family, scientifically known as Apocynaceae. Brachystelmas are characterized by opposite narrow or minute leaves, elongated stem and star shaped flowers. The Corolla are many species is united at the top to restrict pollinators. Brachystelmas are generally found in low rainfall regions with prolonged dry spells. B. naorojii was discovered in the year 1998 from a desolated hill slope of Gavadewadi village near Shirwal, in the Satara distirict of Maharashtra state. It is a tuberous herb which locals call "Hanuman Batata" because of its large edible tubers. The species are named after late Mr. Naoroji Godrej to commemorate his keen interest in biodiversity conservation.
B. naorojii, a delicate herb with brick red flowers, blooms in the month of April or May, generally after the hill slopes are burnt by locals. Flowering and fruiting is completed during summer. Small flies initiate pollination and long hairy seeds are dispersed through the wind. This process facilitates the seeds to germinate in the rainy season itself. Leaves appear after flowering and the plant completes its life cycle before the monsoon. Tubers remain dormant for the remainder of the year. Raw tubers look like potatoes and taste like sweet potatoes. Being a good source of carbohydrates, cowherds, while grazing their cattle, enjoy eating raw tubers. As a result, populations of this rare species are dwindling fast. This plant is now conserved at The Naoroji Godrej Centre for Plant Research.
Arisaema murrayi var. soonubeniae belongs to a group of interesting aroids popularly known as Cobra lilies. They are attractive and colourful and valued in the ornamental and floriculture business because of their unique snakehood-like inflorescence. This unique plant was discovered in the year 2004 from a remote hill slope in the Junnar taluka of the northern Western Ghats and named in the honour of late Mrs. Soonuben Naoroji Godrej, who was a Promoter and first Director of The Naoroji Godrej Centre for Plant Research along with Mr. Vijay Crishna.
Variety Soonubeniae is a small tuberous herb with palm shaped (pedate) leaves. The inflorescence is covered with a pseudo petal known as spathe. The spathe tube is bright purple in the upper half and green below which protects a rat tail like structure that protrudes outside, known as spadix. The spadix is the place where male and female flowers are born. Fruits are scarlet coloured and are favourite food of bulbuls and other small birds. Seeds are dispersed by birds. This wild edible plant is locally known as Patari and its leaves which are collected regularly during the rainy season tastes delicious when cooked.
The species are very adaptive and evolved to survive prolonged dry periods. It is visible only during monsoon season while its vegetative parts die and tubers sleep (dormancy) under soil during the rest of the year. The Naoroji Godrej Centre for Plant Research is engaged in conservation and multiplication studies.
This new species belongs to the ornamental family called the dayflower family or spiderworts or Commelinaceae. The species were firstly collected in the year 2010 from Badami, Karnataka. After continuous ecological and population studies in 2015 it has been published in the journal Telopea. An annual herb, with tiny beautiful blue flowers, endemic to Karnataka and known only from sandstone plateaus in the Bagalkot district. The species epithet 'badamica' is drawn from its type locality Badami, one of the tourist destinations in Karnataka, famous for its temples, sculptures and caves.
