Abstract
Ceropegia paulsamii Karuppusamy et Ravichandran sp. nov. (Apocynaceae) is described and illustrated from Megamalai wildlife sanctuary in southern Western Ghats of Tamilnadu state, India. It is similar to Ceropegia decaisneana Wight but differs in sub-succulent fasciculate roots, flowers with short corolla lobes with middle constriction, outer corona trilobed, whitish, and basally caudate each coronal segment.
Highlights
Ceropegia L. (Apocynaceae, subfamily Asclepiadoideae) is a large, old world genus of about 200 species distributed largely in Africa, South Asia to part of Australia (Bruyns, 2003)
In India, about 51 species have been described morphological basis and most of them are endemic to Western Ghats (Jagtap and Singh, 1999; Karthikeyan et al, 2009)
3.5-4.5 cm long, curved; base of tube inflated, globose, 1.2-1.9 x 1.0-1.2 cm, whitish with purple striations outside, deep purplish inside; corolla tube narrow cylindrical, slightly widened above, 1.5-2.2 cm long, 0.5 cm wide at base, 1.2 cm wide at mouth, mouth and tube molted dark purple above, deeply purplish inside, glabrous both sides; corolla lobes short, 0.8-1.2 cm, ellipticlanceolate, base broad, apex acute, folded back along the midrib, erect, margins hairy, constricted at middle, lobes joint to form a case at the apex, inside dark purple background
Summary
Ceropegia L. (Apocynaceae, subfamily Asclepiadoideae) is a large, old world genus of about 200 species distributed largely in Africa, South Asia to part of Australia (Bruyns, 2003). In India, about 51 species have been described morphological basis and most of them are endemic to Western Ghats (Jagtap and Singh, 1999; Karthikeyan et al, 2009). Northern Western Ghats of Maharashtra region was well explored for genus Ceropegia by Prof. Southern Western Ghats are not well explored for this genus since many narrow endemic species are confined only hill peaks and grasslands in high altitudes. Some species are possessing peculiar floral structure and unusual coronal organization These are possibly modern representatives of the most primitive form in the genus. During a floristic survey in Theni district of Tamilnadu state, the authors collected a few interesting specimens of Ceropegia from Megamalai wildlife sanctuary of southern Western Ghats, that did not match with any other known Ceropegia species.
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