Abstract
An updated checklist of gymnosperms of the western Himalaya situated within political boundaries in India is provided along with conservation status and distribution. Lectotype for three names viz., Cedrus deodara (Roxb. ex Lam.) G. Don, Pinus roxburghii Sarg., Picea smithiana (Wall.) Boiss. are designated.
Highlights
In southern Asia, gymnosperms are mostly confined to the Himalayan region
Rana & Rawat (2017) established a database of Himalayan plants which enlisted 51 species of gymnosperms belonging to eight families and 20 genera from the Himalayan region of India, Nepal and Bhutan
One subspecies and two varieties belonging to nine genera of gymnosperms are enlisted along with their distribution and current conservation status (Tables 1, 2)
Summary
Herbarium studies at Forest Research Institute, Dehradun (DD), Botanical Survey of India, Northern Regional Centre, Dehradun (BSD), National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow (LWG), Botanical Survey of India, Howrah (CAL) and consultation of literature and virtual specimens available online at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K), University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen (C), Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris (P), Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum BerlinDahlem (B), Meise Botanic Garden, Meise (BR), and Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (E) provided significant information for the current investigation. To avoid any conflict in future we conservatively select Lambert’s illustration Tab. 21 “Pinus longifolia” as lectotype which is an original material (Turland et al 2018, Art. 9.4.b). Note: Lambert (1824) published Pinus deodara in his highly acclaimed book “A description of the genus Pinus” and in the protologue he cited Dr William Roxburgh’s unpublished name “Pinus Deodar. We located a Roxburgh specimen in BR (BR0000013468958) carrying annotations “Pinus Deodara Roxb. “Pinus Deodara” (Image 1) as lectotype which is definitely studied by Lambert and original material (Turland et al 2018, Art. 9.4.b). Later Wallich (1832b) validated Pinus smithiana in third volume of Plantae Asiaticae rariores, with description and a colour plate “Tab. 246” which is the original material for this name (Turland et al 2018, Art. 9.4).
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