On Stamen Number and Size in Bauhinia Purpurea: a Reply To S. Bandyopadhyay

2004·1 MB·

by  A J Solomon Raju

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
splits longitudinally from the apex downwards. The thick Discussion: In India, exceptforShorearobusta, much
fleshy reddish cotyledons emerge out after the primary root attention is not being given to other dipterocarps. In view of
establishes itself. The seedlings are shade lovers; hence theirrarityandtheirextreme importanceinproductiveforestry,
growth can be seen in the natural undisturbed forests. these two dipterocarps should be saved from the threat of
The seedlings withstand a considerable amount of extinction. All the existingtrees ofthetwospecies should be
shade, but are very sensitive to drought, both shade and given complete protection. Seedlings can be planted in gaps
moisture is necessary fortheirsurvival. in the degraded evergreen forests, both outside and within
Sometimes the fruit exhibits viviparous tendency, if the natural habitat. Seedlings can also be distributed to the
good pre-monsoon showers occur. Most dipterocarps are people forplanting.
light demanders, except in the younger stages. Sometimes More detailed studies on the phenology and ecology
the deathofatalltree createsasmall patch oflightsufficient are necessary to generate information about the species,
onlyforthe mostcompetitivespeciestocome up. Theplants which can be used in planning out the strategy for the
havered oryellow leaves, inyoungstages, which maysignal conservation ofthe two species and their habitat.
asadeterrenttoherbivores from feedingon them, givingthe
plantthe extracompetitive edge it needs forsurvival. February26,2002 MANISHA THAPLIYAL1
Although many seedlings may become established in N. VENKATASUBRAMANIAN
the early stages, the number which survive declines rapidly Division ofBiodiversity
overaperiodoftime. Many become infested with pathogens Institute ofForest Genetics& Tree Breeding,
or are consumed by herbivores, some will not survive the Coimbatore,TamilNadu, India.
deep shade and others will be lost through competition.
No attempts have so far been made for artificial 'Present address: Forest Tree Seed Lab.,
regeneration ofthe species. Silviculture division. Forest Research Institute,
Uses: Itisusedintheplywoodindustry, match industry DehraDun248006,Uttaranchal, India.
and also for construction purposes. Email:[email protected]
REFERENCES
Pascal, J.P. (1988): Wet Evergreen Forests ofthe Western Ghats of Ramesh, B.R.,J.P. Pascal& D. Df. Franceschi(1996): Distributionof
India (Ecology, Structure, Floristic composition and Dipterocarpaceae in the Western Ghats, South India. In Proc.
Succession). XX bis Trav. Sec. Sci. Tech. De Flnst. Fr. Fifth Round Table Conference on Dipterocarps, Chiang Mai.
Pondicherry. 345 pp. Thailand.
32. ON STAMEN NUMBER AND SIZE IN BAUHINIA PURPUREA
:
A REPLY TO BANDYOPADHYAY
S.
Variation in the number and size offertile stamens in production ofreduced and additional number ofstamens in
the flowers of Bauhinia purpurea has been reported by varyingsizes may be a strategy developed by B purpureato
Bandyopadhyay(2001). Havingnotedthisvariation,wehave enhancetheprobingand foragingactivityofpollencollecting
observed 68 flowers of B. purpurea trees occurring in the insects for effective pollination. Bees such as Apis cerana
Andhra University campus. The study indicates that the inclica and Trigona sp. were reported to be voracious pollen
flowers show variation in both number and size ofstamens. collectors of B. purpurea by Reddi and Rao (1993). Apart
Ofthetotal flowersobserved, 48 had 3 fertilestamens, 6 had fromthis,thevariationsfound inB.purpureaarenotunusual
2 fertilestamens, 8 had3 unequal stamens(2equal insizeand and in fact frequently found in flowering plants.
one almost halfthe othertwo), and 6 had 4 unequal stamens
(2equal insizeandtwohalfthe lengthofthe filamentsand % June 18,2002 A.J. SOLOMON RAJU
the size ofthe anthers of the other two). The filaments of RAO
S.P.
fertilestamensare51 mm longandanthers7mminsize. Reddi V. SREE DURGA
and Rao(1993)reportedthateven in fertilestamens, 2.7-4% DepartmentofEnvironmental Sciences,
of pollen grains produced in their anthers were sterile. Andhra University,
Considering this, the pollen grains produced in the anthers Visakhapatnam530003,
ofstamens with reduced length may be largely sterile. The Andhra Pradesh, India.
J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 101 (3), Sep-Dec 2004 477
.
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
REFERENCES
Bandyopadhyay, S. (2001): On the numberoffertile stamens in flowers ofBauhiniapurpurea L. (Leguminosae: Caesalpinioideae).J. Bombay
Nat. Hist. Soc. 98: 315-316.
Reddi, C.S. & C.B. Rao (1993): Pollination ecology ofBauhiniapurpurea (Caesalpiniaceae).J. Palynol. 29: 115-124.
33.ONTHEOCCURRENCEOFDIMERIACONNIVENS HACK.INANDHRAPRADESH
During a floristic survey of the Eastern Ghats, we
collectedagrassfromY. Ramavaram, EastGodavari district,
whichwasidentifiedasDimeriaconnivensHack.Thespecies
has not been mentioned in literature (Pullaiah 1997) as
occurring in Andhra Pradesh, hence the present report is a
new distributional record. D. connivens has been reported
earlierfromOrissa(SaxenaandBrahmam 1996),Bihar(Haines
1921)andKerala(SreekumarandNair 1991). Thespecimen
has been deposited in the Herbarium ofthe Department of
Botany, Sri Krishnadevaraya University (SKU), Anantapur.
Citation,adetaileddescriptionand illustrationofthisspecies
areprovided here.
Dimeria connivens Hack, in DC., Monog. Phan. 6:
689.1889;Hook.f. inFI. Brit. India7: 104. 1896;Haines, Bot
Bihar&Orissa 1016(1062). 1924;Mooney,Suppl. Bot. Bihar
&Orissa192. 1950;Bor,inKewBull. 1952; 577.1953&Grass.
BurmaCeylonIndiaPakistan 140. 1960.
Annual grass, culms tufted, erect or geniculate, up to
30 cm long, terete, smooth; nodes shortly and very sparsely
bearded. Leaves linear or narrowly linear-lanceolate,
ascending,2.5-5.5 cm,mostlybasal,apexacuminate,margins
withsparsetubercledbasedhairs, mid-ribwellmarkedonthe
lowersurface; sheath slightly keeled, broadly hyaline on the
margins, leafsheath longerthanthelowerinternodes, shorter
than the upper, upper sheath close to the culm, lower one
ratherlooseandslippingfromtheculms,smoothandglabrous,
striate; ligule ovate, membranous, shortly ciliate, less than
1 mm long, racemes2, erect, shortly divergent, 4.2 cm long,
lowerfloretsempty, upperfloretsbisexual, rachis flat,tough,
mm
0.75 wide,narrowlywinged,ciliatealongmargins;spikelets
mm
alternate,oblongoroblanceolate,greenish-yellow, 3.5-4
long,callusbasebearded,pedicelsveryshort,flat,lowerglume
mm
2.5 long, excluding the callus, chartaceous, apex acute
with a sharp point, keels covered all along the beak with
forwardly directed cilia; upper glume lanceolate or elliptic,
mm
3.5 long, acute, winged all alongthe keel, wings ciliate,
apical cilia 1 mm long, margin hyaline, lower lemma Fig. 1 DimeriaconnivensHack A Plant, B Rachis(part),C Lower
mm ,
oblanceolatetooblong,hyaline, 1.5-2 long,ciliatetowards glume. D & E Upperglume, F Lowerlemma, G. Upperlemma,
apex;upperlemmalinear-elliptic-acute,2-2.5mmlong,hyaline, H StamensandPistil
faintlynerved aristaorawn 7 mm long; short ciliate, column
mm mm
dark brown, 3 long, stamens 2, anthers 1.5-2 long, Status; Rare in grasslands.
bright yellow; ovary elliptic, c. 0.3 mm long, styles 0.5 mm, FI.& Fr.: September-December.
mm
stigmas plumose, 0.6 long. Caryopsis linear, slightly Specimens examined: Way to Y. Ramavaram, East
curved. Godavaridistrict,PullaiahandGayathri 12286.
478 J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 101 (3), Sep-Dec 2004