Botrychium simplex E. Hitchcock: a New Moonwort for the Indian Himalayan Mountains

2012·2.8 MB·English

by  B S Kholia

Shorter Notes
New
Botrychium simplex Moonwort
E. Hitchcock: a for the Indian
—
Himalayan Mountains. The genus Botrychium Sw., has nearly cosmopol-
a
itan distribution in the subtropical, temperate, boreal and polar regions of the
world (Copeland, Genera Filicum. Cronica Botanica Co. Waltham Mass. USA.
Wagner
1947; Ophioglossaceae. In: K. Kubitzki, ed. The Families and
Jr.,
Genera of Vascular Plants. Pteridophytes and Gymnosperms 193-197.
pp.
I.
Vol. eds.: K. U. Kramer and P. S. Green, Springer- Verlag. 1990). The genus
is
represented by 50-60 species (Wagner and Wagner, Ophioglossaceae
C.
Agardh: Adder's-tongue family, pp. 85-106. In: Flora of North America
Editorial Committee, eds. Flora of North America, north of Mexico, Part
2:
New
Pteridophytes and gymnosperms. Oxford
University Press, York. 1993) of
which
19 occur in Asia (Sahashi, Preliminary review on Asian Botrychiaceae.
pp. 54-75. In: X. -C. Zhang and K. -H. Shing, eds. Ching Memorial Volume.
China
Forestry Publishing House, Beijing. 1999). In India, the genus well
is
studied at national and regional levels (Beddome, Handbook to the Ferns of
British India: Ceylon and the Malay Peninsula, 469, Thacker, Spink, and
pp.
Co., Calcutta, India. 1883; Clarke, Trans. Linn. Soc. Ser. Botany, Vol. 587.
2: 1.
1880; Panigrahi and Dixit, Proc. Nat. Inst. Sci. India 35 B 230-266. 1969;
(3):
Goswami,
and
Bionature. 7:47-89. 1987; Bir Bhusri, Indian Fern 39-56.
2:
J.
An
1985; Khullar, illustrated fern flora of West Himalaya Vol. 1-15.
pp.
I.
Book
International Distributors, Dehradun, India. 1994) and included in
is
and
several checklists survey reports (Iwatsuki, Pteridophyta. Flora of the
In:
eastern Himalaya, pp. 166-205. In: Ohashi, ed, 3rd report. Bull. Univ. Mus.
A
Univ. Tokyo. Census
1975; Dixit, of the Indian Pteridophytes. pp 21-22.
Botanical Survey of India. Howrah, India. 1984). Following Panigrahi and
Dixit (1969), recently Fraser-Jenkins (Taxonomic revision of three hundred
Indian subcontinental Pteridophytes. 21-22; 525-526. Bishen Singh
pp
Mahendra
Pal Singh, Dehradun, recognized
India. 2008) six species of
Botrychium
from India; these are: Botrychium daucifohum Wall, ex Hook,
et
Botrychium lanuginosum
Grev., Wall, ex Hook, Grev,, Botrychium lunaria
et
Botrychium
(L.) Sw., muItifidum{Gme\.) Rupr., Botrychium ternatum (Thunb.)
Sw. and Botrychium virginianum{L.] Sw. However, he did not accept various
subspecies or varieties others described from India or the Himalayas. The
present author follows this treatment, because most of these taxa from the
Indian region based on abnormal specimens on minor
are or geographical or
climatic variations. Moreover, these variations are neither stable nor found as
Most
populations. of the Indian Botrychium are distributed throughout the
common
hilly regions, but Botrychium lunaria, the moonwort,
is restricted to
the alpine regions of the Himalayas (Beddome, 1883; Clarke, 1880; Hope,
J.
Bombay
Nat. His. Soc. 15: 108. 1903).
Botrychium simplex moonwort, was
E. Hitchcock, the least described by
Hitchcock 1823 (American and
in Journal of Science Arts. 6:103. 1823). In
SHORTER NOTES
1821, plants initially considered to be B. lunaria had been discovered
in
USA;
Massachusetts,
after careful study, Hitchcock (1823) determined they
were enough
from
distinct B. lunaria to warrant the status of species. Several
have been
varieties recognized by Eaton
{Fern Bulletin 7:7-8. 1899), Clute (Our
ferns in their haunts: a guide to all the native species, 51-63. Frederick A.
pp.
New
Stokes Co. York. 1901), Clausen (Mem. Torrey Bot. Club 19:1-177. 1938)
and Wherry
(Amer. Fern Wagner and Wagner
27: 58. 1937). advocated
(1993)
J.
simplex
that B. exhibits phenotypic responses and
to different habitats
climates, hence almost
all infraspecific taxa are environmental forms and
juvenile stages of B. simplex; however, they accepted
the afternate concept of
and
"eastern" "western" forms (Anderson, Botrycbium simplex Hitchcock
E.
USDA
grape
(little fern): a technical conservation assessment. 2006. Forest
Rocky Mountain
Service, Region. [Online]
http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/proiects/
scp/assessments/botrychiumsimplex.pdf,
accessed on December
3rd
2010).
Farrar [Botrycbium simplex. Moonwort
[Botrycbium) Iowa
In: Systematics.
State
Department
University, of Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Ada
Biology,
Hayden
Herbarium.
2005. [onhne]
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~herbarium/
botrychium/B-simplex.pdf. accessed on August
7 2011) recognizes these
as B.
simplex simplex and simplex compositum
var. B. var. (Lasch) Milde. Recent
genetic analysis suggests
that there is genetic variation within B. simplex (Hauk,
Am.
Fern
85:375-394.1995; Population moonwort
Farrar, genetics of
J.
Botrycbium.
In: N. Berlin, P. Miller, Borovansky, U. S. Seal, and O. Byers
J.
Population and
(Eds.), habitat viability assessment the goblin
for fern
(Botrycbium mormo),
109-113, The
Final Report. Conservation Breeding
Specialist Group, Apple Valley, Minnesota, USA.
1998; Farrar, Systematics of
western moonworts
Botrycbium
subgenus Botrycbium. Popovich,
In: S. (ed.).
J.
United moonwort
States Forest Service workshop.
Arapaho-Roosevelt
National
and Pawnee
Forests
National Grassland,
Fort Collins, Colorado,
2005).
Botrycbium simplex
predominantly an American growing
is species, in
western and
eastern temperate to boreal North America and southern
Greenland (Wagner and
Wagner,
and
1993). rare in Iceland according
is to
It
011gaard (Scandinavian
ferns: a natural history of the clubmosses,
ferns,
and
quillworts, horsetails of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Rhodos,
Copenhagen, Denmark.
1993) where
distributed across Europe,
is rare in
it is
more
the west, but abundant Europe and
is in eastern adjacent western
Russia.
Clausen
(1938) cites a report of it by Nakai from Yizo, Japan. In his treatment of
Botrycbium
in the Flora of Japan,Kato (Ophioglossaceae.
In K. Iwatsuki,
T.
Yamazaki, D.E. Boufford and H. Ohba eds.: Flora of Japan. Vol. Pteridophyta
I.
and Gymnospermae.
22-29. Kodansha, Tokyo. placed
pp. 1995.) plants
previously identified simplex tenebrosum under
B. Botrycbium
var. B. lunaria.
simplex not mentioned by Zou and Wagner
is (Am. Fern 78:122-135.
1988)
J.
as occurring in China. In his review of Asian Botrychiaceae, Sahashi (Ching
Mem.
Vol. 1999) did not mention the occurrence of B. simplex from Asia and
he again advocated
previous
his report (Sahashi 109-
Japan. Bot. 58:
Jap.
J.
112.1983) about the merging of previously indentified simplex
B. (Faurie's
specimen
no. 5473 from Mt. Sharidake, Hokkaido
in P) in to B. lunaria.
AMERICAN FERN VOLUME NUMBER
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comm.
Furthermore, Kato (personal 16-Aug. 2011) mentioned that there no
is
recent report of this species from Japan, and previous records of B. simplex
from Japan (cited by Clausen 1938; and Nishida in Acta Phytotax. Geobot.
18:
39-43. 1959) are for dwarfed B. lunaria. In their treatment of B. simplex in the
Flora of North America, Wagner and Wagner do not mention Asian
(1993)
may
plants. However, in Asia, simplex have been overlooked by
B.
many
pteridologists because of similarity to B. lunaria, and because the
its
Botrychium
cryptic species of are extraordinarily difficult to distinguish from
each other due to their morphological similarity (Hauk, Am. Fern 85: 375-
J.
394.1995).
Recently, Fraser-Jenkins (2008) found three herbarium sheets (one PE and
at
two BM)
at of B. simplex within the bundles of B. lunaria collected by F.
Kingdon-Ward
from Tibet (Xizang) province of China. Because of the close
proximity of the B. simplex Tibetan locality to the Indian frontiers, as well as
between
climatic similarities the regions, Fraser-Jenkins postulated that the B.
He
simplex should also be present in India. also noticed that Sino-Himalayan
and American-European plants of B. simplex were morphologically distinct
new
and was
the latter given a rank of subspecies as Botrychium simplex
subsp. kannenbergii (Klinsm.) Fraser-Jenk. However, for the Asian plants he
name
retained the Botrychium simplex subsp. simplex (Syn. Botrychium
tenebrosum A. A. Eaton, Botrychium simplex tenebrosum A. Eaton)
var. (A.
R. T. Clausen). Clausen (1938) placed B. kannenbergii in synonymy with B.
simplex typicum Clausen, which synonymous with simplex
var. B. var.
is
simplex. So, based on the text here, Sino-Himalayan and American-European
same
plants are the B. simplex var. simplex. Similarly, according to
i.e.,
Clausen tenebrosum simplex tenebrosum and simplex
(1938), B. or B. var. B.
var. simplex are not synonymous, hence both are different taxa. But according
to Fraser Jenkins (2008), the variations in Botrychium simplex vai. tenebrosum
(taller plants with fertile branched attached further up) are under the normal
morphological range of Botrychium simplex subsp. simplex and are due to
environmental and he them synonyms.
factors treated as
While on
a fern collection trip to high altitudes of North Sikkim, India,
the author found some interesting Botrychium Kholia no. 35481, 9
{B. S.
km
BSHC)
September from 4-5 West Thangu.
2010, of After crossing the
ca.
Thangu
river via a foot bridge, and after ascending a few meters, the right foot
path goes to Chopta valley and the ascends to another beautiful valley and
left
a Shiv temple. The plants were found growing near the mountain summit of
m
two on SE 5-10 below mountain
these valleys, a facing slope hardly the top,
m
ca. 4320 elev., ca. 27 53' 41" N, 88 31' 23 E". These plants are small (6-
cm
with somewhat which
13 deltate, shortly stalked trophophores, are
tall)
attenuate at the base and have only one or two pairs of pinnae. Pinnae are
and winged
asymmetrical, spathulate or obovate deltate, cuneate adnate to the
The
rachis. sporophore also very short with large sessile globose sporangia
is
arising from the rachis except the lowest pair which are short stalked and often
slightly branched and bear 3-5 sporangia. These plants are markedly different
from B. lunaria. In B. lunaria the trophophore lanceolate to narrowly ovate.
is
Mi
mm
4
1.
Botrycbium simplex A: Habit; B-D: Close up of trophophore and sporangiophores. (Scale
Fig. 1.
AMERICAN
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1
generally long once
stalked, pinnate with 5-10
ca. pairs of pinnae which
are
broadly
fan-shaped
or lunate in shape and
The
stalkless to shortly
stalked.
sporophores
of B. lunaria are pinnate (sometimes
the lower
pairs are
bipinnate).
During
the Symposium
International on
Pteridophytes (November,
2010,
Palampur
Himachal
Pradesh, India) photos of Botrychium
this A-D)
(Fig. 1
were shown
who
to C. R. Fraser-Jenkins, them
identified as B. simplex. These
photos were who
also sent Donald
to Prof. Farrar, agreed with
Fraser-Jenkins'
determination. Thus,
this the record of simplex
is first B. in the Indian
Himalayan
Mountains.
This expands
find
the range of B. simplex. At
present,
known
in India, this species only from
is the locality mentioned More
above.
plants are likely to be found after thorough surveys in similar habitats of Indian
and
Sino Himalayan
regions.
The
author
greatly indebted Mr.
is to C. R. Fraser-Jenkins
for identifying the
specimens and my
his kind help throughout
Himalayan
studies of
ferns.
Grateful thanks due
are also
to Prof. D. R. Farrar for encouragement.
I
profoundly thank M.
Dr. Stensvold and M.
C. Dr. Sharpe review
for their of
J.
the previous and
draft encouragements. Thanks
due
are also M.
to Profs. Kato,
Masuyama
and
S. N. Sahashi Two
the
for status of species
in Japan.
anonymous
reviewers
are also thanked comments.
for their fruitful
also
I
acknowledge
Dr. D. K. Singh, Director and
B. S. Dr. K. Das, Scientist
I. In-
charge, Sikkim
B.S.I. for their help with project.—
this B. Kholia, Botanical
S.
Survey
of Sikkim Himalayan
India, Regional Center Gangtok, Sikkim, 737 103