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MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 25. STEBBINSIA UMBRELLA (FRANCH.) LIP. (ASTERACEAE): A NEW RECORD FOR INDIA D.Maity2andG.G.Maiti3 'Accepted February 07, 2005 2Botanical Survey of India, Sikkim Himalayan Circle, Gangtok 737 103, Sikkim, India. Email: [email protected] "Department of Botany, University of Kalyani, Kalyani 741 235, Nadia, West Bengal, India. Email: [email protected] Crepis umbrella Franch. had been assigned under differentgenerabydifferentauthors.Stebbins(l.c.)firstmade the combination as Soroseris umbrella (Franch.) Stebbins basedon the basionym Crepisumbrella Franch.-aChinese species. LaterLipschitz(l.c proposed anothercombination .) asStebbinsiaumbrella(Franch. Lip. basedonthesametaxon ) Crepis umbrella Franch. This species is quite distinct from the other species of Soroseris Stebbins having more than 15floretspercapitulum,andinnerinvolucralbractsmorethan 10, ascomparedtotheotherspeciesofSoroseriswhereonly 4-5 florets percapitulum, and only 4 inner involucral bracts are present. During the course of the study, and identification of some members of the Asteraceae, the authors came across somespecimensattheCentralNational Herbarium,Botanical Survey of India (CAL), which had been collected from the Sikkim Himalaya, and incorporated as Youngia depressa (Hook./ Thoms.) Babcock & Stebbins (- Crepis depressa Hook./. Thoms.). Critical study revealedthat the specimens Cave431 andCave585 (CAL)aretrulyStebbinsiaumbrella. Thus,thisisanewrecordforIndiafromtheSikkimHimalaya, andanextensionofdistributionofthe Chinesespeciestothe south-west. A detailed description and its present nomenclatural Fig. 1: Stebbinsia umbrella (Franch.) Lip.:A. Habitat; B. Floret; status, along with the illustrations are presented in order to C.Cypsela(drawnbyD. Maityfrom G.H. Cave585-CAL) facilitateitsidentity. Stebbinsia umbrella (Franch.) Lip. in 75thAnniv. Vol. dorsally,withwingednatureanddenticulateedge,hirtellous. Sukatsch.(NewSubtr.,Gen.&Sp.Fam.Centr.As.).362-1956. Capitulamany, up to50, corymbiform, amongstthe rosulate GriersonandSpringateinGriersonandLong,FI. Bhutan2(3): leaves; peduncles slender, 1-10 cm long, bracteate; bracts 1458.2001,Compositae(Fig. 1). leafy,butsmaller.Headscylindrictomoreorlesscampanulate, mm Crepis umbrella Franch. in Morot, Journ. de Bot. 9: about 10 in diameter.; involucral bracts biseriate; outer mm 255. 1895. 2-5,linear-lanceolate,3-10 long, imbricatewithscarious Soroserisumbrella(Franch.) StebbinsinMem.Toney margins, dull-green toblackish; hirtellous tohispidulouson Bot.Club 19(3):36.1940. outersurface along midrib, ciliate at apex. Florets 15-43, all mm Stem rhizomatous, 4-18 cm high; lower part covered ligulate,8-20 long;ligule5-toothed;tubeslightlyshorter with cataphylls. Upper leaves rosulate, broadly ovate to thanligule. Pollenechinate.Cypselaoblongoidtosomewhat mm orbicular(rarelyoblong-elliptic),oftenlyrate-pinnatifidwith fusiform, 3-6 long, apextruncatewithoutneck,butwith 1-2 small lateral lobes; 1.5-9 cm x 1-7 cm, apex obtuse to broadened, flattened annular pappus disc, slightly striate, mm subacute(youngeracuminate), margin laciniate-der.ticulate, glabrous.Pappusmultiseriate,8-1 1 long,barbate,golden- base rounded to weakly cordate, herbaceous, rather fleshy, yellow to white, deciduous. & veins depressed above and raised below with prominent FI. Fr.:July-September. reticulations, more or less hairy, particularly towards base Distribution: india:Himalaya: Sikkim;Bhutan;Tibet; and lowersurface; petioles 2-12 cm x 0.2-0.5 cm, thickened China. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (1), Jan-Apr 2007 119 MISCELLANEOUS NOTES Growsonopenalpineslopesat3,640-5,140m. necklesscypselawithatruncateapex.Moreover,thecypsela Specimens examined: Sikkim, without any precise isdistinctlyribbed in Youngia,butinStebbinsia, itissmooth locality, s.d., G.H. Cave 431 (Acc. No. 255171-CAL) and to slightly striate. G.H. Cave585(Acc.No.255170-CAL). ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Note: Stebbinsia umbrella resembles Youngia depressa (Hook. / & Thorns.) Babcock & Stebbins in morphological appearance, liguleandpollencharacters,but WethanktheJointDirector,BotanicalSurveyofIndia, here our identification is confirmed by the presence of Kolkataforpermissiontoconsulttheherbarium. 26. PASSERINE BIRD-POLLINATION IN THE DRY SEASON BLOOMING BUTEA SUPERBA ROXB. (FABACEAE) IN THE EASTERN GHATS' A.J. Solomon Raju2'3 and S. Purnachandra Rao24 ‘Accepted February 07, 2005 “Department of Environmental Sciences, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam 530 003, Andhra Pradesh, India. ’Email: [email protected] 4Email: [email protected] The genus Butea, as the name implies, produces pattern. The flowers are large, 59 mm long, orange-scarlet, beautiful orange-red or scarlet flowers. There is very little bisexual,andzygomorphic.Thecalyxconsistsoffivesepals, informationavailableonthefloralbiologyandpollinatorsof united intoacup-like structure. Thecorollahasfive unequal Buteaspecies.Ali(1932)reportedthatB. monospermaflowers petals,coveredwith silky hairs. Therearethe standardpetal, producealargeamountofnectarandthatdifferentpasserine twosmallerwingpetalsandamuchcurved,beak-shapedkeel, birds collect this nectarto quench theirthirst during the dry formed by the fusion of two petals, which encloses the season. He also suggested that B. superba flowers are stamens and stigma. Ten stamens-nine united andone free structurally similar to B. monosperma and would probably stamensituatedbelowlevelofunitedstamens.Anthersyellow, mm alsobeornithophilous. Buthehasnotmadeanyobservations 3 long. Ovary springsupfromcentreofstaminal sheath, mm on the floral characteristics and pollinators of B. superba. style36 long,curvedattip,terminatinginasimplegreenish- Therefore, we studiedsome aspectsofthe floral biologyand yellow stigma. Curved style and stigma overtop anthers pollinatorsofB. superba. of united bundle of stamens. Ovary unilocular, 4-7 ovules Butea superba is a gigantic woody climbing shrub, (mostly4-5). occurring in moist localities in the Eastern Ghats forests in The flowers open between 0530-0630 hrs. Anther the Visakhapatnam and East Godavari districts of Andhra dehiscenceisseenthirtyminutesafteranthesis. Beginningof Pradesh. We studiedthe treesinLotugedda, Lambasingi and stigma receptivity is seen one hour after anther dehiscence. AnantagiriintheVisakhapatnamdistrictandRamavaram,and Stigma receptivity lasts for 30 hours. A flower produces in Addateegala in East Godavari district. Floral events - 30±0.8 pi ofnectar.Theflowersshow signsofwitheringon anthesis,antherdehiscence,nectarvolume,stigmareceptivity the third day, and drop offon the fourth day ifnot disturbed andexposureofstamensandstigmawerecarefullyobserved byflower-visitors. accordingtoDafni(1992),andSolomonRajuandSubbaReddi The flowers were visited by many birds, including (1994).Fiftyflowersmarkedontendifferenttreeswereused passerines-Acridotherestristis(CommonMyna),Chloropsis to observe these events. The flower-visitors included birds, aurifrons(Gold-frontedChloropsis),Anthusrichardi(Indian squirrels and monkeys, whose flower-visiting schedules, Pipit), Nectarinia zeylonica (Purple-rumped Sunbird) and probingbehaviourandroleinpollinationwereobservedusing Nectarinia asiatica (Purple Sunbird), and non-passerines - binoculars. Psittacula krameri (Rose-ringed Parakeet), Psittacula B. superba sheds its leaves before the onset of cyanocephala (Plum-headed Parakeet), Loriculus vernalis flowering, which occurs during late February-March. The (IndianHanging-Parrot),Meropsorientalis(SmallBee-eater) flowers,groupedinthrees,areborneonavelvety,darkmaroon andDendrocoposnanus(Brown-cappedPigmyWoodpecker). racemose inflorescence. Their maturation and subsequent These birds collected nectar throughout the day, but they anthesis does not show either an acropetal or a basipetal showedhecticforagingactivityonlyduringtheearlymorning 120 J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 104 (1), Jan-Apr 2007