First Record of Clathrus Delicatus Berkeley & Broome 1873 from Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Mumbai

2005·1.1 MB·

by  Deepak Apte

.
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
spiral,oblong0.5-0.8x0.1-0.3 cm,thick;mid-nerveimpressed CSR2505,8.xii.2001
above, prominent below, lateral nerves obscure, base
attenuate, apex obtuse or acute, subsessile. Flowers December23,2002 SUDHAKAR REDDY
DUTT
hermaphrodite, in axillary fascicles. Perianth rose. Nutlets C.B.S.
strongly trigonous, with persistent style. Forestry& Ecology Division,
Commonweedofmarshy places. National Remote SensingAgency,
FI.& Fr.:November-April. Balanagar, Hyderabad500037,
Specimen examined: North Andaman, Mohanpur: Andhra Pradesh, India.
REFERENCES
VasudevaRao, M.K. (1986):Apreliminaryreportontheangiosperms 249-272.
ofAndaman-NicobarIslands.J. Econ Tax Bot 8: 107-185. Reddy,C.S.,P.R.C. Prasad,M.S.R. Murthy&C B S.Dutt(inpress):
Mathew, S.P. (1998): A supplementary report on the flora and Census ofendemic flowering plants ofAndaman and Nicobar
vegetation of the Bay Islands, India. J. Econ Tax Bot. 22: Islands, India.J. Econ. Tax Bot
35. DENDROPHTHOE FALCATA (L.f.) ETTING. ON COMMIPHORA WIGHTII (ARN.)
BHAND.: A NEW RECORD OF PARASITIC ASSOCIATION
Dendrophthoe falcata (L.f.) Etting. (Family nearAnand, in central Gujarat, the seniorauthornoted a few
Loranthaceae) has attracted more attention from plant individuals of this common parasite growing on a guggul
scientists than any other flowering plant parasite for (Commiphorawightii)tree,which isofmedicinal importance
documentation ofhost range. Fischer (1926) systematically (Photographic evidence provided by the author- Eds).
recorded 153 host plants ofthis partial stem parasite from IfD.falcata establishes its parasitic relationship with
southern parts ofIndia. Since then, many enumerators have C. wightii, therewill beadded pressure on thiseconomically
reportednewhostsfromtimetotimeandeventuallyFischer’s important host, which is presently endangered due to over
list has been increased to 410. Hawksworth et al. (1993) exploitationand impropermethodsofextractingtheoleoresin.
presented a comprehensive list of recorded hosts for Constant monitoringofthe natural populations ofC. wightii
D.falcata.Ascrutiny ofthe literature revealsthat parasitism is recommended as a preventive measure.
of D. falcata on Commiphora wightii (Arnott) Bhandari
(Family Burseraceae) has not been recorded by any ofthe January3,2003 A.S. REDDY1
earlierenumerators;hencewerecord ithereforthe firsttime. V. RAMA RAO
Boswellia serrata Roxb., syn. Commiphora gileadense DepartmentofBiosciences,
(Roxb.)Almeida, C. caudata(W. &A.) Engl., C. pubescens SardarPatel University,
(W. & A.) Engl, and Garugapinnata Roxb. are the 5 other VallabhVidyanagar,
known hostsfrom Family Burseraceae. Gujarat388 120,
On a visit to a herbal garden developed by Anoopam India.
Mission,asocio-religiousinstitution, locatedatMogri village. Email: [email protected]
REFERENCES
Fischer, C.E.C. (1926): Loranthaceae ofsouthern Indian and their host plants. Rec. Bot. Snrv. India 11: 159-195.
Hawksworth, F.G,Y.RS. Pundir,C.G Shaw& B.W. Geils(1993):ThehostrangeofDendrophthoefalcata(L.f.) Etting. (Loranthaceae). Indian
J Forestry 16'. 263-281.
36. FIRST RECORD OF CLATHRUS DELICATUS BERKELEY & BROOME 1873 FROM
SANJAY GANDHI NATIONAL PARK, MUMBAI
In the monsoon ofJuly 1996, during a survey on Owl MaharashtraState, India. I couldnotidentifyit,butsentcolour
moths (Othreis spp.), I came across a small shuttlecock- photographs to the Smithsonian institution, USA for
shapedfungusgrowingamongtherocks, inthewoodedareas identification. The photographs were then forwarded to
of Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) in Mumbai, Dr. DavidFarrattheNational FungusCollection inBeltsville,
J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 102 (1), Jan-Apr 2005 135
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
Narasimhan. The description ofthe specimen matches with
thatofDring(1980);Petch(1908)andFischer(1890-1900).
In 1997 and 1998, all my efforts to locate the fungus
failed. However, in 1999,1managedtolocatealarge fruiting
colonyonapileofrottingbamboologs,fromwhichIcollected
specimens, including the matured receptacle and buds
(Fig. 1). Some specimens were also preserved in 70%
formaldehyde. I also managed to collect the insects, which
seem to be responsible for fertilisation of this fungus, the
species ofwhich could not be identified.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I gratefully acknowledge the guidance provided by
Dr. Orson Miller, ProfessorofBotany and CuratorofFungi,
Department of Biology, Virginia Tech University, USA for
identifyingthefungus.IalsoexpressmygratitudetoDr.Miller
and Mrs. Hope Miller for their warm hospitality during my
Fig. 1: Alargefruitingcolonyof Clathrusdelicatus stay in USA. I am grateful to Dr. Cathie Aime forproviding
relevantliterature.
Maryland, USA, who sent them to Dr. Orson Miller Jr. at IamgratefultotheSmithsonianInstitutionandDr.David
Virginia Tech University for identification. Finally, on May Farr,NationalFungusCollectionsinBeltsville,Marylandfor
14, 1998,Dr.MilleridentifiedthefungusasClathrusdelicatus help in identification, and Ms. Priti Sawant, BNHS forfield
Berkeley & Broome, arare speciesdescribedfromSri Lanka studies.
(Berkeley and Broome 1875). Dr. Miller also advised me to
collectfreshspecimensanddrythemfordetailedexamination. January22,2003 DEEPAK APTE
In 2000, we studied the specimens in his laboratory and BombayNatural HistorySociety,
confirmed that they were Clathrus delicatus. This is the HombillHouse,Mumbai400023,
second record in India and that too after 64 years. The only Maharashtra, India.
record of this species in India is from Mysore in 1932 by Email: [email protected]
Berkeley Rev. M.J. E.L.S. & C.E. Broome, Esq, F.L.S. (1875): Fischer. Ed. (1890-1990): Untersuchungen zur Vergleichenden
Enumeration of the Fungi of Ceylon. Part II, containing the EntwicklungsgeschichteundSystematikderPhalloideen, Mit6
remainder of the Hymenomycetes, with the remaining Tafeln und mehreren Holzschnittenetch.
established tribes of Fungi. Journ. Linnaean Soc., London, Narasimhan, M.J. (1932): The Phalloideae ofMysore. Journ. Indian
Botany XIV: 29-139. Botanical Survey 11: 248-254.
Dring, D.M. (1980): Contributions towards a rational arrangement of Petch, T. (1908): The Phalloideae of Ceylon. Ann. Roy. Bot. Gard.
the Clathraceae. Kew Bull. 35(1): 1-96. Peradeniya 4(4): 139-182.
37. STUDIES ON THE SEASONAL ASPECTS OF ANGIOSPERMIC WALL
VEGETATION OF KHARGONE AND ITS SUBURBS
Ourknowledgeofthewallfloraislimitedbothatnational Khargone and its suburbs in different seasons ofthe year.
and international levels (Willis et al. 1893; Salisbury 1920; Khargonecity(21°45'N,75°30'E;250.38mabovemsl)
Fitter 1945; Rishbeth 1948;Ghosh 1960andVarshney 1971). isheadquarteroftheWestNimardistrictofMadhyaPradesh.
EarlierthefloraofthistracthasbeenstudiedbyShastri(1977), It is one ofthe tribal districts ofthe state, and more than 30
butnoinformationonthewallfloraofthisareaisavailabletill percent of the population belongs to tribal communities
date. Wall vegetation may serve as basic knowledge for (Bhilala, Korki,MankaandBarela). Biogeographicallyitisa
artificial habitats (Sahu 1984); hence the present part of central India. This area enjoys a variety of habitat
communication attempts to study the wall vegetation of conditions and is also thickly populated. In the past three
136 1 Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 102 (1), Jan-Apr 2005