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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