Plant Galls of India

378 Pages·1973·29.86 MB·English

by  M. S. Mani (auth.)

PLANT GALLS OF INDIA
Plant Galls of India
M. S. Mani
Palgrave Macmillan
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF INDIA LTD
Delhi Madras Bombay Calcutta
Associate companies throughout the world
ISBN 978-1-349-02547-3 ISBN 978-1-349-02545-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-02545-9
© M. S. Mani, 1973
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1973 978-0-333-18067-9
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
without prior permission
SBN 333 18067 4
PREFACE
Plant galls have attracted the attention of naturalists from very
early times. They present intriguing problems of morphogenesis and
complex inter-relations of associated organisms. In recent years,
the study of galls has gained considerable new significance in
investigations on the etiology of animal and human cancers.
The plant galls of Europe, Africa, America, Australia and parts
of the former Dutch East Indies have been described by Riib
saamen, Hedicke, Trotter, Houard, Connold, Ross, Felt, Drs van
Leeuwen-Reijnvaan, Kamy and Buhr, to mention only a few of
the outstanding names. There are a number of excellent mono
graphic books on the galls of these regions.
The rich and highly diversified flora of the Indian region are
remarkable for their enormous wealth and complexity in types of
galls, and offer exceptional opportunities for the amateur collector
and the advanced student of botany, zoology and other specialized
fields of study and research. Though descriptions of Indian plant
galls may be found scattered in numerous technical papers and
published in various scientific periodicals, there has been, so far,
no comprehensive work on the galls of India.
This book, the first compendium on the plant galls of the Indian
region, is the outcome of nearly forty-five years of explorations and
studies throughout what was formerly British India, including
Ceylon, Nepal and parts of Mghanistan.
Over seven hundred and fifty different galls, known so far from
the Indian flora, are described in the following pages. The galls
are identified by a specific gall number and are listed serially
under the respective species of plants, on which they arise. The
plants are themselves arranged alphabetically in the appropriate
Natural Order in systematic series. The descriptions of galls are
prefixed, in each Natural Order, by simple, synoptic, dichotomous
keys to the galls. The text-figures and the plates will prove or'l
considerable help in interpreting the keys and descriptions and
in readily recognizing the gall. Notes on the gall-inducing
organisms, parasites, and other associated species, geographical
distribution of the galls and references to earlier works are added
in each case.
A definition of galls in the light of recent advances is given in
the first chapter. This is followed by a brief outline of the funda-
VI PREFACE
mental structure of galls, the plants and parts of plants on which
galls arise, the gall-inducing organisms and gall types, in so far
as these are relevant to an intelligent use of the keys and descrip
tions of galls given in the book. Some hints are also added on the
methods of collecting and preserving galls for study. Students
interested in the detailed morphology, morphogenesis, etiology,
biology, inter-relations and cancer analogy of galls must refer to
my earlier book Ecology of Plant Galls.* A glossary of important
technical terms used in describing galls is given at the end. The
bibliography lists all the relevant works, arranged alphabetical
ly, author-wise.
The book not only summarizes personal observations but also
brings together much of the information from literature. The
principal feature of this book, that distinguishes it from all other
similar volumes, lies in the presentation of both synoptic keys and
detailed descriptions of galls in technical terms.
I take the opportunity here of expressing my grateful thanks to
numerous friends and collaborators who have collected plant galls
for me and have also helped me in other ways in the course of my
work.
M.s.
MANI
*Mani, M. S. 1964. Ecology of Plant Galls. The Hague: Dr W. Junk -NV
Publishers, pp. 464, Pis. ix, fig. 154.
CONTENTS
Preface v
1. Introduction I
2. Menispermaceae 13
3. Berberidaceae 15
4. Fumariaceae 19
5. Papaveraceae 19
6. Cruciferae 20
7. Capparidaceae 21
8. Bixaceae 31
9. Flacourtiaceae 33
10. Tamariscaceae 33
11. Guttiferae 35
12. Ternstroemiaceae 36
13. Dipterocarpaceae 40
14. Malvaceae 41
15. Sterculiaceae 48
16. Tiliaceae 51
17. Elaeocarpaceae 55
18. Linaceae 56
19. Geraniaceae 56
20. Rutaceae 57
21. Burseraceae 60
22. Aquifoliaceae 63
23. Celastraceae 63
24. Rhamnaceae 64
25. Vitaceae 72
26. Sapindaceae 74
27. Sabiaceae 77
28. Anacardiaceae 79
29. Leguminosae 91
30. Rosaceae 134
31. Saxifragaceae 139
Vlll CONTENTS
32. Combretaceae 139
33. Myrtaceae 150
34. Melastomaceae 154
35. Onagraceae 156
36. Samydaceae 157
37. Cucurbitaceae 157
38. Aizoaceae 166
39. Umbelliferae 166
40. Araliaceae 168
41. Alangiaceae 168
42. Caprifoliaceae 168
43. Rubiaceae 170
44. Compositae 176
45. Vacciniaceae 184
46. Ericaceae 184
47. Myrsinaceae 185
48. Sapotaceae 187
49. Ebenaceae 192
50. Symplococeae 192
51. Styraceae 194
52. Oleaceae 195
53. Salvadoraceae 198
54. Apocynaceae 200
55. Asclepiadaceae 204
56. Loganiaceae 206
57. Boraginaceae 207
58. Convolvulaceae 209
59. Solanaceae 218
60. Scrophulariaceae 219
61. Gesneraceae 220
62. Bignoniaceae 220
63. Pedaliaceae 221
64. Acanthaceae 221
65. Verbenaceae 226
CONTENTS IX
66. Nyctaginaceae 230
67. Amarantaceae 232
68. Chenopodiaceae 235
69. Po1ygonaceae 236
70. Piperaceae 238
71. Sa1icaceae 240
72. Fagaceae 245
73. Lauraceae 251
74. Loranthaceae 264
75. Buxaceae 264
76. Euphorbiaceae 265
77. Ulmaceae 269
78. Urticaceae 271
79. Moraceae 273
80. Casuarinaceae 287
81. Gnetaceae 287
82. Zingiberaceae 287
83. Araceae 288
84. Coniferae 288
85. Gramineae 289
86. Galls on Some Unidentified Plants 291
87. Addendum 294
Literature Cited 306
Glossary 313
Gall Index 317
Host-plant Index 336
General Index 343
I. INTRODUCTION
Plant galls are familiar objects of natural history. Some galls,
like the oak-apple or gall-nut, caused by Cynipid wasps on
Quercus, have been known in medicine and industry since an
tiquity. Others, like the pepporcorn-sized outgrowths on leafo f
Mangifera indica Linn. (Pl. XI, 4) caused by Amradiplosis spp., the
large fleshy spherical swellings of the leaf of Salix (Pl. I, 7)
caused by Pontania, the curiously lopsided polyp-like out
growths on the leaf of Pongamia glahra Vent. (Fig. 38) caused by
Eriophyes cheriani Massee, the conspicuous yellow or orange col
oured and small cherry-sized swellings on the leaf of Ficus
glomerata Roxb. caused by Pauropsylla depressa Crawf. (Pl. II, 5)
and the enormous, hard, woody irregular swellings on
branches of Acacia leucophloea Willd. (Pl. IV, 5) caused by the
fungus Uromycladium, to mention only a few examples, are by
no means less common or less interesting. Some of the plant
galls, occurring in India, are widely distributed and have ex
tremely complex structure and present intriguing problems in
morphogenesis, physiology, pathology and ecology.
Galls are pathologically developed cells, tissues and organs
of plants, which have risen mostly by hypertrophy (over
growth) and hyperplasy (excessive cell division), usually under
the influence of parasitic organisms. They represent the growth
reaction of the plant to the attack by a foreign organism and
are often related in some way to the feeding activity and
nutritional physiology of this organi&m. The gall is thus a
product of the interspecific association between a plant and
another organism, characterized by the plant reacting with
growth, which is abnormal in some respect. Not only foreign
organisms, but also mechanical irritation, wounds and certain
chemicals like mutagenic agents, various amino acids and ex
cessive indol acetic acid, and other plant growth hormon.es
commonly induce the formation of galls.
The criterion for determining a structure as gall is not,
however, what gives rise to it and not even its relation to the
causative factor, but entirely its relation to the plant on which
it arises-to the morphogenetic control of the plant body.
A gall is essentially a neoplastic growth. Neoplastic growths are
pathological structures,. ranging from the nearly normal to
1