A New Species of Gentiana (Gentianaceae) From the Sikkim Himalaya

Abstract

Gentiana springateana D.Maity sp. nov. (Gentianaceae) is described from the Sikkim Himalaya and placed in G. section Phyllocalyx (Kusn.) T.N.Ho. This new taxon is described and illustrated, and compared morphologically with two related taxa, Gentiana phyllocalyx C.B.Clarke and G. urnula Harry Sm.

Taxonomy of the ‘remarkable little plant’ Gentiana vernayi (Microsperma–Gentianaceae)

“…Gentiana L. s.l. (Gentianaceae) currently comprises more than 364 species and is widely distributed in the temperate and alpine regions of northwest Africa (Morocco), America, Asia, east Australia and Europe (Ho and Pringle 1995, Mabberley , Maity , Dey and Maity , Maity et al , b). The genus is represented by more than 64 species in India and most of them are found in the Himalayas.…”

“…The genus is represented by more than 64 species in India and most of them are found in the Himalayas. In contrast, the Western Ghats harbours only two species (Clarke , Garg , Sasidharan , Maity ).…”

“…The Lhonak valley was explored botanically during preparation of the monumental work of Smith and Cave (), more than 100 years ago. In recent years, a few new taxa have been described from this region (Maity and Chauhan , Maity , , Dey and Maity , Maity et al , b) and it is only now that we are starting to realise that this is a very interesting area rich in endemics.…”

A range extension of Gentiana capitata Buch.-Ham. ex D.Don subsp. harwanensis (G.Singh) Halda (Gentianaceae) to Ladakh Trans-Himalaya, India

“…In India, Gentiana is represented by about 68 species. Of these, approximately 32 species occur in Jammu and Kashmir (Garg 1987, Gupta et al 2012, Maity 2014, Anilkumar et al 2015, Shabir et al 2017, 2018.…”

Lomatogonium cherukurianum sp. nov. (Gentianaceae) from Sikkim Himalaya

“…The northern part of Sikkim, particularly the Chhaten, Lachen, Thangu areas, part of Zemu and Lhonak valley, has traditionally had very little human settlement and have remained undisturbed as compared to other parts of the state. Since the first modern botanical exploration of the Zemu and Lhonak valley by W. W. Smith and G. H. Cave (Smith and Cave ), several botanists visited the rich flora of the mountain range of north Sikkim (Rao , Srivastava , , Singh and Chauhan , , Maity , , , Maity and Maiti , Lucksom , Maity and Dey , Dey and Maity , , Dey et al , Singh et al , Maity et al , ). Higher elevations (above 4000 m a.s.l.)…”