Malvaceae Fortnight: Sida yunanensis from Delhi Pl validate-GSJULY52/55

[Gurcharan Singh]

Sida yunnanensis Hu, Fl.China,fam. 153.16.t.16.f.7. 1955

I have been working on this plant for some time, similar to what Balkar ji uploaded as Sida sp. from Panipat and Tanay identified as S. rhomboidea (another but not accepted now name for S. rhombifolia). This interesting plant at first sight appears to be Sida rhombifolia var. obovata as per brief description in Flora of British India. As per eFlora of Pakistan this is a synonym of Sida yunanensis but according to eFlora of China it is a synonym of S. alinifolia var. obovata. Author of eFlora of China was aware of this when he writes "The original author suggested that Sida yunnanensis was related to S. spinosa Linnaeus, but it is distinguished by the broadly elliptic or obovate leaf blades (ovate-lanceolate in S. spinosa), shorter petioles (3-7 mm as opposed to 2-20 mm in S. spinosa), and the absence of the short nodal spines characteristic of S. spinosa. Paul (Fl. India 3: 290. 1993) included S. yunnanensiswithin S. rhombifolia var. rhombifolia, while Abedin (Fl. W. Pakistan 130: 81. 1979) accepted it and extended it to include material from India, Kashmir, Myanmar, and Pakistan."

Now let us understand this plant, the leaves are elliptic-obovate, up to 5 cm long, clearly closely white tomentose beneath especially in plants of dry habitats, leaves more straight at less wrinkled as compared to other species, significantly flowers tend to be occurring in clusters mostly on short axillary branches, calyx is sparcely hairy, flowers yellow about 1 cm across and most importantly in all my specimens carpels are five, the 5 mericarps in fruit have very small (hardly 1 mm) awns closely converging.

To arrive at better conclusion I tried to identify this plant from keys given in both floras, and in both cases the key led me to S. yunanensis (characterised by leaves up to 5 cm long, broadly elliptic to obovate, flowers in fascicles, mericarps 5 (-7), with less than 2 mm long awns).

   Why it can't be S. alnifolia var. obovata as per description provided by  eFlora of China is that it has smaller than 2 cm leaves, flowers solitary, and 6-8 mericarps.

The plant was photographed in Vikas Puri, New Delhi, growing in a neglected area in Park. Very common in Delhi.

Your comments please. 

 

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Dr. Gurcharan Singh
Retired  Associate Professor
SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007
Res: 932 Anand Kunj, Vikas Puri, New Delhi-110018.
Phone: 011-25518297  Mob: 9810359089
http://people.du.ac.in/~singhg45/

[J.M. Garg]

Forwarding again for validation or otherwise please.

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With regards,
J.M.Garg

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