Sida rhombifolia L. (?) from Hooghly

[surajit koley]

Sir,

I hope this is Sida rhombifolia L., the Bengali name of which has been stated as LAL-BERELA in the book, Plant Groups, by H. Mukherji.

Species : Sida rhombifolia L. ?

Habit & Habitat : wild herb, about 2 feet, found on roadside, pictures were taken from two individual plants at the same place

Date : 01/09/12 & 03/09/12

Place : Kamarkundu (Hooghly)

Thank you & Regards,

surajit

[Neil Soares]

Hi,  Negative. This is Sida retusa. Please check these links for my photographs and our previous discussion on this :   https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en&fromgroups#!search/Sida$20retusa$20Neil$20Soares/wildflowerindia/Y7Lyh4_z5tg/GuQwons9sIIJ   https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en&fromgroups#!search/Sida$20retusa$20Neil$20Soares/indiantreepix/cWZmjt6gng0/oAjbrJq0bCUJ                          With regards,                          Neil Soares.   --- On Mon, 9/3/12, surajit koley <surajitno...@gmail.com> wrote:

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[surajit koley]

Neil Sir,

Though my flowers differ with your picture of S. rhombifolia at - https://groups.google.com/d/topic/indiantreepix/cWZmjt6gng0/discussion, i think my leaves differ with that of your images of S. retusa leaves at - https://groups.google.com/d/topic/wildflowerindia/Y7Lyh4_z5tg/discussion.

Besides, the following websites informs S. retusa = S, rhombifolia L. or S. rhombifolia L. subsp. rhombifolia - 

1. http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?33900
   
2. http://keys.trin.org.au/key-server/data/0e0f0504-0103-430d-8004-060d07080d04/media/Html/taxon/Sida_rhombifolia.htm
   
3. http://www.anbg.gov.au/common.names/
   

On the other hand The Plant List informs -

1. Sida retusa L. is a synonym of Sida alnifolia var. alnifolia - http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl/record/tro-19601817
2. more synonyms of the above - http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl/record/tro-19603576

I am confused. Attaching one more photographs, a larger one, for your perusal.

Regards,

surajit

[Neil Soares]

Hi,  Affirmative. This is Sida retusa. [Don't go by the leaves at the top of the plant. Check the leaves lower down]. As Dr.Almeida explained to me when I posed the same questions to him - retusa means 'cut' - its as if someone has abruptly cut the leaves. Whereas in Sida rhombifolia, the leaves are rhomboid.                         With regards,                           Neil Soares.

[surajit koley]

Neil Sir,

The images of Sida retusa (your uploads - https://groups.google.com/d/topic/wildflowerindia/Y7Lyh4_z5tg/discussion) do perfectly match with herbarium found at - http://ww2.bgbm.org/herbarium/view_large.cfm?SpecimenPK=151598&idThumb=378002&SpecimenSequenz=1&loan=0

I thought my pics resemble with the herbarium at - http://ww2.bgbm.org/herbarium/view_large.cfm?SpecimenPK=151592&idThumb=377939&SpecimenSequenz=1&loan=0. But my inexperienced eyes and lack of knowledge are very likely to deceive me.

Thank you very much for the correct id of this Sida.

Regards,

surajit

[Neil Soares]

You are most welcome Surajit. Sending you some of my more recent photographs of Sida retusa.

[surajit koley]

Neil Sir,

I understand that my species is Sida retusa, not S. rhombifolia. You know it much better than me. Please, tell me, of the followings, which one is correct -

1. Sida retusa = Sida rhombifolia L.
2. Sida retusa L. = Sida alnifolia var. alnifolia
3. Sida retusa is not connected to any of the above

Thank you & Regards,

surajit

[Neil Soares]

Hi,  To complicate matters further.....   Dr. Almeida in his 'Flora of Maharashtra' classifies this as Sida rhombifolia L.var retusa [Linn.] Masters.

[surajit koley]

Neil Sir,

I also noticed Sida rhombifolia L. var. retusa, in the net. To make the matter more confusing Flora of China has four varieties of Sida alnifolia!

Too complicated to me.

Thank you very much for taking care and elaborating on Sida.

Regards,

surajit