Submission of Sauropus quadrangularis

[Lalithamba Avadhanam]

Plant name: Sauropus quadrangularis (Willd.) Müll.Arg., Linnaea 32: 73. 1863.

Ver.names: Triple nerved lizard’s foot (Eng.); Tella vusirika (Tel.).

Family:  Phyllanthaceae

Description:

Erect shrubs 0.5-1 m tall, glabrous throughout; branchlets 4-angled. Leaves alternate; stipules lanceolate; petiole 1-2 mm; leaf blade ovate, or rounded, 1-2.5 × 0.5-2 cm, membranous, base rounded, apex rounded, mucronate. Flowers unisexual, axillary, subtended by leaves. Male flowers 2-3 in axils, 2-3 mm; calyx discoid, 1.5 mm in diam., 6-lobed; apex obtuse or retuse; disk scales very short; anthers spreading. Female flowers: Solitary, pedicels 0.5-1cm; lobes 5-7 mm in diam., 6-lobed, biseriate, outer broadly ovate, inner shorter than outer, rotund; ovary turbinate, apex truncate; styles 3, bifid at apex, lobes recurved. Capsules ovoid, 4-6mm across, woody when dry, with a lobed rim, seeds trigonous.    

Habitat & location: Limited to S.India. Rare. Found in the foot hills. Photographed at S.R.Puram-Porumamilla ghat, and Penchalakona forest.

Thank you

Regards

A.Lalithamba 

[Tapas Chakrabarty]

This is Breynia compressa (Mull.Arg.) Chakrab. & N.P. Balakr. based on Sauropus compressus Mull.Arg.  It is different and distinct from Breynia quadrangularis (J.G. Klein ex Willd.) Chakrab. & N. P. Balakr. (Basionym: Phyllanthus quadrangularis J.G. Klein ex Willd. = Sauropus quadrangularis (J.G. Klein ex Willd.) Mull.Arg.).

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[J.M. Garg]

Thanks, Tapas ji.

But Phylogenetic reconstruction prompts taxonomic changes in Sauropus, Synostemon and Breynia (Phyllanthaceae tribe Phyllantheae) by P.C. van Welzen K. Pruesapan, I.R.H. Telford, H.-J. Esser , J.J. Bruhl- Blumea 59, 2014: 77–94  gives as below:

Breynia quadrangularis (Willd.) Chakrab. & N.P.Balakr. (2012) 121. — Phyllanthus quadrangularis Willd. (1805) 585. — Sauropus quadrangularis (Willd.) Müll.Arg. (1863) 73. — Aalius quadrangularis (Willd.) Kuntze (1891)
591. — Type: Hb. Willdenow 17985 (holotype B-W; IDC microfiche 7440!), India.
Sauropus rigidus Thwaites (1864) 284. — Phyllanthus neo-rigidus Chakrab. & N.P.Balakr. (2009) 715, non P. rigidus Tate. — Breynia rigida (Thwaites) Chakrab. & N.P.Balakr. (2012) 121. — Type: Thwaites CP 2135 (holotype K; isotypes BM, CAL n.v., G, PDA n.v.), Sri Lanka (Ceylon).
Sauropus compressus Müll.Arg. (1866) 243. — Aalius compressus (Müll. Arg.) Kuntze (1891) 591, as ‘compressa’. — Sauropus quadrangularis (Willd.) Müll.Arg. var. compressus (Müll.Arg.) Airy Shaw (1972) 337. — Phyllanthus indo-myanmarensis Chakrab. & N.P.Balakr. (2009) 715, non P. compressus Müll.Arg. — Breynia compressa (Müll.Arg.) Chakrab. & N.P.Balakr. (2012) 120. — Syntypes: Hooker s.n., s.d. (G-DC n.v., IDC
microfiche DC herbarium 2489/5, K (2 sheets)), India, Sikkim, Regio Trop.
Sauropus quandrangularis (Willd.) Müll.Arg. var. puberulus Kurz (1877) 350. — Phyllanthus indo-myanmarensis Chakrab. & N.P.Balakr. var. puberulus (Kurz) Chakrab. & N.P.Balakr. (2009) 715. — Breynia compressa (Müll.Arg.) Chakrab. & N.P.Balakr. var. puberulus (Kurz) Chakrab. & N.P.Balakr. (2012) 120. — Type: Kurz 1586 (holotype CAL n.v.), Myanmar. 

Is there further change in the matter pl ?

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With regards,
J.M.Garg

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[Tapas Chakrabarty]

Garg ji,

This is matter of opinion only.

My present comment and identification as above is based on the following publication:

Chakrabarty, T. & Balakrishnan, N. P. 2015. Reinstatement of four taxa synonymized under Breynia quadrangularis with proposal for a new subgenus Hemisauropus (Phyllanthaceae). J. Econ. Taxon. Bot. 39(3-4): 415-419.

We have one advantage over them.  Our publication is based on the study of available specimens in the major Indian herbaria while their paper is based on studies on old gatherings available in the European herbaria.  Thus we are in a better position to assess the range of variation exhibited by the relevant taxa.  Welzen & al. never visited India.

I am giving an example here.  In 2014, I. M. Turner jeoperdized the nomenclature of Terminalia sect. Pentaptera by removing the name T. elliptica Willd. applied by Gangopadhyay & Chakrabarty, 1992 for an assortment of species variously treated in Indian floras and treatments as T. alata, T. crenulata, T. coriacea and T. tomentosa and adding the same to Terminalia arjuna as a synonym and proposing to conserve the name T. arjuna against T. elliptica.  I wish Turner would have seen the specimens in the Indian herbaria before arriving at such a conclusion!  I will come back to you as soon as my paper in this regard is published!

Regards,

Tapas.

[J.M. Garg]

Thanks a lot, Tapas ji.

I will change accordingly.