A few months back there was a lot of discussion on this group and some confusion primarily because of representation of the two species at FOI. Whereas the specimens of V. major are not typical of the species, the true specimens of V. major are depicted under V. minor. I have collected a lot of V. major in Kashmir, Manali and other hill stations. The plant is much lax with trailing branches reaching several metres, leaves which are usually ovate, almost as broad as long, truncate or cordate at base, flowers nearly 1.5-2 cm across borne on almost 3-5 cm long stalks. The leaf margins and calyx lobes are ciliate.
I could not find V. minor in India but was lucky to find it growing in California here. The plant is with shorter branches, smaller nearly elliptic-oblong leaves which are narrowed at both ends, smaller flowers nearly 2.5 cm across on nearly 1-2 cm long stalks. Leaf margins and calyx lobes are glabrous
I am uploading both V. major from Manali and V. minor from California to show better comparison so that V. minor could be searched in India and brought to our databases.
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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/