Status of J.NANA VAR. BENGALENSE

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J.M. Garg

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Mar 17, 2020, 11:43:37 PM3/17/20
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---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Tapas Chakrabarty <tcha...@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 18 Mar 2020 at 01:21
Subject: Re: Acknowledgement for accepting the status of J.NANA VAR. BENGALENSE
To: ashish nerlekar <ashishadmi...@gmail.com>, J.M. Garg <jmg...@gmail.com>


I am the author of fam. Euphorb. sens. lat. in Fl. West Bengal. The complimentary copy is not yet in hand. Here is the extract:

Jatropha nana Dalzell & A.Gibson, Bombay Fl. [Dalzell & Gibson] 229. 1861; Nerlekar, Phytotaxa  213(2): 157. 2015. Jatropha nana Dalzell & A.Gibson var. bengalensis C.H.Rahaman & S.Mondal, Indian J. Forest. 35(4): 477. 2012 [Dec 2012], as 'bengalense'. 


On Wed, Mar 18, 2020 at 1:07 AM ashish nerlekar <ashishadmi...@gmail.com> wrote:
Thats great news!

Thanks,
Ashish

On Wed, Mar 18, 2020 at 1:03 AM Tapas Chakrabarty <tcha...@gmail.com> wrote:
Flora of West Bengal, Vol. 4 has been published and released by BSI on 13th Feb. 2020. Here, the said variety has been cited as a synonym of the typical variety.
Best regards,
T. C.

On Wed, Mar 18, 2020 at 12:58 AM Tapas Chakrabarty <tcha...@gmail.com> wrote:
Thanks a lot. 
Regtards,
T. C.

On Wed, Mar 18, 2020 at 12:25 AM ashish nerlekar <ashishadmi...@gmail.com> wrote:
Dear Dr. Chakrabarty,

I appreciate your response, and am glad that you find the evidence compelling. I stress here again, I am absolutely not 'attached' to the type variety, and will be the first one to say that I was wrong if somebody presents sufficient evidence. I think that is how science proceeds, and its heartening that we are discussing these things in the right spirit.

I have attached the paper and the erratum (pointing out some typographic errors, and not about the main points).

Thanks,
Ashish

On Tue, Mar 17, 2020 at 11:46 PM Tapas Chakrabarty <tcha...@gmail.com> wrote:
Dear Ashish ji,
Thank you so much for the detailed explanation. I am convinced with your arguments.
Please send me a copy of the full paper for my personal use.
Best regards,
T. C.

On Tue, Mar 17, 2020 at 10:56 PM ashish nerlekar <ashishadmi...@gmail.com> wrote:
Dear Dr. Chakrabarty,

Thanks for forwarding the mail. I am in fact very happy to see that we are pursuing a healthy discussion over here. I think its best to not be value laden when it comes to Science and the plants we work. I will set up the distinction once again and provide evidence against the distinction of the variety.

If J. nana var. bengalensis is to be maintained as a separate variety, we should expect that this variety has (according to the protologue):
1)  to have 'minute stipules'  (as opposed to long, filiform in the type variety)
2)  to have tuberous roots (as opposed to finger-like roots in the type variety)

What I have been finding is that both these characters are abundantly common in the type species too. I have very clearly stated this in the paper ("Jatropha nana var. benghalensis was recently described as a distinct variety on the basis of stipule morphology and size of the root (Rahaman & Mondal 2012). Even though the protologue of the type variety mentions ‘stipules minute’, field examination of several specimens from the type locality (Pune) reveals that the stipules in J. nana are variable. Stipules were more prominent in early pheno-phases with 1 to 3 processes each (of 1.0–10 mm length). When the specimens were fully mature, stipules were minute or even absent. Similarly, with respect to root morphology, several specimens from the type locality were found to have tuberous main root (the largest was about 25 × 8 cm) (see figure 1). Both of these findings contradict the taxonomic status of J. nana var. benghalensis as a distinct variety. Hence, it is proposed that Jatropha nana var. benghalensis should be merged with the type variety, as the two characters considered as diagnostic for this variety by the authors are actually variable and also observed in specimens from the type locality").

In support of my arguments, and in addition to the data and photos provided in the 2015 paper, I am attaching the photos of the tuberous root (certainly this is not finger-like, more like arm-like!) and the variable stipules.

About the capsule shape, 
1) it was not mentioned in the protologue as a distinguishing character so I did not deal with it in the 2015 paper
2) Capsule shape is again, pretty variable and ranges from globose to ovate in the type variety too; see some more images that I had contributed at Flowersofindia (https://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Dwarf%20Jatropha.html). I will probably get even more images showing capsule and even seed size variation in the type variety.

About geographical distribution,
There are several examples of plants and animals that show disjuct distributions in India (for two examples, see:
http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/51883/1/Cur_Sci_108-10_1847_2015.pdf ). Having a disjunct distribution does not, in any biogeogrpahical sense confirm that a lineage has to be distinct. 

I hope you find this set of evidence compelling at this point. Molecular phylogeny would be the best tool to resolve this group further (and I will be super happy to see evidence for and against my arguments-as I said, we should not be value laden and be objective).

Thanks,
Ashish


On Tue, Mar 17, 2020 at 4:33 PM Tapas Chakrabarty <tcha...@gmail.com> wrote:
Dear Garg ji,
Please see the attached file in this regards. 
Unfortunately, Dr. Swarnendu Mondal as well as his Ph. D. guide, Prof. Chaudhury Habibur Rahman, Visva Bharati, Santiniketan, stopped maintaining contact with me as soon as I retired from service five years ago.
Regards,
T.C.

On Tue, Mar 17, 2020 at 8:54 AM J.M. Garg <jmg...@gmail.com> wrote:
Thanks, Swarnendu ji,
Pl. see Tapas ji's post at Jatropha nana var. bengalensis
I am marking a copy to Tapas ji, who is the expert in this matter.

On Mon, 16 Mar 2020 at 20:13, SWARNENDU MONDAL <muc...@gmail.com> wrote:
  Sir,

 with due respect, I would like to inform you my pleased for your recent comment on your eflora page on Jatropha nana var. bengalense. I am personally happy to know that you are taking this as a new variety which was earlier supported by Dr. N.P.Balakrishnan also(conversation over mail with me), after the publication of the Lectotype of the variety by A.Nerlekar.
……………………..   
Thanks a lot, eager to hear from you. 

SWARNENDU MONDAL
Asst. Professor
Dept. of Botany
Tribal Medicine and Pharmacognosy Lab.
M.U.C Women's College
Burdwan
ORCID ID: 0000-0002-6218-3290


--
With regards,
J.M.Garg

'Creating awareness of Indian Flora & Fauna'

Winner of Wipro-NFS Sparrow Awards 2014 for efloraofindia. 

For identification, learning, discussion & documentation of Indian Flora, please visit/ join our Efloraofindia Google e-group (largest in the world- more than 3,000 members & 3,00,000 messages on 23.8.18) or Efloraofindia website (with a species database of more than 13,000 species & 3,00,000 images of which more than 2,00,000 images are directly displayed on 30.8.19).

The whole world uses my Image Resource of more than a thousand species & eight thousand images of Birds, Butterflies, Plants etc. (arranged alphabetically & place-wise). You can also use them for free as per Creative Commons license attached with each image.

Also author of 'A Photoguide to the Birds of Kolkata & Common Birds of India'.



--
Ashish N. Nerlekar

Graduate student, Veldman lab
Department of Ecosystem Science & Management,
Texas A & M University, TX 77843


--
Ashish N. Nerlekar

Graduate student, Veldman lab
Department of Ecosystem Science & Management,
Texas A & M University, TX 77843


--
Ashish N. Nerlekar

Graduate student, Veldman lab
Department of Ecosystem Science & Management,
Texas A & M University, TX 77843


--
With regards,
J.M.Garg

'Creating awareness of Indian Flora & Fauna'

Winner of Wipro-NFS Sparrow Awards 2014 for efloraofindia. 

For identification, learning, discussion & documentation of Indian Flora, please visit/ join our Efloraofindia Google e-group (largest in the world- more than 3,000 members & 3,00,000 messages on 23.8.18) or Efloraofindia website (with a species database of more than 13,000 species & 3,00,000 images of which more than 2,00,000 images are directly displayed on 30.8.19).

The whole world uses my Image Resource of more than a thousand species & eight thousand images of Birds, Butterflies, Plants etc. (arranged alphabetically & place-wise). You can also use them for free as per Creative Commons license attached with each image.

Also author of 'A Photoguide to the Birds of Kolkata & Common Birds of India'.

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