oct2015sk01/01 - Callicarpa macrophylla Vahl.?

[surajit koley]

I am not familiar with this genus, Callicarpa. I photographed these pics on 24-Sept-2015. I waited for flowers and today i noticed tiny pink flowers, possibly 4-merous (well, i am still doing without glasses, but time has come to get one!).

Unfortunately I didn't have camera with me. Hope i will get flower pictures tomorrow. But, not guaranteed, for there were only two specimen, on the 24th last month, in a bamboo thicket whereas today there was only one. Because, this is the time when villagers collect fuelwood by removing all sorts of weeds.

It's only 1.5 ft herb, may grow to a shrub if kept alive! There is scarcely any trunk, base is woody. Stem cannot be called 4-angled. Entire plant is woolly. Leaf blades are 15cm or more long, petiole around 2 cm.

Bengal Plants lists -

1. C. arborea Roxb. = a tree in Bihar, N,. Bengal, Tirhut, Chittagong
2. C. cana L. = a large shrub, often cultivated, occasionally naturalised in Central Bengal
3. C. macrophylla Vahl. = 3-8 ft shrub, in all provinces
4. C. longifolia Lam. var. lanceolaria = a shrub, Central Bengal, Tippera, Chittagong

Botany of Bihar & Orissa licts -

1. C. arborea Roxb.
2. C. macrophylla Vahl.

Thank you

Regards

surajit

[greene]

Please, 

Since I live in the USA I only have the Callicarpa americana in my garden. I use the leaves to repel insects and the fruit to make jelly.

I am not a botanist but please is there some reason why you did not include the C. tomentosa in your list of possibles? I hope it is permitted for me to post this link so you may see a C. tomentosa photo. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Callicarpa_Tomentosa_17.JPG

Thank you,

greene/Carmelita

[surajit koley]

These are the photographs i have recorded today. In the first pic 3 branches can be seen coming out from the ground level, each one around 2 ft. Not all leaves are opposite, instead a few leave at base region are alternate! Stem terete, leaves crenate, abaxially gray-stellate -tomentose, adaxially a little hairy Flowers are around 2.5 to 3 mm long.

I think it is C. macrophylla Vahl (ref. 1. Bengal Plants; 2. A taxonomic revision of the genus Callicarpa L. (Verbenaceae) in Australia / A. A. munir)

Thank you

Regards

[surajitkoley]

Thank you Madam, but of several C. tomentosa which one I'm supposed to search?

Regards

surajit

[greene]

Surajit ji,

Thank you for the question. I do  not use or trust "The Plant List" but I checked the link you provided at it shows only one C. tomentosa L. as the accepted name. The others listed are synonyms, three of which are illegitimate. 

I prefer to trust "The Catalogue of Life" which is updated more frequently. Please check here and you will see only one C. tomentosa as the accepted name. http://www.catalogueoflife.org/col/search/all/key/callicarpa+tomentosa/fossil/1/match/1

The plant may be, as you say C. macrophylla, but since C. tomentosa L.  is similar and is found in the Indian Subcontinent, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaya and the seeds are dispersed by birds the plant can spread quite easily. I had only wondered why it was not on your list of possibilities. http://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Velvety%20Beauty%20Berry.html

Will you be able to photograph the fruit as the fruit color can also be useful to know.

I am not a botanist and I apologize if I have said too much. 

Regards, 

greene/Carmelita

[surajit koley]

Dear Madam,

I am also a non-botanist member.

Also, I think even an authentic site can have wrongly identified species. Our own group is an example (of course our moderators would tell you that all species id gets correctly identified eventually ... it may even take a couple of years though!).

Interestingly the site, "Catalogue of Life" draws its reference from KEW database!

Now, something on C. tomentosa (L.) L. -

• is it C. tomentosa (L.) L. or C. tomentosa (L.) Murr. ?
• check distribution of the taxon - http://www.biotik.org/india/species/c/calltome/calltome_en.html
• please also check the above with GRIN - http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?420065#dist
• GRIN says the species is native to China, yet China eflora doesn't feature it!
• FoI doesn't care to provide author citation. instead it only copies from TPL or other sources!

However, biotik description will tell you that the species I have submitted is not C. tomentosa (whatever it may be!).

Thank you

Regards

(simply) surajit koley

! no "Sir", no "Dr.", no "Ji" !

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[surajit koley]

Ma'am,

This is what I get as "source database" of names.

Thank you

Regards

(simply) surajit koley

! no "Sir", no "Dr.", no "Ji" !

On 7 October 2015 at 23:25, Carmelita <carmel...@gmail.com> wrote:

surajit koley,

Thank you for answering my question as to why the C. tomentosa (L.) L. was omitted from your list of possibles.

I believe that the Catalogue of Life is updated monthly, if my understanding is correct and draws information from many sources, not only from Kew. Ah, but that may be a conversation for a different day and on a different forum.

http://www.catalogueoflife.org/content/contributors

It was enjoyable having this conversation with you, but now I will step away from this conversation so others with more experience can assist in the identification of this plant.

greene/Carmelita