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Extended distribution of Geodorum
laxiflorum (Orchidaceae) in Gujarat, Indiaa
Mital R. Bhatt1,*, Jeewan S. Jalal2 & Padamnabhi S. Nagar1
Keywords/Mots-clés : endemic/endémique, Gujarat, new record/nouvel
enregistrement, Western Ghats.
Abstract
Geodorum laxiflorum W.Griffith, an endemic species of India, is reported for
the first time from Gujarat state as well as from the Western Ghats. A
detailed description and photographs are provided for easy identification
of the species. Information about its phenology, distribution, habitat,
ecology and conservation status is provided. Besides a lectotype is
designated for the species.
Résumé
Extension de la distribution géographique de Geodorum laxiflorum
(Orchidaceae) à Gujarat (Inde) – Geodorum laxiflorum W.Griffith, espèce
endémique d'Inde, est enregistrée pour la première fois dans l’État de
Gujarat et dans les Western Ghats. Une description détaillée accompagnée
de photographies est proposée pour faciliter l'identification de l'espèce. Des
informations sur sa phénologie, sa distribution géographique, son habitat,
son écologie et son statut de conservation sont également fournies. En
outre un lectotype est désigné pour l'espèce.
Introduction
The genus Geodorum G.Jackson is an Indo-Malesian genus of about twelve
species (Govaerts et al., 2015). The generic name is derived from the Latin
word geo, meaning ‘earth’, in reference to its habit. It is one of the most
a : manuscrit reçu le 1er août 2015, accepté le 3 septembre 2015
article mis en ligne sur www.richardiana.com le 05/09/2015 – pp. 333-341 - © Tropicalia
ISSN 1626-3596 (imp.) - 2262-9017 (élect.)
XV – septembre 2015 Richardiana 333
Geodorum laxiflorum in Gujarat – M.R.Bhatt et al.
complicated genera within the Orchidaceae. Due to insufficient or lacking
type material, the validity of the species has been questioned by
Seidenfaden in his review of the genus (Seidenfaden, 1983). Although he
did not manage to resolve all the problems, he accepted 31 species and
called for a full monographic study. Pearce & Cribb (2002) suggested to
accept 10 species for this genus.
These terrestrial orchids have sub-globose corms and few plicate leaves
present during flowering but not yet fully developed. Inflorescence lateral,
apically curved, usually shorter than leaves, laxly few to many flowered.
However, to a large extent, various characters (such as scape shorter or
longer than the leaves, raceme few or many flowered, lip shape, lip lobed
or unlobed, ornamentation of the disc, whether smooth or keeled) have
been relied upon to differentiate species. These characters overlap from one
species to another up to such a degree that it is difficult to separate out
these species.
In India the genus is represented by six species, namely Geodorum
appendiculatum W.Griffith, Geodorum densiflorum (Lamarck) Schlechter,
Geodorum laxiflorum W.Griffith, Geodorum pallidum D.Don, Geodorum
recurvum (Roxburgh) A.Alston and Geodorum attenuatum W.Griffith. (Misra,
2007; Kumar et al., 2008; Govaerts et al., 2015).
During the orchid survey in Gujarat state the first author came across an
interesting population of Geodorum in July, 2014 in Waghai taluka of the
Dangs district. The district is located in the south-eastern part of the state
and is part of the Western Ghats. The forests are mostly moist and
deciduous vegetation. The average rainfall is 2000 mm, the rains commence
in mid June and last until the end of October. At that time the Geodorum
population was reported in vegetative stage. A year later (24 July, 2015) the
first author revisited the locality and reported it in flowering stage. On
critical observation and perusal of relevant literature (Seidenfaden, 1983;
Hooker, 1890; Misra, 2007) it was identified as Geodorum laxiflorum. The
perusal of relevant literature revealed that the species has hitherto not been
reported from Gujarat (Suryanarayana, 1968; Desai, 1976; Shah, 1978; 1983;
Vora, 1980; Reddy, 1987; Bole & Pathak, 1988; Tadvi, 2014) as well as from
Western Ghats (Santapau & Kapadia, 1966; Abraham & Vatsala, 1981;
Karthikeyan et al., 1989; Satish Kumar & Manilal, 1994; Jalal & Jayanthi,
2012; Nayar et al., 2014). Hence the present report is not only an extended
distribution to the western part of India but also a new distribution record
334 Richardiana XV – septembre 2015
Geodorum laxiflorum in Gujarat – M.R.Bhatt et al.
for the Western Ghats. We present here the systematic treatment of this
taxon along with a brief description, photographs, ecological notes and
conservation status.
Systematic treatment
Geodorum laxiflorum W.Griffith, Calcutta Journal of Natural History and
Miscellany of the Arts and Sciences in India 5: 356 (1845); J.D.Hooker, Flora of
British India 6: 18 (1890); G.Seidenfaden, Opera Botanica 72: 51 (1983);
S.Misra, Orchids of Orissa: 560 (2004).
Type: India, Assam, sine loc. Jenkins, sine no. ; material not found, probably
not any longer existing. Drawing by Griffith in K, here designated as
lectotype, in accordance with art. 9 of the Melbourne Code.
Plant terrestrial, 30-50 cm tall (including leaves); corm 4.5-5 cm, ovoid,
slightly compressed, greenish brown, with scars of fallen leaves; roots few,
vermiform, ca. 0.2 cm thick; pseudostem ca. 10 × 1 cm, enclosed by four
foliar imbricating sheaths; leaves 2-4, cauline, alternate, elliptic lanceolate,
acute, undulate, subequal, 13-36 × 8-12 cm, many veined, midvein
prominent beneath; inflorescence lateral from the base of newly developed
leafy shoot and shorter than it, 20-30 cm; peduncle erect, 20-27 × 0.2 cm,
green, decurved at the top, with four membranous tubular sheaths; raceme
laxly flowered with 6-12 medium sized flowers; rachis decurved, ca. 2.5-
4 cm long with two sterile bracts; bracts green, oblong lanceolate, ca. 1.1 ×
0.3 cm, membranous with acute apex, 3 veined; pedicel with ovary 1.3 cm
long, ribbed; flowers white off-white, sepals and petals spreading, 1.5-
2.5 cm across; sepals subequal, 5-veined, oblong lanceolate; dorsal sepal ca.
2.1 × 0.6-0.7 cm; lateral sepals ca. 2.2 × 0.8 cm; petals broader, obovate
oblong, ca. 2.3 × 1.2 cm, apex acute obtuse, 7-veined; lip ca. 2.1 × 1.5-1.7 cm,
broadly obovate, emarginated, sessile on the base of column, entire,
ventricose at the base; sides of the hypochile erect; epichile undulate, edge
deflexed, two irregular rows of thick warts starting from the base of the
epichile and ending before the apex, hypochile golden brown within,
epichile yellow at base and pink at apex; column stout, short, oblong,
slightly dilated, ca. 0.5-0.6 × 0.3 cm long; stigma squarish, ca. 0.2 cm long,
anther broadly ovate orbicular in outline, ca. 0.3-0.4 cm, off-white with
brown tinge, the locules pouch like; pollinia yellow, obliquely oblong
ovoid, porate behind, ca. 0.2 × 0.15 cm, stipe hyaline, subquadrate (Fig. 1).
XV – septembre 2015 Richardiana 335
Geodorum laxiflorum in Gujarat – M.R.Bhatt et al.
Fig. 1 : Geodorum laxiflorum
A: habit – B: tuber – C: inflorescence – D: flower – E: flower segments – F: lip with column and
ovary – G: lip (side view) – H: ovary and column – I: anther cap – J: pollinia (ph. M.R.Bhatt)
336 Richardiana XV – septembre 2015
Geodorum laxiflorum in Gujarat – M.R.Bhatt et al.
Flowering: June-July; fruiting: August-October.
Etymology: this species name is derived from the Latin words, laxo
meaning 'loose' and flos meaning 'flower'.General distribution: India
(Assam, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Jharkhand, Gujarat); endemic.
Habitat & ecology: the habitat is dominated by tropical moist deciduous
forests with an average rainfall of 2000 mm. The species was found
growing in black clay soil in the shade of bamboo in association with Sida
rhombifolia Linnaeus, Curculigo orchioides J.Gaertner, Curcuma decipiens
Dalzell, Adiantum sp. It was observed that the inflorescence in this orchid
emerges as soon as the pre-monsoon rainfall starts.
Taxonomic note: this species was first reported by D.T.Jenkins from Assam
and planted in the Indian Botanic garden, in Calcutta. G.W.Griffith
described it in 1845. According to Griffith this species is allied to Geodorum
dilatum R.Brown (= Geodorum recurvum), but differs from it by its spike of
thin flowers, the broad petals and the broadly ovate squarish lip. Hooker
(1890) listed this species among the doubtful species, clearly noting the
close resemblance with Geodorum citrinum G.Jackson. However G. citrinum
has yellow flowers, an oblong pollinarium gland which is truncate at the
apex, without any teeth on its lateral edges. According to Seidenfaden
(1983) the Griffith’s species is not G. citrinum. However this species was
reported by Misra (2004) from Ganjam district of Odisha and Kumar (2008)
from Jharkhand state.
Specimen examined: India, Gujarat, Dangs, Waghai (20°45.085'N -
73°29.680'E), 156 m, 8.10.2014 (flowered in 17.7.2015), M.R. Bhatt 142 (BSI
Jodhpur).
Conservation status: as already said, Geodorum laxiflorum is endemic to
India. As indicated on Fig. 2, there are eight localities known for this
species based on the present field survey, herbarium records and literature
over the period 1845-2015. These localities were imported into GeoCAT
(Bachman et al., 2011; http://geocat.kew.org/) and the extent of occurrence
(EOO) was calculated to be 559,086.343 km2 (far exceeding the 20,000 km2
upper limit for “Vulnerable” status under the criterion B1 (under IUCN
criteria ‘B’ of geographical range), while area of occupancy (AOO) was
calculated to be 32 km2 (which falls within the limits for “Endangered”
status under the criterion B2). The number of localities exceeds the upper
limit for endangered status. Habitat fragmentation due to clearing forest
XV – septembre 2015 Richardiana 337
Geodorum laxiflorum in Gujarat – M.R.Bhatt et al.
Fig. 2 : Distribution of Geodorum laxiflorum in India
for agricultural use and shifting cultivation in north east region of India are
the main threats. In Jharkhand and Odisha, G. laxiflorum is also reported to
be rare (Kumar, 2008; Misra, 2004) due to human induced activities,
338 Richardiana XV – septembre 2015
Geodorum laxiflorum in Gujarat – M.R.Bhatt et al.
industries, mining, settlement, development projects and removal of forest
products, over grazing and forest fires. In Chotanagpur region of
Jharkhand state it is also collected by the local practitioners as it is being
used in curing in malignant tumours, stomach ache and joint pain (Besra et
al., 2011). It has not been reported form Assam after its first record. In the
present survey only 25-30 individuals were located in Dangs district of
Gujarat state. The particular site is prone to soil erosion due to agricultural
invasion. Based on the present observations we conclude that it should be
evaluated as “Vulnerable” under the B2ab(i,ii,iii,iv) criteria of the IUCN red
list guidelines (2001: version 3.1). The ex situ conservation efforts for this
species were made by the Forest Department Ahwa, Dangs and Maharaja
Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara.
Acknowledgements
The first and third authors are appreciative to Anand Kumar S. (DCF,
North Dangs) and Dheeraj Mittal (DCF, South Dangs) for their assistance
during the field survey, and also to the Head, Department of Botany, the
M.S. University of Baroda for providing laboratory facilities. We are
indebted to Dr. A.P.Singh, Ex-member secretary, Gujarat Biodiversity
Board for financial assistance. The second author is grateful to the Director,
Botanical Survey of India for encouragement. The authors are grateful to
the reviewers of the journal for their critical comments.
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_______________________________
1 : Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, The Maharaja Sayajirao University Baroda
2 : Botanical Survey of India, Western Regional Centre, Pune 411 001.
* : author for correspondance: mitalbhatt1990@gmail.com
XV – septembre 2015 Richardiana 341
