Garcinia cowa Roxb. ex DC. var. kydia (Roxb.) Shameer & N.Mohanan, 2023

N., Mohanan, P. S., Shameer, Abstract, T. Sabu & L., Garcinia, 2023, Taxonomic revision of Garcinia (Clusiaceae) in India, Rheedea 33 (3), pp. 101-158 : 125-126

Garcinia cowa Roxb. ex DC. var. kydia (Roxb.) Shameer & N.Mohanan , comb. nov. FiG. 7

Garcinia kydia Roxb. Fl. Ind. 2: 623. 1832; Wight & Arn., Prod. 1: 101. 1834; Planch. & Triana, Ann. Sci. Nat., Bot. sér. 4, 14: 347. 1860; Laness., Mem. Garcin. 59. 1872; Kurz, J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal 59: 164. 1890; C.E. Parkinson , For. Fl. And. Isls. 90. 1923; Kanjilal, Fl. Assam 1: 105. 1934; Sealy, Kew Bull. 11(2): 341. 1956; Maheshw., Bull. Bot. Surv. India 6: 130. 1964; N.P. Singh in B. D.Sharma & Sanjappa (eds.), Fl. India 3: 115. 1993. Lectotype (designated here): Roxb. Ic. t. 2282.

Garcinia kydiana Roxb., Hort. Bengal. 42. 1814, nom. nud.

Garcinia cowa T.Anderson in Hook.f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 1: 262. 1874, pro parte. non Roxb. ex DC., 1824.

Garcinia wallichii Choisy, Mem. Soc. Phys. Geneve 12: 417. 1851, pro parte.

Dioecious evergreen trees, up to 7–15 m tall; exudation yellow; branches horizontally spreading; branchlets terete. Petioles 0.6–1.2 cm long; lamina ovate-oblong to lanceolate, 6–15 × 2–4 cm, cuneate at base, acuminate at apex; nerves distinct when dry. Staminate flowers tetramerous, 3–5 in axillary and terminal umbels, rarely solitary, c. 2 cm in diam., peduncles 1–1.5 cm long; pedicels 4–6 cm long; sepals 0.4–0.5 cm long, ovate; petals 4, pale yellow, 0.6–0.8 cm long, broadly ovate; stamens numerous, on 4-angled torus; rudimentary pistil absent. Pistillate flowers tetramerous, solitary, axillary and terminal; sepals and petals same as in staminate flower; staminodes in 4 phallenges. Ovary globose, 3–4 cm in diam., 6–8-loculed; style short; stigma 6–8-rayed. Berries depressed globose, 2.5–4 cm in diam., 6–8 grooved towards apex with a short mammellate tip. Seeds oblong, 5–8, 1.5–2 cm long, pulpy aril.

Flowering & fruiting: Flowering from January to March; fruiting from April to July.

Habitat: Unusually found in evergreen and semi-evergreen forests up to 800 m elevation.

Distribution: India, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Malaysia.

Specimens examined: INDIA, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, North and Middle Andaman district, Saddle Peak , foot hill along Chota Thambu Nallah , 11.05.1982, M . K . Vasudeva Rao 8977 ( PBL); Ibid. , 20.02.2016, P . S . Shameer 86625 ( TBGT); South Andaman district, North Corbyn’s Cove, Hill Jungle King’s coll. s.n. ( CAL); Bamboa Filleet , Port Blair , 05.03.1884, King’s coll. 150 ( CAL); Andamans , 20.04.1901, Prain’s coll. 28, ( CAL); Mt. Harriet , 02.01.1916, C . E . Parkinson 837 ( DD); Wilson Island, February-March 1934, Kirat Ram 3745 ( DD); Shoal Bay , 03.03.2017, P . S . Shameer 86646 ( TBGT) .

Uses: Ripe fruit pulps are eaten raw. Dried sliced pericarps of fruits were used as medicine for stomach disorders (Baruah et al., 2021).

Typification: Roxburgh (1832) did not designate a type for Garcinia kydia . In the protologue he mentioned ‘a native of the Andaman Islands, where it was discovered by Col. Alexander Kyd and by him introduced into the Botanic Garden at Calcutta in 1794, where when about 10 years old, it began to blossom in February and the fruit to ripen in July’. But he has made a detailed illustration of the plant (Roxb. Ic. t. 2282, Garcinia kydiana in Roxb. Fl. India MS). Maheshwari (1964) in his revision, simply note under type as ‘ex Kyd (Andaman Islands); cult. in Indian Botanic Garden , Calcutta’ but no specimen is cited. Hence the the typification by Maheshwari could not be considered legitimate. In this circumstance, as the best choice, we here designate Roxb. Ic. t. 2282 as the lectotype for Garcinia cowa var. kydia , as it is a detailed illustration of the plant, made by the original author himself.

Notes: Garcinia kydia Roxb. was variously treated by later scientists. Anderson (1874) considered G. kydia synonymous to G. cowa whereas Planchon and Triana (1860), King (1890), Parkinson (1923), Maheshwari (1964) and Sing (1993) treated both as separate species. Singh (1993) also remarked that “this species is clearly allied to Garcinia cowa Roxb. ex DC , under which it is sometimes merged”. On studying live specimens, herbarium and earlier descriptions we found that both taxa show almost similar characters, except for a few differences in certain characters, (pistillate flowers 2–3, fruits non-mamillate and grooved from base to apex in G. cowa against pistillate flowers solitary, fruit mamillate and grooved only towards the apex in G. kydia ). In our observation, the differences are not distinct enough to treat both as separate species, but only as varieties of the same species. Hence, G. kydia is treated here as a variety of G. cowa .

Figures

FiG. 7. Lectotype of Garcinia cowa Roxb. ex DC. var. kydia (Roxb.) Shameer & N.Mohanan (Roxb. Ic. t. 2282) ©. The Director, Botanical Survey of India, Kolkata.