Capparis spinosa subsp. himalayensis (Jafri) Fici, 2015

Fici, Silvio, 2015, A taxonomic revision of the Capparis spinosa group (Capparaceae) from eastern Africa to Oceania, Phytotaxa 203 (1), pp. 24-36 : 32-33

4. Capparis spinosa subsp. himalayensis (Jafri) Fici , stat. nov.

Basionym: Capparis himalayensis Jafri (1956: 197) . Type: INDIA. Himachal Pradesh: Rampur on the Sutlej, Alt. 3000 ft, May 1890, Watt s. n. (holotype E).

Capparis spinosa L. var. himalayensis (Jafri) Jacobs (1965: 419) .

Capparis leucophylla auct. non Candolle (1824: 246): Collett (1902: 38).

Capparis spinosa L. var. leucophylla auct. non (DC.) Boissier (1867: 420): Hooker f. & Thomson (1872: 173) p. p.

Shrub prostrate-spreading or hanging with young twigs soft-pubescent, later glabrescent. Stipules thorny, recurved, orange-yellow, 2–5 mm long, decurrent at the base. Leaf–blade ovate, ovate-elliptic or ovate–suborbicular, glabrescent when mature, 2–4 × 1.5–3.5 cm, subcoriaceous, rounded or attenuate at base, acute at apex, with a mucro up to c. 1 mm long; petiole 2–4 (–7) mm long. Flowers axillary, solitary; pedicels (3–) 3.5–9 cm long, more or less hairy. Calyx markedly zygomorphic, the posterior sepal deeply saccate, broadest towards the apex, very narrowed at the base, 1.7–3.5 cm long, 0.9–1.5 cm deep, the other sepals 1.6–3 cm long, 0.8–1.5 cm wide, hairy or glabrescent. Petals ovate to obovate, white or white-pinkish, c. 2–4 × 1.5–2.5 cm. Stamens several with filaments up to c. 6 cm long and anthers 1.5–2 mm long. Gynophore 4.5–7 cm long, usually hairy at the base; ovary obovoid 6–8 × 3 mm. Fruit obovoid, 2–2.5 × 1–1.5 cm, with smooth pericarp.

Distribution:— N India (states of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan), NE Pakistan (Punjab province), W Nepal.

Jafri (1973) regarded Capparis himalayensis as endemic to northern India and Pakistan, while other authors ( Jacobs 1965, Whitmore 1979, Tucker et al. 2012) reported it also in Nepal. This taxon has been recently recorded by Zhang & Tucker (2008) in western and north-western China, Georgia and Tajikistan. Based on the examination of herbarium material kept at PE, the populations from Xinjiang, Xizang and Gansu show differential characters of C. spinosa subsp. spinosa , lacking in particular the deeply saccate posterior sepal typical of subsp. himalayensis . Also the examined specimens of C. spinosa from Georgia and Tajikistan (E, FI, K, PE) are to be referred to as subp. spinosa ( Fici 2014) .

Habitat:— Open dry slopes, rocky ground, cliffs; up to c. 2400 m.

Phenology:— Flowering April–August. Jacobs (1965) recorded a plant, collected in Nepal, bearing both flowers and fruits in November.

Notes:— Jafri (1956) described this taxon as a separate species, Capparis himalayensis , distinguished from C. spinosa by its large, deeply galeate posterior sepal, broadest near the apex and very narrowed at the base ( Fig 5 ). These features are constant in several populations of NW Himalaya, which are otherwise similar to C. spinosa subsp. spinosa in vegetative parts, fruits and seeds. C. himalayensis was later reduced by Jacobs (1965) to a variety of C. spinosa . This taxon is here treated at subspecific rank on the basis of the taxonomic significance of calyx morphology and of the geographic localization of its populations.

The strongly zygomorphic calyx of subsp. himalayensis resembles C. spinosa subsp. cartilaginea , from which the Himalayan populations differ in the prostrate habit, young twigs soft-pubescent and leaves not fleshy. As underlined by Jafri (1956), “it was a mistake” introduced by Hooker & Thomson (1872) to equate the northwestern Himalayan specimens with C. spinosa var. leucophylla , and later by Collett (1902) with C. leucophylla . The latter taxon [= C. spinosa var. canescens Cosson (1849: 28) ], originally described from Iraq, differs from subsp. himalayensis in the more dense and floccose indumentum and in the flowers lacking deeply saccate posterior sepal.

Specimens examined:— INDIA. Punjab: Kunawar, 1885, Drummond 1045 (K); INDIA. Punjab: Kotghar, Simba

Hills , 08 July 1886, Drummond 20186 (K) ; INDIA. Punjab: Wanghi, Kunawar , 08 August 1885, Drummond 20187 (K) ; INDIA. Himachal Pradesh: near Rampur, Sutley Valley , Simla Hill, 18 June 1939, Sherriff 7317 ( TI) ; INDIA. Himachal Pradesh: Chamba , NW Himalaya, 28 August 1896, Gammie 18268 (K) ; INDIA. Himachal Pradesh: Simla District, Bashahr State, Pabar valley , Rohru, 29 May 1937, Parker 3395 (K) ; INDIA. Himachal Pradesh: Chamba , between Rakh and Chitrari, 20 August 1920, Parker s. n. (K) ; INDIA. Himachal Pradesh: Chamba : state, 9 August 1897, Lace 1606 (E) ; INDIA. Himachal Pradesh: Sutlej Valley , Kepu, 02 June 1878, Gamble 6135 (K) ; INDIA. Inter Rolghus et Ditnagar, Sutley Valley , s. d., Jacquemont 1092 (K) ; INDIA. Uttarakhand: Jaunsar , June 1890, Gamble 23504 (K) ; INDIA. Uttarakhand: Tihri-Garhwal , May 1898, Gamble 26702 (K) ; INDIA. Uttarakhand: Tihri-Garhwal , 20 May 1898, Duthie 21050 (K) ; INDIA. Rajasthan: …., s. d., Jacquemont 940 (K) ; INDIA. NW India, s. d., Royle s.n. (K) ; INDIA. s. l., s. d., Edgeworth s. n. (K) ; INDIA. Himalaya , s. d., Rich B 224 (K) ; PAKISTAN or INDIA. Punjab: Sutlej Valley , s. d., Jacquemont s. n. (K) ; NEPAL. Dunshi , 24 May 1969, Dobremez 160 ( BM) .

Figures

FIGURE 5. Holotype of Capparis himalayensis (E) (reproduced with permission from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh).