Andrographis explicata (C.B.Clarke) Gamble (1924: 1049)

Gnanasekaran, Gunadayalan & Murthy, Garimella Venkata Suryanarayana, 2015, Lectotypification of four names in Andrographis (Acanthaceae), Phytotaxa 227 (2), pp. 175-181 : 175

Andrographis explicata (C.B.Clarke) Gamble (1924: 1049)

Andrographis viscosula Nees von Esenbeck (1832: 116) var. explicata Clarke (1884: 504) .

Type:— INDIA. Tamil Nadu: Tirunelveli district, Courtallum , 1835, Wight 676 (lectotype K000545952 image!; designated here). Fig. 1 .

Andrographis ceylanica sensu Wight (1850b: 8 , t. 1560), non Nees (1836).

Discussion: — Clarke (1884) described the variety Andrographis viscosula var. explicata based on five specimens collected from: Courtallum [Wight 676 (K) and Wight 2242 (K)], Concan [Stocks s.n. (not traceable)], Anamallays [Anamalais] [Beddome 373 (BM)] and Nilgherries [Nilgiris] [Beddome 374 (BM)]. A critical examination of all these syntypes revealed that they are a mixture of two taxa. Of these, only Wight 676 and Wight 2242 collected from Courtallum belong to this variety and the other collections belong to A. producta (Clarke) Gamble (1924: 1049) , a closely allied species. Hence, Wight 676 and 2242 alone qualify for the selection of lectotype. Though both the specimens has the annotation of the name by the original author, Wight 676 (K) is selected here as the lectotype since this specimen was used by Wight to illustrate the t. 1560 [ Andrographis ceylanica ] in his Icones Plantarum Indiae Orientalis which was later cited in the protologue [ A. ceylanica, Wight Ic t. 1560, not of Nees] of this variety by Clarke (1884). In addition, this specimen is complete with the pencil diagram of flower.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Lectotype of Andrographis explicata (Wight 676, K000545952).