Microsoft Word - Sc. 01. BJPT 16 - 96_Edt_KA-April 16, 2017.doc Bangladesh J. Plant Taxon. 24(1): 117–118, 2017 (June) - Short communication © 2017 Bangladesh Association of Plant Taxonomists NOMENCLATURAL NOTES ON PIPER PSEUDONIGRUM VELAYD. AND AMALRAJ (PIPERACEAE) R. KOTTAIMUTHU1 Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Bengaluru, Karnataka, India Keywords: Piper pseudonigrum; Nomenclatural note. Piper L. is the largest genus in the family Piperaceae with about 2000 species (Quijano-Abril et al., 2006). In India, the genus Piper is represented by over 100 species which are mainly confined to the northeast Indian part of Eastern Himalaya and Western Ghats of southern India. Western Ghats along with Sri Lanka is one of the four recognized biodiversity hotspot in India (Chitale et al., 2015), has about 23 species (Nayar et al., 2014). While studying the Piper of Western Ghats, Velayudham and Amalraj (1992) described Piper pseudonigrum Velay. and Amalraj based on the specimens collected by Amalraj from Silent valley. But, the name P. pseudonigrum Velay. and Amalraj is an illegitimate later homonym of P. pseudonigrum C. DC (1898). Hence, Kumar and Mathew (2013) proposed a new name Piper velayudhanii. Unknowingly, Kumar and Karthikeyan (2014) also proposed a replacement name, ‘P. sivarajanii’ for P. pseudonigrum Velay. and Amalraj. Hence the later published name is treated here as a superfluous name. Following is a note on the nomenclature on Piper pseudonigrum Velay. and Amalraj. Piper velayudhanii E.S.S. Kumar and S.P. Mathew in J. Sci. Res. 5: 579 (2013). Piper pseudonigrum Velay. and Amalraj in J. Econ. Taxon. Bot. 16: 247 (1992), non C.DC. (1898). Piper sivarajanii Karthik. and V.S. Kumar in Phytotaxa 167: 210 (2014), nom. superfl. Type: India: Kerala; Palghat District, Silent Valley, 6 Apr 1988, AV202 (Holotype: MH. Isotype: NHCP, n.v.). Piper rukshagandhum J. Mathew in Telopea 19: 23 (2016). syn. nov. Type: India: Kerala: Kollam District, Kottavasal Valley, 77°08' 11"E, 09°13' 06"N, 700 m, J. Mathew 2811 (flowering: female), 28 Feb 2011 (Holotype: MH, n.v.; Isotype: CMS, n.v.). Distribution: INDIA (Kerala and Tamil Nadu). Endemic. Note: Piper velayudhanii closely resembles P. nigrum in habit and leaf morphology, but can easily be distinguished by its pedicellate and sparsely distributed male flowers on long, light purple spikes (vs. sessile male flowers, densely distributed on light yellow spikes of P. nigrum). Recently, Mathew et al. (2016) described a new species Piper rukshagandhum J. Mathew from Achankovil, Kerala. The description and photographs provided by the authors for P. rukshagandhum falls within the circumscription of P. velayudhanii. In addition, some of the characters used for the delimitation (up to 3 cm long petioles and unequal leaf base) are the diagnostic characters of P. velayudhanii. Furthermore the characters viz., blush red/pink-colored 1Present Address: Department of Botany, Saraswathi Narayanan College, Madurai-625 022, Tamil Nadu, India. Email: kottaimuthu@yahoo.co.in DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjpt.v24i1.33038 118 KOTTAIMUTHU   spikes, fruits and internodes, comparatively long petioles (c. 3 cm long) and elongated male inflorescence (c. 15 cm long) used by Mathew et al. (2016) for the delimitation of Piper rukshagandhum from all other members of section Muldera were already recorded in P. velayudhanii. Hence, Piper rukshagandhum is reduced here as a synonym under P. velayudhanii. Acknowledgements The author is grateful to Dr. R. Ganesan, ATREE, Bengaluru for facilities and encouragement and to Dr. G.V.S. Murthy, Scientist F, Botanical Survey of India (BSI), Southern Regional Centre (SRC), Coimbatore for granting permission to visit the herbarium and library. Thanks are also due to Dr. V. Sampath Kumar, Central National Herbarium, Howrah, for providing literature. References Chitale, V.S., Behera, M.D. and Roy, P.S. 2015. Global biodiversity hotspots in India: significant yet under studied. Curr. Sci. 108: 149. Kumar, E.S.S. and Matthew, S.P. 2013. Piper velaudhanii (Piperaceae), a new name for P. pseudonigrum Velay. and Amalraj. J. Sci. Res. 5: 579–580. Kumar, V.S. and Karthikeyan, S. 2014. Notes on nomenclature and distribution of some taxa of Piper L. (Piperaceae). Phytotaxa 167: 209–211. Mathew, J., George, K.V. and Yohanan, R. 2016. Piper rukshagandhum (Piperaceae): a new species from southern Western Ghats, India. Telopea 19: 23–29. Nayar, T.S., Beegam, R.A. and Sibi, A. 2014. Flowering Plants of the Western Ghats, India. Volume 1 Dicots. Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute, Thiruvananthapuram, India Quijano-Abril, M. A., Callejas-Posada, R. and Miranda-Esquivel, D.R. 2006. Areas of endemism and distribution patterns for Neotropical Piper species (Piperaceae). Biogeography 33: 1266 – 1278. Velayudhan, K.C. and Amalraj, V.A. 1992. Piper pseudonigrum – a new species from Western Ghats. J. Econ. Taxon. Bot. 16: 247–250. (Manuscript received on 19 August 2016; revised on 6 February 2017)