The Hindu : Parasitic plant rediscovered after 90 years

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 17, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu

Parasitic plant rediscovered after 90 years

By Our Staff Reporter

Christisonia tubulosa, rediscovered in the Anamalais after 90 years.

Coimbatore July 16. A herbaceous plant, Christisonia tubulosa (a rare endemic parasite), belonging to the family of Orobanchaceae, has been rediscovered after 90 years in the Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary at the Anamalais, near Pollachi.

The wildlife warden, V. Ganesan, told The Hindu that the Western Ghats were quite rich in species of biological importance and the parasites, which occurred there, belonged to the diverse families of Balanophoraceae, Convolvulaceae, Lauraceae, Loranthaceae, Olacaceae, Orbanchaceae, Santalaceae and Scrophulariaceae.

Along with Christisonia tubulosa, Christisonia bicolour was sighted in the Anamalais and recorded by the then District Forest Officer of Coimbatore South, C.E.C. Fischer.

These species were originally found in evergreen forests at 1000 metres and 2000 metres respectively above the mean sea level.

Christisonia tubulosa was recently found in the evergreen forests of the Andiparai shola.

It was seen flowering during rainy season near the evergreen sholas at an altitude of about 1000 metres in the Valparai region.

The flowers were attractive, tubular; the corolla was unique with meganta colour on the outer portion of the petals.

The stigma was whitish and prominent, and the corolla throat showy with yellow coloration. The herb lacked chlorophyll and was parasitic on grasses. It was endemic to southern India, where it occurred only at an altitude of 900-1200 metres and was first discovered by Robert Wight in 1835.

The Glasgow-trained medical botanist, George Gardner, who became the superintendent of the Peradeniya Graden in Sri Lanka, named the genus after Sir Robert Christison, Professor of Medicine at Edinburgh and school friend of Wight.

H.F.C. Cleghorn, first Conservator of the Madras Presidency in 1856, who started his career in 1842 in the Madras Medical Service in Mysore, was responsible for collecting a herbarium specimen of Christisonia tubulosa in the Karnataka town in 1857.

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