A rather frail-looking plant spotted on the granite hillocks of Palakkad has been identified as a new species of the genus Allmania. Named Allmania multiflora, the species is quite special from both the botanical and conservation points of view, according to researchers.
An annual herb that grows to a height of about 60 cm, Allmania multiflora is only the second species of this genus identified so far anywhere. That is not all: the discovery has come 188 years after the genus and the first species were described by botanists.
Field surveys, genetic analysis, and molecular and morphometric investigations demonstrated it as distinct from Allmania nodiflora, which so far had been accepted as the lone Allmania species, a paper published in the journal Phytotaxa said.
The paper has been authored by V.S. Anil Kumar, Department of Botany, University College, Thiruvananthapuram; S. Arya, a research scholar of the same department; V. Suresh, Department of Botany, Government Victoria College, Palakkad; and Duilio Iamonico, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.
The first species, Allmania nodiflora, was originally published under the genus Celosia as Celosia nodiflora in 1753. Specimens found in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) were first described as Allmania nodiflora in 1834.
Its new-found cousin, Allmania multiflora, is currently known only from a few locations. Given its small population, the researchers have assessed it as Critically Endangered, applying IUCN Red List criteria.
The plant was discovered during ongoing studies on Amaranthaceae, the plant family to which the genus Allmania belongs.
Found at heights ranging between 1,000 to 1,250 metres, Allmania multiflora is an annual herb, erect, with branches arising from the base. The stem is red to violet at the base and green above. Shorter tepals and wider gynoecium (parts of the flower), shorter bracts and in the diameter of the seeds are among the characteristics that distinguishes it from Allmania nodiflora. Flowering and fruiting occurs from May to September.
Allmania multiflora has been so named for having a higher number of florets within an inflorescence.
The species faced a number of threats, explained Dr. Anil Kumar. ''Its population is quite small, for one. It could be accidentally exploited by local people as a vegetable along with amaranths. Its habitat, granite hillocks, too face various forms of threats today,'' he said.
