Drymaria cordata subsp. diandra

Primary tabs

Drymaria cordata subsp. diandra

Description

Prostrate or ascending annual or perennial herb. Leaves glabrous or almost so, ovate to reniform or suborbicular, apex rounded, often apiculate, base ± cordate, obtuse or truncate, 5-25 by 3-25 mm; Stipules membranaceous, 1-4 mm, splitting into thin whitish setae. Inflorescence lax. Flowers pedicellate; Sepals glandular, particularly along the raised veins, margins inflexed, oblong, green, c. 3 mm long, with scarious margin. Petals narrowly obovate-elliptic, shorter than the sepals, bifid, usually to about the middle. Stamens 5, sometimes fewer. Capsule ovoid, 2-2.5 mm long, opening by 3 valves. Seeds few, dark brown, papillate, 1.5-2 mm.

Distribution

Asia-Tropical: Jawa (Jawa present); Lesser Sunda Is. present; Maluku (Maluku present); New Guinea present; Philippines (Philippines present); Sulawesi (Sulawesi present); Sumatera (Sumatera present), Ceram present, Flores present, From tropical Africa throughout tropical Asia to Australia, Oceania, Hawaii present, Lombok present, N Luzon to Mindanao present, Sumbawa present, Timor present, West Malaysia present
From tropical Africa throughout tropical Asia to Australia, Oceania, Hawaii. In Malesia known from Sumatra, Java, Philippines (N Luzon to Mindanao), Celebes, Lesser Sunda Islands (Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores, Timor), Moluccas (Ceram), and New Guinea. All material seen from West Malaysia belong to subsp. pacifica.

Taxonomy

Drymaria cordata var. pacifica Mizush. is vegetatively very similar to subsp. diandra; the petals are glabrous, shining, scarious, with faint veins, and the margins not inflexed. Ovary with styles divided almost to the base. Seeds 0.8-1.5 mm. It seems that most material from West Malaysia belongs here, but in Thailand transition forms occur. Mizushima treats D. cordata and D. diandra as separate species. Drymaria cordata he divides into two varieties: var. cordata and var. pacifica, the distribution of which he gives as continental South America, West Indies, Central America, Florida and Africa (Tanzania). Duke, in connection with his revision of the genus Drymaria (1961), went through the material of the species in L and annotated several specimens from Java, Sumatra, and West Malaysia as var. pacifica. In his final treatment, however, he hesitates to recognise this taxon formally. At present we join this viewpoint.

Citation

Mizush. 1963 – In: J. Jap. Bot.: 150
Grierson 1987 – In: Fl. Bhutan: 216
Pham-hoàng Hô 1991: p. 933. – In: Ill. Fl. Vietnam: f. 2623
N.C. Majumdar 1983 – In: Bull. Bot. Surv. India: 294
Hara 1979 – In: Enum. Flow. Pl. Nepal: 54
Ohba 1975: Third Report: 31
K. Larsen 1989: p. 64. – In: Fl. Camb., Laos & Vietnam: f. 8-13
Blume 1992: p. 414. – In: Fl. Thailand: f. 92
Mizush. 1957 – In: J. Jap. Bot.: 79
Blume 1966 – In: Fl. E. Him.: 80
Liu & Ying 1976 – In: Fl. Taiwan: 334
Ying 1996: p. 360. – In: Fl. Taiwan, ed. 2: f. 167
N.C. Majumdar 1993: p. 533. – In: Fl. India: f. 108
Ke Ping 1996 – In: Fl. Reip. Pop. Sin.: 61