Cycas dharmrajii sp. nov. (Cyadaceae) from Andaman and Nicobar Islands,India

Cycas dharmrajii L.J.Singh (Cycadaceae), a new species from the Andaman Islands, India is described and illustrated, and its conservation status is assessed. An abnormal branching habit of the giant trunk, its swollen base, often branched, polymorphic aerial roots, medium‐sized leaves, megasporophylls with well‐defined 10–28 paired lateral hook‐like structures and 1–3 pairs of ovules, 2‐schizo‐lysigenous mucilage canals in leaflet, and characteristic pitting on the periclinal walls of the epidermal cells of the leaflets distinguishes it from all previously known species. A key to the species of Cycas from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands is also provided.     

Musa paramjitiana sp. nov. (Musaceae) from Andaman and Nicobar Islands,India

A new species of wild banana, Musa paramjitiana L. J. Singh, from the Andaman Islands, India is described and illustrated, and its conservation status is assessed. A key to the species of Musa L. from Andaman and Nicobar Islands is also provided.     

Centotheca ganeshaiahiana sp. nov. (Poaceae) from Andaman and Nicobar Islands,India

Centotheca ganeshaiahiana M. V. Ramana, Alok Chorghe, Prasanna & Sanjappa, a new species from Saddle Peak National Park, north Andaman, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India is described and illustrated. It is closely allied to C. uniflora Swallen, a Vietnamese species, but differs mainly in shorter culms, leaf blades and inflorescences, longer pedicels, spikelets with 2 fertile florets and lemmas with bulbous based hairs.     

Zingiber pseudosquarrosum sp. nov. (Zingiberaceae) from Andaman and Nicobar Islands,India

Zingiber pseudosquarrosum L. J. Singh & P. Singh sp. nov. (Zingiberaceae) from Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India is described and illustrated and its conservation status is evaluated. This new species seems related to Z. squarrosum Roxb. but can be distinguished by the presence of a small pseudostem, long ligule and petiole, broadly lanceolate leaves with cuneate base, caudate apex and paxillate venation, urceolate or prolate inflorescences, very long underground peduncle, long calyx, very long corolla tube, labellum deep purple red (claret) at centre, orange red (vermillion) at lateral sides with ivory (off white) spots, tip truncate and slightly notched, margin folded back, stamen with short filament, yellow orange anther, light brown ovary, blood red (cinnabar) seeds covered by a white aromatic aril. A key to the species of Zingiber Mill. from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands is also provided.     

A new species of Miliusa (Annonaceae) from Andaman Islands, India

A new species Miliusa jainii (Annonaceae) from South Andamans, India, is described and illustrated.     

Glochidion kingii sp. nov. (Phyllanthaceae) from Saddle Peak National Park,Andaman and Nicobar Islands,India

Glochidion kingii M. V. Ramana, Sanjappa, Venu & Alok Chorghe, a new species from the scrub forests of North Andaman Islands, is described and illustrated. Its morphological similarities/dissimilarities in relation to G. rubrum Blume from the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra is discussed and information about the distribution and conservation status for the new species is provided.     

Artabotrys byrsophyllus and A. tipuliferus spp. nov. (Annonaceae) from Peninsular Malaysia and Thailand

Two new species of Artabotrys (Annonaceae) from Peninsular Malaysia and Thailand are described. Conservation assessments for the two new species are made.     

Saccharomonospora oceani sp. nov. isolated from marine sediments in Little Andaman, India

Two actinomycete strains, designated YIM M11168^T and YIM M11177, were isolated from marine sediment samples from Little Andaman, Indian Ocean, and their taxonomic position was determined by a polyphasic approach. The two Gram-positive, aerobic strains were observed to produce branched substrate mycelium and aerial hyphae but did not fragment, and no diffusible pigment was produced on the media tested. At maturity, spores were formed singly or in pairs on aerial hyphae and substrate mycelium, and occasionally the single ones were borne on long sporophores. The optimum growth was determined to occur at 28 °C, 0–4 % (w/v) NaCl and pH 7.0–8.0. Whole-cell hydrolysates of both strains contained meso-diaminopimelic acid and the diagnostic sugars were determined to be galactose, glucose and arabinose. Their predominant menaquinone was found to be MK-9(H₄). The polar lipids detected in the two strains were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylinositol mannoside, phosphatidylinositol, phosphatidylmethylethanolamine, phosphatidylethanolamine and two unknown phosphoglycolipids. The major fatty acids (>10 %) identified were iso-C_16:0, iso-C_16:1 H, iso-C_16:0, C_17:1 ω6c for strain YIM M11168^T, iso-C_16:0 and Summed Feature 3 for strain YIM M11177. The G + C contents of the genomic DNAs of both strains were determined to be 71.4 %. DNA–DNA hybridization relatedness values (78.4 ± 3.7 %) of these two isolates supported the conclusion that they belong to the same species. Based on phylogenetic analysis, phenotypic and genotypic data, it is concluded that the two isolates belong to a novel species of the genus Saccharomonospora of the family Pseudonocardiaceae. The name Saccharomonospora oceani sp. nov. (Type strain YIM M11168^T = DSM 45700^T = JCM 18128^T) is proposed for the novel species.     

Polyalthia yingjiangensis sp. nov (Annonaceae) from the China/Myanmar border

Polyalthia yingjiangensis sp. nov. is described from the China/Myanmar border. It is distinct in having outer petals that are much shorter than the inner petals and having a very long pedicel. It is most similar to P. miliusoides I.M. Turner, but differs in having perianth parts that are glabrous adaxially and pubescent abaxially, thicker and sparsely pubescent pedicels, as well as verrucose and darker monocarps.     

Zingiberanamalayanum sp. nov. (Zingiberaceae) from India

Zingiber anamalayanum (Zingiberaceae), a new species from the southern western Ghats, India is described and illustrated. A phenetic analyses to assess the similarity indices and the uniqueness of the new species have been performed. A diagnostic key to Zingiber spp. in south India is provided.     

A new species of Dendrobium (Orchidaceae) from Andaman Islands, India

A new species, Dendrobium gunnarii P. S. N. Rao, so far endemic to the virgin forests of Andaman Islands is described and illustrated. Affinities with the distantly related species D. wilmsianum Schltr. in section Stachyobium are dicussed.     

Murdannia nampyana (Commelinaceae) sp. nov. from Kerala,India

Murdannia nampyana sp. nov. (Commelinaceae), collected from a marshy riparian area by the Kadambrayar River, near Bhramapuram Diesel Power Project, Kakkanad, Ernakulam district, Kerala is described. The new species can be distinguished from the similar species M. spirata G.Brückn. by its creeping habit, up to 1.5 m long with no definite base (vs erect, ascending, decumbent habit, with or without definite base), 1.1–2.2 cm wide flower diameter (vs 0.65–0.80 cm), petals 1.1 × 0.5–0.7 cm (vs 0.35–0.40 × 0.25–0.35 cm), 0.6–0.5–0.9 cm long stamen filaments (vs 0.06–0.15 cm), 0.20–0.25 cm long staminode filaments, (vs 0.06–0.15 cm), 2–3 smooth seeds per locule, with ridges and furrows and 1–2 small ventral depression on both side of the linear hilum and dorsal embryotega (vs 3–4 verrucose seeds per locule, with ridges and warts, 1–3 deep ventral pits on both side of elliptic hilum, edges of pits surrounded by warts, brownish powdery material in the testa and semidorsal embryotega).     

Oberonia swaminathanii sp. nov. (Orchidaceae) from Kerala,India

Oberonia swaminathanii, a new species of Orchidaceae from Wayanad district, Kerala, India is described and illustrated. The new species resembles Oberonia balakrishnanii, O. chandrasekharanii and O. seidenfadeniana by its 3‐lobed labellum and 2‐lobuled midlobe; but differs in having brick‐red coloured flowers, triangular labellum disc, and a subglobose column.     

Caralluma bicolor sp. nov. (Apocynaceae,Asclepiadoideae) from India

Caralluma bicolor Ramach, S. Joseph, H. A. John & C. Sofiya sp. nov. (Apocynaceae) collected from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu in India is described and illustrated. Morphological differences between the new species and the allied species C. adscendens (Roxb.) Haw. and C. sarkariae Lavranos & Frandsen are discussed.     

Oberonia manipurensis sp. nov. (Orchidaceae) from Manipur,India

A new species Oberonia manipurensis Chowlu, Nanda, A. N. Rao, Angela, Bishwajit & Akimpou sp. nov. (Orchidaceae) is described from Manipur, India. It is closely allied to O. pachyphylla King & Pantl. but differs in longer inflorescence, bilaterally flattened to terete leaves, entire bract, subserrate petals and anther cap with obtuse front margin. The species is described in detail and illustrated with a colour plate. The chromosome number for the species is also reported: 2n = 36.     

Clausena agasthyamalayana sp. nov. (Rutaceae) from Kerala,India

A new species of Clausena, C. agasthyamalayana is described and illustrated from the southern Western Ghats, Kerala, India. It is similar to C. indica but differs from it being of dwarf habit, and having greenish–black bark, smaller and fewer leaflets, obovate and coriaceous leaves with obtuse or emarginated apex, elliptic and obtuse petals, oblong‐cordate anthers, consistently 4‐locular ovary with 2 ovules in each chamber and ellipsoid fruits.