Aeginetia pedunculata var. acaulis

Aeginetia pedunculata var. acaulis (ROXB.) G. BECK, Pflanzenreich IV (261) 96: 21. 1930

Synonyms:

• Aeginetia acaulis (ROXB.) WALPERS, Repert. botan. 3 (3): 481. 1844; REUTER in DC., Prodr. XI: 43. 1847; MIQUEL, Fl. Ind. Batav. 2: 713. 1856; LIVERA, Ann. bot. gard. Peradeniya 10 (2): 149 et 155. 1927
• Aeginetia acaulis var. alpha THWAITES, Enum. Pl. Zeyl. 221. 1860
• Aeginetia sessilis SHIVAMURTHY & RAJANNA, Rheedea 4, 2: 133. 1994
• Orobanche acaulis ROXBURGH, Pl. Corom. 3: 89, t. 292. 1819, Hort. Beng. 45. 1814 et Fl. ind. 2, 3: 29. 1832; SPRENGEL, Gen. pl. ed. 9, 2: 498. 1831; G. DON, Gen. Hist. IV: 630. 1838 - Basionym

Original description: - Stemless; flowers crowded into irregular heads immediately on the roots; corol five parted, laciniate; anthers single, each of the inner pair augmented with a large, recurved, oval gland; stigma peltate. - Root, I suspect annual, of many, thick, firm fibres, adhering to the roots of the China sugar cane. Stem none. Flowers numerous, short-peduncled, collected in large dense fascicles, even with the surface of the earth, very large: colour a beautiful lively purple. Peduncles short, round, smooth, one-flowered. Bracts triangular, fleshy, they embrace the base of one or more peduncles, uniting them into a tuft, close to the root. Calyx one-leaved, length of the tube of the corol, fleshy, simple, opening on one side, or dividing into two unequal portions; outside tinged with red; inside white. Corol with tube obliquely clavate, campanulate, smooth in every part; inside yellow; throat contracted, and trigonal; border 5-parted; the divisions nearly equal, and about as long as the tube; margins laciniate. Filaments smooth. Anthers: a large, oblong white gland, is attached to the base of the inner pair, appearing like a second anther. Germ ovate. Style rather longer than the stamina, curved, smooth. Stigma peltate, very large, somewhat 5-lobed, glandulous, slightly villous. Capsule ovate, one-celled, 2-valved, with two pair of ramous receptacles, to which the numerous, very minute seeds adhere. Roxburgh, 1819 (p. 89 f.)

Ic.: - Roxburgh, 1819 (t. 292)

Biology: - Fl. 9-11. Grasslands.

Host plants:

• Saccharum sinense Roxb. (Poac.) sec. Walpers, 1844 (p. 481) Reuter, 1847 (p. 43) Miquel, 1856 (p. 713)
• Andropogon schoenanthus L. (Poac.) sec. Thwaites, 1864 (p. 221)
• Chrysopogon hackelii (Hook. f.) C. E. C. Fisch. (Poac.) sec. Shivamurthy and Rajanna, 1994 (p. 135)
• Themeda triandra Forssk. (Poac.) sec. Shivamurthy and Rajanna, 1994 (p. 135)

General distribution: - IND (Calcutta), LKA. Endemic?

Examined specimen: -

Further cited location:

LKA: - Below Hapootelle, amongst Andropogon schoenanthus. Thwaites, 1864 (p. 221)

IND: - Karnataka State, Dakshina Kannada distr., Kudremukh mts., 13.08 N 75.16 E. Shivamurthy and Rajanna, 1994 (p. 133) - Bot. Gard. Calcutta. Miquel, 1856 (p. 713)