v7i2.172

ISSN: 1800-427X (print)
eISSN: 1800-427X (online)
DOI:10.47605/tapro.v7i2.172

Submitted date: 9 May 2014
Accepted date: 28 July 2014
Published date: 20 February 2015
Pp. 96–97.

Taxonomic status of Pavetta bourdillonii (Rubiaceae)

E.S.S. Kumar* & N. Mohanan
*Corresponding author. E-mail: santhoshkumares@gmail.com

The genus Pavetta L. has about 300 species distributed in the paleotropical regions of the world. Bremekamp (1934) laboriously studied this genus in details but his narrow species concept resulted in the recognition of many more species than can be justified taxonomically. He recognized 42 species for the Indian subcontinent, while Rout and Deb (1999) accepted only 25 species. Most of the characters used by Bremekamp to delimiting species, such as stem characters (green vs corky), shape and size of leaves, and arrangements of bacterial nodules in the leaves, were rejected by Rout and Deb. However, the position of the inflorescence (axillary vs. terminal) was found to be useful taxonomically by both parties.

Section Editor: James L. Reveal