Henckelia pradeepiana, a new species of Gesneriaceae from the southern Western Ghats, India

Abstract

A new species of Gesneriaceae, Henckelia pradeepiana, is described from the southern Western Ghats, India. The species is remarkable by the presence of flat tubers, from which shoots with a single or few basal leaves and large and lax inflorescences (pair-flowered cymes) emerge. The corolla is white or pale violet and obliquely campanulate. Also remarkable is the bright yellow stigma with strongly expanded and sometimes slightly emarginate lower lip. This “chiritoid” stigma form supports the recent inclusion of most species of Chirita sect. Chirita into the newly defined genus Henckelia. The closest relative of H. pradeepiana is probably H. missionis, known from the Western Ghats of Kanyakumari district, Tamil Nadu, some 400 km away from the former.