- Family : LYTHRACEAE
(Loose-Strife Family)
- Family (Hindi name) : MEHNDI FAMILY (मेंहंदी फैमिली)
- Family (as per The APG System III) : LYTHRACEAE
- Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Not found in Plant list
- Habit : Herb
- Habitat : Lateritic plateau
- Comments / notes : Rotala sahyadrica is a true aquatic herb which grows in a fresh water lake on the lateritic plateau at about 900 m altitude in Sahyadri ranges of Western Ghats, India. During the rainy season (July – October) it remains submerged and produces only cleistogamous flowers. However, in the winter (November – February) as the water level recedes, the species starts to produce chasmogamic flowers on the emergent aerial branches. There are no structural differences in chasmogamic and cleistogamic flowers except for the smaller size
- Key identification features : Aquatic annual herb; Stems are 30 cm in length, lower portion of the stem is obtusely angular, where as the upper portion is acutely quadrangular, erect and rarely branched. Leaves are simple, opposite, decussate, sessile, membranous and it shows dimorphism that is submerged leaves are linear-oblong and rounded at both the ends, reddish or greenish, entire, with lateral nerves in 3 – 5 pairs and distinct; aerial leaves are obovate-orbicular, cordate at base, rounded at apex and it is modified into bracts, reddish and entire; flowers are axillary, solitary, sessile,cleistogamous type flowers are seen on submerged shoots and chasmogamous type is seen on emergent shoots; nectary glands are present in the form of a continuous rim on the calyx tube from where filaments arises Bracteoles are 2 in number which is, much shorter than the calyx tube, persistent, with 8 – 12 multi-cellular, black hairs at the axils.
- Flower, Fruit : July-February
- Native : India
- Endemism : Western Ghats, India
- World Distribution : India
- Literature : Gaikwad. S. P , M. M. Sardesai and S. R. Yadav (2014). Rotala sahyadrica sp. nov. (Lythraceae) from Western Ghats, India. Nordic Journal of Botany 32: 575–577.
- Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Raja K Swamy, Deepak Kumar, Arun Singh R. and K. Gopalakrishna Bhat (2019). Flora of Peninsular India. http://peninsula.ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Rotala sahyadrica. Downloaded on 21 November 2024.
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