Strobilanthes simonsii T.Anderson

Wood, J.R.I. & Scotland, R.W. 2009. New and little-known species of Strobilanthes (Acanthaceae) from India and South East Asia. Kew Bulletin 64: 3. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12225-009-9098-2

Type

Bhutan, Deothang (“Dewangari”), Simons s.n. (lectotype K, chosen here).

Note

This little-known species is probably the closest to Strobilanthes cruciata

Morphology Leaves Petiole

It is the only other species with widened petiole bases although these do not form a tight involucre around the flower heads in the same way

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla

The white, glabrous corolla, the distinctly falcate leaves and the outer bracts with a clearly demarcated, petiolate, basal portion and long-caudate, falcate upper portion serve to identify this species

Distribution

Known from a few, widely scattered localities in Bhutan, NE India and SW China (Tibet/Xixang), it is said to be gregarious in evergreen hill forest. It is probably plietesial and may well be a good deal more common than the few records suggest (Map 2). The record from Tibet indicates that it is one of several species from relatively low altitudes on the southern Himalayan slopes which penetrate along deep Himalayan valleys into Tibet. Other species showing a similar pattern include Strobilanthes cuneata (Shakya) J. R. I. Wood and S. pentstemonoides (Nees) T. Anderson from Nepal and S. urophylla (Nees) Nees and S. paniculiformis J. R. I. Wood from further east. Records from Burma (Kurz 1877: 244, repeated in Kres et al.2002: 134) are almost certainly errors for S. capitata (Nees) T. Anderson, which is common in Martaban. Kurz’s description states that his plant has blue flowers and this character serves to separate these records from true S. simonsii.

Conservation

Data Deficient (DD) but clearly threatened by habitat destruction.