Isodon lophanthoides (Buch.-Ham. ex D.Don) H.Hara

Suddee, S., A. J. Paton, & Parnell, J. (2004). A Taxonomic Revision of Tribe Ocimeae Dumort. (Lamiaceae) in Continental South East Asia I. Introduction, Hyptidinae & Hanceolinae. Kew Bulletin, 59(3), 337-378. doi:10.2307/4110949

Morphology General Habit

Erect or ascending annual or short-lived perennial herb or undershrub up to 1.5 m tall

Morphology Leaves

Leaves well-spaced on the stem or basally clustered, membranous or chartaceous, broadly ovate, ovate, ovate-oblong or ovate-lanceolate, 15 - 150 x 8 - 80 mm, apex acute, obtuse or acuminate, base broadly cuneate, rounded, subtruncate or sometimes cordate, margin serrate or crenate, glabrescent, pubescent, scaberulous or scabrid above, glabrescent to pubescent and dotted with minute sessile glands beneath, greenish, purplish or yellowish-brown when dry, veins subprominent both sides; petioles up to 50 mm long in lower leaves, gradually reduced in length and becoming sessile on upper leaves, glabrescent to pubescent

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Androecium Stamens

Stamens long- exserted, villous at base; anterior pair inserted above the middle of corolla tube; posterior pair inserted near the base of corolla tube

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx

Calyx campanulate, 1 - 2 mm long at anthesis, glabrescent to densely pubescent with hairs denser at tube base, tubular-campanulate, 3 - 4 mm long in fruit, inconspicuously 2-lipped; teeth subequal, triangular- ovate, usually obtuse at apex; tube declinate, 10- nerved, twice as long as teeth, glabrescent to pubescent, with sessile glands outside, not gibbous at anterior base

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla

Corolla white, straight, 3 - 8 mm long; posterior lip subequally 4-lobed, lobes rounded or obtuse at apex, glabrous or pubescent, with sessile glands on back; anterior lip orbicular, 1 - 3 mm long, subequal to posterior, flattened or slightly concave, glabrous all over or slightly pubescent at base of lobe inside, glabrous or pubescent, with sessile glands outside; tube 2 - 5 mm long, subtubular, slightly dilated at throat, glabrous or slightly pubescent, with or without sessile glands outside

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Disc

Disc annular with equal lobes or with anterior side well developed but not exceeding ovary

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Gynoecium Style

Style long-exserted, longer than stamens

Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits

Nutlets brown, ovoid or oblong, 0.8 - 1 mm long, smooth, producing mucilage when wet or not.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences

Inflorescence terminal and axillary, composed of several lax narrow racemose branches, forming a large panicle, with axis glabrous to pubescent; cymes with peduncle up to 15 mm long, lax or dense with 3 - 18 flowers; bracts ovate, adaxially glabrous or glabrescent, abaxially glabrescent to pubescent, with sessile glands, persistent; bracteoles linear or linear-oblong, 0.5 - 2 mm long, pubescent, caducous or persistent; pedicels up to 8 mm long in flower and fruit, pubescent

Morphology Stem

Stems quadrangular, branched or not, glabrous to pubescent

Note

So far, no specimen annotated by Hamilton as Hyssopus? lophanthoides from Narainhetty, Nepal has been seen. The specimens Bentham cited from Kumaon (Kamaon) (Wall. Cat. 2742B) are actually Isodon lophanthoides var. lophanthoides. All names based on P. gerardianus Benth. are also illegitimate. Wall. Cat. 2740, the type of Plectrantus striatus Benth. (Bentham 1830b) is also a syntype of P. graciliflorus Benth. (Bentham 1848). The name P. striatus was later applied by Bentham (1832, 1848), Hooker (1885) and several later authors to a form now recognised as I. lophanthoides var. lophanthoides. See under var. graciliflorus for more detail. Dunn (1913) recognised Bentham's Plectranthus gerardianus (nom. illeg.) and P. striatus in Wall. P1. Asiat. as the same species and mentioned that 'the types in Kew Herb. are connected by a continuous series of gradations with regard to their distinguishing characters'. In this study, with combination of other characters, the former is recognised under var. lophanthoides and the latter is recognised under var. graciliflorus. Isodon lophanthoides (Buch.-Ham. ex D. Don) H. Hara var. micranthus (C. Y. Wu) H. W. Li is the same as var. lophanthoides. Li (1988) mentioned that the corolla is 2 - 3 mm long and the leaves are purplish underneath when dry. The size of the corolla is not very different from var. lophanthoides and several specimens of var. lophanthoides from India, Thailand and Vietnam also have leaves which are purplish beneath when dry.

Type

Nepal, Robert Blinkworth in Wall. Cat. 2742B (K-W! neotype chosen here; isoneotypes BM!, K!).