Variation in Rhododendron arboreum Sm. complex (Ericaceae): insights from exomorphology, leaf anatomy and pollen morphology

  • Subhasis Panda Angiosperm Taxonomy & Ecology Laboratory, PG Deptt of Botany, Darjeeling Government College, University of North Bengal, Darjeeling-734101, India. Botany Department, Maulana Azad College, University of Calcutta, Kolkata-700013, India
  • Indranil Kirtania Taxonomy & Biosystematic Lab, PG Deptt of Botany, Barasat Govt College, Kolkata-700124, India
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.159693

Abstract

Rhododendron arboreum Sm., placed under the genus Rhododendron L. in the family Ericaceae Juss. consists of c. 1000 species, of these c. 102 species occur in India. R. arboreum Sm. is restricted to a few South Eastern Asian countries. In India, the species is distributed in the Himalayas, North Eastern India and hill tops of South Western Ghats. Detailed investigations of the genus were studied by several workers but nobody studied variation in R. arboreum complex. A few workers described pollen morphology of Ericaceae including Rhododendron, but they did not study different subspecies of R. arboreum. No detailed investigation on leaf anatomy was also reported. The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the contribution of leaf anatomy and pollen morphology along with herbarium and field based exomorphological data to delimit infraspecific variations in R. arboreum complex.

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Fig. 1. Habit photographs of Rhododendron arboreum subsp. arboreum: A – Salari forest, Arunachal Pradesh (S. Panda 111, BGC); B – Jabrang, Arunachal Pradesh (G. Panigrahi 61878, CAL); C – Lachung, N Sikkim (S. Panda 16, BGC).
Published
2016-06-01
How to Cite
PANDA, Subhasis; KIRTANIA, Indranil. Variation in Rhododendron arboreum Sm. complex (Ericaceae): insights from exomorphology, leaf anatomy and pollen morphology. Modern Phytomorphology, [S.l.], v. 9, p. 27-49, june 2016. ISSN 2227-9555. Available at: <http://ojs.phytomorphology.org/index.php/MP/article/view/28>. Date accessed: 11 apr. 2018. doi: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.159693.
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Vol 9 (2016)
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