Corallodiscus

Corallodiscus kingianus (Craib) B.L.Burtt (1-3)

C. flabellatus (Craib) B.L.Burtt var. flabellatus (4-6)

C. flabellatus (Craib) B.L.Burtt var. puberulus K.Y.Pan (7)

Wang W.T. et al. (1969), Fl. reipubl. pop. Sin., t. 60; with permission

Corallodiscus conchifolius Batalin (1-4)

C. plicatus var. lineatus (Craib) K.Y.Pan (5-7)

C. flabellatus var. luteus (Craib) K.Y.Pan (8-10)

Wang W.T. et al. (1969), Fl. reipubl. pop. Sin., t. 61; with permission

Corallodiscus lanuginosus (Wall. ex DC.) B.L.Burtt

Photo: N.C.Rout, India, Orissa

Full name and orig. publication: Corallodiscus Batalin, Trudy Imp. S.-Petersburgsk. Bot. Sada (Acta Hort. Petrop.) 12: 176 (1892).

Etymology: Composed of the Greek κοραλλιον, korallion = coral, and δισκος, diskos = disc, alluding to the (always?) coral-red disc (nectary).

Synonym: Didssandra auct. non C.B.Clarke: Craib (1919).

Infrafamilial position: Didymocarpoideae-Trichosporeae-Corallodiscinae (Weber et al. 2013).

Description: Perennial acaulescent herbs. Leaves many, in a compact basal rosette, glabrous to densely woolly, lamina broadly lanceolate, (ob)ovate, rhombic, elliptical, or suborbicular, base broadly or narrowly cuneate, venation conspicuous. Cymes axillary, one- to many-flowered, lax, rarely subumbellate, bracteoles apparently absent. Sepals free nearly to base or fused halfway. Corolla tubular, zygomorphic, with bilabiate limb; upper lip 2-lobed, shorter than 3-lobed lower lip, lobes (sub)equal, rounded or obtuse; lower lip with dense beard inside of tube; colour blue to purple, rarely yellow or white. Stamens 4, inserted above corolla base (rarely above middle), included or slightly exserted; anthers dorsifixed, coherent in pairs; thecae divaricate, confluent, longicidally dehiscent; staminode present. Nectary ring-like. Ovary oblong, with 2 parietal placentae; stigma capitate. Capsule usually oblong to linear, much longer than calyx, dehiscing loculicidally, sometimes also septicidally.

Chromosome number: 2n = 20, 40.

Species number: 3-? (18 species and several varieties described).

Species names (selection): Corallodiscus bhutanicus (Craib) B.L.Burtt, C. conchifolius Batalin, C. cooperi (Craib) B.L.Burtt, C. flabellatus (Craib) B.L.Burtt, C. grandis (Craib) B.L.Burtt, C. lanuginosus (Wall. Ex R.Br.) B.L.Burtt, C. kingianus (Craib) B.L.Burtt.

Type species: Corallodiscus lanuginosus (R.Br.) B.L.Burtt.

Distribution: Bhutan, China (3 spp; Yunnan, Sichuan, Gansu, Xizang, Guizhou), N and NE India, Nepal, Thailand.

Ecology: Growing on rocks and rock crevices within forests or above the forest line, from 700 to nearly 5000m.

Notes: While Wang et al. (1990) recognised 9 spp. in China, Wang et al (1998) reduced the number to three, due to a much broader circumscription of Corallodiscus lanuginosus.

Selected references: Burtt, Gard. Chron. ser. 3, 122: 212 (1947); Wang et al., Fl. Rei Pop. Sin. 69: 233-245, 1990; Wang et al. in Wu & Raven (eds.), Fl. China 18: 283-284 (1998) (Chinese spp.); Hilliard, in Grierson & Long, Fl. Bhutan 2(3): 1321-1323 (2001), reg. rev.;Burtt, Thai Forest Bull. (Botany) 29: 81-109 (2001), annot. checklist (Thailand); Lu et al., Acta Bot.Yunnan. 24(3): 377-382 (2002).

Tax. details, cytology, and bibliography: Gesneriaceae Resource Centre (GRC). Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.

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