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Swertia alata (G. Don) Clarke in Hook.f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 4:125. 1883.
syn: Agathotes alata D.Don ; Ophelia alata (G. Don) Griseb.
Annual herb up to 40 cm tall, 4-angled; cauline leaves sessile to subsessile, ovate-cordate, 3-6 cm long, usually 5 nerved (3-7 nerved); flowers 4-merous in panicles; calyx lobes 4-6 mm long, narrowly ovate; corolla greenish yellow with one rounded depression at base of each lobe, minutely pubescent or glabrous; filaments 4-6 mm long.

Photographed from Chakrata Deovan Herbal Garden in September.


 

Swertia cordata (Wall. ex G. Don) C.B. Clarke as per Help with ID of Swertia sp-01012020-1


Tetramerous flowers and lack of purple striations don’t go with S. cordata.


 

Swertia alata (G. Don) Clarke from Chakrata:  Swertia alata (G. Don) Clarke in Hook.f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 4:125. 1883.
syn: Agathotes alata D.Don ; Ophelia alata (G. Don) Griseb.
Annual herb up to 40 cm tall, 4-angled; cauline leaves sessile to subsessile, ovate-cordate, 3-6 cm long, usually 5 nerved (3-7 nerved); flowers 4-merous in panicles; calyx lobes 4-6 mm long, narrowly ovate; corolla greenish yellow with one rounded depression at base of each lobe, minutely pubescent or glabrous; filaments 4-6 mm long.

Photographed from Chakrata Deovan Herbal Garden in September.


Swertia cordata (Wall. ex G. Don) C.B. Clarke as per Help with ID of Swertia sp-01012020-1


Problem of tetramerous flowers and lack of striations if we call it S. cordata.


Swertia alata (G. Don) Clarke in Hook.f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 4:125. 1883.

syn:  Agathotes alata D.Don ;  Ophelia alata (G. Don) Griseb.
Annual herb up to 40 cm tall, 4-angled; cauline leaves sessile to subsessile, ovate-cordate, 3-6 cm long, usually 5 nerved (3-7 nerved); flowers 4-merous in panicles; calyx lobes 4-6 mm long, narrowly ovate; corolla greenish yellow with one rounded depression at base of each lobe, minutely pubescent or glabrous; filaments 4-6 mm long.

Photographed from Chakrata Deovan Herbal Garden in September.


New to me. Super upload …


Problem of tetramerous flowers and lack of striations if we call it S. cordata.

 

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Help with ID of Swertia sp-01012020-1 : 7 posts by 3 authors. Attachments (3)

Please help with ID of this species of Swertia uploaded on our website as S. alata but looking different especially comparing with images on Flowers of India. S. alata is supposed to have ” nectary watch-pocket shaped with short, compound fimbriae, one lobe”, whereas our plant has nacked nectaries. Our plant resembles S. cordata more closely in leaves and nectaries, but lacks purple striations. 

Clicked from Deovan Herbal Garden, Chakrata, September 17, 2011.

 


Swertia lawii (C.B.Clarke) Burkill ??


Yes, Swertia cordata as per images and details herein.

Does not match with Swertia alata (G. Don) Clarke in Hook.f. as per GBIF  Flowers of India  Earth


…, calling it S. cordata we will have to ignore two things: lack of purple striations, four sepals and petals.


Is ID correct ?

https://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Law’s%20Swertia.html


Don’t know about Flowers of India but this revision of Swertia also shows purple striations and raised nectaries with fimbriae.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/27932061 A_taxonomic_revision_of_Swertia_L_Gentianaceae in_South_India_with_one_new_species and_seven_lectotypifications/figures?lo=1


Yes, … Variations in the number od petals and sepals in quite common in many species.
You may check GBIF, you may possibly find one.

Lack of purple striations also appears common in Swertia, as observed in many posts in efi site.


 

Swertia for ID from Chakrata-01012020 : 6 posts by 3 authors. Attachments (3)
Please help with deciding the identity of this Swertia from Deovan Herbal Garden, Chakrata, September 17, 2011. Leaves and nectary suggest S. cordata, but petals lack purple striations.

I guess images of S. alata in FoI and Efi are different and according to efi this sp. looks like S. alata.


Swertia lawii (C.B.Clarke) Burkill ??


May be Swertia cordata as per discussions in another thread: Help with ID of Swertia sp-01012020-1


We can’t ignore naked nectaries, they are supposed to be watch-pocket shaped with short, compound fimbriae in S. alata, plus purple veins or dots are missing. This was lying in my folders as S. alata only, but I realised differences now only.


 

Comments

  1. Dr. Amber Srivastava

    It is definitely Swertia cordata. The petal count may vary but the nectary shape remains same. This species is quite variable with response to habitat type.

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