{"id":1346296,"date":"2012-11-03T13:49:36","date_gmt":"2012-11-03T13:49:36","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2024-12-24T18:42:43","modified_gmt":"2024-12-24T13:12:43","slug":"balanophora-laxiflora","status":"publish","type":"ht_kb","link":"https:\/\/efloraofindia.com\/efi\/balanophora-laxiflora\/","title":{"rendered":"Balanophora laxiflora"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Balanophora<\/i> laxiflora<\/i> Hemsl., J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 26: 410 1894<\/i>. (Syn: Acroblastum<\/i> parvius<\/i> (Hayata) Setch. & Yamam.<\/span><\/a>; Acroblastum<\/i> spicatum<\/i> (Hayata) Setch.<\/span><\/a>; Balania<\/i> formosana<\/i> (Hayata) Masam.<\/span><\/a>; Balania<\/i> parvior<\/i> (Hayata) Masam.<\/span><\/a>; Balania<\/i> spicata<\/i> (Hayata) Masam.<\/span><\/a>; Balanophora<\/i> formosana<\/i> Hayata<\/span><\/a>; Balanophora<\/i> hexamera<\/i> (Tiegh.) Lecomte<\/span><\/a>; Balanophora<\/i> hongkongensis<\/i> K.M.Lau, N.H.Li & S.Y.Hu<\/span><\/a>; Balanophora<\/i> hongkongensis<\/i> K.M. Lau et al.<\/span><\/a>; Balanophora<\/i> morrisonicola<\/i> Hayata<\/span><\/a>; Balanophora<\/i> oshimae<\/i> Yamam.<\/span><\/a>; Balanophora<\/i> parvior<\/i> Hayata<\/span><\/a>; Balanophora<\/i> rugosa<\/i> P.C.Tam<\/span><\/a>; Balanophora<\/i> spicata<\/i> Hayata<\/span><\/a>; Polyplethia<\/i> formosana<\/i> (Hayata) Nakai<\/span><\/a>\u00a0(Unresolved); Polyplethia<\/i> minor<\/i> Nakai<\/span><\/a>\u00a0(Unresolved); Polyplethia<\/i> oshimae<\/i> (Yamam.) Yamam.<\/span><\/a>\u00a0(Unresolved); Polyplethia<\/i> parvior<\/i> (Hayata) Yamam.<\/span><\/a>\u00a0(Unresolved); Polyplethia<\/i> spicata<\/i> (Hayata) Nakai<\/span><\/a>);<\/div>\n
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\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Balanophora-involucrata-Trunkhal-Kashmir-P1040734-a.jpg\"<\/a>
\nFl. Arunachal_Balanophora involucrata_RKC03_27102012:<\/a>
\nBalanophora involucrata<\/i> Hook. f. & Thomson<\/p>\n

Balanophoraceae<\/i><\/div>\n
Loc.: Tuting, Upper Siang distt, Arunachal Pradesh
\n<\/span>Date: October, 2005<\/span><\/div>\n
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I have some doubt on this because <\/span>Balanophora involucrata<\/i> that we had collected in around 1970 or so from J & K looked exactly like a red mushroom with cap and stipe and in fact we thought it to be some fungus till we discovered flowers. I had published it in Science Reporter as <\/span>Singh, Gurcharan. 1972. A Flowering mushroom? <\/span>Science Reporter<\/i>. <\/span>9<\/b>(5): 236-237. <\/span>Here are some links from the net:<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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http:\/\/shanbao.growing123.info\/<\/span><\/a>flora\/balanophora.asp<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n
http:\/\/www.calacademy.org\/where_in_the_world\/china_2002.php<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n
http:\/\/www.parasiticplants.siu.edu\/Bal_invol2.jpg<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n
http:\/\/www.parasiticplants.siu.edu\/BalInvolucrata2.jpg<\/span><\/a>
\nI am also attaching photograph of my dried specimen<\/span><\/div>\n
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Thanks for raising this question. My identity was based on the herbarium specimens kept in ASSAM. I may be wrong. Would like to know the correct identity.<\/p>\n

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more questions then answers, in my mind about this…
\nI compared your old sp and\u00a0… here has some superficial similar points but no really… but drying may have something to do with it…
\nI dont know about fungi in Botany but in medicine
\ndiagnosis of fungi are kind of straight forward …
\nwe do histology and PAS stain with and without diastase at the first step…
\ngenerally that answers the id question
\nand then ultimately a DNA fingerprint??? using cutters known to id your specimen’s DNA
\nRitesh ….did you get a herbarium sp for your lab?
\nthen its kinda easy to do histology even on dry sp I guess… or rehydrate it..<\/p>\n

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Yes I had collected the specimens too which are safely kept in the herbarium of BSI.<\/p>\n

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The fact it is not B. involucrata<\/i> is clear from the leaves, which are in more than one series in this specimen, and appear imbricated at the base of inflorescence.<\/span> In Balanophora involcrata<\/i> the leaves are in a single whorl forming a sheath at the middle of stipe, and the inflorescence also comes out of a sheath.<\/span><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.efloras.org\/object_page.aspx?object_id=50681&flora_id=2<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n
http:\/\/www.efloras.org\/object_page.aspx?object_id=67173&flora_id=5<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n
To me this plant appears to be Balanophora laxiflora<\/i><\/div>\n
http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/39446904@N02\/4131437914<\/span><\/a>
\nhttp:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/39446904@N02\/4131437914<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n
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Thanks for the comments! Sharing a very useful link on Balanophora<\/i>, a\/c to which my plant matches closely with B. laxiflora<\/i>. Two color forms have been reported here.<\/div>\n
http:\/\/www.parasiticplants.siu.edu\/Balanophoraceae\/index.html<\/span><\/a>
\nAnother paper (pdf attached) provides key to the <\/span>Balanophora<\/i> in NE India but does not report the occurrence of <\/span>B. laxiflora<\/i> in India. Could it be a new record?<\/span><\/div>\n
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Your upload has been a learning experience for me also. I knew <\/span>Balanophora<\/i> involucrata<\/i> from a specimen which as I understand now was a female plant. I had never seen a male specimen, which I learnt now from seeing photographs from the net.
\n<\/span>I am happy also that my doubts on your ID were genuine, based on leaves.
\n<\/span>As we understand now your specimen is a male plant with very distinctive inflorescence axis with flowers in straight parallel rows. The closest match is B. laxiflora<\/i>,<\/span> but if you have some specimens with open flowers (your seems to be a young male infl. reminding more of an <\/span>Equisetum<\/i>) you could also check for <\/span>B. harlandii<\/i>, especially when<\/span> B. laxiflora<\/i> is not reported in India.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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My specimens are kept in the herbarium of BSI and in my photographs open flowers are not visible. After going through the photographs provided in the same link, B. laxiflora<\/i> appears to be the closest match.<\/span> I checked the B. herlandii<\/i> photographs too, but they look different.
\nHoping to hear more form you.<\/span><\/div>\n
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References:<\/div>\n
http:\/\/www.theplantlist.org\/tpl\/record\/kew-2668086<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Balanophora laxiflora Hemsl., J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 26: 410 1894. (Syn: Acroblastum parvius (Hayata) Setch. & Yamam.; Acroblastum spicatum (Hayata) Setch.; Balania formosana (Hayata) Masam.; Balania parvior (Hayata) Masam.; Balania spicata (Hayata) Masam.; Balanophora formosana Hayata; Balanophora hexamera (Tiegh.) Lecomte; Balanophora hongkongensis K.M.Lau, N.H.Li & S.Y.Hu; Balanophora hongkongensis K.M. Lau…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"ht-kb-category":[7577],"ht-kb-tag":[],"class_list":["post-1346296","ht_kb","type-ht_kb","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","ht_kb_category-balanophora"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/efloraofindia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb\/1346296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/efloraofindia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/efloraofindia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/ht_kb"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/efloraofindia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/efloraofindia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1346296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/efloraofindia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb\/1346296\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/efloraofindia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1346296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"ht_kb_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/efloraofindia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb-category?post=1346296"},{"taxonomy":"ht_kb_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/efloraofindia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb-tag?post=1346296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}