A New Species of Eleocharis (Cyperaceae) from the Western Ghats, India

Abstract

Eleocharis ranganathensis Viji, G. C. Tucker, Deepu & Pandur. (Cyperaceae), a new species from the Western Ghats, India, is described and illustrated. This new species has some morphological features that are intermediate between E. complanata Boeckeler and E. geniculata (L.) Roem. & Schult. (series Maculosae Svens.) but differs in a combination of characters, including leaf sheath with obliquely truncate hyaline mouth, ovate-oblong spikelet, smaller glumes, shorter perianth bristles, shining, blackish-brownish nutlets with faintly reticulate epidermal cells, and conical tubercle.