Two new taxa of Impatiens (Balsaminaceae) from southern parts of Western Ghats, India

Abstract

Two new taxa of Impatiens viz. I. mankulamensis sp. nov. and I. panduranganii sp. nov. (Balsaminaceae), are described from the southern Western Ghats, India. Notes on description, distribution, morphological variation and conservation status accompany each description, along with colour photographs.

Notes on the extended distribution of Impatiens megamalayana, a recently described balsam in Western Ghats, India

“…Nayar et al (2014) enumerated 106 taxa of Impatiens from the Western Ghats of which 97 are exclusive endemics. More than 30 species have been discovered from various parts of the Western Ghats during the last 10 years (Kumar et al 2011;Dessai & Janarthanam 2011;Narayanan et al 2011Narayanan et al , 2012aNarayanan et al ,b, 2013Hareesh et al 2015a;Prabhukumar et al 2015aPrabhukumar et al ,b, 2016Prabhukumar et al , 2017Ramasubbu et al 2015aRamasubbu et al ,b, 2017Ramasubbu et al , 2020aChhabra et al 2016;Bhaskar & Sringeswar 2017;Manudev et al 2017;Mani & Thomas 2017;Mani et al 2018Mani et al , 2020Arigela et al 2019;Salish et al 2019;Subbiah & Vellingiri 2019;Vishnu et al 2020Vishnu et al & 2021Arya et al 2021). Impatiens species are usually seen in open, wet grasslands and rocky hill slopes at higher elevations and are highly sensitive to micro-climatic conditions.…”

“…Sasidharan (2011) enlisted 80 species from Kerala, of which 17 are endemic to the state. Since then, 24 species have been added to the balsam flora of the state including a new distributional record (Anil Kumar et al 2011;Narayanan et al 2011Narayanan et al , 2012aNarayanan et al ,b, 2013Hareesh et al 2015a,b;Prabhukumar et al 2015a,b;Ramasubbu 2015b;Prabhukumar et al 2016Prabhukumar et al , 2017Manudev et al 2017;Mani & Thomas 2017;Mani et al 2018Mani et al , 2020Salish et al 2019;Vishnu et al 2020Vishnu et al & 2021Arya et al 2021). Joe et al 2017 elevated Impatiens rufescens var.…”

<i>Impatiens bhimgadensis</i> (Balsaminaceae), a New Species from Karnataka, India

“…, I. kawttyana, I. taimushkulni, I. nilgirica var. nawttyana11 , I. stolonifera12 , and I. mankulamensis and I. panduranganii13 have been discovered.During the floristic explorations by the authors in Talewadi, Bhimgad Wildlife Sanctuary, Belagavi district, Karnataka, during September 2014, an interesting species of Impatiens belonging to the Section: 'Annuae' was collected, which is found to be new to science, and the same is described here.Taxonomy. Impatiens bhimgadensis Bhaskar & Sringeswara sp.…”