598 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 93 (1996) Bengal. ca 5 cmlong, without tube, segments obtuse or short 5. Soroseris hookeriana(Clarke) Stebbins in acute, upto 1.2 cm wide. Stamens much shorter than Mem. Torr. Bot. Club. 19, 3: 45.1940 Crepis the segments; styles somewhat exceeding stamens; hookeriana Clarke, Comp. Ind. 255.1876. stigma slightly 3-notched. & (Asteraceae). Dwarf perennial herbs. Leaves FI. Fr.: Aug. oblong to lanceolate, shallowly lobed, toothed or Specimen examined: Gangtok, ca 1750 m, entire. Flowering stems 3-10cmhigh. Inflorescence R.C. Srivastava, s.n. dt. July 1992 (BSHC!). compact, almost stalkless, ofmany yellow flowered- Notes: Probably an escape but now almost heads and a rosette ofnarrow leaves. Ray-florets 4, naturalised. Not known so far fromIndia cf Karthik. ( oblong, 1-1.7 cm, conspicuously 5-toothed at apex; etal. 1989). involucrebracts linear, blunt, woolly atbase, almost glabrous towards apex. Acknowledgements & FI. Fr.: July-Sept. Specimens examined: Katao,ca4800m, R.C. I am grateful to the Director, BSI and Regius KEW Srivastava, s.n. dt. Sept. 1989 (BSHC). Keepers, Royal Botanic Gardens, and RBG, Notes: Rao et al. (1988) recognised the Edinburgh for facilities; to INSA, New Delhi and occurrence ofonly one species viz.Soroserisdeasyi The Royal Soc., London for grant of fellowship to (S. Moore) Stebbins in India. However, the identity visit British Herbaria; and to Drs. P. Cribb and D.A. of the present collection was confirmed by Dr. C. Simpson, RBG, Kew and Mr. H.J. Noltie of RBG, Jeffrey, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Edinburgh for their help during the visit to their 6. ZephyranthesCandida Herb, inBot.Mag.t. herbaria. 2607.1826. Herbs. Bulbs ca 2.5 cm in diam., with September 8, 1995 R.C. SRIVASTAVA prominent neck. Leaves linear, upto 30 cm long, Botanical Survey ofIndia, present during flowering. Flowers white, perianth Allahabad-211002. References & Karthikeyan, S., S.K. Jain,M.P. Nayar M. Sanjappa(1989): Rao, R.R., H.J. Chowdhury,P.K. Hajra, S. Kumar,P.C. Pant, Florae Indieae Enumeratio Monocotyledonae, B.D. Naithani, B.P. Uniyal, R. Mathur & S.K. Mamgain : Calcutta. (1988)FloraeIndicaeEnumeratio Asteraceae Calcutta. : , A NEW RECORD FOR FLORA OF INDIA FROM SIKKIM 26. During the course of studies on Flora of Spines 3(-5)-fid, 5-12 mm. Leaves obovate, 5-15 x Sikkim, we came across an interesting collection 3-8 mm, entire or with margins with 2-3 spinose mm which was later identified as Berberis everestiana serrations. Flowers solitary. Pedicels 5-8 long. Ahrendt var. ventosa Ahrendt. This taxon has not Outer sepals ovate- elliptic, ca 6x3 mm, subacute; been recorded from India so far. Hence, a brief inner sepals obovate, 7.5 x 4.5 mm. Petals ca 6x3 description with data on distribution, flowering/ mm, subacute; inner sepals obovate 7.5 x 4.5 mm. fruiting period etc. is provided. Petals az 6 x 3 mm. Stamens ca 4 mm, produced, Berberis everestiana Ahrendt var. ventosa apiculate. Berries oblong-ovoid, ca 7 x 4 mm. & Ahrendt, J. Linn. Soc. (Bot.) 57:117.1961. FI. Fr.: June-Sept. Small shrubs. Stems very sulcate; shoots Distrib.: Nepal, India (Sikkim) reddish; pale yellow with age. Internodes 5-12 mm. Specimens examined: North Sikkim district: MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 599 Muguthang, Army camp area, S.K. Rai 9490 Acknowledgement (BSBC!). Note: This variety isdistinguishable from var. We are grateful to the Director, BSI for everestiana by the following main characters: facilities provided. DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERS OFTWO RAO VARIETIES OF Berberis everstiana AHRENDT September 7, 1995 R. R. SRIVASTAVA R. C. S.N. var. everestiana var. ventosa Botanical Survey ofIndia, Allahabad-211 002. 1. Leavesentire, never Leaves sometimes spinulose spinulose HUSAIN 2. Stamens truncate Stamensapiculate T. mm mm 3. Fruits 9-10 Fruits c 7 National Botanical Research Institute, 4. Seedspurple Seedsyellow-brown Lucknow-226001. References Sharma, B.D.; N.R Balakrjshnan; R.R. Rao & P.K. Hajra (1993) FloraofIndia, Vol. I, BSI, Calcutta. 27. STUDIES OF VIVIPAROUS GERMINATION INARTOCARPUSHETEROPHYLLUSLAM Vivipary is the germination of seeds in the took four days for germination under normal fruit while the fruit still remains attached to the conditions. After germination, 25 seedlings were plant; it is particularly common in mangrove plants. uprooted from the nursery every day without There arerelatively fewcertain records ofviviparous damaging theirroots and theaverageheight ofshoots germination in mesophytes likzPennisetum (Reddy and roots were measured as usual. The height ofthe and Chatterjee, 1916),Livistona chinensis (Kulkarni shoot reached 6.3 cm on the 6th day after and Pandey, 1976), Allium cepa (Fojaet al., 1967), germination, and ofthe roots reached 7.6 cm on the Citrullus vulgaris (Singh and Sharma, 1972), 7th day after germination. The seedlings took 9 days Sechium edule (Katiyar, 1976), etc. Thepresent case forproducing shoots of9.8 cmheight. The shoots of is a new addition to the list. viviparous seedlings werepale yellow in colourwith 200mature fruits ofArtocarpusheterophyllus soft stem. They became green within two days when were collected from different regions of they were exposed to sunlight. The growth was Kanyakumari district ofTamil Nadu, India and from somewhatrapid in roots ascompared to shootgrowth. markets to study the presence of viviparous But in artificial germination the shoot growth was germination in them. Germinated seeds in the fruits higher than the root growth. This shows that the were collected from the ripe fruits by cutting them internal environment of such fruits is more suitable with a sharp knife. Ofthe200 fruits studied, 23 fruits for seed germination than the soil. had germinated seeds in them. 573 germinated seeds Theripe ovaries around the germinated as well were collected from the 23 fruits. Length of shoot as dormantseedswerecollected from viviparous and androot ofeach oftheseedlingsweremeasuredusing non-viviparous fruitsrespectively, and their moisture a metre scale. The maximumheight ofthe shoot was content was measured using weighing method. The 9.8 cm, and of the root was 10.2 cm. The average moisture percentage was the same (89.3%). This height of the shoots was 6.3 cm, and of the roots was also done in ovaries whose seeds were at the was 7.6 cm. Then 300 dormant seeds were collected stage of sprouting. The moisture percentage of from fruits that did not have germinated seeds and ovaries containing sprouting seeds was 79.1% and sowed in thegarden soil to raiseseedlings. The seeds that ofovaries containing non-viviparous seeds was