Polish Botanical Journal 46(2): 133–136, 2001 A NEW SPECIES OF TRAPA (TRAPACEAE) FROM KASHMIR JAN J. WÓJCICKI Abstract: Trapa kashmirensis, a new species from Wular Lake in Kashmir, is described and illustrated. It differs markedly by its fruit morphology from all other members of the genus, primarily by the characteristic long upper horns and strongly reflexed lower horns, the longest known in the genus. Key words: Trapa, new species, description, fruit, morphology, Indian Subcontinent Jan J. Wójcicki, Department of Vascular Plants Systematics, W. Szafer Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Sciences, Lubicz 46, PL-31-512 Kraków, Poland; e-mail: wojcicki@ib-pan.krakow.pl In the course of a revision of comparative herbarium material of the Trapa L. genus in the Natural History Museum in Stockholm (S) for a taxonomic project on the Tertiary Trapa of Europe an interesting morphotype of fruit collected in Wular Lake, Kashmir was found, and proved to be a new species. Additional material collected from the same locality was subsequently located in the fruit and seed collections of the Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin-Dahlem (B). Trapa kashmirensis Wójcicki, sp. nov. (Fig. 1) Fructus quadricornis, ambitu obtriangularis, collo incluso 21–24 mm altus, 55–62 mm latus; collum 3–4 mm longum, 3–6 mm latum, corona nulla; linea media bene conspicua; cornua longissima, superiora divaricata vel horizontaliter divergentia, 25–28 mm longa, inferiora retroflexa, ca 30 mm longa, omnia longe spinosa; inter cornua superiora et inferiora tubercula magna adsunt; anulus basalis minutus, ca 1 mm longus; cicatrix minuta, ca 1 mm diametro. Fruits of medium size, obtriangular in outline, with four very long spiny horns; fruit 21–24 mm high (including neck), width of fruit at upper horns 55–62 mm; fruit about 2.0–2.5 times as wide as high; fruit head pronounced, 10–13 mm long, its upper end located below the line joining the raised bases of the upper horns, bearing a welldeveloped neck usually gradually narrowing towards the base; neck 3–4 mm long and 3–6 mm broad, slightly protruding beyond the line joining the bases of the upper horns, corona lacking; apical aperture with ring of upward-pointing hairs; surface of fruit head and neck finely ribbed; upper horns narrowly triangular in outline, 25–28 mm long, characteristically abruptly raised at base, gradually attenuate into straight elongate, thin, spine-like tips, ascending to horizontal (0o–40o), with a smooth surface except for retrorsely barbed spines (harpoons) at least 5 mm long; lower horns strongly retrorse, straight, up to 30 mm long, 8–10 mm wide near base, inserted below the center of fruit body, with pronounced cavity at the base; length of lower horn/length of fruit ratio 1.3–1.4; frame of fruit well developed; on the fruit frame between the bases of the upper and lower horns, solid tubercles up to 5 mm long and up to 5 mm wide are present, sometimes filling the frame between the upper and lower horns almost completely; lower part of fruit body narrowly obtriangular in outline, truncate at base, its surface, on one side only, covered with five protruding longitudinal ribs; fruit base with a small smooth ring, up to 1 mm high; basal scar small, up to 2 mm in diameter. HOLOTYPE: Kashmir, Wular lake, 5200 ft, July 1909, Keshavanand 1273 (S). PARATYPES: Indien, Himalaya, Wular See bei Shrinagar, 03.1939, S. Ch. Koul s.n. (B, ex herb. Glück); 134 POLISH BOTANICAL JOURNAL 46(2). 2001. uh s n f t b h r Fig. 1. Holotype of Trapa kashmirensis Wójcicki (Keshavanand 1273, S). Scale bar = 1 cm. b – body, f – frame, h – head, lh – lower horns, n – neck, r – ring, s – spine, t – tubercle, uh – upper horn. Himalaya, aus Wular See, 03.1939, S. Ch. Koul s.n. (B, No. 9924 – fruit and seed collection). ETYMOLOGY. The specific epithet refers to the region of the northwestern Indian Subcontinent where the known collections originated. DISTRIBUTION. Trapa kashmirensis is known only from the type locality in Wular Lake, the largest natural freshwater lake of the Indian Subcontinent, located in the Jammu and Kashmir territories at alt. ca 1550 m. Taxonomy of the genus Trapa is based primarily on fruit (endocarp) morphology. T. kashmiren- sis, sp. nov., represents a new fruit morphotype that has never been reported previously, either extant or fossil (e.g., Nakano 1914; Flerov 1926; Vasilev 1949, 1965, 1973; Puri 1951; Miki 1952; Szafer 1954; Janković 1958; van Cuong & Vidal 1973; Li & Chang 1977; Staszkiewicz & Wójcicki 1979, 1981; Gregor 1982; Daniel et al. 1983; Mai 1985; Xiong et al. 1985; Givulescu & Ticleanu 1986; Kadono 1987; Verdcourt 1998; Wójcicki et al. 1999). Hugo Glück recognized this taxon as distinct, annotating the label attached to the Koul fruit collection in his herbarium (now at B) with an unpublished name ‘Trapa indica Glk. var. quadricauda- J. J. WÓJCICKI: A NEW SPECIES OF TRAPA FROM KASHMIR ta Glk. f. tuberculosa Glk.’, for his planned but never-published monograph of the genus. The newly described species shows no close relationship with any taxon described to date. Its unique features include its very long, spiny upper horns, strongly retrorse lower horns which are the longest known in the genus, 1.3–1.4 times as long as the fruit body including the neck, and the large tubercles on the frame, between the bases of the upper and lower horns (Fig. 1). In gross morphology, T. kashmirensis somewhat resembles T. acicularis V. N. Vassil. (= T. natans var. africana Brenan) known from Uganda, Africa (Brenan 1953; Vasilev 1965) by its relatively long, upward-pointing to almost horizontal upper horns and long retrorse lower horns. However, it differs from that species in a number of features, the most conspicuous being the shape of the upper and lower horns, which in T. acicularis are more slender, with thin and almost equal arms, the lower horns being shorter than the height of the fruit body including the neck, inserted at or above the center of the fruit body, as well as the dimensions of the neck (shorter in T. acicularis) and tubercles (much smaller in T. acicularis). In the abundant material from Glück’s herbarium housed in B, collected from Wular Lake and surrounding swamps, there are also fruits with two horns and the distinctive morphological characteristic of T. bispinosa Roxb. s.l., as well as many forms variously intermediate between T. bispinosa and T. kashmirensis, suggestive of a hybrid swarm. This material is the subject of ongoing studies, to be presented separately. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. I am deeply indebted to the Curators and Keepers of the herbaria B, BM, BP, G, KRAM, LE, M, MW, P, PE, S, W, WH, WU for kindly allowing me to study comparative material in their collections, as well as to Professor Yasuro Kadono, Japan, and Dr. James G. Thiyagaraj, India, for kindly donating reference material from their countries. Thanks are also due Professor Werner Greuter, Germany, for valuable comments on the manuscript, Professor Tarciso S. Filgueiras, Brazil, for checking the Latin diagnosis, and Jacek Wieser, Kraków, for his drawings. This work was supported by the State Committee for Scientific Research (KBN grant 6 P04D 034 15). 135 REFERENCES BRENAN J. P. M. 1953. Trapaceae. In: W. B. TURRILL & E. MILNE-REDHEAD (eds), Flora of tropical East Africa, pp. 1–3. The Crown Agents for the Colonies, London. CUONG VAN V. & VIDAL J. E. 1973. Trapaceae. In: A. AUBRÉVILLE & J. F. LEROY (eds), Flore du Cambodge, du Laos et du Viêt-Nam, 14: 40–47. 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