THREE NEW RECORDS OF LYTHRACEAE IN THE FLORA OF BANGLADESH

In the course of studying the family Lythraceae of Bangladesh in 2023–2024, some specimens of the family were found to be different than those of any other species of this family reported so far from this country. After a critical examination, these specimens have been identified as Ammannia auriculata , Rotala ramosior


Introduction
Almost every year, Bangladesh's plant taxonomists sporadically describe newly recorded species.In the last several decades, they have published a significant number of new records as a part of their persistent efforts to discover new plant species from this country.Since the publication of Ahmed et al. (2008Ahmed et al. ( -2009Ahmed et al. ( , 2009) ) and Siddiqui et al. (2007), about 288 new records pertaining to the angiosperms of this country have been made available (e.g., Rahman and Hassan, 2017;Islam and Rahman, 2017;Sourav et al., 2017;Ara and Hassan, 2018;Rahman and Uddin, 2018;Uddin, 2018;Alfasane et al., 2019;Hossain et al., 2020;Sultana and Rahman, 2021;Hossain et al., 2022;Rahman et al., 2022;Sultana et al., 2022;Uddin and Uddin, 2022;Hossain et al., 2023;Rahman et al., 2023).The majority of these new records contain information on the precise locality of the species.
With the addition of these new records to the 3611 Angiosperm species described in the Encyclopedia of Flora and Fauna of Bangladesh EFFB), edited by Ahmed et al. (2008Ahmed et al. ( -2009Ahmed et al. ( , 2009) ) and Siddiqui et al. (2007), the total number of species of this plant group reported from Bangladeshi territory has now risen to 3899 (Hossain et al. 2023;Rahman et al. 2023).It means the status of at least 1101 (20.16%) species of Angiosperms in this country is unknown and needs to be explored for adding new data and obtaining a better idea of this country's flora, if Khan's (1977) estimation of 5000 species' occurrence in Bangladesh and all new records for this country reported so far after the publication of EFFB are considered.Besides, the introduction of exotic species is a global event driven by both economic and non-economic factors.Some new species might have been introduced recently into this country, either deliberately or inadvertently, and need to be verified and reported.Therefore, the small pool of plant taxonomists in this country is devoting a great deal of effort to find and publish the details of these unreported and newly introduced species.*Corresponding author.E-mail: pingky.ps.01@gmail.com The family Lythraceae comprises small to large trees, shrubs, perennials, and annual herbs adapted to a wide variety of vegetation types, including mangrove swamps, coastal dunes, freshwater marshes, and shallow waters of ponds and rivers in Bangladesh.Hooker (1886) described 19 species under four genera, and Prain (1903) described 14 species under three genera; Khanam (2009) and Rahman (2009) compiled 24 species from six genera from the political boundary of Bangladesh.Heinig (1925) reported 14 species under four genera from the Chittagong region.Recently, in 2023-2024, Rani (2023) conducted a taxonomic study on the Lythraceae of Bangladesh based on the voucher specimens housed in the herbaria of this country and described a total of 27 species under six genera.
Recently, in 2023-2024, a taxonomic study on the Lythraceae of Bangladesh was conducted based on the voucher specimens housed in the Bangladesh Forest Research Institute Herbarium (BFRIH), the Bangladesh National Herbarium (DACB), the Dhaka University Salar Khan Herbarium (DUSH), the Herbarium of Chittagong University (HCU), and the Jahangirnagar University Herbarium (JUH).Some of these specimens collected from Dinajpur, Moulvibazar, Rajshahi, and Sylhet districts, housed at DACB, were identified as members of Lythraceae, which did not match the specimens or the taxonomic description or key characters of any species of this family that had been previously recognised or documented in Bangladesh.After a rigorous examination, a few of these specimens were identified as the representatives of a species of Ammannia L. and a few as the members of two species of Rotala L. of the Lythraceae that were never reported previously from this country (e.g., Hooker, 1886;Prain, 1903;Heinig, 1925;Uddin et al., 2003;Khanam, 2009;Rahman, 2009;Tutul et al., 2010;Uddin et al., 2013;Rahman et al., 2015;Rahman, 2017;Uddin and Hassan, 2018;Roy and Khan, 2020;Khanam et al., 2020;Khan et al., 2021a,b;Hossain et al., 2022;Shetu et al., 2022).As a result, these species are circumscribed here as new to Bangladesh's flora.The specimens are currently deposited at DACB.

Materials and Methods
This study was based on the voucher specimens housed at DACB.The taxonomic identification of the specimens was verified by comparing their characteristics with the clear images of Lythraceae voucher specimens available on the websites of a few international herbaria (e.g., K, P) and pertinent taxonomic literature (e.g., Hooker, 1886;Prain, 1903;Cook, 1996;De Wild et al., 2014).With close observation and critical examination of the morphological characteristics of the typical specimens, the taxonomy description of each species was created.The nomenclatural information was confirmed through consulting the nomenclatural databases (GBIF Secretariat, 2023a,b,c,d;POWO, 2024;Tropicos, 2024;WFO, 2024).
Distribution: The species is native to East, West, West-Central, and South Tropical Africa, temperate and tropical Asia, Northern America, and Southern America.It is introduced to Japan, Nansei-Shoto, Kirgizistan, the Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia, Southeastern Europe, Sardegna, and Hawaii (POWO, 2024;WFO, 2024).
Use: Use as a counter irritant for rheumatic pains (Cook, 1996).Notes: Ammannia senegalensis var.auriculata (Willd.)Hiern is a homotypic synonym.A. auriculata var.auriculata and A. auriculata var.bojeriana Koehne are the two accepted varieties of this species (POWO, 2024).Morphologically, A. auriculata seems similar to A. multiflora Roxb.However, it can be distinguished by its laxly flowered 14-16 inflorescences from the middle of the branches, 8-10 flowers per inflorescence, erect calyx in fruit, ca.1.8-2mm long petals, styles almost as long as ovary or longer, and capsules of 1.5-1.8(-2) mm in diameter, in contrast to A. multiflora's densely flowered, many inflorescences along the length of the branches, more than 10 flowers per inflorescence, reflexed fruiting calyx, up to 1 mm long petals, styles ca.1/2 as long as ovary, and capsules, ca.1.5 mm in diameter.
Ecology: Moist or wet soil, usually in rice field, temporary pools, beside streams and in wet pockets in rocks (Cook, 1996).
Use: Use as aquarium plant.
Key to the two newly recorded Rotala species: 1 Leaves 8-12 mm long, capsule surface semi-transparent and raised, seed straw colour R. malampuzhensis -Leaves 3-5 mm long, capsule surface non-transparent and even, seed brown colour R. ramosior