Taiwania, 52(3): 216-237, 2007
Taxonomic Study of Endemic Species of Astragalus L. (Fabaceae) of India
Lal Babu Chaudhary
(1, 2)
, Kumar Kamal Anand and Ravi Srivastava
(1)
(1)
(Manuscript received 8 January, 2007; accepted 20 May, 2007) ABSTRACT: The goal of the study is to provide a comprehensive taxonomic account of 12 endemic species of Astragalus occurring in India. The north-west Himalayan region harbors more endemic species (11 spp.) than eastern Himalaya where only two species have been noticed from Sikkim. Jammu & Kashmir with seven species occupies first position in the list of endemic species. Five species are strictly confined to Jammu & Kashmir, while two species to Uttaranchal and one species to Sikkim. Only one species (A. tenuicaulis) is found in both the Himalayas, otherwise the elements of both the Himalayas are quite distinct from each other. Most of the endemic species of Astragalus have been observed quite rare in the nature except A. uttaranchalensis. In the present investigation, A. turgidus, a newly described species from Jammu & Kashmir, has been found conspecific to A. kashmirensis. For each species nomenclature, description, distribution, phenology, taxonomic notes, list of the investigated materials, distribution map and figures are given. A new combination A. falconeri var. pilosus (Ali) Chaudhary has been proposed based on A. hoffmeisteri var. pilosus Ali. A new endemic species A. nainitalensis from Kumaon Himalaya has also been described here along with illustrations. KEY WORDS: Astragalus, Endemism, Fabaceae, India, new combination, new species.
INTRODUCTION
Astragalus L., as the largest genus in angiosperm in the world, comprises about 3000 species and 245 sections, distributed primarily in cold arid and semiarid mountainous region of the Northern Hemisphere and South America. The genus is most diversified in the Irano-Turkish region of southwestern Asia (ca. 1500 spp.), the Sino-Himalayan Plateau of south central Asia (ca. 500 spp.), the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau of western North America (ca. 400-450 spp.) and the Andes in South America (ca. 100 spp.). In addition, many Astragalus species are distributed in Mediterranean climatic region along the pacific coasts of North and South America and in southern Europe and northern Africa (Polhill, 1981; Podlech, 1986, 1998; Zarre and Podlech, 1997; Wojciechowski et al., 1999; Kazempour Osaloo et al., 2003; Lock and Schrire, 2005). In the recent years more emphasis has been given on the study of RET (rare, endangered and threatened) species at world wide for the ___________________________________________

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