Swertia cordata C. B. Clarke

Swertia cordata (G.Don) Wall. ex C.B.Clarke in J.D. Hooker, Fl. Brit. India 4: 123 (1883). (Figure 2 & 3). Ophelia cordata G.Don in Gen. Hist. 4: 178 (1837). Swertia patnitopiansis B.Singh, Phytotaxa 498: 273 (2021). syn. nov. Habitat:— The species grows in temperate forests as component of herbaceous layer and also common in grasslands. Phenology:— Vegetative phase occurs from May–July; flowering from August–September; fruiting from September–October. Specimens examined:— INDIA. Jammu and Kashmir, Jammu Province, Udhampur District, Patnitop Hill proper, 33.08°N, 75.33°E, elev. 2202 m, 16 October 2014, Bikarma Singh 52757 (S. patnitopiansis holotype: RRLH, isotype RRLH); Jammu Province, Udhampur District, 5 km upwards from Patnitop Hill, 33.102°N, 75.306°E, elev. 2092 m, 14 October 2016, Bikarma Singh 54298 (paratype: RRLH); Jammu Province, Udhampur District, Nathatop Hill, 33.096°N, 75.246°E, elev. 2607 m, 16 November 2017, Bikarma Singh 54259 (RRLH); Kashmir Province, Anantnag District, Pahalgam, Aru, 18 August 2022, Tajamul Islam, Anzar Ahmad Khuroo & Irshad A. Nawchoo 36647 (KASH); Kashmir Province, Anantnag District, Pahalgam, Overa, 16 August 2022, Tajamul Islam, Anzar Ahmad Khuroo & Irshad A. Nawchoo 36878 (KASH); Kashmir Province, Bandipora District, Badwan, Guraiz, July 1994, Showket 37064, 37065 (KASH); Kashmir Province, Bandipora District, Badwan, Guraiz, July 1994, Manzoor & Naqshi 37066 (KASH); Kashmir Province, Anantnag District, Lidderwat valley, Pahalgam, 07 July 2008, Akhtar H. Malik 30315 (KASH). Discussion:— Recently, several new species in genus Swertia have been described from India (Singh 2021; Wani et al. 2022; Islam et al. 2022; Banoo et al. 2022).The genus is highly polymorphic and strongly paraphyletic in relation to the other genera (Chassot et al. 2001), therefore, regional studies should be done carefully to describe a new species. For instance, recent studies described the S. angustifolia under different names based on material from different regions, such as Thailand (S. dielsiana Hosseus), China (S. esquirolii H.Lév.), and Myanmar (S. kachinensis Lace, and S. lacei Craib). Slight and unstable morphological variants were also recognized as distinct varieties, which are now treated as synonyms of S. angustifolia (Husain et al. 2020). Likewise, Kumar & Singh (2024) recognized a recently described species Lomatogonium madhmaheshwariansis (Singh et al. 2024) as a new synonym of Swertia alpina Bhattach. & Agrawal (1981: 36). Overall, our results revealed that the S. cordata and S. patnitopiansis closely resemble each other. Both grow in similar type of habitat and have similar habit (Figure 1B & 2A), subquadriangular stem (Figure 2A&B), petiolate, elliptic basal leaves which wither at anthesis (Figure 1B), sessile, broadly ovate cauline leaves with stem clasping, cordate base and acute apices (Figure 1B, 2A&B), pedicellate, pentamerous flowers, lanceolate sepals with acute apices, narrowly ovate-elliptic, white and dark purple tinged petals with acute apices, nectary 1 per corolla lobe, orbicular, up to 1 mm diameter, positioned near the base (Figure 2A,B, 3A,B&C), oblong anthers (Figure 3D&E), ellipsoid carpel with short style (Figure 3F), ellipsoid-narrowly ovoid, upto 5 mm long capsule (Figure 3G), and polyhedral, upto 1 mm diam seeds with rough surface and irregularly winged at one end (Figure 3H). Therefore, based on the findings of present study, S. patnitopiansis is recognized as a new synonym of S. cordata.