Abstract
Madhuca balakrishnanii (Sapotaceae), a new species from Kerala is here described with photographs. It is most closely similar to M. diplostemon and M. insignis but differs in having long stipules, sparsely hairy pedicels, abaxially hairy inner sepals, shorter corolla tubes with oblong lobes, fairly long densely hairy staminal filaments, shorter styles and ovoid fruits. The IUCN conservation status, ecology, distribution and phenology along with a key for the identification of Madhuca species in the Western Ghats is provided.
References
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<p>Clarke, C.B. (1882) Sapotaceae.<em> In: </em>Hooker, J.D. (Ed.) <em>Flora of British India</em> 3. L. Reeve and Co., London, 712 pp.</p>
<p>Gamble, J.S. (1921) <em>Flora of the Presidency of Madras </em>2. Adlard & Co., London, 533 pp.</p>
<p>Gmelin, J.F. (1791) <em>Systema Naturae</em> 2. Georg Emanuel Beer, Leipzig, 884 pp.</p>
<p>Hooker, J.D. (1879) <em>Flora of British India </em>2. L. Reeve & Co., London, 792 pp.</p>
<p>Houttuyn, M. (1774) <em>Natuurlijke Historie of Uitvoerige Beschrijving der Dieren, Planten en Mineraalen</em> II [Planten] 2. Amsterdam, 688 pp.</p>
<p>IUCN (2020) <em>IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. </em>Version 2020.1. Available from: www.iucnredlist.org. (accessed 11 April 2020)</p>
<p>Lam, H.J. (1925) The Sapotaceae of the Dutch East Indies. <em>Bulletin du Jardin Botanique de Buitenzorg </em>[Bogor], Ser.III, 7: 173–218.</p>
<p>Lamarck, J.-B. & Poiret, J.-L.-M. (1789) <em>Encyclopédie méthodique. Botanique</em>. Tom. 3. Paris, Liège, Panckoucke, Plomteux, viii + 759 pp.</p>
<p>Linnaeus, C. (1753) <em>Species Plantarum </em>1. Laurentii Salvii, Stockholm, 560 pp.</p>
<p>Mabberley, D.J. (2017) <em>Mabberley’s Plant Book</em>: <em>A portable dictionary of plants, their classification and uses</em>. Fourth edition, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316335581</p>
<p>Merrill, E.D. (1938) A critical consideration of Houttuyn’s new genera and new species of plants 1773–1783. <em>Journal of the Arnold Arboretum</em> 19 (4): 291–375.</p>
<p>Nayar, M.P. & Sastry, A.R.K. (1990) <em>Red data book of Indian plants</em> 3. Botanical Survey of India, Calcutta, 271 pp.</p>
<p>Nayar, T.S., Beegam, A.R. & Sibi, M. (2014) <em>Flowering plants of the Western Ghats</em>, <em>India </em>1. Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute, Palode, 934 pp.</p>
<p>POWO (2020) Plants of the World Online. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet: http://plantsoftheworldonline.org/ (accessed 11 April 2021)</p>
<p>Rakesh, K. (1993) <em>Taxonomic Studies on Indian Sapotaceae. </em>Ph.D. Thesis (unpublished), University of Calcutta, Kolkata, 348 pp.</p>
<p>Radlkofer, L. (1882) Ueber die Zurückführung von Omphalocarpum zu den Sapotaceen und dessen Stellung in dieser Familie. <em>Sitzungsberichte der mathematisch-physikalischen Classe der KB Akademie der Wissenschaften zu München</em> 12: 265–344.</p>
<p>Royen Van, P. (1960) Revision of the Sapotaceae of the Malaysian area in a wider sense XX, <em>Madhuca </em>Gmel. <em>Blumea </em>10: 1–117.</p>
<p>Shailajakumari, S., Kumar, E.S.S., Sreekala, A.K., Parthipan, B. & Prakashkumar, R. (2020) Rediscovery of <em>Madhuca diplostemon</em> (Sapotaceae) - a threatened species of the Western Ghats, India, after a hiatus of 184 years. <em>Rheedea</em> 30 (3): 383–387. https://doi.org/10.22244/rheedea.2020.30.03.03</p>
<p>Swenson, U. & Anderberg, A.A. (2005) Phylogeny, character evolution, and classification of Sapotaceae (Ericales). <em>Cladistics </em>21: 101–130. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-0031.2005.00056.x</p>
<p>Thiers, B. (2020) [continuously updated] <em>Index Herbariorum: a global directory of public 22 herbaria and associated staff. </em>New York Botanical Garden’s Virtual Herbarium. Available at: http://sweetgum.nybg.org/science/ih/ (accessed 20 August 2020)</p>