ERIOCAULON MEENACHILENSE, A NEW TUBEROUS SPECIES OF ERIOCAULACEAE FROM THE SOUTHERN WESTERN GHATS, INDIA Author P Balan, Anoop Author Aloor Jose, Robi text Edinburgh Journal of Botany 2021 2021-03-09 78 336 1 8 http://dx.doi.org/10.24823/ejb.2021.336 journal article 286816 10.24823/EJB.2021.336 f177d259-71f3-4871-bbce-7c9e74dd3722 1747-0036 10591017

Table. Comparison of the diagnostic morphological characters of Eriocaulon meenachilense sp. nov., E. idukkianum and E. tuberiferum

Character	E. meenachilense	E. idukkianum	E. tuberiferum
Rootstock	Absent	Present	Absent
Root tubers	2 or 3, hairy	Single, glabrous	2–15, hairy
Leaves	Linear-subulate, up to 3.5 cm long, 0.2 cm broad	Linear-oblong, up to 7 cm long, 0.4 cm broad	Linear-lanceolate, up to 5 cm long, 0.5 cm broad
Peduncle	Solitary, 6-angled, up to 20 cm long	1–9, 4-angled, up to 26 cm long	1–3, 4-angled, up to 10 cm long
Sheath	Up to 3 cm long	Up to 6 cm long	Up to 6 cm long
Heads	About 6 mm across, white	About 10 mm across, white	About 9 mm across, black or grey
Receptacle	Glabrous	Pilose	Glabrous
Involucral bracts	Inflexed, up to 1.5 mm long	Reflexed, up to 3.5 mm long	Reflexed, 2.5 mm long
Male sepals	Free	Free	Spathaceously fused except at the extreme tip
Male and female petals	Eglandular	With black gland	With black gland
Anthers	Yellow	White	White
Seeds	Yellow, appendages absent	Brown, appendages absent	Purple, cells of seed coat transversely elongated with ribbon-like bands