ANNALS OF PLANT SCIENCES ISSN: 2287-688X OPEN ACCESS www.annalsofplantsciences.com ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE *Corresponding Author: Dr. Bimal Debnath, Assistant Professor, Department of Forestry and Biodiversity, Tripura University, Suryamaninagar – 799022, Agartala, Tripura, India. E-mail: bimalbc@rediffmail.com http://dx.doi.org/10.21746/aps.2016.06.003 Copyright 2016 Page | 1360 Two species of Amaryllidaceae, new distributional record for Tripura, North East India. Dipan Sarma and Bimal Debnath* Plant Diversity and Forest Biotechnology Laboratory, Department of Forestry and Biodiversity, Tripura University, Suryamaninagar-799022, Tripura, Northeast India. Received: July 10, 2016; Accepted: July 18, 2016. Introduction Tripura, foot Himalayan state of North-East India is well known for its rich floral and faunal diversity. It is situated in between 22º 56ʹ N to 24º 32ʹ N latitude and 90º 09ʹ E to 92º 20ʹ E longitude with a forest cover about 60% out of the 10497.69 sq. km of the total land area of the state. The average annual rainfall of the state ranges from 1700mm to 2100mm and temperature varies from 7º- 37ºC. Physiographically the state is hilly terrain with distinct five hill ranges running parallel to each other from North-South, which supports lavish growth of plant diversity. About 86% of the species occurring in the state are widely distributed in India and neighboring countries. The remaining 14% plant species are comparatively restricted in distribution in Tripura (Deb, 1983). Now, the extensive field survey is conducted throughout the state to prepare a medicinal plant database of the state. During our survey throughout the state and consultation with the relevant literature it was observed that so far two species namely, Hymenocallis littoralis (Jacq.) Salisb. and Crinum latifolium L. of Amaryllidaceae have not been reported from Tripura. Therefore, the present study clearly indicates the new addition of these species to the flora of Tripura. The family Amaryllidaceae includes more than 75 genera and about 1100 species in which the genus Hymenocallis contains about 70 species (Zhong 2013). Only one species, Hymenocallis littoralis was reported from Southern part of India by BSI, but its distribution in Tripura was missing. Hymenocallis is distributed throughout the state in Tripura as both as ornamental and in wild state. Crinum is one of the largest genera in the family Amaryllidaceae, represented by 113 species, 2 sub- species and 4 varieties in the world (Govaerts, 2014). The genus Crinum is represented by 15 species in India, of which 4 are endemic to Western Ghats, viz. C. brachynema Herb., C. malabaricum Lekhak & S.R. Yadav, C. wattii Baker, C. woodrowii Baker ex W. Watson. (Yadav, 1997; Gaikwad & Yadav, 2004). But in Tripura only two species viz. C. defixum Ker Gawl. and C. pretense Herb. were documented under the family Amaryllidiaceae by D. B. Deb, (1983). The presence of C. latifolium has not mentioned so far. Methodology The intensive survey was done on the distribution, population status, ecology and their use of medicinal flora in the state of Tripura. The voucher specimens were collected and standard taxonomic methods have been used for drying, and further processing of the specimens (Jain & Rao, 1977) for the preparation of the herbarium sheets, which were deposited in the Department of Forestry and Biodiversity, Tripura University with a proper voucher specimen number for the preparation of medicinal database of the state. The fresh plant specimens have been identified using regional flora (D. B. Deb, 1981 & 1983) and other published research works, relevant online e-flora (eFlora of China), Flora of Telangana (Pullaiah, 2015). Hymenocallis littoralis (Jacq.) Salisb.: Terrestrial, upright, perennial herbs with underground large onion like bulbs, often rhizomes, about 1-1.5 m high. Leaves fleshy, basal rosette, simple, linear- lanceolate, entire, venation parallel, 6-12 cm wide and 25-70 cm long, erect or arching, distantly spreading, bright green, deciduous, apex acute. Inflorescence umbellate cymes, bracteate, subtended by spathe-like bracts, inflorescence borne on a leaf less long scape, scape Abstract: The present studies provided the new distribution record of two species, Hymenocallis littoralis and Crinum latifolium of Amaryllidaceae from Tripura. These species, so far have not been recorded previously from Tripura. Both the species have ethnomedicinal usages. The plants were collected, identified with the help of various flora and available database. This communication highlighted brief description, proper citation, medicinal uses, distribution pattern, phenological observation, and photographs of the species. Key words: Amaryllidaceae; New records; Tripura; Ethno-medicinal usage.