A checklist of Berberidaceae in Uttarakhand , Western Himalaya , India

In India, Berberidaceae is represented by three genera and 68 species. The largest among genera is Berberis (55 species). Majority of Berberidaceae members are distributed in the Himalayan region. Only four species are found away from the Himalayan region, i.e., Nilgiri hills, Chhota Nagpur and Pachmarhi hills of Madhya Pradesh. Extensive surveys were conducted in various ecoclimatic zones of Uttarakhand between years of 2008 and 2010. For each species encountered, field notes were taken along with the voucher specimen following standard technique. During field survey, field notes, date, locality, habitat and brief identification features were noted. A checklist of 36 taxa of Berberidaceae recorded from the state of Uttarakhand, India, is provided. Of these, 32 belong to genus Berberis and four belong to genus Mahonia . The present study shows that Berberis hamiltoniana Ahrendt and Berberis apiculata Ahrendt are new records for Uttarakhand state. Berberis lambertii Parker has been rediscovered after a century gap. Nomenclature has been updated as far as possible with the help of available recent taxonomic literature.

Vulgaris and Section Ulicinae is represented by single species, and 13 species of Mahonia are found in India (Rao and Hajra 1993;Rao et al. 1998a, b). Berberidaceae is represented by two genera, Berberis and Mahonia, in the state of Uttarakhand. The family is represented by four sections of genus Berberis (24 species) and Mahonia (3 species) (Rao et al. 1998a, b).
The State of Uttarakhand is reported to have 24 species of Berberis including all varieties and sub-species; about 32 distinct taxa are found in the State (Rao et al. 1998a, b). Six species of genus Berberis and one species of Mahonia are endemic to the state of Uttarakhand. Further, 14 taxa of Berberis are common with Nepal and 20 taxa are common with Western Himalaya. At the same time, several species have a number of eco-types and provenances. Of these, six species are endemic to the State (Rao et al. 1998a, b;Uniyal et al. 2007). According to the Red Data Book of Indian plants, Berberis lambertii is Vulnerable, B. affinis and B. osmastonii are Rare (Nayar and Sastry 1988) and Berberis rawatii falls in the 'Endangered' (EN) B1 a.b (v) category (Tiwari and Adhikari 2011). All these four species are endemic to a few pockets.
There has not been any systematic study on Berberidaceae in Uttarakhand. General collection of plants included Berberidaceae, mentioned in various treatises. All these taxonomic works in Uttarakhand gave a brief account on the occurrence, altitudinal range, habitat and phenology of Berberidaceae. However, most of these works either are on past collections or are based on short surveys. Hence, this study was undertaken with a view to bring out a comprehensive account on taxonomy of Berberidaceae of Uttarakhand.

Study site
The state of Uttarakhand lies in the eastern most part of the Western Himalaya within the vast east west expanse of the Himalayan range. Situated between 28°53'24" -31°27'50" N, 77°34'27" -81°02'22" E, it occupies an area of 53,483 km², which accounts for about 1.62% of the total area of the country (Figure 1). The region is predominantly mountainous with exceptions in the South, where plains areas occur along the foothills. The altitude ranges from 300 m to 7,817 m (Nanda Devi peak). The climate of Uttarakhand varies from subtropical to alpine. It is relatively cool and humid compared to rest of the Western Himalaya. Except inner dry ranges, much of the state receives high precipitation during monsoon and heavy snow during winter at higher altitudes (> 2,000 m). Champion and Seth (1968)  The state has approximately one third of its area under alpine region, which is very rich in herbaceous species, including several terrestrial orchids. This diversity of vegetation types harbours growth of ecologically diverse Berberis species in the state.

Data collection
Extensive surveys were conducted in various ecoclimatic zones of Uttarakhand between years of 2008 and 2010. For each species encountered, field notes were taken along with the voucher specimen following standard technique (Jain and Rau 1977). During the field survey, field notes, date, locality, habitat and brief identification features were noted. The following herbaria and libraries Accepted names are provided in italicised, boldfaced and basionyms in italicized font. The list is arranged according to the classification given by Rao et al. (1998 a, b). Citation of authors' names follows Brummitt and Powell (1992). Habit for each species has been provided after the author citation. Collector numbers are provided  (Rao et al. 1998 a, b).
Habitat: It is found in Kharsu aOak and Kharsu Mixed forest at cool temperate zone in the State, 2300-3000 m in Western Himalaya (Rao et al. 1998a).
Habitat: This species is very common in Open canopy cover and 10-30% forest cover at an altitude range between 2200 to 3200 m. Habitat: This species is common at an elevation of 1500-3000 m in Western Himalaya above 30% forest cover. Flowering and fruiting: May-October (Rao et al. 1998a).
Habitat: This species is very common in above 30% forest cover at an altitude range between 1550 to 3300 m. Flowering and fruiting: May-October (Rao et al. 1998a).
Habitat: Status is not known and its distribution in the State is ambiguous, Himalayas, 2700-3500 m (Rao et al. 1998a).
for each species. The voucher specimens in the form of herbarium sheets have been deposited at WII.

Results and Discussion
Perusal of literature and past collections housed in the national herbaria revealed that Berberidaceae was represented by two genera, 27 species and nine subspecies in the state of Uttarakhand (Tiwari and Adhikari 2011). Detailed floristic survey and taxonomic evaluation revealed that this state has as many as 36 taxa, which is the highest number for any of the Himalayan states ( Table  1). Populations of two endemic species, B. lambertii and B. ahrendtii, have been located and collected after a gap of 100 years. After proper investigation of Rao et al. (1998), Uniyal et al. (2007) and Tiwari and Adhikari (2011), it was indicated that Berberis apiculata and B. hamiltoniana are two new species records for Uttarakhand state. Further Berberis lambertii and Berberis ahrendtii has been rediscovered after a century gap. It was observed that many species like Berberis lambertii have not been recollected after their first report and some are reported but their occurrence in Uttarakhand seems very doubtful. Some species like Berberis petiolaris var. garhwalana, Berberis pachyacantha subsp. zabeliana, Berberis petiolaris var. extensa and Berberis affinis are of doubtful occurrence as they have not been collected during the present work. Species like Berberis cretica, Berberis concinna var. breviora and Berberis floribunda have been added on the authority of Ahrendt (1961). Mahonia borealis has been added on the authority of Takeda (1917).
With this study 24 taxa of Berberidaceae were collected and their morphology and ecotypes' variation were studied. This is a first kind of work for the State. 12 taxa were not collected from field and their taxonomy and status is ambiguous. Flowering and fruiting: October (Rao et al. 1998a) Altitudinal range: 2500-2800 m (Rao et al. 1998) Habitat: Status is not known and its distribution in the State is ambiguous, Himalayas, 2500-2800 m (Rao et al. 1998).
Flowering and fruiting: May-June.
Habitat: Status is not known and its distribution in the State is ambiguous, Himalayas, 2500-3200 m (Rao et al. 1998).
Flowering and fruiting: May-June.
Flowering and fruiting: May-August.
Habitat: It is common in subalpine and alpine meadows at an altitudinal range between 2850-4000 m. Flowering and fruiting: April-October.
Habitat: Open canopy in Kharsu Mixed and Banj Oak forests near Pangarbassa and Bairangana village in Chamoli district.
Flowering and fruiting: May-September.
Habitat: It has distribution in Subtropical to Temperate zone in Garhwal Himalaya.
Altitudinal range: 1500-2700 m (Rao et al. 1998) Habitat: Status is not known and its distribution in the State is ambiguous. Flowering and fruiting: February-July.

16) Berberis lycium var. subfascicularis Ahrendt
Altitudinal range: 1500-2700 m (Rao et al. 1998) Habitat: Status is not known and its distribution in the State is ambiguous.
Habitat: Status is not known and its distribution in the State is ambiguous.

Berberis
Angulosae Jaeschkeane Endangered (CR). It has extremely patchy distribution and small population. It is a perennial shrub, 0.5 to 1 m high with a few branches. It has only two populations between Ratapani and Humidhura (N -