A note on taxonomy and genetic resource potential of Oryza meyeriana var. Indandamanica, a rare wild relative of rice from the Andaman Islands

The narrow endemic taxon, Oryza meyeriana (Zoll. & Moritzi) Baill. var. indandamanica (J.L. Ellis) Veldkamp, was often merged with either O. meyeriana (Zoll. & Moritzi) Baill. or O. granulata Nees & Arn. ex Watt. or all three taxa were subsumed to O. meyeriana. A critical analysis of protologues, herbarium specimens and earlier taxonomic works pertaining to these three taxa coupled with the detailed morphological study of germplasm (IC641181) of var. indandamanica, which was originally collected from the Saddle Peak National Park of the North Andaman Island, was undertaken. Morphological studies indicated that var. indandamanica fell well within the circumscription of var. meyeriana. However, chloroplast genome sequence data reveals its closeness towards var. granulata, compared with var. meyeriana. Our views agree to the merger of all these three taxa into one are presented. Also, the genetic resource potential of the studied accession is discussed.