MISCELLANEOUS NOTES ACKNOWLEDGEMENT FI:January. Fr: September. The materials collected from an evergreen forest near I am grateful for guidance and help from Prof. M.R. Almeida and Dr. (Mrs.) S.M. Almeida in the preparation of the Amboli-Chaukul border are preserved and deposited at BlatterHerbarium.(SpecimensNo.BGG 1050,2628). thisarticle. ThereisnoreportofthisspeciesfromthepresentState January22,2002 BALKRISHNA G. GAVADE of Maharashtra. Nor are there any specimens in Blatter BlatterHerbarium,St.Xavier’sCollege, Herbarium,Mumbai. MahapalikaMarg,Mumbai400001, India. 30. LEPTOLEJEUNEA BALANSAE STEPH. (HEPATICAE: JUNGERMANN1ALES) - A NEW RECORD OF BRYOFLORA FROM THE INDIAN MAINLAND The WesternGhatsinpeninsularIndia-recognizedas Leptolejeuneabalansae,afolicolousliverwort,earlierknown one ofthe richest biodiversity hotspots in the world - has to occur only in the Andamans in India (Pande et al. 1957; been studied well for flowering plants. The Tirunelveli- Awasthi 1986) was recorded from the study area. A detailed Travancore hills, located at the southern end ofthe Western description and an illustration are provided. Ghats and lying in the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala Leptolejeunea balansae Steph. in Hedwigia 35: 105. respectively, are perhaps the richest in the Western Ghats. 1896& Sp. Hepat. 5: 377. 1913; Pandeetal. inJ. Indian Bot. The flowering plants, and ferns and their allies have been Soc. 36: 345. 1957; U.S. Awasthi in J. Indian Bot. Soc. 65: welldocumented,butlowergroupsremaingreatlyneglected. 119.1986 (Fig. 1). Thereforewebegancollectingthe bryophytesofthe Western Plants dioecious, folicolous, closely appressed to the mm Ghats ofTirunelveli and Kanyakumari districts, three years substratum, 2-10 long, green. Leaves distant, spreading ago, with the intention of compiling an inventory. obliquely,slipper-shaped,0.35-0.4x0.17-0.19mm,entirealong Fig. 1: LeptolejeuneabalansaeSteph.;A Leafshowingthalli, B. Thalluswithantheridia, C Leafwithlobuleshowingtheupperocellus, D Leafwithoutlobuleshowingboththeocelli, E & F Underleaves, G Leafcellswithanocellus, H. Leafcellswithoilbodies, I leafapex J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 101 (2), May-Aug 2004 333 MISCELLANEOUS NOTES the margins, 2-dentate towards the apex on the ventral side; Thisdensity isconsiderably lowerthanthatoftheAndamans marginalcells 13-15x 14-16 pmmediancells20-22x 16-18 pm; specimens.ThelargersizeoftheAndamansspecimens(plants basal cells 23-25 x 19-21 pm; walls 3-gonous, hyaline, with measuringupto 15 mm, leaflobes0.48-0.64x0.17-0.32mm, nodular thickenings in between; oil bodies 2-5 per cell, leafcells 12-52 x 16-29 pm and ocelli 50-71 x29-33 pm) is roundedorelongate,5-7 pm,granular,translucent,green;ocelli perhaps dueto thehigherannual rainfall and humidity inthe 2perleaf; apicalonec. 30x20 pm;basalonec. 33 x21 pm; Andamans than in the Western Ghats. lobulesabouthalfas longastheleaves,toothed. Underleaves Specimens examined: India, Andaman Islands, prope deeply2-lobed;lobesdistant,widelyspreading;cells2-seriate Port Blair, 1895,E.H. Mans.n. prope PortBlair, 1895,E.H. ; at the base, uniseriate above; base somewhat quadrate, Mans.n. (G).TamilNadu,Kanyakumaridist.,W.Ghats,Upper c.0.04x0.15 mm;centralzonewith atuftofhyalinerhizoids. Kodaiyar, evergreen forests, epiphyllous on Elaeocarpus Antheridia terminal, on the main stem or lateral branches venustus tree, c. 1,250 m, 9.xi.2000, A.E.D. Daniels 1218; towardsapex,c. 60 pm, lightbrown. Femaleplantsnotseen. 24.viii.2001M.ED.Daniels 1802(MH,SCCN). (Notseen byearlierworkers either,videAwasthi l.c.). Habitat: Grows on the upper surface of leaves of ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Elaeocarpus venustus Bedd. (Elaeocarpaceae), a large evergreentree. Elaeocarpusvenustusisendemictothestudy We thank the Director, BSI, Kolkata for facilities, the area and adjoining areas in Kerala and is known by a small TamilNaduStateForestDepartmentforpermissiontoexplore population (Henry and Swaminathan 1978). It has been the study area. Dr. M. Price, Curator ofBryophytes (G), for categorized as a vulnerable (Nayar 1996) and endangered loanoftheAndamansmaterial,Dr.N.P.Balakrishnan,formerly species(GopalanandHenry2000). Weobserved 10treesina Joint Director, BSI, Coimbatore, for his expert help in swampyarea. identifyingthe host plants from the Andamans and Dr. D.K. Though earlier workers described L. balansae as Singh,JointDirector,BSI, DehraDun,foracriticalreadingof folicolous, there is no mention ofthe host species. In the themanuscript.A.E.D.D. isgratefultoMr.J.R. Irwin,fonnerly Andamans material examined by us, in one collection the Forest Range Officer, for accompanying him during the hostplantisafernAngiopterisevecta(Forst.)Hoffrn., and in explorations, Mr. S. Nelson, formerly Land Development the other it is a dicot Heritiera littoralis Dryand Officer, for transport facilities and Dr. A.D. Sobhanaraj, (Sterculiaceae),bothofwhicharewidespread. Inthepresent Principal, Scott Christiai College, Nagercoil, for study, so far, the endemic E. venustus is the only known encouragement. host. Inthefirstcollectionofabout50 leavesfromabranch, only one had 3 plants, most measuring less than 6 mm. In January22,2002 A.E.D. DANIELS 1 the second collection of about 100 leaves from a branch, Botany Department, onlyonehad 15plantsmeasuringlessthan6mm.Asaresult, ScottChristianCollege, finding the plant seems a matter of chance despite one’s Nagercoil629003, best efforts. TamilNadu,India. Distribution: india: Andaman IslandsandTamilNadu; Malaysia,ThailandandVietnam(Awasthi,l.c.). P. DANIEL Note: The host leaves ofthe Andamans material have Botanical SurveyofIndia, 110, 68 and 27 plants in an area of60, 52 and 61 sq. cm SouthernCircle,TNAUCampus, respectively, whereas the host leaves under study harbour LawleyRoadP.O.,Coimbatore641 003, 33 and 3 plants in an area of24 and 20 sq. cm respectively. TamilNadu, India. REFERENCES Awasthi, U.S. (1986): The genus Leptolejeunea (Spruce) Steph. in from south India. J. BombayNat. Hist. Soc. 76: 373-376. India. J Indian Bot. Soc. 65: 1 17-123. Nayar, M.P. (1996): Hotspots ofendemic plants ofIndia, Nepal and Gopalan, R.&A.N. Henry(2000): EndemicplantsofIndia:CAMPfor Bhutan. Trivandrum. thestrictendemicsofAgasthiyamalaihills,SW.Ghats.DehraDun. Pande,S.K.,K.P.Srivastava&S.Ahmad(1957):Epiphyllousliverworts Henry, A.N. & M.S. Swaminathan(1978): Rareorlittleknown plants ofIndia and Ceylon. J. Indian Bot. Soc. 36: 335-347. PrintedbyBro. LeoatSt. FrancisIndustrialTrainingInstitute,Borivli,Mumbai400 103 andpublishedonNovember30,2004, byRachelReuben forBombayNatural HistorySociety,Hornbill House,Dr. SalimAMChowk, ShaheedBhagatSingh Road,Mumbai400023,Maharashtra,India.