Checklist of the bryophytes of Tamil Nadu, India - Jan-Peter Frahm

ARCHIVE FOR BRYOLOGY 65 (2010)
Checklist of the bryophytes of Tamil Nadu, India
the East Coast there is a large tract of mangrove forests. Unfortunately, the forests in Tamil Nadu
are now fragmented, particularly those along the hill tracts due to the introduction of various
plantation crops such as coffee, tea and pine by the British as early as the beginning of the 19th
century. Plantations of Eucalyptus, Acacia, teak, rubber, Albizia and clove were also introduced by
the State Forest Department till the late 20th century. On the other hand, private estates have
contributed considerably to the destruction of the rich forests of the Western Ghats. Added to
these, holiday resorts, educational institutions, factories/industries, etc. have largely contributed to
the annihilation of these forests in a number of areas making them fragmentary. Thus, the forests
in Tamil Nadu have suffered destruction for over a century. This has led to a great loss of
biodiversity, particularly the lower groups of organisms, due to loss of habitats and an increasing
environmental pollution, and bryophytes are no exception. Consequently, the majority of
bryophytes have become threatened in Tamil Nadu (personal observation).
As no Conservation Assessment Management Plan (CAMP) has been done for any group of
bryophytes in India, the exact status of these plants is still not known. Hence, a bryophyte
checklist for Tamil Nadu can act as baseline information for the conservation of this group, for
bryologists and others interested in bryophytes.
History of bryophyte recording in Tamil Nadu
The present knowledge on the bryophytes of Tamil Nadu began with studies by European
bryologists during the 19th century. Montagne (1842a) reported 66 species of mosses from the
Nilgiri Hills (Tamil Nadu) in Cryptogamae Nilgherienses, and Müller (1853) reported 56 species
of mosses from the Nilgiris in Musci Neilgherrensis. Mitten (1859) reported over 700 species in
his Musci Indiae Orientalis, of which 145 were from Tamil Nadu, and Dixon (1914) reported 35
species from the state. From the Western Ghats of Madurai (Tamil Nadu), Potier de la Varde
(1922–1924) reported 48 species in his Musci Madurensis, 49 species in Nouvelles herborisations
dans le sud de l’Inde (1925) and 7 species in Musci novi Indici (1928). Dixon and Potier de la
Varde reported 80 species from India in their Contribution à la flore bryologique de l’Inde
meridionale (1927), and 56 species from Tamil Nadu in Nouvelle contribution à la flore
bryologique de l’Inde (1930). Foreau (1961, 1964) listed 368 species of mosses from the Palni
hills (W. Ghats of Madurai) which included 95 new species and 15 new varieties. Gangulee’s
invaluable Mosses of eastern India and adjacent regions (1969–1980) provides some information
on the habitats and distribution of south Indian mosses and occasionally mentions occurrences in
Tamil Nadu, though site names and collections data are usually lacking. Wadhwa (1969, 1971)
provided a partial species checklist with references to moss records from peninsula India,
including the Western Ghats and Nilgiris. More recent works include Matthew (1973) and
Mohamed (1981, 1982, 1984) on Rhodobryum commersonii (Schwägr.) Paris and R. aubertii
(Schwägr.) Thér. in South India, on Bryum wightii Mitt. and related species, and a synopsis of the
genus Rhodobryum in Asia respectively. Ochi (1985) published an annotated list of mosses of the
subfamily Bryoideae in South, Southeast and East Asia, Ellis (1989) made a revision on the genus
Calymperes in southern India and neighbouring islands. Lal (2005) published a checklist of Indian
mosses but did not specifically mention reports from Tamil Nadu, but rather collectively as 'South
India': these records are not cited in this checklist.
Similarly, the present knowledge of the liverworts and hornworts of Tamil Nadu began with
Montagne (1842b), who reported 34 species of liverworts from the Nilgiri Hills (Tamil Nadu) in
Cryptogamae Nilgherienses. Subsequently, Mitten (1861) reported 26 species from Tamil Nadu in
Hepaticae Indiae Orientalis. The works of Stephani (1900–1924), Benedix (1953), Chopra (1938),
Udar (1976), Udar and Srivastava (1975, 1977), Asthana and Srivastava (1991), Asthana et al.
(1995), Nath and Asthana (1998), Parihar et al., (1994), Singh (1994, 2002) and Srivastava and
Srivastava (2002), and many others, contain records of collections from India, among which are
records from Tamil Nadu.
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