TAXONOMY AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE PODOSTEMACEAE IN KERALA, INDIA

The taxonomy and distribution of the Podostemaceae of Kerala are descr ibed with figures and maps. Nine genera and 13 species are included. K erala is the southwestern state of India. Most rivers of Kerala origin ate in the Western Ghats. Two genera that occur in the state (Dalzelli a, Indotristicha) represent subfamily Tristichoideae, whereas the rema ining seven represent subfamily Podostemoideae. Four species (Dalzelli a zeylanica (Gardn.) Wight, Farmeria metzgerioides (Trimen) Willis, Po dostemum subulatum Gardn. and Zeylanidium olivaceum (Gardn.) Engl.) ar e restricted to southern India and Sri Lanka. A new combination, namel y; Podostemum munnarense (Nagendran & Arekal) Mathew & Satheesh is mad e herein. Two species (Podostemum munnarense, Zeylanidium maheshwarii Mathew & Satheesh) are endemic to one locality each in Kerala. Six spe cies are restricted to western or southern India (Indotristicha ramosi ssima (Wight) Van Royen, Farmeria indica Willis, Griffithella hookeria na (Tul.) Warm., Hydrobryopsis sessilis (Willis) Engl., Polypleurum st ylosum (Wight) J.B. Hall and Willisia selaginoides (Bedd.) Warm. ex Wi llis). Zeylanidium lichenoides (Kurz.) Engl. has a broad distribution. The extensive morphological variability of Polypleurum stylosum is di scussed. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.