A NEW SPECIES OF THE PHYLLANTHUS VASUKII SP. NOV. (PHYLLANTHACEAE)-FROM SOUTHERN EASTERN GHATS OF INDIA

Parthipan, M. 1 , * Rajendran. A 1 , K. Arumugasamy 2 , H. L. Jemimma 2 and G.Thirumaran 3 . 1. Phytodiversity Research Laboratory, Department of Botany, School of Life Sciences. 2. Kongunadu Arts & Sciences College, Department of Botany, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore641 046. Tamil Nadu, India. 3. Kanthaswamy Kanda’s College, Velur. Tamil Nadu. ...................................................................................................................... Manuscript Info Abstract ......................... ........................................................................ Manuscript History

A new taxaon, Phyllanthus vasukii sp. nov., is described from the Southern Eastern Ghats. A detailed description, Phenology, Anatomical Characters, Micromorphology of seeds, Distribution and Ecology notes and IUCN status are provided for easy identification. Most Phyllanthaceae, are uniform with pinnate venation, entire margins and simple indumentums. Flowers are small and actinomorphic but display great diversity in shape, size and number of floral organs Kathriarachchi et al., 2006). The genus Phyllanthus L. was first described by Linnaeus in 1753 and consists of ca.833 species (Govaerts et al., 2000) in the world and is chiefly distributed in moist humid tropics. In India, it is represented by ca. 40 species (Henry & Santapau, 1973), although Hooker f. (1887) has recorded 56 species from the then British India. In total, 12 species of herbaceous Phyllanthus have been identified in India. Webster (1955Webster ( , 1956aWebster ( , b, 1957Webster ( , 1958Webster ( , 1967Webster ( , 1970Webster ( and 1994Webster and AiryShaw, 1971) has worked exhaustively on Phyllanthus and has provided detailed taxonomy. In course of botanical exploration of local region of Southern Eastern Ghats some exciting specimens of Phyllanthus were collected. After critical examination and perusal of literature, these specimens were determined as belong to a distinct new taxon of the genus Phyllanthus, which is being described here.

Materials and Method:-
The plant specimens for collected from various parts of South India and the variations among these two plants were studied using fresh materials as well as herbarium specimens. The morphological and anatomical characters were recorded by examining several specimens of each species with the help of stereomicroscope and inverted phasecontrast microscope, respectively. Details about the distribution, habitat, local name and uses were taken from literature, herbarium data bank and field studies. Anatomical studies were conducted by hand sectioning and stained with safranin stain and glycerine.

Etymology:
The new species is named in honour of DR.A.VASUKI, Secretary, Kongunadu Arts & Sciences College, Coimbatore for her significant contribution in the field of Science.
Distribution: Endemic to Tamil Nadu part of South India.

Conservation measures:
The significance of field research is the detection of novel additions to a floristic region, which subsequently improve our understanding of plant biogeography, species diversity. This species is extremely very rare and known only from type locality with limited population density. This should be included in the Red Data Book of Indian plants. The known localities have already covered by Eastern Ghats. However, the new plant should be propagated by using biotechnology method and also to conserve under ex-situ conditions.

Conclusion:-
In present study, we observed that Phyllanthus urinaria differ from Phyllanthus vasukii and by their height, and leaves numbers, stem,When touched, the leaves not in fold in automatically, Six capillary fruit. 6 dehiscent cocci in each fruit. Anatomical studies also confirmed the new species Phyllanthus vasukii by Nature of intercellular spaces large in leaf, Epidermal circumference in regular angular stem and oil ducts present in stem. Entirely different of number of root arrangement cells, etc. Micromorphology of seeds of features very different between of Phyllanthus vasukii and Phyllanthus urinaria. By this, we confirmed that Phyllanthus vasukii can be treated as a new species due to the presence of variation in both morphological, Micromorphology of seeds and anatomical characteristic features.