Volume 27, Issue 80, July - December, 2026

Lagenandra dominicii (Araceae), a new species from south Western Ghats, India

Saranya Jaya^1,3, Jose Mathew^1,3♦ & Pichan Mohammed Salim²

¹Department of Botany, Sanatana Dharma College, Alappuzha – 688003, Kerala, India
²MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, Puthurvayal, Kalpetta, Wayanad – 673577, Kerala, India
³Research Department of Botany, University of Kerala, Karyavattom, Thiruvananthapuram – 695581, Kerala, India

^♦Corresponding Author
Jose Mathew, Department of Botany, Sanatana Dharma College, Alappuzha – 688003, Kerala, India

ABSTRACT

A new species of Lagenandra (Family: Araceae, Tribe: Cryptocoryneae), L. dominicii from Silent Valley National Park, a part of the South Western Ghats, is described. The new species is related to L. kunkichirimuseumensis and L. meeboldii by the foliar morphology and ecological preferences, but is clearly distinct from the former by the smooth spathe with a coiled upper limb portion and reduced pistillate zone, and from the latter by a tail-less spathe limb and highly reduced pistillate part. This paper presents the diagnostic morphological characters, distribution, and images of the new species.

Keywords: New species, Silent Valley National Park, Kerala

Species, 2026, 27(80), e21s3301

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Published: 18 August 2026