New Distributional Record of the Northernmost Myristica Swamp from the Western Ghats of Maharashtra

Myristica swamps are freshwater swamps represented by any of the members of the Myristicaceae family like Gymnacranthera canarica and Myristica fatua Houtt. var. magnifica^1,2. These are known to be the remnant of primeval forests of the Western Ghats with a history of over 140 million years². Myristica swamps were described from Travancore³, and later from the valleys of Sendurney, Kulathuppuzha and Anchal ranges from Southern Kerala⁴. Similar swamps were further reported from elsewhere in the Western Ghats^5-7 of Karnataka. The report of high endemism associated with the swamps^8-11 and the presence of red-listed species of plants in the myristica swamps^12,13 highlights the need to record and map these swamps in the Western Ghats. Owing to rich diversity, threats and endemism, Chandran et al.2 stressed on the efforts of locating such swampy relics. So far, the northernmost distribution of Myristica swamps in Western Ghats has been reported from ‘Nirankarachi Rai’, Bambar, Sattari taluka, Goa^14-16.