Abstract
The paper deals with 15 grass species that have been wrongly reported in various earlier publications as occurring in Tamil Nadu. This lapse is due to wrong identifications and wrong interpretation of the word ‘Madras’ appearing on old collections and in literature. Various early collectors and authors used this word to mean different geographical areas, viz. (i) Madras Presidency of British period comprising most of Southern India (ii) Madras State of India after independence comprising present day Tamil Nadu, parts of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala (iii) the present day Tamil Nadu (old name Madras State) and (iv) the present day Chennai city (old name Madras City). This has created utter confusion about the actual distribution of these and many such plants. A detailed search and study of materials available in all relevant herbaria and critical evaluation of earlier literature revealed that the species mentioned in this paper even though reported as occurring in Tamil Nadu has never ever been collected from that area. The present paper aims at setting the records straight so that further confusion can be avoided.
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