Notes on Laportea aestuans (L.) Chew (Urticaceae): A new threat to Indian flora

The genus Laportea Gaudichaud belonging to the family Urticaceae comprises ca. 22 species, two species of which viz. L. interrupta and L. bulbifera are found growing in India (1). A third species namely L. aestuans is reported for the first time in the country, from Kollam district in Kerala. The species was so far known to occur in Tropical Africa from Senegal eastward to Eritea and southward to Angola, Zimbabwe and Mozambique and in Madagascar, Yemen, Aldabra and neighbouring Islands, Tropical Asia, Tropical America, West Indies, Arabia, Sumatra, Java, Indonesia and Taiwan. This exotic species becomes a nuisance as it invades and surmounts the native biodiversity in the local ecosystem. This may lead to severe degradation of the existing vegetation altering the ecological fabric of the region as a whole. The impact is the homogenization resulting in the extermination of the local flora. The species is described and illustrated.