Tripogon bimucronatus (Poaceae: Chloridoideae: Tripogoninae), a new species from India K. Thoiba 1 , A.K. Pradeep 1 & C.N. Sunil 2 1 Department of Botany, University of Calicut, Kerala, 673635, India akpradeep1@rediffmail.com 2 Department of Botany, S.N.M. College, Maliankara, Kerala, 683516, India ABSTRACT. Tripogon bimucronatus Thoiba & Sunil, a new species of grass from the Nelliyampathy Hills, Palakkad District of Kerala, South India is described and illustrated. It is morphologically similar to Tripogon vellarianus Pradeep but differs by having adaxially scabrid, linear-acuminate leaves; ligules a fringe of hairs to 2.5 mm long; spikelets with 6–8 closely packed lorets; lower glume asymmetrical; upper glume awned; lemma awn scabrid; palea elliptic-lanceolate, apex bimucronate and notched at the centre. Keywords. Tripogon, Poaceae, new species, Kerala, South India Introduction The genus Tripogon Roem. & Schult. belongs to subtribe Tripogoninae Stapf, tribe Cynodonteae Dumort, subfamily Chloridoideae Kunth ex Beilschm. in the family Poaceae Barnhart (Peterson et al., 2010, 2014; Soreng et al., 2012). The genus comprises 44 species distributed in Africa, America, Australia, Temperate and Tropical Asia (Clayton et al., 2006 onwards). It is known to have 22 species in India, which includes six recently described species (Murugesan & Balasubramaniam, 2008; Newmaster et al., 2008; Kabeer et al., 2009; Chorghe et al., 2013; Thoiba & Pradeep, 2014). During an exploration along the Western Ghats of South India, an interesting specimen of Tripogon was collected from the hill slopes of the Nelliyampathy, Palakkad District of Kerala, South India. Critical study revealed it to be quite distinct from the remaining species of the genus and hence is described here as a new species, bringing the total number of Tripogon species for India to 23. It is closely allied to Tripogon vellarianus Pradeep (Pradeep & Sunil, 1999) but can easily be distinguished (Table 1). Tripogon bimucronatus Thoiba & Sunil, sp. nov. It is very similar to Tripogon vellarianus Pradeep but differs in having adaxially scabrid, linear-acuminate, ribbed leaves, ligules being hairy at the ends of leaf sheaths, with the hairs reaching up to 2.5 mm; spikelets with 6–8 closely packed lowers; the lower glume being asymmetrical, and the apex of upper glume awned; lemma 1-awned, scabrid, straight or geniculate; palea elliptic-lanceolate, apex bimucronate and notched 151 Gardens’ Bulletin Singapore 67(1): 151–157. 2015 doi: 10.3850/S2382581215000162