Ethnobryological notes from Western Ghats, India M. REMESH Centre for Research in Indigenous Knowledge Science and Culture (CRIKSC), Calicut, Kerala 673 006, India e-mail: remeshm@rediffmail.com C. N. MANJU (= MANJU C. NAIR) Corresponding author: Department of Botany, Calicut University, Kerala 673 635, India e-mail: manjucali@gmail.com ABSTRACT. Ethnobryological notes on the liverwort Targionia hypophylla to cure scabies, itches and other skin diseases by the Irula tribes and the leafy liverwort Frullania ericoides for head lice (Pediculus humanus) and nourishment of hair by the Mudugar tribes of Attappady, Western Ghats, Kerala are reported for the first time along with a note on the little-known medicinal bryophyte Bryum bicolor mentioned in Rheede’s Hortus Malabaricus published in the 17 th century. KEYWORDS. Ethnobryology, medicinal bryophytes, Western Ghats, Kerala, India. ¤ ¤ ¤ The term ethnobryology is rather young and denotes the use of bryophytes by indigenous peoples. The term was first coined by Seville Flowers in 1957 to denote the use of bryophytes by the Gosiute people of Utah (Harris 2008). The ethnomedicinal importance of bryophytes has received much attention very recently and many chemicals and secondary metabolites have been isolated from many liverworts, but the traditional use of species based on the doctrine of signatures is still practiced among indigenous tribes. When compared to pteridophytes, gymnosperms and angiosperms, bryophytes are used in smaller quantities for the multifarious requirements of man or their utilization aspects are little known. Recently, a detailed account on the ethnobryology of bryophytes in different parts of the world was compiled and documented by Harris (2008) who listed about 150 species. According to Harris the ethnic uses of bryophytes are mostly by Native North Americans (28%), followed by Chinese (27%). The first report on the traditional and ethnic uses of bryophytes in the Indian region, along with a detailed description and illustration, originally appeared in Hortus Malabaricus (Rheede tot Drakestein 1693). Although there was a report on a medicinal moss belonging to the Polytrichaceae in the materia medica of China during the 16 th century (Harris 2008), the medicinal uses given in Hortus Malabaricus deserve special mention. The book, published in Amsterdam during 1678–1693, is the oldest comprehensive printed book on the natural plant wealth of Asia and the tropics in the Latin language. It deals with plants of Malabar, in the central to northern part of Kerala State, and belonging to the Western Ghats. The chief informant for the medicinal uses mentioned in Hortus Malabaricus was a physician named Itty Achuthan, belonging to a caste of untouchables of the Malabar region. The ethnobryological aspect in Hortus Malabaricus The Bryologist 112(3), pp. 532–537 0007-2745/09/$0.75/0 Copyright E 2009 by The American Bryological and Lichenological Society, Inc.