Transcontinental migration of Brazilian Adenostemma suffruticosum Gardner (Asteraceae) to India in the Northern Hemisphere Anurag Chowdhury, M. Chowdhury and A. P. Das 1 Plant Taxonomy & Environmental Biology Lab., University of North Bengal, Darjeeling, West Bengal, India E-mails: anuragchowdhury10@gmail.com; monomalda@,,,,,,,,,,; apdas.nbu@gmail.com 1 Corresponding author [Received revised 26.12.20 13; accepted 28.12.2013] Abstract Adenostemma suffruticosum Gardner (Asteracea) is basically an endemic plant of Brazil. Recently, it has been collected from Terai and Duars region of West Bengal in India recording its transcontinental migration to the Northern hemisphere. The species is now presented in this article with description, illustration and distribution map. The probable mode of its migration also has been discussed. Key words: Adenostemma suffruticosum, Distribution, New record, India INTRODUCTION During recent floristic exploration (2009 – 2013) in Terai and Duars region of West Bengal, two small populations of one unknown member of Asteraceae was collected from marshy vegetation of Teesta and Mahananda Barrage areas, which is now identified as Adenostemma suffruticosum Gardner (Asteraceae). So far our literature and e-herbaria survey, the species is known to grow only from Latin America, particularly in Brazil. Gardner (1847) recorded the species from ‘Near Nossa Senhora d’Abadia’, Brazil and published it in London Journal of Botany and the type specimens are preserved in Kew Herbarium (Hind 2012). After a long period, Eric Koiti Okiyama Hattori and Jimi Naoki Nakajima recorded this plant in Hoehnea from Panga Ecological Reserve, Uberlandia, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Adenostemma sufruticosum is an endemic and was known to grow only in the Northeastern and West-Central parts of Brazil, occurring in the states of Mato Grosso do Sul, Goiás, Minas Gerais and Distrito Federal. This species grows in moist or dry grassland and in semi-deciduous dry forest (Hattori & Nakajima 2011; Forzza 2010). In recent studies the species is found growing in the marginal areas of two wetlands in Terai-Duars areas of West Bengal in India. From literature survey it is established that there is no record of occurrence of this species in India even not from Asia. In fact, the occurrence of Adenostemma sufruticosum was known only from Brazil (Fig 1; www.discoverlife.org) situated in the southern hemisphere of the globe. The image of Gardner’s specimen in K, protologue description by Gardner (1847) and the descriptions presented in Baker (1876) and Hattori & Nakajima (2011) are Pleione 7(2): 589 - 593. 2013. ISSN: 0973-9467 © East Himalayan Society for Spermatophyte Taxonomy