LINDBERGIA 30: 43-45. Lund 2005 Additions to the bryoflora of Réunion Island (France) Claudine Ah-Peng, Jacques Bardat and Len Ellis Short communication Ah-Peng, C., Bardat, J. and Ellis, L. 2005. Additions to the bryoflora of Réunion Island (France). – Lindbergia 30: 43–45. C. Ah-Peng, Univ. de la Réunion, Faculté des Sciences, UMR C53 Peuplements végétaux et bio-agresseurs en milieu tropical, BP 7151, FR-97 715 SainteClotilde Messag. cedex 9, France (claudine.ahpeng@univ-reunion.fr). – J. Bardat, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Dépt Régulations, Développement et Diversité moléculaire, USM 505 «Ecosystèmes et Interactions toxiques», Equipe Bryophytes et bioindication, C.P. 39, 57, rue Cuvier, FR-75 231 Paris Cedex 05, France. – L. Ellis, Dept of Botany, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, UK, SW7 5BD. Réunion Island is a French overseas department, and along with the islands of Mauritius and Rodrigues forms the Mascarenes Archipelago (22 °S, 55.3 °E ). Réunion is located 220 km southwest of Mauritius and 800 km east of Madagascar. The island has an area of 2512 km² and is the biggest and the most elevated (Piton des Neiges, 3069 m) island of the Mascarenes Archipelago. The climate of the island is subtropical, and can be divided into two seasons. The first ranges from May to October and is the austral winter, with an average minimum at sea level from 17°C to 20°C and average maximum from 26°C to 28°C. The other, ranging from November to April, is the hot and rainy summer, with an average minimum at sea level, from 21°C to 24°C and average maximum from 28°C to 31°C (Soler 2000). Precipitation is irregularly distributed between the western and eastern parts, in the east part the average rainfall can reach 11 m year-1 whereas in the west littoral side in Saint-Gilles - Les Bains, the average annual rainfalls is 525 mm year-1 (these figures are statistics on 15 years). The high reliefs (Piton des Neiges and Piton de la Fournaise) are responsible for this dissymmetry. Accepted 25 May 2005 Copyright © LINDBERGIA 2005 The littoral areas of the western coast are highly urbanized, whereas the eastern part of the island is less developed. In the central area of the island, 30% of the indigenous vegetation is still well conserved, but this is mainly owing to the great difficulty of access; Réunion is the steepest of the Mascarenes. The bryoflora is, in contrast to the higher plants, under explored. Records and references are rare, and date mostly from long ago (Bescherelle 1878, 1880). Data from the literature and herbarium specimens presently indicate that, 404 species and infraspecific taxa of mosses and 241 species and infraspecific taxa of hepatics and hornworts occur on the island (AhPeng and Bardat 2005, in press). The species listed below are known from the New World tropics and/or Africa, but until now were not recorded for Réunion. We suspect that with more systematic sampling, the bryoflora of Réunion Island could be extensively increased. To make an initial assessment of the bryoflora of the island, specimens were sampled in primary, secondary and impacted ecosystems between March 2004 and January 2005. Specimens were identified by comparison with named herbarium samples in PC, and a voucher specimen for each species has been deposited in PC. We present in this article the taxa in our samples that are new for the island of Réunion. The list in- 43 LINDBERGIA 30:1 (2005) Lindbergia 30-1.pmd 43 28-06-2005, 14:40 cludes the locality of the collection, a description of the ecology of the species, the collection number (personal herbarium of C. Ah-Peng), date of collection, and the altitude at which the plants were collected. The nomenclature follows O’Shea (2003) for mosses and Wigginton (2004a) for liverworts. Hepaticae Cephalozia connivens (Dicks) Lindb. subsp. fissa VáÁa – Plaine des Fougères (Municipality of SainteMarie), track of the “Grande Randonnée”towards the Piton Bé Massoune, corticolous on old trunk, sterile, Ah-Peng R49-B3, 16.03.2004, alt. 1410 m. The subspecies fissa can be distinguished from the type subspecies by the presence of flagelliform branches. According to VáÁa (1988) the morphological characters as described by Spruce, relating to the shape of leaves and perianths, are variable. Distribution: Ghana, Nigeria, Togo, São Tomé, Príncipe, Bioko, Cameroon, Gabon, DR Congo, Zaïre, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Malawi, Madagascar, Rio Muni, (Wigginton 2004a). Lejeunea flava (Sw.) Nees subsp. flava R.M.Schust. – Tourist reserve Marelongue’s forest (Municipality of Saint-Philippe), on trunk of 15 cm in diameter, Ah-Peng R46-4, 15.03.2004, 230 m. The sample is sterile. Distribution: Central African Republic, Comoro islands, Congo, Cape Verde, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, DR Congo (Wigginton 2004a). Lejeunea tabularis (Spreng.) Gottsche et al. – Plaine des Fougères (Municipality of SainteMarie), track of the GR towards the Piton Bé Massoune, Ah-Peng R49-B2, 16.03.2004, alt. 1410 m. The sample has well developed perichetial leaves (bracts and bracteole) but lacks mature perianths. Note: as the two species appear rather similar, Jones (1968) and Wigginton (2004b) treated them as subspecies of L. flava. The main distinction between the two taxa is that the leaves in Lejeunea flava spread at an angle of nearly 90° to the stem, while those in Lejeunea tabularis spread at a norrower angle of 4550°. Lejeunea tabularis can be also distinguished from the Lejeunea flava by its cordate and wider underleaves. Similar, broad, cordate underleaves also occur in Lejeunea flavovirens J. Ångström, which is also recorded for Réunion. However, the latter can be distinguished from L. tabularis by its narrower perianth. The female bracts in these taxa are obovate and almost the same size, but differ in the form of the lobule. The lobule in L. flavovirens is divided from the lobe by a large, rounded sinus, and the insertion line of the female bract is keeled. In Lejeunea tabularis the sinus is narrower and v-shaped, the female bract lacks a keel. Nevertheless, these morphological characters described by Jones (1968), provide only a tenuous justification for retaining Lejeunea tabularis and Lejeunea flavovirens as distinct taxa. The present authors would suggest that they probably represent two geographical forms of a single species. A thorough study of material from a much wider range of localities is needed to confirm this hypothesis. Microlejeunea africana Steph. – Plaine des Fougères (Municipality of SainteMarie), track of the GR towards the Piton Bé Massoune, épiphytic on old trunk, Ah-Peng R49-A6, 16.03.2004, 1410 m. – Tourist reserve of Marelongue’s forest (Municipality of Saint-Philippe), on trunk of 40 cm diameter, Ah-Peng R46-6, 15.03.2004, 230 m. – Tourist reserve of Marelongue’s forest (Municipality of Saint-Philippe), on trunk of 15 cm diameter, Ah-Peng R46-4, 15.03.2004, 230 m. Distribution: Widely distributed in tropical Africa, Annobón islands, Benin, Bioko, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Comoro islands, Congo-Brazzaville, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Ivory coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Mauritius, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Príncipe, Rio Muni, Rwanda, South Africa, São Tomé, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Socotra, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, D.R. Congo, Zimbabwe. Distribution: Fernando Po, Burundi, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Comoro islands, Congo, Guinea, Ivory coast, Kenya, Leshoto, Mauritius, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Principé, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, DR Congo (Wigginton 2004a). 44 Lindbergia 30-1.pmd LINDBERGIA 30:1 (2005) 44 28-06-2005, 14:40 Musci Syrrhopodon pottioides S. Orbán – Plaine des Fougères, track of the GR towards the Piton Bé Massoune (Municipality of SainteMarie), corticolous with Leucobryum sp., Ah-Peng R 49-B2, 16.03.2004, 1410 m, (Det. L.T. Ellis). Distribution: Madagascar (O’Shea 2003). Acknowledgement – We are grateful to Vincent Boullet from the National Botanical Conservatory of Mascarin, for valuable field support during the project. Thanks also to Catherine Rausch de Traubenberg and Amandine Allard, Muséum national d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris for the provision of herbarium specimens. References Ah-Peng, C. and J. Bardat. 2005. Check list of the bryophytes of Réunion island (France). – Trop. Bryol., in press. Bescherelle, E. 1878. Florule bryologique de la Réunion, de Maurice et des autres îles austro-africaines de l’Océan Indien. – Ann. Sci. Nat. Bot. 3: 291–380. Bescherelle, E. 1880. Florule bryologique de la Réunion, de Maurice et des autres îles austro-africaines de l’Océan Indien. – Ann. Sci. Nat. Bot. 10: 233–333. O’Shea, B. J. 2003. Checklist of the mosses of sub-Saharan Africa (version 4, 12/03). – Trop. Bryol. Res. Rep. 4: 1–176. Soler, O. 2000. Atlas climatique de la Réunion (MétéoFrance), pp. 80. VáÁa, J. 1988. Cephalozia (Dum.) in Africa. – Beiheft Nova Hedwigia 90: 179–198. Wigginton, M. J. 2004a. Checklist and distribution of the liverworts and hornworts of Sub-Saharan Africa, including the East African Islands (2 nd ed., Sept. 2004). – Trop. Bryol. Res. Rep. 5: 1–102. Wigginton, M. J. 2004b. E.W.’s Jones Liverwort and Hornwort Flora of West Africa. – Scr. Bot. Belg., Meise, Natl Bot. Gard. Belg. 30, pp. 443. 45 LINDBERGIA 30:1 (2005) Lindbergia 30-1.pmd 45 28-06-2005, 14:40