Discovery of a new Myristica swamp in the Northern Western Ghats of India.

Myristica swamps are one of the worlds unique freshwater ecosystems. In recent years there has been an increase in the number of reports about their distribution along the western Ghats. In the current paper, we report a new distribution record for the occurrence of Myristica Swamp from the northern part of the western Ghats of Maharastra. The Myristica swamp is located within the Bhalandeshwar Sacred Grove of Kumbral Bagwadi, Dodamarg Maharastra, India. This forms a second report from the state of Maharastra. Frequent field visits were made to study and document the floral assemblage and biodiversity in the swamp from, November 2023 to January 2024. The swamp is dominated by Myristica magnifica Bedd. The swamp is a part of a sacred grove and it is protected by Villagers due to religious beliefs. The discovery of this swamp points towards the possibility of the occurrence of more swamps in this region. Hence there is a need for a systematic survey for documenting swamps in the different areas.