Chromosome study on Tectaria zeilanica (Houtt.) Sledge which is confined to south India shows the presence of 80 regular bivalents in each spore mother cell (n=80, 4x). This is the first chromosome number report for this species from Tamil Nadu and it seems to be of tetraploid sexual species. It has been collected from Elumpilanthottam, Kanyakumari district of Southern Western Ghats of Tamil Nadu.