Fern Allies of Uttarakhand : An Annotated Catalogue

Contents: Preface. 1. Introduction. 2. Huperziaceae. 3. Lycopodiaceae. 4. Selaginellaceae. 5. Equisetaceae. 6. Psilotaceae. Bibliography. Appendices. Index. 

Uttarakhand possesses a variety of forest and natural vegetation which varies from place to place due to variations in climatic conditions, soil types and differences in altitude. On the commencement of the rains, the fern-allies start growing vigorously and luxuriantly. A perusal of literature indicate that earlier explorers paid little attention to the lower pteridophytes of Uttarakhand. Therefore, the present work was carried out with a view to prepare taxonomic account of the known fern allies of Uttarakhand. In all 23 species of fern allies have so far been reported from Uttarakhand based on the information collected and collected. Though the number of species is not very high but there is great abundance of individuals in majority of species with wide distribution in various forests. The present treatment is based on the extensive collections made by the authors from the state. Plants are arranged in alphabetical order under each genus. In the taxonomic treatment , the arrangement of families of fern-allies follows mainly Pich-Sermolli 1977. Each entry gives the information on key to the families, genus and species, current nomenclature, synonyms, habitat, critical comment wherever known, distributional data etc. Coloured microphotoplates and line drawings are also provided for some species to making the identification easy. (jacket)