Status of Family Fissidentaceae in Gujarat

Abstract

<p>Bryophytes are the second largest group of land plants and are also known as the amphibians of the plant kingdom. sixty seven species of<br />bryophytes have been reported from select locations across the state of Gujrat. The status of family fissidentaceae which is a large moss<br />family is being presented in this paper. Globally the family consists of 10 genera but only one genus, Fissidens Hedw. has been collected<br />from Gujarat. Fissidens is characterized by a unique leaf structure and shows the presence of three distinct lamina, the dorsal, the ventral<br />and the vaginant lamina. A total of 8 species of Fissidens have been reported from the state based on vegetative characters as no<br />sporophyte stages were collected earlier. Species reported from the neighboring states also showed the absence of sporophytes. The<br />identification of different species was difficult due to substantial overlap in vegetative characters. Hence a detailed study on the diversity<br />of members of Fissidentaceae in Gujarat was carried out between November 2013 and February 2015. In present study 8 distinct species<br />of Fissidens have been collected from different parts of the state. Three species Fissidens splachnobryoides Broth., Fissidens zollingerii<br />Mont. and Fissidens curvato-involutus Dixon. have been identified while the other five are still to be identified. Fissidens zollingerii<br />Mont. and Fissidens xiphoides M. Fleisch., which have been reported as distinct species are actually synonyms according to TROPICOS<br />database. The presence of sexual reproductive structures and sporophytes for several Fissidens species are also being reported for the first<br />time from the state.<br />Keywords: Bryophytes, Mosses, Fissidentaceae, Diversity.</p><p> </p><p><span>DOI: </span><a id="pub-id::doi" href="http://dx.doi.org/10.21756/cba.v1i1.11022">http://dx.doi.org/10.21756/cba.v1i1.11022</a></p>