Pter

Taiwania, 53(2): 170-209, 2008
A Summary of the Status of Threatened Pteridophytes of India

Subhash Chandra(1,5), C. R. Fraser-Jenkins(2,5), Alka Kumari(3) and Archana Srivastava(4)
(Manuscript received 17 October, 2007; accepted 30 January, 2008) ABSTRACT: An assessment of rare and threatened Pteridophytes of political India, classifying species into different categories, has been made based on our own field-observations, data from herbarium-collections, and published literature. Their general range in political India has been given, though only limited details of extra-Indian range are provided. Modern taxonomic concepts and nomenclature have been adopted. Our survey has revealed that 414 species of Pteridophytes (219 At risk, of which 160 Critically endangered, 82 Near-threatened and 113 Rare), constituting c. 41-43 % of the total number of c. 950-1000 Pteridophytes of political India, are threatened or rare there. 84 species included in earlier works are excluded as they are not considered to be of threatened status. One new combination and two nomina nova have been validated (Leptochilus pothifolius (D.Don) Fras.-Jenk., Asplenium rivulare Fras.-Jenk. and Thelypteris chandrae Fras.-Jenk.). KEY WORDS: Pteridophytes, ferns, India, threatened, At risk, rare, taxonomy, endemics, new names.
INTRODUCTION
India has a rich and varied pteridophytic flora due to its diversified topography, variable climatic conditions and its geographical position with several migration-flows of species of different phytogeographical elements meeting in different parts of the Country. Pteridophytes are an important component of the flora of this major region of species-diversity, next to Angiopsperms in number. More than 1200 species of ferns and fern allies have reported from India (Dixit, 1984; Chandra, 2000), but recent revision of doubtful new species is showing this to be an overestimate by perhaps 20%, even though genuine new findings are made from time to time. Nevertherless, it is likely that the actual number may be in the region of 900 to 1000 species. Despite the large number of indigenous species a considerable percentage of them are rare and threatened. With increasing utilization of land and natural resources, it is feared that many of these threatened taxa will become yet rarer, more vulnerable and endangered, and in several cases may finally become extinct, as any disturbance or imbalance in their narrowly confined ecosystems is __________________________________________
1. Former Head of Pteridology Laboratory, National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, India; D-15 Sector G, Aliganj, Lucknow-226 024, India. Email: chandrasum@rediffmail.com 2. Student Guest House, Thamel, P.O. Box 5555, Kathmandu, Nepal. Email: chrisophilus@yahoo.co.uk 3. National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow-226 001, India. 4. Botany Dept., D.A.V. College, Kanpur-208 001, India. 5. Corresponding author.
liable to lead to their extermination. The paramount example adjacent to India is the fate of the fern-flora of Bangladesh, which has been decimated to such an extent by land-use that perhaps only half its known species still survive there and the last fragment of natural forest left in the whole Country was destroyed approximately 3 years ago. Although the forest-cover of adjacent Bhutan and Myanmar remains in good state, most regions of India have suffered and continue to suffer evident degradation on a very large scale, which is increasing relentlessly. In many regions it is now difficult to find any extensive area of natural forest and the effective strict protection of small token-areas selected for their species-diversity is now of increasingly urgent import. The World Conservation Union (IUCN), or International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, has played a major rle in focussing international concern on the loss or extinction of species and is now the accepted authority on such matters. IUCNs original Red Data Book (IUCN, 1966), now revised annually and called the IUCN Red List (e.g. IUCN, 1978, 1998), which became only electronic since 2000, is to be found at the website: http://www.iucnredlist.org, or www.iucn.org. It was the first international study of this sort and several nations have published their own Red Data Books since then (e.g. Perring and Farwell 1977; Takhtajan, 1978; Ayensu, 1981; Jain, 1984; Nayar and Sastry, 1987, 1988, 1990; and see Jain and Rao, 1984). The main focus of the Red List is on species, though infra-specific categories, particularly of subspecies, are now also covered. IUCN's
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important and detailed overview of the status of the Indian flora (among others), with special studies of a number of key-areas of biodiversity in India and adjacent Countries has been presented by Davis, Heywood and Hamilton (1995). Subsequently the International Association of Pteridologists (IAP) appointed a committee for fern-conservation when it was first established in 1981. This became the Species Survival Commission (SSC) specialist group for Pteridophytes, which, using criteria established by the IUCN, developed a list of threatened ferns world-wide. Their World Conservation Monitoring Centre at Cambridge, England, listed 1650 threatened species of Pteridophytes world-wide (Jermy, 1990), under the following categories: Presumed Extinct 20, Endangered - 67, Vulnerable - 91, Rare - 354, Candidate species for conservation - 1318. IUCN undertook a major revision of its recommendations in 1994 and 2001 in order to formulate a new conservation strategy of natural resources, and based on their new criteria for species to be included in the Red List, IUCN (1998) listed 770 threatened species of Pteridophytes world-wide. But of the 44 species listed from the Indian subcontinent, half (23) were either synonyms of other, non-threatened species or mistaken in other ways, such as being listed twice under different genera, or not being rare, due to reliance on erroneous data published on them locally. Sharpe (2001) also accepted the 770 threatened fern-allies and ferns world-wide. Much study has been carried out in India on threatened species of Flowering Plants and their conservation, but ferns and fern-allies, which constitute a sizeable and valuable part of the national flora, have attracted less notice. Jain and Sastry (1980) made a first attempt by listing nearly 17 rare and endangered Pteridophytes from India along with Angiosperms. Dixit (1983) and Datta (1983) listed 25 "rare and interesting" and 5 rare pteridophytes, respectively. Bir (1987) identified 104 rare and endangered species of Pteridophytes from various regions of India, but later Bir (1988) listed 49 endangered species. Nayar and Sastry (1987, 1988, 1990) included 31 threatened pteridophytes in the volumes of the Botanical Survey of India's Red Data Book of Indian Plants. However, there has been little agreement between authors on the species listed and many of them are known to be taxonomic synonyms of well known species, or are commoner species which are not under threat. Some local studies of threatened taxa of a particular region have also been made, with a few listed by IUCN (1998). Thus Bir's (1987) study listed endangered species by region and Bhardwaja, Gena
and Verma (1987) enumerated 36 endangered species belonging to 21 genera of ferns and fern-allies from Rajasthan. Pangtey and Samant (1988) listed some Pteridophytes of the Kumaun Himalaya, Uttarakhand, they considered to be rare or endangered. Pande and Bir (1994) and Pande and Pande (2003) assessed rare and threatened pteridophytes of the Kumaun Himalaya, where first 22 and then 30 taxa were reported as endemic (but only 1 may be doubtfully correct, see Fraser-Jenkins (2008b)), and first 135 and then 123 taxa were considered as rare and endangered. Madhusoodanan (1991) listed rare and endangered ferns of the Western Ghats of Kerala and subsequently Manickam (1995) reported 44 rare and endangered species from the Western Ghats of South India. Singh and Panigrahi (2005) reported some 48 supposedly new and rare taxa mainly from single collections from a small district of eastern Arunachal Pradesh and listed 16 endemics to N.E. India, but all 48 have been synonymised by Fraser-Jenkins (2008b) and only one of their reported endemics is considered to be correct. Unfortunately, due to taxonomic misunderstandings and lack of knowledge of the distribution of species outside India, most authors' assessments of endemics and threatened species were considerably misleading. Important changes have been made recently in our taxonomic understanding of species and in assessment of their frequency of occurrence. As a result the previous lists of threatened Pteridophytes are now understood to be insufficiently accurate and much in need of revision. We have therefore attempted to update the inventory of threatened Pteridophytes of India in the present paper based on a new assessment.
CATEGORIES OF THREATENED PTERIDOPHYTES

The present study is based partially on a wide-based survey of publications in scientific journals, monographs and Floras of both India and adjacent Countries. We have assessed these reports utilising wide field-experience gained during many years of collection and study-excursions throughout India and (CRFJ) in all the adjacent Countries, except Tibet. Detailed herbarium-study has also been carried out by the second author (CRFJ) in all the main national and international herbaria with Indian holdings, including checking the original specimens of many published reports. In certain cases further information has been obtained through personal consultation with other pteridologists in India and
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abroad. In assessing the category of threat to species, the following three sources of information have been given particular attention: (1) Herbaria. Detailed scrutiny of collections in a large number of herbaria can provide valuable information as to the status of a species. The data on present distribution and on their past distribution along with the trends of shrinkage of population are very important in categorisation of the status of a species. Follow-up work, visiting the locality concerned, which the second author has done in a number of cases, provides very useful information as to the occurrence of the species in the area. (2) Review of Literature. Floras, checklists, monographs and taxonomic accounts giving reports of species may provide much further information about their distribution-status. Comparison of old floras and recent ones may also give important information about the present status of species, particularly where a species is found by renewed search to be absent from an area where it once occurred. However an important caveat is that modern workers must ascertain that the report and identification of the species were genuinely correct for both older and newer reports by taking the trouble to examine the original herbarium-specimens supporting the reports. (3) Extensive and Specific Field-Surveys. a) To find out the present distribution; b) To estimate the past distribution and changes in population-size; c) To measure the threat to the species through accurate field-observation of the population over a period of time. In practice we have hardly been able to carry out such investigation, but have been able to make useful observations of the present distribution and rarity or commonness of species. Taxonomic exactitude is obviously a prerequisite of any such work and may require checking the identity of specimens with an experienced expert specialist either in India or internationally, despite the increasing rarity of extant fern-taxonomists, like the ferns themselves. In order to understand the species properly we have incorporated modern taxonomic and nomenclatural revision from various unpublished works of one of us (Fraser-Jenkins, 2008a, 2008b, in press), in accordance with the current International Code of Botanical Nomenclature and also bearing in mind modern taxonomic revision of genera and species. In this study we are concerned only with species or subspecies and have ignored the ranks of variety or forma, which have often been over-recognised as most such taxa require syonymising as merely part of the normal range of
variation within species. We have also omitted spontaneous, sterile hybrids not reproducing or behaving as species as irrelevant to the concept of endemism and have also ignored adventive and introduced species, which have sometimes been redescribed as new species in error. The Red List (IUCN, 1978) recognised five categories of threatened plants (including Rare and Indeterminate, now no longer utilised), subsequently revised (IUCN, 1994) into six categories. Since 2001 any submissions to the current Red List (IUCN, 2006) require use of the most recently updated nine categories (based on the Red List of IUCN, 2001), detailed documentation, maps, details of threat and changes and a written case for inclusion. The current categories (see the website: http://www.iucnredlist. org/) are: 1) 'Extinct' (EX) - with no reasonable doubt after exhaustive surveys. 2) 'Extinct in the wild' (EW) - only known in cultivation after exhaustive surveys. 3) 'Critically endangered' (CR) - extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. 4) 'Endangered' (EN) - very high risk of extinction in the wild. 5) 'Vulnerable' (VU) - high risk of extinction in the wild. 6) 'Near threatened' (NT) - close or likely to qualify as threatened in the near future. 7) 'Least concern' (LC) - widespread and abundant. 8) 'Data deficient' (DD) - inadequate information on abundance and distribution to assess risk. 9) 'Not evaluated' (NE) - not evaluated against the criteria. These categories are appropriate to Countries where the local occurrence of species is known in great detail and their former occurrence is also known from reliable data. However, in a number of tropical and developing Countries such precise information is hardly available except in very rudimentary form. The highly sophisticated and detailed system of local recorders feeding data into a Central data-base simply does not exist in most Countries, including India, where many pteridologists do not know the species well enough and field-work is considerably limited so they inevitably fail to visit the majority of localities, even those well known from the past. In addition, due to the inacessibility of many areas the number of localities known in India from herbarium-collections probably represents only a random fraction of the actual extant populations of species. In most cases there is almost no historical information and even today estimates of population-size etc. are almost entirely missing. For
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this reason the IUCN categories are somewhat impractical outside of advanced, often Western Countries and a handful of others. Therefore partly instead of the IUCN categories mentioned above, the overall term "threatened status" is used here in a conservation-context for any indigenous species of taxonomic significance, which falls into one of three categories of threat, defined below, namely: 1. 'At risk', 2. 'Near-threatened', 3. 'Rare'. Apart from 'Near-threatened' our categories are not the same and are not as strict as those of IUCN. Our highest category, "At risk" is equivalent to a combination of three of the IUCN categories, 'Critically endangered' (CR), 'Endangered' (EN) and 'Vulnerable' (VU). But we have placed an asterisk by those species we consider to be in the IUCN 'Critically endangered' category. Our next category, 'Near-threatened', is as near as we can make it, the same as the IUCN category so named, while our last category, 'Rare', is not directly related to the current IUCN categories. We have formulated these categories as we wish to draw attention to the decline and rarity of many species in India, which may not yet be at "very high risk", but will soon become so if their status is not made known and steps are not taken for local conservation-measures. Our listing is therefore to be taken as a first warning of perceived threat to many species. Even so, we must caution that assessment is bound to be considerably subjective and will depend much on the field-experience of authors, which can seldom be considered as sufficient to obtain a really accurate view of species, though we have attempted to gain a more accurate view by means of extensive field-visits over several decades. We hope that later studies may be able to focus on listing known localities nationally and documenting the categories more precisely. (1) 'At risk' These species are recognized by any one of the following criteria: 1) the decline is thought to be rapid and their number and habitat have been drastically reduced to a critical level; 2) the reproductive capacity appears to have fallen considerably below its rate of elimination from the habitat, leading to decline in number and size of population; 3) species with 3 or fewer known localities; 4) known only from one population although covered under the previous category, we add this fourth sub-category mainly to draw attention to the existence of such a situation. Such species are in danger of extinction if the causal factor continues to operate. Although assessment has had to be made
subjectively, we conclude that there are 219 species of pteridophytes to be considered as 'At risk' in India. Of these, 160 are starred to indicate that they come into the IUCN category of 'Critically endangered'. These starred species are of particular concern and should be understood as species requiring active focus and efforts for the conservation of the limited localities where they occur in order to preserve both them and the associated species of plants and animals, which are also likely to be of special interest. (2) 'Near-threatened' This includes species which are declining because of over-exploitation, extensive habitat-destruction or other environmental disturbances. In this category the decline has started and is apparently slow, but the threat could push the species into the 'At risk' category in the near future. These species are likely to be in danger if modification to their habitat does not stop, or if their reproductive spread is affected. Gureyeva (2002), however, suggested rather different, more general biological criteria to determine whether a fern species was becoming threatened or not, the main cause of vulnerability being associated with the success-rate of their reproductive biology. According to her, 1) ferns having effective ways of reproduction in their environment, either vegetatively, through buds or rhizome-branching, or through regularly producing viable spores would be the least vulnerable; 2) ferns which do not branch at all but which easily produce sporelings in their environment would be considered slightly vulnerable; 3) species which have sporophytes without effective vegetative reproduction, and also require a combination of many favourable factors for producing gametophytes from the spores, are the most vulnerable and have the least chance for continued survival during environmental change. Her categories key in an environmental factor since if the degradation of the environment, or destruction of plants, causes a drop in effective reproduction the status of the fern will change accordingly. Although we do not follow her categories as such here, it can be understood that our description of the current state of species, based on external factors is intimately related to the factors of vulnerability she categorized and the two sets of categories are different sides of the same coin. However it is clear that the anthropogenic causes of rarity she also recognised play a far larger part in India, with its more obvious and widespread environmental destruction, compared to Russia. In our analysis there are 82 species to be considered as 'Near-threatened' in India.
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(3) 'Rare' These species occur in widely separated small sub-populations (so that interbreeding is seriously reduced or is restricted to a single population) with narrow localised or specialised habitats, often with low climatic tolerance and specialised adaptations; or are thinly scattered over a more extensive range. The rarest are usually ancient species adapted to uncommon habitats, with both hampered spore and vegetative renewal, especially if they inhabit zones of intensive human economic activity. Anthropogenic factors create imbalances in the ecosystem leading to the rarity of many species today. They need not be threatened per se, but are at risk of falling into the 'Near-threatened' category if no attention is paid to their plight. Rarity as such is not mutually exclusive and 'At risk' and 'Near-threatened' species may or may not be rare, though the more threatened species are usually also rare. But species we have listed simply under the category of 'Rare' are not sufficiently so as to fall into the threatened categories. However we have also mentioned under any species of all three categories when they are very rare. We estimate that there are 113 species to be considered under the category of 'Rare', but not 'At risk' or 'Near-threatened'.
not the c. 510 previously reported). We recognise 27 endemics or possible endemics as threatened in India. 2. Local species with their range restricted to isolated localities, yet they occur in considerable numbers in each locality (many plants but only at one or a few places); 3. Species occurring in small numbers or as few plants but in many separate or distant localities; 4. Species occurring as a few individuals in few localities, or in a single locality; 5. Species overexploited and becoming extirpated in many former areas by man, particularly for commercial purposes; 6. Rare species, though safe from human expansion; 7. Uncommon species very seldom collected as located in areas extremely difficult to reach; 8. Species suspected to be threatened but for which no or very little information exists. At present a large number of Pteridophytes in India are threatened mainly due to human activities, such as: Environmental degradation of preferred habitat for species, such as uncontrolled tree-felling and destruction for fuel, timber, crop-plantations or grazing, building over sites near to cities or coastal resort areas, or draining of wetlands for agriculture. Pollution of the environment, such as stream-banks, lakes and road-sides. Unregulated commercial collection, such as of tree-fern trunks for orchid-growing. Immoderate collection of species known to be rare by students; however we consider that constructive small-scale collection by scientific research-botanists generally represents no threat, even though it is often unnecessarily obstructed and prohibited by authorities under the provisions of the International Convention on Biodiversity. Without such collection further advances in botanical research are severely set back and excessive restriction amounts to a misuse of the Convention, for which purpose it was not intended. The current situation throughout much of India has serious implications for the future. With ever-increasing encroachment upon natural vegetation, huge areas are being denuded annually and continue to be damaged with little or no control. The continued decrease in forest-cover is not conducive to achieving a healthy environment for the country's development and resulting climatic change, such as decreased rainfall and increased temperature, is already creating problems for agriculture,
ESTABLISHING WHICH SPECIES ARE THREATENED

It is difficult to make an accurate inventory of threatened species in India, with its vast size, remote and varied areas, often difficult of access, and rich flora. An accurate complete inventory of the known fern-flora does not exist yet though it is under preparation at an advanced stage (Fraser-Jenkins, in prep.), and the rate of deforestation and destruction of habitat is very high. One of the richest and less spoilt areas of India, northern Arunachal Pradesh, remains very poorly known as no pteridologists who know the bulk of the species they see have collected there, apart from some very brief visits. In addition few workers throughout India are competent to identify species and there are no local recorders who could record the species growing in fern-localities. Nevertheless extensive and specifically targeted field-visits and herbarium-study can reveal a considerable amount of the real status of our threatened species. The species which are included in the threatened list are mainly those which are: 1. Endemics with restricted distribution (the total number of Indian endemics has been revised by Fraser-Jenkins (2008b, in press) to c. 45 species,
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increasing storms, floods and droughts etc. A crucial factor thought to be causative in the current problem of Global Warming is the destruction of forests and the climatic alteration it causes. The inevitable result is that with increasing destruction of the vegetation there is an accompanying loss of species of the country's valuable pteridophytic flora from the ever-expanding areas affected.
ENUMERATION
The following enumeration lists 29 fern-allies and 385 ferns as threatened taxa of Pteridophytes. The species are arranged alphabetically under each category within families. Some brief taxonomic details are given where important, along with their revised distribution in India and occasional details of some parts of their extra-Indian range. Several modern authors have given highly inaccurate ranges outside India due to lack of taxonomic knowledge while reading old literature. Some recent lists have also given many mistaken ranges within India, for similar reasons, or arising due to misapplication of old British terms, such as "Sikkim" and particularly "Assam", which have largely been revised here. The classification followed for the families and genera is mainly that of Kramer and Green (1990) with some minor modifications, though in a few cases certain genera they did not accept are accepted here due to their practical distinctness. Many works in India still follow the more splitting treatment of Pichi Sermolli (1977), utilising the thelypteroid genera of Holttum (1971), more appropriate as sections, and some of the excessively split genera and families of Ching (1978), which are permanently used in isolation in China. In keeping with most modern workers we have synonymised these more minor entities and take a generally broader and more practical approach. 28 of the species listed have been given with a query, often those from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands whose identity requires confirmation, but also because of taxonomic doubt or in a few cases, uncertain occurrence in India. Critically endangered species are marked with an asterisk (*). FERN ALLIES Lycopodiaceae At risk *1. Huperzia cancellata (Spring.) Trevis. - Bhutan; far N.E. India (Arunachal Pradesh). *2. Huperzia carinata (Desv.) Trevis. - Nicobar Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001); ?S. India. Reports
from S. India by Dixit (1984, 1987), following Baker, were probably in error. *3. Huperzia quasipolytrichoides (Hayata) Ching (see Fraser-Jenkins, 2008a, in press) (misapplied name: H. cryptomerina sensu Dixit, non (Maxim.) R.D.Dixit) - very rare. Far N.E. India (Arunachal Pradesh); Myanmar; S.China; Taiwan. *4. Huperzia nummulariifolia (Blume) Jermy Nicobar Islands (given sub Lycopodium by Dixit and Sinha, 2001). 5. Huperzia phyllantha (Hook. & Arn.) Holub - Sri Lanka; Nicobar Islands; S. India. Reported from N.W. and N.E. India in error by Dixit (1984). *6. Huperzia vernicosa (Hook. & Grev.) Trevis. very rare. S. India. *7. Lycopodium annotinum L. subsp. alpestre (Hartm.) . Lve & D. Lve (syn.: L. zonatum Ching, L. alticola Ching) - N.W. India (Uttarakhand); N.E. India (Sikkim; Arunachal Pradesh). Reports from S. India (Shevaroy Hills) and Meghalaya were in error. 8. Lycopodium complanatum L. - N.E. India (Meghalaya). Reports from Sri Lanka and S. India refer to L. wightianum Spring. The N.E. Indian and S.W. Chinese populations may perhaps be partly L. multispicatum Wilce (S.E. Asia to the Philippines), which requires comparison with and careful delineation in relation to L. complanatum. *9. Lycopodium dendroideum Michx. ("L. obscurum" sensu Dixit) - very rare. Bhutan; ?far N.E. India (?Arunachal Pradesh). See Fraser-Jenkins (2008a, in press). Reported from S. India (Shevaroy Hills) in error. Near-threatened 10. Lycopodium wightianum (Wall. ex Hook. & Grev.) Holub - S. India. Rare 11. Huperzia ceylanica (Spring) Trevis. - Sri Lanka; S. India (rare) and far N.E. India (Meghalaya). IUCN (1998) listed it (sub Lycopodium ceylanicum Spring) as Indeterminate. 12. Huperzia nilagirica (Spring) R.D.Dixit (syn.: H. hilliana (Nessel) Holub) (endemic) - S. India. 13. Huperzia selago (L.) Bernh. ex Schrank & Mart. subsp. arctica (Grossh. ex Tolm.) .Lve & D.Lve (syn.: H. dixitiana P.Mondal & S.R.Ghosh (type only), L. selago L. var. appressum Desv.) - Pakistan; N.W. India (Indian Kashmir; Uttarakhand, Hemkund); N.E. India (N. Sikkim). Reported in error from Sri Lanka and S. India.
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14. Huperzia phlegmaria (L.) Rothm. (syn.: Phlegmariurus phlegmaria (L.) T. Sen & U.Sen) - Sri Lanka; Andaman Islands; Nicobar Islands (Dixit and Sinha 2001); S. India; Nepal; N.E. India (W. Bengal, Darjeeling; Sikkim; Assam; Arunachal Pradesh; Meghalaya; Tripura); Bhutan; Myanmar. 15. Lycopodium veitchii Christ (L. alpinum sensu auct. Ind., non L.) - Nepal, N.E. India (Sikkim; Arunachal Pradesh). 16. Lycopodium casuarinoides Spring - far N.E. India (Assam; Meghalaya). Selaginellaceae At risk *17. Selaginella aitchisonii Hieron. - very rare. N.W. India (Indian Kashmir); N.W. Nepal. Treated by Alston (1945) as a growth form of the boreal Asian species, S. sanguinolenta (L.) Spring, which can exist in a similarly narrow, homophyllous form. But Fraser-Jenkins (1992, 1997) reasoned that S. aitchisonii, S. sanguinolenta and the heterophyllous S. jacquemontii Spring (syn.: S. kashmiriana R.D.Dixit) are three distinct species. *18. Selaginella cataractarum Alston (endemic) - S. India. IUCN (1998) listed it as Endangered "Endangered in Kerala; Extinct in Tamil Nadu (Silver Cascade, Kodaikanal)", though its partial extinction probably requires confirmation. 19. Selaginella megaphylla Baker - N. E. India (Assam, Kamrup; Arunachal Pradesh); Bhutan. *20. ?Selaginella ornithopodioides (L.) Spring (syn.: S. integerrima (Hook. & Grev.) Spring) - Sri Lanka; ?S. India. Alston (1945) definitively and correctly lectotypified S. ornithopodioides on the basis of Hermann's Sri Lankan plant cited by Linnaeus, who had based his description on that of Flora Zeylanica, which he cited as the first reference. But Panigrahi (1976) reverted to misapplying the name S. ornithopodioides (L.) Spring to an unidentified Chinese plant also cited by Linnaeus, following Spring's partial and Baker's total misapplication of the name to the Chinese plant, even though their treatments had been emended by both Trimen and Alston. Panigrahi therefore used the name S. integerrima, given as its synonym by Alston, for the Sri Lankan species, instead of the earlier S. ornithopodioides. However neither Spring nor Baker lectotypified S. ornithopodioides in any way, as contended by Panigrahi, whose attempted new lectotypification must therefore be set aside. Spring did not exclude Linnaeus'
original Sri Lankan type as he included Linnaeus' description (while emphasising its ambiguity) and also the Flora Zeylanica reference and Ceylon locality. But Baker definitely excluded the Sri Lankan plant and must therefore be considered to have published a new name for the Chinese species, S. ornithopodioides Baker, non (L.) Spring, but which was not only a later homonym, but was anyway superfluous as he also included Lycopodium hispidum Willd. in its synonymy. Spring also mentioned Malabar for the species, and the type of the synonym, S. integerrima, was given as Courtallam (S. India), Wight (E). But Alston suggested that the latter was in error as Wight's material at Kew is all labelled Colombo (Sri Lanka), and gave the range as confined to Sri Lanka. The occurrence of S. ornithopodioides in India is therefore not fully established, though it may be present in S. India, but no further material was cited by Dixit (1992). *21. Selaginella pulvinata (Hook. & Grev.) Maxim. very locally common in N.W. India (Uttarakhand, Pithoragarh, inc. by CRFJ); N.W. Nepal. Reported from S.E. Myanmar in error for S. involvens (Sw.) Spring. *22. Selaginella wattii Baker - far N.E. India (Manipur - single, type-collection), ?Myanmar (Dixit, 1984, 1992, without cited specimen). Reports from Myanmar require confirmation, though its presence there is to be expected. Ghosh et al. (2004) also reported it from Mizoram, Nagaland and Bangladesh, which requires confirmation. This taxon is very little known and is close to the S. Indian S. proniflora (Lam.) Baker, with long cilia on the sporophylls. Rare 23. Selaginella adunca A.Braun ex Hieron. [subsp. adunca] (endemic) - very locally abundant in N.W. India (Himachal Pradesh; Uttarakhand); replaced in Tibet and China by the closely similar subsp. albocincta (Ching) Fras.-Jenk. (2008a, in press). Alston (1945) erroneously gave Madden's collection from Srinagar, Garhwal (Kumaon), as if from Srinagar, Kashmir. IUCN (1998) listed S. adunca as Endangered. 24. Selaginella miniatospora (Dalz.) Bak. (endemic) - S. and W.C. India. 25. Selaginella picta A.Braun ex Baker (syn.: S. picta f. viridis Alston) - far N.E. India (Assam; Arunachal Pradesh; Manipur; Nagaland). 26. Selaginella tenuifolia Spring - N.E. India (W. Bengal, Darjeeling; Sikkim; Arunachal Pradesh; Meghalaya).
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Pradesh). Synonym of I. coromandelina. Isoetes pantii var. hybrida Goswami, nom. inval. (sin. typ.) - C. India (Madhya Pradesh). This taxon demonstrates the variability in spore-surface ornamentation suspected to be prevalent in Indian Isoetes. Isoetes rajasthanensis Gena & Bhardwaja - W.C. India (Rajasthan). One of three dubious new species described from the same pond. Isoetes reticulata Gena & Bhardwaja - W.C. India (Rajasthan). Isoetes sahyadriensis Mahab. - S. India (Maharashtra; Karnataka). Synonym of I. coromandelina. Isoetes sampathkumaranii L.N. Rao - C. India (Madhya Pradesh); S. India (Karnataka; Andhra Pradesh). Synonym of I. coromandelina. IUCN (1998) listed it as Extinct. Isoetes tuberculata Gena & Bhardwaja (sub "I. tuberosa Gena & Bhattacharyya" (Dixit and Balkrishna, 1989 et al.) - W.C. India (Rajasthan). Synonym of I. coromandelina. Isoetes udupiensis P.K. Shukla, G.K. Srivast. & S.K.Shukla - S. India (Karnataka). Isoetes unilocularis D.D. Pant & G.K. Srivast. - C. India (Uttar Pradesh); S. India (Tamil Nadu). Synonym of I. indica and thus of I. coromandelina.
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Isoetaceae Many species have been reported or described recently from India as if endemic, often from single collections and possibly reflecting more the place of work of the workers concerned than the actual taxonomy and distribution. Their status as species is doubtful and perhaps most of them appear to represent no more than infraspecific variation in spore-surface morphology, of unsure taxonomic significance. There are probably two good species present in India, doubtfully more (Fraser-Jenkins, 1997). Further study is required into separation of species, and their correct nomenclature and synonymy. It is hardly meaningful to list the published taxa as threatened species until their taxonomic status is clarified. The following taxa have been reported:
Isoetes bilaspurensis Panigrahi - C. India (Madhya Pradesh). Synonym of I. coromandelina. IUCN (1998) listed it as Rare. Isoetes brachyglossa A.Braun (I. coromandelina L.f. subsp. brachyglossa (A.Braun) Panigrahi) - N.E. India (W. Bengal). A synonym of I. coromandelina. Isoetes coromandelina L.f. subsp. coromandelina (as opposed to subsp. macrotuberculata C.R.Marsden, from Australia) - Throughout most India, except the Himalaya: W.C. India (Rajasthan; Gujarat); C. India (Uttar Pradesh; Bihar; W. Bengal; Orissa; Madhya Pradesh; Maharashtra; Goa); S. India (Karnataka; Kerala; Tamil Nadu); Nepal; Myanmar; China; Thailand and Vietnam. Isoetes coromandelina var. raipurensis Unni - C. India (Madhya Pradesh). Isoetes debii S.C. Sinha - far N.E. India (Manipur). Isoetes divyadarshanii P.K.Shukla, G.K.Srivast. & S.K.Shukla - C. India (Maharashtra). Isoetes dixitii Shende [sub "dixitei"] - C. India (Madhya Pradesh; Maharashtra; Karnataka). Synonym of I. coromandelina. IUCN (1998) listed it as Extinct. Isoetes fuchsii Goswami & U.S. Sharma - C. India (Madhya Pradesh). Isoetes indica D.D. Pant & G.K.Srivast., non Koenig - C. and S. India (Uttar Pradesh; Madhya Pradesh; Tamil Nadu). Synonym of I. coromandelina. Isoetes indica var. harotiensis Bhardwaja & Gena - W.C. India (Rajasthan). Isoetes mahadevensis G.K.Srivast., D.D.Pant & P.K.Shukla - C. India (Madhya Pradesh). Isoetes mirzapurensis Panigrahi & R.D.Dixit - C. India (Uttar Pradesh). Synonym of I. coromandelina; placed in the synonymy of I. indica by Dixit (1984). Isoetes muricata Bhu & Goswami - C. India (Madhya Pradesh). Isoetes panchananii D.D.Pant & G.K.Srivast. [var. panchananii] - C. and W.C. India (Madhya Pradesh; Maharashtra). Isoetes panchananii D.D. Pant & G.K. Srivast. var. pachmarhiensis G.K.Srivast., M.Srivast., D.D. Pant & P.K. Shukla - C. India (Madhya Pradesh). Isoetes panchganiensis G.K.Srivast., D.D. Pant & P.K. Shukla [var. panchganiensis] - C. India (Maharashtra). Isoetes panchganiensis G.K. Srivast. et al. var. kemangundiensis G.K. Srivast., D.D. Pant & P.K. Shukla - S. India (Karnataka). Isoetes pantii Goswami & B.S. Arya - C. India (Madhya
Equisetaceae At risk *27. Equisetum palustre L. - very rare. Pakistan; far N.W. India (Northern Indian Kashmir). Psilotaceae Near-threatened 28. Psilotum nudum (L.) P. Beauv. (syn.: P. triquetrum Sw., P. nudum var. molesworthiae Iranzo, Prada & Salvo, which was listed from Spain by IUCN (1998) with its world-status as Endangered) - Sri Lanka; Andaman Islands; Nicobar Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001); S. India; C. India and N.W. India (Himachal Pradesh; Uttarakhand; Punjab); Nepal; N.E. India (W. Bengal, Darjeeling; Assam; Arunachal Pradesh; Nagaland; Meghalaya; Mizoram). 29. Psilotum complanatum Sw. - Nicobar Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001).
FERNS
Ophioglossaceae At risk 30. Botrychium virginianum (L.) Sw. - very rare. Pakistan; N.W. India (Indian Kashmir; Himachal Pradesh; Uttarakhand) and N.E. India (Meghalaya). Most reports of this species are in error for B. lanuginosum Wall. ex Hook. & Grev. (syn.: B. lanuginosum var. nepalense Nishida). The report from C. Nepal by Fraser-Jenkins in Thapa (2002) was in error for small to medium-sized plants of B. lanuginosum, with the fertile branch arising from the junction-point of the rachis and lowest pinna as in B. virginianum,
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but the lowest basiscopic pinnule of the frond clearly the longest, unlike in that species. 31. Helminthostachys zeylanica (L.) Hook. (syn.: H. laciniata Voigt) - S. India; C. India; N.W. India (Uttarakhand, inc. Banbasa near Tanakpur, CRFJ); Nepal; N.E. India (W. Bengal; Assam; Meghalaya). *32. Ophioglossum gramineum Willd. - S. India; W.C. and C. India; N.W. India (Uttarakhand); far N.E. India (W. Bengal). *33. Ophioglossum lusitanicum L. - S. India; C. India. *34. Ophioglossum pendulum L. - Nicobar Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001); far N.E. India (Assam; Arunachal Pradesh). Rare 35. Botrychium daucifolium Wall. ex Hook. & Grev. - S. India; C. India; Nepal; N.E. India (W. Bengal; Sikkim; Arunachal Pradesh; Meghalaya). Reported from Uttarakhand in error for B. multifidum (S.G.Gmel.) Rupr. 36. Botrychium lunaria (L.) Sw. - Pakistan; N.W. India (Indian Kashmir; Himachal Pradesh; Uttarakhand); Nepal; N.E. India (Sikkim). A report from S. India (Shevaroy Hills) was in error. 37. Botrychium ternatum (Thunb.) Sw. - N.W. India (Himachal Pradesh; Uttarakhand); Nepal; N.E. India (W. Bengal, Darjeeling; Sikkim; Arunachal Pradesh). Reported from Rajasthan (Mt. Abu) in error for B. lanuginosum Wall. ex Hook. & Grev. 38. Ophioglossum nudicaule L. - C. India; S. India. Reported from the Himalayan region in error for O. parvifolium Grev. & Hook. O. eliminatum Khand. & Goswami, described from C. India, may belong to this group, but requires further comparison with other Asian species. 39. Ophioglossum parvifolium Grev. & Hook. (syn.: O. macrorrhizum Kunze) - S. India; C. India; N.W. India (Himachal Pradesh; Uttarakhand); Nepal; N.E. India (Arunachal Pradesh; Meghalaya; Tripura). 40. Ophioglossum polyphyllum A.Braun ex Seub. (syn.: O. aitchisonii (C.B. Clarke) d'Almeida) C. India; Pakistan; N.W. India (Indian Kashmir; Himachal Pradesh; Uttarakhand; Panjab). Marattiaceae At risk *41. Christensenia aesculifolia (Blume) Maxon (syn.: C. assamica (Griff.) Ching) - far N.E. India (Assam; Arunachal Pradesh; Meghalaya). IUCN (1998) listed C. assamica from China and N.E. India as Vulnerable.
42. Marattia fraxinea Sw. - Sri Lanka; S. India. Osmundaceae At risk *43. Osmunda cinnamomea L. subsp. asiatica (Fernald) Fras.-Jenk. - very rare. Bhutan; far N.E. India (Arunachal Pradesh). *44. Osmunda javanica Blume - very rare. Far N.E. India (Arunachal Pradesh). Chandra (2000) listed it from Tamil Nadu and Kerala, but Sledge (1982) made clear that Panigrahi and Dixit's (1969) report from S. India was in error for a Sri Lankan plant and Beddome's doubtful report was for the next species. *45. ?Osmunda angustifolia Ching (syn.: O. collina Sledge) - very rare or perhaps only cultivated in S. India (Kerala, Gen. Johnston, cited by Beddome with doubt as to its wild origin); Thailand; S.E. China. Near-threatened 46. Osmunda huegeliana C.Presl. (syn.: O. regalis var. panigrahiana R.D.Dixit) - C. and S. India. Reported from Arunachal Pradesh in error for O. regalis L. Rare 47. Osmunda regalis L. - far N.E. India (Arunachal Pradesh; Meghalaya). Reports from the W. Himalaya are in error for abnormal or sterile O. japonica Thunb. and from C. and S. India for O. huegeliana C.Presl. Plagiogyriaceae The several species described by Ching and also Dixit and Das and commonly reported from India are synonyms (see Fraser-Jenkins, 1997; Zhang and Nooteboom, 1998). At risk 48. Plagiogyria glauca (Blume) Mett. (syn.: P. glaucescens Ching) - far N.E. India ("Assam"; Manipur; Meghalaya). Near-threatened 49. Plagiogyria adnata (Blume) Bedd. (syn.: P. rankanensis Hayata) - far N.E. India ("Assam"; Meghalaya). Schizaeaceae At risk 50. Lygodium circinnatum (Burm.f.) Sw. Andaman Islands; Nicobar Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001); far N.E. India (Assam). Reported from N.W. India by Chandra (2000) in error for the radiate first leaf of L. flexuosum (L.) Sw. *51. Lygodium polystachyum Wall. ex T.Moore very rare. Far N.E. India (Assam).
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*52. Schizaea dichotoma (L.) Sm. - very rare. Nicobar Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001); S. India. *53. Schizaea digitata (L.) Sw. - very rare. Andaman Islands; Nicobar Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001); S. India; N.E. India (Assam; Meghalaya). Near threatened 54. Lygodium longifolium (Willd.) Sw. - very rare. S. India. Gleicheniaceae At risk 55. Dicranopteris ?curranii Copel. (syn.: D. linearis (Burm.f.) Underw. var. wattii Panigrahi & R.D.Dixit) - Nicobar Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001); N.E. India (Manipur). 56. ?Dicranopteris subpectinata (Christ) C.M. Kuo - ?Andaman Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001). Close to D. linearis (Burm.f.) Underw. and both D. subpectinata itself and its occurrence in the Andamans may require further study. Dipteridaceae At risk *57. Dipteris wallichii (R.Br.) T.Moore - E. Nepal; N.E. India (Sikkim; Arunachal Pradesh; Assam; Meghalaya); Bhutan; Bangladesh. Polypodiaceae At risk *58. Arthromeris notholaenoides V.K.Rawat & Fras.-Jenk. (Fraser-Jenkins, 2008a, in press) (apparently endemic) - very rare. A single collection of this very distinctive species covered in dense hair, with small rounded-apexed pinnae, from far N.E. India (Arunachal Pradesh, Lower Debang Valley, Mehao, V.K. Rawat). Probably to be expected in Tibet. 59. Arthromeris wardii (C.B.Clarke) Ching Bhutan; far N.E. India (W. Bengal, Kalimpong; Arunachal Pradesh; Nagaland); Tibet. *60. Drymotaenium miyoshianum (Makino) Makino - very rare. Far N.E. India (Arunachal Pradesh). *61. Drynaria bonii Christ (syn.: D. meeboldii Rosenst.) - very rare. Far N.E. India (Manipur; "Assam", given by Roos, 1985). IUCN (1998) listed D. meeboldii from Manipur only, as Vulnerable. *62. Drynaria parishii (Bedd.) Bedd. - very rare. Far N.E. India ("Assam?", given by Roos, 1985). *63. Goniophlebium persicifolium (Desv.) Bedd. very rare. Far N.E. India ("Assam", [probably King 6321, 6384?], given by Rdl-Linder, 1990).
*64. Lemmaphyllum microphyllum C.Presl - very rare. Far N.E. India (E. Arunachal Pradesh). *65. Leptochilus minor Fe (syn.: L. minutulus Fe, Dendroglossa minutula (Fe) Copel.) - far N.E. India (Meghalaya). IUCN (1998) listed Dendroglossa minutula (Fe) Copel. from N.E. India only, as Endangered. Nooteboom (1997) mistakenly placed Nistarika bahupunctika B.K.Nayar, Madhus. & Molly (syn.: Leptochilus bahupunctika (B.K.Nayar et al.) Nampy) in its synonymy, which is a synonym of the very different species, Leptochilus axillaris (Cav.) Kaulf. *66. Leptochilus subhemionitideus (Christ) Bosman (syn.: Neocheiropteris subhemionitidea (Christ) Fras.-Jenk. (1997); misapplied name: Microsorum hymenodes sensu auct. Ind., non (Kunze) Ching [= Microsorum membranaceum (D.Don) Ching]) - very rare. E. Nepal; Bhutan; far N.E. India (Arunachal Pradesh). 67. Leptochilus thwaitesianus Fe - S. India. Reports from far N.E. and C. and C.W. India are in error for L. lanceolatus Fe. Nooteboom (1997) mistakenly placed this species in the synonymy of the very distinct species Leptochilus decurrens Blume. *68. Loxogramme grammitoides (Baker) C.Chr. (syn.: L. yigongensis Ching & S.K.Wu; misapplied name: L. lankokiensis sensu Singh and Panigrahi (1987, 2005), non (Rosenst.) C.Chr. [= L. acroscopa (Christ) C.Chr. from S.E. Asia]) very rare. N.E. India (W. Bengal, Gairibas, nr. Manebhanjyang, Darjeeling; Arunachal Pradesh, Namdapha, CRFJ etc.). Dr. Michael G. Price of Michigan has kindly informed the author of the identity of L. lankokiensis and that L. acroscopa is not present in India. Singh and Panigrahi's report of L. lankokiensis from India was in error for small plants of L. grammitoides. *69. Microgramma lycopodioides (L.) Copel. - very rare or ?extinct. Sri Lanka; S. India. 70. Microsorum chinense (Mett. ex Kuhn) Fras.-Jenk. (2008a, in press) (syn.: M. henryi (Christ) C.M.Kuo; Microsorum excelsum Ching & SKWu) - very rare. Bhutan; far N.E. India (Arunachal Pradesh). Confused with M. fortunei (T.Moore) Ching, but with larger, wider fronds and more rows of sori. *71. Neocheiropteris ensata (Thunb.) Ching - very rare. Far N.E. India (Manipur; Meghalaya). *72. Phymatopteris connexa (Ching) Pic.Serm. - very rare. Far N.E. India (Manipur, Sirhoi, F. Kingdon Ward 17833, BM!) (Fraser-Jenkins, 2008a, in press).
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73. Phymatopteris nigrovenia (Christ) Pic. Serm. very rare. Nepal; N.E. India (W. Bengal, Darjeeling; Sikkim). This species is closely related to P. veitchii (Baker) Pic. Serm. from Japan and to P. shensiense (Christ) Pic. Serm. from China. *74. Phymatopteris tibetana (Ching & S.K. Wu) W.M.Chu - very rare. Nepal; N.E. India (Sikkim) (Fraser-Jenkins, 2008a, in press). 75. Phymatosorus longissimus (Blume) Pic.Serm. (syn.: Microsorum rubidum (Kunze) Copel.) - S. India; Nicobar Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001); far N.E. India (Assam); Bangladesh. *76. Platycerium wallichii Hook. - very rare. Far N.E. India (Manipur); Myanmar. Reported from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in error (Dixit and Sinha, 2001) and confused with the African species P. alcicorne Desv., which is widely known in cultivation. *77. Polypodiodes dielsiana (C.Chr.) Fras.-Jenk. (1997) - very rare. Far N.E. India ("Assam", Hooker (K), given by Rdl-Linder, 1990). *78. Polypodiodes manmeiense (Christ) Fras.-Jenk. (1997) - very rare. Far N.E. India (Meghalaya; "Assam" only, given by Rodl-Linder (1990), but referring to Meghalaya). Reports from the W. Himalaya (Uttarakhand) and Sikkim were in error for Polypodioides microrhizoma (C.B.Clarke ex Baker) Ching. 79. Polypodiodes wattii (Bedd.) Ching (syn.: Goniophlebium niponicum (Mett.) Bedd. var. wattii Bedd.) - far N.E. India (Arunachal Pradesh; Manipur; Meghalaya). *80. Pyrrosia boothii (Hook.) Ching - very rare. N.E. India (?W. Bengal, Darjeeling; Sikkim); Bhutan. *81. Pyrrosia drakeana (Franch.) Ching - very rare. Far N.E. India (Arunachal Pradesh). 82. Pyrrosia laevis (J.Sm.) Ching (syn.: Pyrrosia jaintensis (C.B.Clarke) Ching) - far N.E. India (Meghalaya); Myanmar. *83. Pyrrosia longifolia (Burm.f.) C.V.Morton - very rare. Far N.E. India (Arunachal Pradesh). *84. Pyrrosia rasamalae (Racib.) K.H.Shing (syn.: Pyrrosia arunachalensis Sarn.Singh & Panigrahi) - very rare. Far N.E. India (Arunachal Pradesh) (Fraser-Jenkins, 2008a, in press). 85. Pyrrosia subfurfuracea (Hook.) Ching [Bhutan], far N.E. India (Arunachal Pradesh; Mizoram). Reports from the W. Himalaya and Sikkim were in error for Pyrrosia flocculosa (D.Don) Ching and P. costata (Wall. ex C.Presl) Tagawa & K. Iwats. *86. Selliguea chrysotricha (C. Chr.) Fras.-Jenk.
(2008a, in press) - very rare. Far N.E. India (Arunachal Pradesh). 87. Selliguea majoensis (C.Chr.) Fras.-Jenk. (2008a, in press) (misapplied name: Phymatopteris griffithiana sensu Ching et auct. Ind., non (Hook.) Pic.Serm. [syn.: P. integerrima (Ching) Bir, from E. Nepal and N.E. India]) - far N.E. India (Nagaland; Meghalaya); Tibet (Fraser-Jenkins, 2008a, in press). *88. Selliguea subsparsa (Baker) Hovenkamp ("Holcosorus bisulcatus (Hook.) Ching" sensu Dixit and Nair, 1977) - very rare. Far N.E. India (Arunachal Pradesh). S. bisulcata (Hooker) Hovenkamp is confined to Borneo and has a quadrangular leaf with elongated, fusing, sunken sori, not a narrow, deflexed lamina with a midrib, and separate, easily visible sori as in Rao's collection from Siang, Arunachal Pradesh, reported by Dixit and Nair. Two widespread species can exist in gramineous forms as well as their normal, wider-fronded forms, S. enervis (Cav.) Ching, from Thailand and Malaya south-eastwards, and S. subsparsa (Baker) Hovenkamp (syn.: Crypsinus wrayi (Baker) Holttum) from Malaya south-eastward. Both vary in scale-denticulation. The collection from Arunachal Pradesh appears to belong to the gramineous form of S. subsparsa, as illustrated from Malaya by Piggott and Pigott (1988) and mentioned by Holttum (1954), but S. enervis and S. subsparsa may not be entirely separate species (Hovenkamp, 1998). IUCN (1998) listed Holcosorus bisulcatus from Arunachal Pradesh only, as Endangered. *89. Selliguea tricuspis (Hook.) Fras.-Jenk. (2008a, in press) (syn.: Christiopteris tricuspis (Hook.) Christ) - very rare. N.E. India (Darjeeling [?extinct]; S. Sikkim). *90. Thylacopteris papillosa (Blume) Kunze ex J.Sm. - very rare. Far N.E. India (Arunachal Pradesh). Near-threatened 91. Belvisia henryi (Hieron. ex C.Chr.) Raymond Nepal; N.E. India (Sikkim; Meghalaya); S. India. B. spicata (L.f.) Mirb. ex Copel. and its synonym, B. revoluta (Blume) Copel., and B. mucronata (Fe) Copel. and its synonym, B. callifolia (Christ) Copel., have also been reported from India, especially N. India, in error for B. henryi by various authors, including Satija and Bir (1985). Hovenkamp and Franken (1993) recognize only B. henryi from India, though the other two species are present in Sri Lanka. Beddome also reported B. spicata from S. India, but perhaps rather dubiously.
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92. Goniophlebium mengtzeense (Christ) RdlLinder (syn.: Polypodium argutum forma khasianum C.B.Clarke; misapplied name: G. subauriculatum sensu Satija and Bir (1985), non (Blume) C. Presl - Far N.E. India (Meghalaya). Distinguishable from G. subauriculatum, which does not occur in India, by its sori not being sunken, the rhizome-scales dimorphic, with round, adpressed ones at the base of deltate and filiform ones; branched laminar hairs absent and only simple. 93. Lepisorus oligolepidus (Baker) Ching - N.E. India only (Arunachal Pradesh). Reports from the W. Himalaya and S. India were in error, mainly for L. scolopendria (Ching) Mehra & Bir (Fraser-Jenkins, 2008a, in press). Several other Chinese species have been reported in error from the W. and E. Indo-Himalaya. 94. Lepisorus sordidus (C.Chr.) Ching - far N.E. India only (Arunachal Pradesh). 95. Leptochilus superficialis (Blume) Fras.-Jenk. (2008a, in press) (syn.: Neocheiropteris superficialis (Blume) Bosman) - E. Nepal; Bhutan; far N.E. India (?Sikkim; Arunachal Pradesh; Manipur; Nagaland; Meghalaya). Reported from S. India by Satija and Bir (1985) in error. 96. Microsorum fortunei (T.Moore) Ching (syn.: Lepisorus fortunei (T. Moore) C.M. Kuo, error due to study of incorrect type, see Fraser-Jenkins (2008a, in press)) - Bhutan; far N.E. India (Arunachal Pradesh). 97. Microsorum zippelii (Blume) Ching (syn.: Neocheiropteris zippelii (Blume) Bosman, Microsorum indicum Ching) - S. India; W. Himalaya (Uttarakhand, rare); N.E. India (W. Bengal; Sikkim; Manipur; Meghalaya); Bhutan; Myanmar. 98. Pleopeltis macrocarpa (Bory ex Willd.) Kaulf. S. India; C. India; ?N.E. India (Meghalaya). N.E. Indian records were probably in error for Lepisorus macrosphaerus (Baker) Ching. 99. Polypodiodes niponicum (Mett.) Ching - far N.E. India (Meghalaya). 100. Polypodiodes subamoena (C.B.Clarke) Ching N.W. India (Uttarakhand, rare); Nepal; N.E. India (W. Bengal, Darjeeling; Sikkim); Bhutan. 101. Pyrrosia ceylanica (Giesenh.) Sledge - very rare. Sri Lanka; S. India. Rare 102. Arthromeris tenuicauda (Hook.) Ching Bhutan; far N.E. India (Arunachal Pradesh; Manipur; Meghalaya). Reported from Uttarakhand in error. Very similar to the
common A. tatsienensis (Franch. & Bureau ex Christ) Ching, but the pinnae are stalked. 103. Leptochilus pothifolius (D. Don) Fras.-Jenk., comb. nov., basionym: Hemionitis pothifolia D.Don, Prodr. Flor. Nepal.: 13 (1824) (syn.: Colysis pothifolia (D. Don) C. Presl; Colysis latiloba Ching) - Nepal; N.E. India (W. Bengal; Sikkim; Arunachal Pradesh; Manipur; Meghalaya). The name C. pothifolia has usually been misapplied in India to L. ellipticus (Thunb.) Noot., which is a common and widespread species. 104. Leptochilus pedunculatus (Hook. & Grev.) Fras.-Jenk. (syn.: Leptochilus macrophyllus (Blume) Noot. var. pedunculatus (Hook. & Grev.) Noot.) - E. Nepal; N.E. India (W. Bengal; Arunachal Pradesh; Meghalaya); Bangladesh. 105. Neocheiropteris ovata (Fe) Fras.-Jenk. (1997) (syn.: Neolepisorus ovata (Fe) Ching; Microsorum phyllomanes (Christ) Koidz.) Nepal; N.E. India (W. Bengal, Darjeeling; Sikkim; Manipur; Meghalaya). 106. Phymatopteris crenatopinnata (C.B.Clarke) Pic.Serm. (syn.: Phymatopsis decurrentiadnata (Rosent.) S.R.Ghosh, see Fraser-Jenkins (2008a, in press)) - Bhutan; far N.E. India (Arunachal Pradesh; Manipur; Meghalaya). 107. Phymatopteris erythrocarpa (Mett. ex Kuhn) Pic.Serm. - N.W. India (rare, Himachal Pradesh); Nepal; N.E. India (W. Bengal, Darjeeling; Sikkim); Bhutan. Reported in error from Kashmir by Beddome in a lapse of memory. 108. Polypodiodes hendersonii (Bedd.) Fras.-Jenk. (1997) (syn.: Goniophlebium hendersonii Bedd., Polypodiodes atkinsonii (C.Chr.) Ching) - Nepal; N.E. India (W. Bengal, Darjeeling; Sikkim; Manipur; Meghalaya). Reports from the W. Himalaya were in error for P. lachnopus (Wall. ex Hook.) Ching (Pangtey, Khullar and Fraser-Jenkins, 2008, in press). 109. Pyrrosia nummulariifolia (Sw.) Ching (syn.: P. obovata (Blume) Ching) - Bhutan; far N.E. India (Assam; Arunachal Pradesh; Manipur; Meghalaya; Mizoram). 110. Pyrrosia stenophylla (Bedd.) Ching (syn.: P. nayariana Ching & P.Chandra; P. porosa (C.Presl) Hovenkamp var. stenophylla (Bedd.) Hovenkamp) - Nepal; N.E. India (Sikkim; Arunachal Pradesh; Manipur; Meghalaya); Bhutan; Myanmar. This is a good species distinct from, though closely related to the common P. porosa (C.Presl) Hovenkamp.
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111. Selliguea rhynchophylla (Hook.) Fras.-Jenk. (2008a, in press) (syn.: Phymatopteris rhynchophylla (Hook.) Pic.Serm.) - N.E. India (Sikkim; Arunachal Pradesh; Meghalaya); Bhutan. Grammitidaceae The five genera usually recognised in the Indian subcontinent (see Parris, 1990), Scleroglossum, Grammitis, Xiphopteris, Ctenopteris and Prosaptia were based on obviously visible frond-form as regards degree of dissection and the number of sori per lobe. But Parris (2007, 2006-2007) has found that this family actually contains a larger number of highly separately evolved genera based on major features of a radial versus dorsivental rhizome, quite different types of scales and hairs, stipe-articulation and venation, which cannot be considered of mere infra generic significance in the Grammitidaceae. Various degrees of frond-form development occur in some of the genera, as in the genera in most other families. Parris' generic scheme is adopted here along with her revision of species. Ctenopteris is no longer recognised as its type-species belongs in Prosaptia. At risk *112. Ctenopterella blechnoides (Grev.) Parris (syn.: Grammitis blechnoides Grev., Ctenopteris moultonii (Copel.) C. Chr. & Tardieu) - very rare, or extinct. Sri Lanka; S. India. 113. Oreogrammitis attenuata (Kunze) Parris - very rare. Sri Lanka; S. India. *114. Oreogrammitis austroindica (Parris) Parris (endemic) - very rare or extinct. S. India (Nilgiri Hills). Not seen since the later-mid 19th. Century and known only from a single collection by Beddome, which was first noticed as distinct by Sledge (1960); potentially extinct. 115. Oreogrammitis pilifera (Ravi & J.Joseph) Parris (endemic) (G. medialis sensu auct. Ind., non (Baker) Sledge) - very rare, Parris has shown that it is endemic to S. India, while Oreogrammitis medialis (Baker) Parris is confined to Sri Lanka and has been widely reported from S. India in error. This species was originally named by its authors by accident as the number of hairs on the sporangia is variable and of no significance and they separated it thereby from what they took as "G. medialis" from S. India (actually other plants of G. pilifera) on an erroneous basis. *116. Prosaptia alata (Blume) Christ - very rare, if not potentially extinct. Sri Lanka; S. India.
117. Prosaptia contigua (G.Forst.) C.Presl - very rare. Sri Lanka; S. India. *118. Prosaptia khasyana (Hook.) C.Chr. & Tardieu very rare. Far N.E. India; Myanmar. Sledge's report of P. khasyana from Sri Lanka referred to the endemic P. ceylanica Parris (Parris, 2006-2007). 119. Prosaptia obliquata (Blume) Mett. - very rare. Sri Lanka; S. India. *120. Scleroglossum sulcatum (Kuhn) Alderw. - very rare. Sri Lanka; far N.E. India (Meghalaya). *121. Tomophyllum perplexum (Parris) Parris - very rare. Sri Lanka and S. India only. This species is distinct from T. subfalcatum (Blume) Parris, confined to S.E. Asia, T. epaleatum (Parris) Parris, from Sri Lanka and the common and widespread Himalayan Tomophyllum donianum (Spreng.) Fras.-Jenk. & Parris, in Fraser-Jenkins (2008a, in press) (syn.: Tomophyllum sinicum (Ching) Parris). But all four had previously been reported from India or Sri Lanka under the name Ctenopteris subfalcata (Blume) Kunze), until revised by Parris. Fraser-Jenkins (2008a, in press) found that the Himalayan plant is distinct from the S.E. Asian and utilised the name Polypodium donianum Spreng. as the basionym for it, a nom. nov. for Don's Polypodium tenellum D.Don; this was then confirmed by Parris and the necessary combination made in Tomophyllum instead of Grammitis. Hymenophyllaceae At risk *122. Hymenophyllum acanthoides (Bosch) Rosenst. (syn.: Meringium acanthoides (Bosch) Copel.) very rare. S. India. Reports from N.E. India may have been in error for H. denticulatum Sw. *123. Hymenophyllum barbatum (Bosch) Baker - very rare. Far N.E. India (Meghalaya). 124. Trichomanes agasthianum (Madhus. & C.A.Hameed) C.A.Hameed, K.P.Rajesh & Madhus. (2003) (syn.: Crepidomanes agasthianum Madhus. & C.A.Hameed; Trichomanes lunulatum (Madhus. & C.A.Hameed) C.A.Hameed, K.P.Rajesh & Madhus. (2003)) - very rare. S. India. This species, described as if endemic, needs to be checked in comparison to Malesian species as its separate identity has not yet been properly investigated and established. *125. Trichomanes apiifolium C.Presl (syn.: Callistopteris apiifolia (C.Presl) Copel.) - very rare. Nicobar Islands. Reported by Tagawa and
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Iwatsuki (1979) and Kuo (1985) from the Nicobar Islands, but not by Dixit (1984), Dixit and Sinha (2001) or Chandra (2000). *126. Trichomanes exiguum (Bedd.) Baker (syn.: Didymoglossum exiguum (Bedd.) Copel.) - very rare. Sri Lanka; S. India. *127. Trichomanes grande Copel. (syn.: Nesopteris grandis (Copel.) Copel.) - Nicobar Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001). 128. ?Trichomanes griffithii (Bosch) Alston ex Panigrahi (syn.: Crepidomanes griffithii (Bosch) R.D. Dixit & S.R. Ghosh) - Andaman Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001); Myanmar. Panigrahi published this combination written in the herbarium by Alston, as he acknowledged. Hameed, Rajesh and Madhusoodanan (2003) synonymised this species within the S. and N.E. Indian etc. species T. bipunctatum Poir., but possibly in error. 129. Trichomanes henzaianum Parish ex Hook. (syn.: Microgonium henzaianum (Parish ex Hook.) Copel, ?Trichomanes vamana C.A.Hameed & Madhus., nom. nud.) - very rare. S. India. 130. Trichomanes javanicum Blume (syn.: Cephalomanes javanicum (Blume) Bosch) Nicobar Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001); far N.E. India (Assam; Arunachal Pradesh; Manipur; Mizoram); Bangladesh; Myanmar. *131. Trichomanes maximum Blume (syn.: Vandenboschia maxima (Blume) Copel., Trichomanes indicum S.R.Ghosh) - Very rare. ?Nicobar Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001); far N.E. India (Arunachal Pradesh); Myanmar. *132. ?Trichomanes mindorense Christ (syn.: Microgonium mindorense (Christ) Copel.) very rare. S. India (Hameed, Rajesh and Madhusoodanan, 2003). Its presence in India perhaps requires confirmation. 133. Trichomanes motleyi Bosch (syn.: Microgonium motleyi (Bosch) Bosch) - very rare. Andaman Islands (Dixit, 1984; Chandra, 2000, but omitted by Dixit and Sinha, 2001). *134. Trichomanes parvifolium (Baker) Copel. (syn.: Trichomanes minutifolium Tagawa & K. Iwats., Microgonium parvifolium (Baker) Tagawa & K.Iwats.) - very rare W.C. Nepal (cave by waterfall at Komale, below and on S.W. side of Hattiya Deurali, above and W. of Anbu Khaireni, Gorkha District, CRFJ 28500 (FN 4475), 19 April 2000); N.E. India (Sikkim); Myanmar; Thailand. *135. Trichomanes sublimbatum Mll.Hal. (syn.: Microgonium sublimbatum (Mll. Hal.) Bosch; misapplied name: Trichomanes muscoides
sensu auct. Ind. bor., non Sw. [= T. hymenoides (Hedw.) Copel., from C. and S. America], Didymoglossum hymenoides sensu Chandra (2000), non (Hedw.) Copel.) - very rare. ?S. India (Hameed, Rajesh and Madhusoodanan, 2003); far N.E. India (Meghalaya, inc. Sohrarim, Mawmitheid, CRFJ). The identity of the S. Indian plant perhaps requires further confirmation. Near-threatened 136. Hymenophyllum denticulatum Sw. (syn.: Meringium denticulatum (Sw.) Copel.) - S. India; far N.E. India (Assam; Arunachal Pradesh; Manipur; Nagaland; Meghalaya and Mizoram); Myanmar. 137. Hymenophyllum edentulum (Bosch) C.Chr. (syn.: Meringium edentulum (Bosch) Copel.) far N.E. India (Meghalaya). 138. Hymenophyllum khasianum Baker (syn.: Hymenophyllum flaccidum (Bosch) Baker, non Bosch, Meringium flaccidum (Bosch) N.C.Nair; misapplied name: Mecodium undulatum sensu Dixit (1984), non (Sw.) Copel. [= Hymenophyllum undulatum Sw., from C. and S. America]) - far N.E. India (Meghalaya). 139. Hymenophyllum levingei C.B.Clarke (syn.: Mecodium levingei (C.B.Clarke) Copel.; misapplied name: Sphaerocionium ciliatum sensu Dixit (1984) and Chandra (2000), non (Sw.) Copel. [= Hymenophyllum ciliatum (Sw.) Sw. from C. and S. America]) - N.E. India (Sikkim); Bhutan. Very locally abundant. 140. Hymenophyllum simonsianum Hook. - N.E. India (W. Bengal, Darjeeling; Sikkim; Arunachal Pradesh; Manipur; Meghalaya); Bhutan. 141. Trichomanes christii Copel., syn.: Trichomanes barnardianum F.M.Bailey subsp. christii (Copel.) Croxall; Crepidomanes christii (Copel.) Copel.) - S. India. Although this species has been placed as a subspecies of the Australian species, T. barnardianum, it is maintained as a distinct species here. The S. Indian plant has longer frond-axes than the common form in the Philippines, which has a shorter, more radiate frond with the sori borne more towards the apical area. However, an isotype of T. christii at US shows the more elongated frond form similar to that of the S. Indian plant, which is therefore accepted here as being conspecific and is a S.E. Asian species present in S. India. 142. Trichomanes humile G.Forst. (syn.: Reediella humilis (G. Forst.) Pic. Serm.) - Andaman
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Islands, Nicobar Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001). 143. Trichomanes latemarginale D.C.Eaton (syn.: Crepidomanes latemarginale (D.C.Eaton) Copel.) - N.E. India (Meghalaya). Sledge (1968) showed that this species is different from T. intramarginale Hook. & Grev., from Sri Lanka and S. India, and T. kurzii Bedd. (syn.: T. malabaricum (C.A.Hameed & Madhus.) C.A.Hameed, K.P.Rajesh & Madhus.), from Sri Lanka; S. India; the Andaman Islands and N.E. India, though Chandra (2000) synonymised all three under T. intramarginale, which is a separate species confined to Sri Lanka and S. India. The S. Indian reports of T. latemarginale refer to T. kurzii. 144. Trichomanes nitidulum Bosch (syn.: Microtrichomanes nitidulum (Bosch) Copel.; misapplied name: Microtrichomanes digitatum sensu auct. Ind., non (Sw.) Copel. [= Trichomanes digitatum Sw. from Mauritius, S.E. Asia and Australia]) - far N.E. India (Meghalaya). Rare 145. Hymenophyllum gardneri Bosch - Sri Lanka and S. India. Closely related to the common N. Indian etc. H. exsertum Wall. ex Hook., but with consistently more compact fronds. It was carefully distinguished by Sledge (1968), though Hameed, Rajesh and Madhusoodanan (2003) have subsequently synonymised it within H. exsertum. 146. Trichomanes bilabiatum Nees & Blume - Sri Lanka; Nicobar Islands; S. India. Reported from N.E. India in error for T. bipunctatum Poir. and from the W. Himalaya in error for the common species, T. latealatum Bosch. 147. Trichomanes bimarginatum (Bosch) Bosch (syn.: Microgonium bimarginatum Bosch; Trichomanes neilgherrense Bedd.; misapplied name: Trichomanes muscoides sensu Bedd., non Sw. [= T. hymenoides (Hedw.) Copel., from C. and S. America]) - Sri Lanka; S. India; far N.E. India (Meghalaya). 148. Trichomanes bipunctatum Poir. (syn.: Crepidomanes bipunctatum (Poir.) Copel.) - S. India; N.E. India (Sikkim; Nagaland; Meghalaya). Shown by Sledge (1968) to be distinct from T. bilabiatum Nees & Blume, though Chandra (2000) placed T. bilabiatum in the synonymy of T. bipunctatum in error. Reported from N.W. India in error for the common T. campanulatum Roxb.
149. Trichomanes intramarginale Hook. & Grev. (syn.: Crepidomanes intramarginale (Hook. & Grev.) C.Presl) - S. India. Reported from N. India in error for T. latemarginale (see above under that name). 150. Trichomanes obscurum Blume (syn.: Selenodesmium obscurum (Blume) Copel., Cephalomanes obscurum (Blume) K.Iwats.) Sri Lanka; S. India. Reported from "N. India," probably in error for T. maximum Blume from far N.E. India. 151. Trichomanes saxifragoides C.Presl (syn.: Crepidomanes saxifragoides (C.Presl) P.S.Green) - Sri Lanka; S. India; C. Nepal (near Dam, Phewa Tal, Pokhara, CRFJ 26100, 9 March 1998, H); N.E. India (Assam; Arunachal Pradesh; Nagaland). Sledge (1968) definitively showed that this species is distinct from T. proliferum Blume (syn.: T. minutum Blume), which has a more pinnate, less radiating lamina and frequently bears adventive fronds from the stipes (proliferous). But the two have unfortunately again been united recently by Japanese botanists with a less precise species-concept into an aggregate-species including both distinct species. Cyatheaceae As shown by Holttum, Tryon's arguments for the splitting of Cyathea into several splinter-genera are somewhat arbitrary, hardly practical and his genera not well defined. The genus Cyathea has therefore been retained here. At risk 152. Cibotium barometz (L.) J.Sm. (syn.: C. assamicum Hook.) - far N.E. India (Assam; Arunachal Pradesh). *153. Cyathea albosetacea (Scott ex Bedd.) Copel. (syn.: Sphaeropteris albosetacea (Bedd.) R.Tryon) - Nicobar Islands; IUCN (1998) listed it as Vulnerable. 154. Cyathea andersonii (J.Scott ex Bedd.) Copel. (syn.: Gymnosphaera andersonii (J. Scott ex Bedd.) Ching & S.K.Wu) - N.E. India (Sikkim; Arunachal Pradesh (inc. Daphla Hills); Meghalaya); Bhutan. 155. Cyathea brunoniana (Wall. ex Hook.) C.B.Clarke & Baker (syn.: Sphaeropteris brunoniana (Wall. ex Hook.) R.Tryon) - E. Nepal; N.E. India (West Bengal, Darjeeling; Sikkim; Arunachal Pradesh; Manipur; Nagaland; Meghalaya). Reported from the W. Himalaya and S. India in error.
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156. Cyathea chinensis Copel. (syn.: Alsophila costularis Baker) - E. Nepal; N.E. India (W. Bengal, Darjeeling; Sikkim; Arunachal Pradesh; Manipur; Nagaland; Meghalaya). 157. Cyathea contaminans (Wall. ex Hook.) Copel. (syn.: Sphaeropteris glauca (Blume) R.Tryon, non Cyathea glauca Bory) - N.E. India (W. Bengal, Darjeeling; Sikkim; Arunachal Pradesh; Manipur; Meghalaya). *158. Cyathea crinita (Hook.) Copel. (syn.: Sphaeropteris crinita (Hook.) R.Tryon) - Sri Lanka and S. India. Chandra (2000) cited the authorities and reference for Sphaeropteris crinita as Tryon in Fraser-Jenkins (1997); but where this type of citation was given it was not intended to be the author citation and reference, which is given in Index Filicum. Near-threatened 159. Cyathea khasyana (Moore ex Kuhn) Domin (syn.: Gymnosphaera khasyana (T.Moore ex Kuhn) Ching) - N.E. India (W. Bengal, Darjeeling; Sikkim; Arunachal Pradesh; Nagaland; Meghalaya; Mizoram). Beddome mistakenly referred this species partly to A. comosa Hook., a synonym of the Malesian C. squamulata (Blume) Copel., which latter was thus reported from India by Chandra (2000), but C. squamulata is a distinct and non-Indian species. 160. Cyathea nilgirensis Holttum (syn.: Alsophila nilgirensis (Holttum) R.Tryon) (Endemic) - S. India (Kerala; Tamil Nadu; Andhra Pradesh). IUCN (1998) listed it as Endangered. Nayar and Geevarghese (1993) erroneously referred this species to C. walkerae Hook, endemic to Sri Lanka, which was thence listed by Chandra (2000). Rare 161. ?Cyathea holttumiana R.R.Rao & Jamir - N.E. India (Nagaland). A doubtful species requiring reidentification and probably merely a synonym of C. brunoniana (Wall. ex Hook.) C.B. Clarke & Baker. 162. ?Cyathea nicobarica N.P. Balakr. & R.D. Dixit (syn.: Sphaeropteris nicobarica (N.P. Balakr. & R.D. Dixit) R.D. Dixit) - Nicobar Islands. A doubtful species requiring comparison with Malesian species. The following three names, said to be endemic, even to their local village in the case of the two latter, are taxonomically doubtful and require further study in relation to other species: Cyathea gamblei R.D. Dixit. N.E. India (W. Bengal; Assam; Sikkim). Because Holttum had
expressed some doubt over his identification of C. henryi (Baker) Copel. from India in the absence of any stipe material, Dixit then described a new species for it, though still without having seen the stipe or providing any information about it. He also did not investigate how C. gamblei differed from C. henryi and gave no comparative differences from that species. It therefore remains a dubious taxon requiring investigation. Cyathea nayarii Bandyopadhyay, T.Sen & U.Sen. Far N.E. India (Arunachal Pradesh). Cyathea sharmae Bandyopadhyay, T.Sen & U.Sen. Far N.E. India (Arunachal Pradesh). Dennstaedtiaceae At risk *163. Dennstaedtia wilfordii (T.Moore) Christ ex Ching - very rare. Pakistan; far N.W. India (Indian Kashmir). *164. Microlepia calvescens (Hook.) C.Presl - N.E. India (Assam; Manipur; Meghalaya). Reported by Chandra (2000) from Uttarakhand in error. *165. Microlepia majuscula (E.J.Lowe) T.Moore very rare. S. India. IUCN (1998) listed it from Sri Lanka only, as Indeterminate. Near-threatened 166. Microlepia trichocarpa Hayata (syn.: M. brevistrigosa A.Biswas) - Nepal (Bajrabarahi, Kathmandu, CRFJ); N.E. India (W. Bengal, Damsong, E. of Kalimpong, CRFJ 30428, 25 May 2004); China. Related to M. strigosa (Thunb.) C.Presl, but with much more densely and longer-hairy axes (see Fraser-Jenkins, 2008a, in press). Rare 167. Microlepia hallbergii (dAlmeida) C.Chr. - S. India; N.W. India (Uttarakhand); Nepal; N.E. India (Arunachal Pradesh; Meghalaya); China. Lindsaeaceae At risk 168. Lindsaea commixta Tagawa (syn.: L. orbiculata (Lam.) Mett ex Kuhn var. commixta (Tagawa) K.U.Kramer) - ?Andaman Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001), but specimen not seen by them); C. Nepal (Andheri Khola, Syangja, R.L. Fleming 864, partly labelled as Mussoorie, W. Himalaya in error, and thence reported by Chandra (2000)); far N.E. India (Meghalaya); Myanmar; Malesia etc. 169. Lindsaea malabarica (Bedd.) Baker (endemic) - S. India; C. India. IUCN (1998) listed it as Rare. 170. Lindsaea venusta Kaulf. ex Kuhn (misapplied name: Lindsaea lobata sensu Beddome, non
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Poir. [from S.E. Asia]) - very rare. Sri Lanka; S. India. Reported by Chandra (2000) under both L. venusta and L. lobata. *171. Taenitis blechnoides (Willd.) Sw. - very rare. Sri Lanka; Nicobar Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001); S. India; far N.E. India (Arunachal Pradesh; ?Meghalaya). *172. Tapeindium pinnatum (Cav.) C. Chr - very rare. S. India. Dixit (1984) reported it from the E. Himalaya in error. Near-threatened 173. Lindsaea parasitica (Roxb.) Hieron.- Nicobar Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001). 174. Lindsaea repens (Bory) Bedd. (inc. syn.: L. pectinata Blume; misapplied name: L. glandulifera auct. N. Ind., non Blume) - C. India; N.E. India (W. Bengal, Dulkajhar, N.E. side of Naxal Bari, "Sikkim" terai, W. of Siliguri, C.B. Clarke; probably extinct due to drainage and cultivation); far N.E. India (Assam; Arunachal Pradesh; Meghalaya). L. repens was reported from Sikkim in error for Dulkhajar (W. Bengal) and L. repens was also reported sub L. glandulifera Alderw. in error, true L. glandulifera being a more deeply lobed-pinna'd species confined to Sri Lanka and S.E. Asia. The Indian plants represent var. pectinata (Blume) Mett. ex Kuhn, a part of the common range of variation of L. repens with shallowly to slightly deeply lobed fertile pinnae and elongated sori. 175. Lindsaea walkerae Hook. (syn.: L. rutlandica "rutlandia" R.D.Dixit & S.R.Ghosh) - Sri Lanka; Andaman Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001); S.E. Asia. Rare 176. Lindsaea bouillodii Christ - S. India. 177. Lindsaea chienii Ching - Nicobar Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001); N.E. India (Manipur, Dilong, B.Ghosh 16439, CAL, det. R.D. Dixit). 178. Lindsaea gueriniana (Gaudich.) Desv. Andaman Islands. Dixit (1984) reported it from the Nicobar Islands only, but Dixit and Sinha (2001) reported it from the Andaman Islands only. 179. Lindsaea javanensis Blume - far N.E. India (Assam; Arunachal Pradesh; Meghalaya). 180. Lindsaea malayensis Holttum - Nicobar Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001). Chandra's (2000) and many of Dixit and Sinha's (2001) records, "Andaman and Nicobar Islands," refer to the name of the Indian state and do not necessarily mean both groups of islands, which can cause inaccuracies.
181. Lindsaea oblanceolata Alderw. - Nicobar Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001). 182. ?Lindsaea obtusa J.Sm. ex Hook. (syn.: L. andamanica R.D.Dixit & S.R.Ghosh) Andaman Islands; China; S.E. Asia. Kramer identified the Andaman material as minor local variation within L. obtusa, explaining that it is smaller and thus slightly less deeply lobed than usual, but is hardly a separate form as such variation occurs widely and is not unusual in the variable species L. obtusa. Chandra (2000) listed the species separately under both names, L. anadamanica and L. obtusa, but only the one taxon occurs in the Andamans. 183. Lindsaea tenera Dryand. (endemic) - Andaman Islands and Nicobar Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001). IUCN (1998) listed it as Rare. Kramer (1972) discussed this species in detail and retained it as a doubtful possible endemic taxon related to L. bouillodii Christ. This was then separated by Dixit as a species, probably correctly. 184. Lindsaea tetragona K.U.Kramer - Nicobar Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001). Pteridaceae At risk 185. Acrostichum speciosum Willd. - Andaman Islands and Nicobar Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001); S.E. Asia; Australia. *186. Aleuritopteris argentea (S.G.Gmel.) Fe - very rare, far N.E. India (Meghalaya, Hooker); Bhutan. Not seen again in 150 years in India and possibly requiring reaffirmation in case it was collected later during Hooker's onward journey in Sikkim. *187. Aleuritopteris thwaitesii (Mett. ex Kuhn) Saiki (syn.: Cheilanthes keralensis N.C.Nair & S.R.Ghosh) - very rare. Sri Lanka; S. India. 188. Cheilanthes nitidula Hook. subsp. henryi (Christ) Fras.-Jenk. (Fraser-Jenkins and Dulwat, 2008, in press) (syn.: Pellaea henryi Christ; Mildella henryi (Christ) C.C.Hall & Lellinger; non C. henryi Christ [= C. hancockii Baker]) Bhutan (nr. Thimphu, CRFJ); far N.E. India (Arunachal Pradesh, Di Chu and Dirang Dzong, F. Kingdon Ward; Namdapha); Tibet; S.W. and S. China; Taiwan; Vietnam. C. nitidula subsp. nitidula, extends in range from Pakistan to N.W. Nepal, while the vicariant subsp. henryi replaces it in N.E. India. Pellaea has been restricted to imparipinnate species, but the present species and its group, which Fraser-Jenkins (1997) erroneously treated under Pellaea, belong to Cheilanthes (syn.: Cheilosoria; Mildella).
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*189. Negripteris scioana (Chiov.) Pic.Serm. - very rare in India. Africa; Arabia; W.C. India (Rajasthan, Sitamata Sanctuary, Aravalli Hills, Chamansingh Dulawat, 2006, det. CRFJ) (Fraser-Jenkins and Dulawat, 2008, in press). *190. Notholanea delavayi (Baker) C. Chr. - N.W. India (Uttarakhand); N.W. Nepal; Bhutan. Reported from Himachal Pradesh in error. *191. Notholaena lanuginosa (Desf.) Desv. ex Poir. subsp. bivalens Reichst. (syn.: Cosentinea vellea (Aiton) Tod. subsp. bivalens (Reichst.) Rivas Mart. & Salvo) - very rare. Pakistan (5 miles S. of Malakand, CRFJ 16702-16705, 6 Oct. 1990, NMW [temporarily loaned to GENT]); N.W. India (Himachal Pradesh). *Notholaena dipinnata Fras.-Jenk. (Fras.-Jenk. & Dulawat, 2008, in press), syn.: Gymnopteris bipinnata Christ, has been collected from Lohit, N.E. Arunachal Pradesh, and is a Critically endangered species. *192. Pellaea calomelanos (Sw.) Link (syn.: P. hastata (Thunb.) Prantl) - very rare. Pakistan; N.W. India (Himachal Pradesh; Uttarakhand); W. Nepal. *193. Pellaea longipilosa Bonap. (syn.: P. malabarica B.K.Nayar & Geev.) - very rare. E. Africa; S. India (Fraser-Jenkins, 2008a, in press; Fraser-Jenkins and Dulawat, 2008, in press). *194. Pteris amoena Blume - very rare. Far N.E. India (Assam, N. Cachar Hills; Meghalaya). *195. Pteris barbigera Ching - very rare. N.E. India (W. Bengal, nullah near Rungbi [below Mongpo], J.S. Gamble); China. Not seen in India for c. 130 years. *196. Pteris geminata Wall. ex J.Agardh (syn.: Campteria kleiniana C.Presl, nom. nud., Pteris kleiniana Christ) - S. India. *197. Pteris griffithii Hook.- far N.E. India (Arunachal Pradesh); Myanmar and ?S.W. China. Not re-collected for many years. Reported from the Andaman Islands by Dixit and Sinha (2001) in error, but it is unclear which species their report referred to. 198. ?Pteris sp. (sub P. griffithii sensu Dixit and Sinha (2001), non Hook.) - Andaman Islands (see above). *199. Pteris mertensioides Willd. - Sri Lanka; Andaman Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001); S. India; ?Bhutan; Myanmar; Thailand; S.E. Asia and Oceania. 200. ?Pteris sp. indet. (sub P. pluricaudata sensu Dixit and Sinha (2001), non Copel. [= P. armata C.Presl]) - Andaman Islands. Copeland
described P. pluricaudata from the Philippines, but later correctly sank it as a synonym of the Philippine endemic P. armata C.Presl (M.G. Price, pers. comm. 2007). The identity of the Andaman collection (Dixit 62045, CAL) is considerably doubtful and unlikely to be this species. *201. Pteris tripartita Sw. - very rare. Sri Lanka; S. India; Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001). Recently refound in S. India and reported by Benniamin et al. as the Himalayan species, P. wallichiana J.Agardh, but his material was reidentified by the present author at XCH as P. tripartita. *202. Pteris venulosa Blume - very rare. Far N.E. India (Manipur; Mizoram); Myanmar; S.E. Asia. Reported from S. India in error, referring to P. venusta Kunze, which has sometimes been mistakenly given in its synonymy, though that is a species very close to and in the group of P. pellucida C.Presl, distinguished by the entirely untoothed laminar margins. *203. Syngramma alismifolia (C. Presl) J. Sm. Nicobar Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001). Near-threatened 204. Aleuritopteris duthiei (Baker) Ching - very rare. N.W. India (Uttarakhand); Nepal; Bhutan; Tibet. 205. Aleuritopteris wollenweberi Fras.-Jenk. (2008a, in press) - Sri Lanka; S. India (Shevaroy Hills). 206. Anogramma leptophylla (L.) Link Afghanistan; N.W. Pakistan; S. India. Replaced in the W. Himalaya, and possibly as far east as C. Nepal (Chapagaon, R.L. Fleming, ?confused label), by A. reichsteinii Fras.-Jenk. (1997). 207. Pellaea boivinii Hook. - Sri Lanka; S. India. IUCN (1998) listed it from Sri Lanka only, as Indeterminate. 208. Pellaea falcata R.Br. (syn.: P. seticaulis (Hook.) S.R.Ghosh) - Sri Lanka; S. India; Australasia. 209. Pteris cadieri Christ - far N.E. India (Assam; Arunachal Pradesh). 210. Pteris subindivisa C.B.Clarke - N.E. India (W. Bengal, Darjeeling; ?Sikkim; Arunachal Pradesh); Bhutan. Reported from N.W. India (Uttarakhand) in error. 211. Pteris tricolor Linden - very rare. Far N.E. India (Manipur); China. Reported from Sikkim in error for a white-variegated form of P. subquinata Wall. ex J.Agardh, which still occurs today on the road-cliff shortly before Chungtang, Sikkim. Rare
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212. Anogramma reichsteinii Fras.-Jenk. - W. C. India (Mahabaleshwar); N.W. India (Himachal Pradesh; Uttarakhand); perhaps as far east as C. Nepal, though the specimen from Chapagaon, R.L. Fleming, is perhaps doubtfully located and might have been from Mussoorie, where Fleming was based. 213. Cerosora microphylla (Hook.) R.Tryon (syn.: Anogramma microphylla (Hook.) Diels; Idiotgramma microphylla (Hook.) S.R.Ghosh) Nepal; N.E. India (W. Bengal, Darjeeling; Sikkim; Meghalaya); Bhutan; Myanmar. 214. Cheilanthes persica (Bory) Mett. ex Kuhn (syn.: C. szovitzii Fisch. & C.A.Mey.) - Afghanistan; Pakistan; N.W. India (Indian Kashmir; ?Himachal Pradesh). 215. Doryopteris ludens (Wall. ex Hook.) J.Sm. - far N.E. India (Assam; Manipur; Nagaland; Tripura; Mizoram), E.C. India (Orissa). Early reports of this species from S. India based on Wight's and Wallich's specimens, cited by Chandra (2000), but with the wrong hill-ranges given, were in error for D. concolor (Langsd. & Fisch.) Kuhn (syn.: D. kirkii (Hook.) Alston). 216. Onychium tenuifrons Ching (syn.: O. fragile S.C.Verma & Khullar) - N.W. India (Uttarakhand); Nepal; China. 217. Pteris grevilleana Wall. ex J.Agardh - far N.E. India (Assam; Arunachal Pradesh; Meghalaya); Myanmar. 218. Pteris heteromorpha Fe - Sri Lanka; S. India; W.C. India; E.C. India (Orissa); far N.E. India (Arunachal Pradesh). 219. Pteris multiaurita J.Agardh - Sri Lanka; S. India. 220. Pteris quadriaurita Retz. - Sri Lanka; S. India; ?Andaman Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001). Widely overrecorded in India for other members of the complex P. aspericaulis Wall. ex J.Agardh aggregate. The identity of the sterile collection (Bhargava 6352, PBL) cited from the Andamans is very dubious. P. aspericaulis itself does not occur in S. India and P. quadriaurita not in the north. 221. Pteris roseolilacina Hieron. - N.W. India (Uttarakhand, Pithoragarh, Kukrouli near Thal, Y.P.S.Pangtey, det. CRFJ); Nepal; Sikkim; China. 222. Pteris vittata L. subsp. vermae Fras.-Jenk. very rare. N.W. India (Uttarakhand, apparently from Bhujia Ghat, below Nainital, S.C. Verma); ?far N.E. India (?Arunachal Pradesh; ?Meghalaya etc.); ?Nepal; ?Bhutan; Tibet; China.
Adiantaceae At risk *223. Adiantum soboliferum Wall. ex Hook. - very rare. S. India; far N.E. India (Assam; Nagaland). 224. Adiantum stenochlamys Baker - Andaman Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001). Near-threatened 225. Adiantum poiretii Wickstr. (syn.: A. thalictroides Willd. ex Schltdl.; A. aethiopicum sensu auct. Ind., non L. [from Africa]) - Sri Lanka; S. India. Rare 226. Adiantum flabellulatum L. - far N.E. India (Assam, Kamrup; Manipur; Meghalaya). 227. Adiantum wattii Baker (syn.: A. levingei Baker; A. refractum Christ; A. edentulum Christ; A. delavayi Christ; A. muticum Ching) - N.W. India (Himachal Pradesh; Uttarakhand); Nepal; N.E. India (Sikkim; Arunachal Pradesh). A high-Himalayan species, reported from Kashmir, S. India and Bangladesh in error. Vittariaceae The genus Haplopteris, though separated by a few authors due to preliminary molecular findings of uncertain taxonomic significance, is not utilised here, being of little practical value, with no significant morphological differences from Vittaria. Rare *228. Vittaria microlepis Hieron. - very rare. Sri Lanka and S. India. Near-threatened 229. ?Antrophyum henryi Hieron. - reported as very rare from N.E. India (?Sikkim; Arunachal Pradesh) by Dixit and Nair (1974), probably requires confirmation. Rare 230. ?Antrophyum callifolium Blume - Andaman Islands; Nicobar Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001). Its presence probably requires confirmation in comparison to A. reticulatum (G.Forst.) Kaulf. 231. Antrophyum parvulum Blume - Nicobar Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001); N.E. India (Sikkim; Meghalaya). 232. Vittaria ensiformis Sw. (syn.: V. montana Manickam) - Mascarene Islands; Sri Lanka; S. India. Reported in error from the Nicobar Islands; N.E. India and S.E. Asia. 233. ?Vittaria zosterifolia Willd. - Mascarene Islands; ?Andaman Islands; ?Nicobar Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001); ?N.E. India (Sikkim;
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Arunachal Pradesh; Manipur); ?Malesia. Reported in error from the W. Himalaya. Many, perhaps all records from Asia are in error for collections of V. elongata Sw. and it is possible that the status and separate identity of V. zosterifolia itself might be worth further investigation. Aspleniaceae The subsidiary genera, Hymenasplenium and Thamnopteris are not recognised here as they clearly belong within Asplenium on morphological grounds and the cytological difference in base-number for the former is now known to be inconstant. At risk *234. Asplenium affine Sw. - very rare. S. India. *235. ?Asplenium anogrammoides Christ (A. sarellii sensu Bir) - very rare, but of doubtful occurrence. Most or perhaps all records are in error for large specimens of A. laciniatum D.Don and/or A. tenuicaule Hayata ?N.W. India (Himachal Pradesh; Uttarakhand); China. *236. Asplenium batuense Alderw. - Nicobar Islands; S.E. Asia. Although Dixit and Sinha (2001) described the lamina as merely tapering to the base, instead of ending truncately as in this species, they mentioned the distinct stipe and winged rachis and were thus presumably referring correctly to the present species. *237. Asplenium delavayi (Franch.) Copel. (syn.: Sinephropteris delavayi (Franch.) Mickel) very rare. W. Nepal (Rijal 2008, in press); Bhutan (S. Matsumoto); N.E. India (?Sikkim; Manipur). It has also been reported from Sikkim. *238. Asplenium exiguum Bedd. (endemic) - very rare. S. India only. Replaced by the fairly common A. yunnanense Franch. in the north, which is responsible for records of A. exiguum from the Himalayan region. A. lushanense C.Chr., given by Chandra (2000) in its synonymy, is a separate species with narrower fronds, from Bhutan (Thimphu, Taba, CRFJ) and presumably to be expected in further N.E. India. *239. Asplenium hymenophylloides Fe (syn.: A. pumilum Sw. subsp. hymenophylloides (Fe) Schelpe) - very rare. [W. and E. Africa], W.C. India (Rajasthan, Mt. Abu). 240. Asplenium khasianum Sledge (misapplied name: A. gardneri sensu Clarke, from the Khasi Hills, non Baker) (apparently endemic) - far N.E. India (Assam, Meghalaya, E.
Arunachal Pradesh); presumably likely to turn up in Myanmar, and, perhaps under a different name, in China. Listed by Dixit (1984) and Chandra (2000) under both A. gardneri and A. khasianum, from Khasia etc. *241. Asplenium pellucidum Lam. (syn.: A. hirtum Kaulf.; A. borneense sensu Singh and Bir (1989) and Vasudeva, Bir and Kachroo (1990), non Hook. [from S.E. Asia]) - very rare. N.E. India (S. Sikkim, "Lingtam", presumably Singtam, below and N. of Darjeeling (Beddome)); far N.E. India (Sikkim); S. India (Kerala, Silent Valley). *242. ?Asplenium scalare Rosenst. - very rare. S. India (Kerala, Koviltheri Forest, Bonaccord, below Ponmudi, Kerala, J.Joseph 46516, 24 Aug. 1975, MH!). The Kerala specimen tapers to the lamina-base, and has a raised and slightly winged costa (beneath) and the apical proliferations of this species, unlike the similar A. phyllitidis D.Don, which is common in S. India (where A. nidus L. does not occur except in cultivation). It differs from A. batuense Alderw. in not having a clearly separate, short stipe or an abrupt base to the lamina. *243. Asplenium serricula Fe - very rare. S. India. 244. ?Asplenium sublaserpitiifolium Ching - ?Nicobar Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001); China; Malaya. Although this species, if correctly reported, is a distinct member of the group, the taxonomy of the A. nitidum Sw. group requires further study. Recent material from S. India (CALI!) suggests that A. nitidum may cover a range of morphology not realised by Ching and Tardieu-Blot when they separated several species. Dixit and Sinha reported both A. nitidum and the present species, differing in size of the specimens cited. *245. Asplenium thunbergii Kunze (syn.: A. belangeri (Bory) Kunze, non Bory; A. decorum Kunze) very rare. Far N.E. India (Manipur, Kufra, G. Watt). The specimen at Kew was genuinely collected in the wild by George Watt, as he remarked on the sheet, though overlooked by Hooker. Near-threatened 246. Asplenium caudatum G.Forst agg. - W. Bengal (Darjeeling terai, Sukna, CRFJ); Assam; Myanmar. Similar to and probably the same as, A. crinicaule Hance, but with a longer frond and more pointed pinnae, approaching somewhat towards those of A. yoshinagae Makino subsp. indicum (Sledge) Fras-Jenk., but more robust and less lobed.
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Probably largely overlooked elsewhere in N.E. India. Not the same as A. caudatum itself, but in the same group. 247. Asplenium grevillei Wall. ex Hook. & Grev. very rare. S. India; far N.E. India (Arunachal Pradesh; Meghalaya). 248. Asplenium magnificum (Ching) Bir, Fras.-Jenk. & Lovis (syn.: A. birii (.Lve & D.Lve) Bir) - N.E. India (W. Bengal, Darjeeling; Sikkim; Arunachal Pradesh; Manipur). 249. Asplenium nidus L. - very rare. ?Nicobar Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001), otherwise confined to far N.E. India (Assam; Manipur; Meghalaya) and S.E. Asia. All other N. and S. Indian and Nepalese etc. records are in error for A. phyllitidis D.Don. 250. Asplenium rivulare Fras.-Jenk., nom. nov. for Asplenium unilaterale Lam. var. rivale Bedd., Handb. Ferns Brit. India Ceylon and Malay Peninsula: 153 (1883) (syn.: A. hindusthanense [sub "hindusthanensis"] Bir, nom. inval., replaced name reference not cited) (apparently endemic to S. India). Further study is needed to see if any N. Indian and Chinese etc. plants match it. 251. Asplenium simonsianum Hook. - very rare. S.E. India (Andhra Pradesh, Vizakhapatnam); far N.E. India (Meghalaya; Tripura). 252. Asplenium tenerum G.Forst. - Nicobar Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001). Rare 253. Asplenium aitchisonii Fras.-Jenk. & Reichst. Pakistan; N.W. India (Indian Kashmir; Himachal Pradesh; Uttarakhand). 254. Asplenium apogamum N.Murak. & Hatan. (syn.: Asplenium unilaterale Lam. var. birii B.K.Nayar & Geev.) - S. India (Fraser-Jenkins, 2008a, in press). 255. Asplenium auritum Sw. - S. India. 256. Asplenium nesii Christ - Pakistan; N.W. India (?Himachal Pradesh; Uttarakhand); Nepal. 257. Asplenium pekinense Hance - Pakistan; N.W. India (Indian Kashmir; Himachal Pradesh; Uttarakhand); Nepal. 258. Asplenium prolongatum Hook. (A. achilleifolium sensu Bir, non (Lam.) C.Chr. [from the Mascarenes, not present in India]) S. India; ?E. Nepal; far N.E. India (Arunachal Pradesh; Meghalaya). Nepal was listed by Dixit (1984), but probably in error as no specimens have been seen by CRFJ and Thapa during the preparation of Thapa (2002). 259. Asplenium rockii C.Chr. - S.E. India (Andhra Pradesh); far N.E. India (Meghalaya; Mizoram); Myanmar.
260. Asplenium viride Huds., nom. cons. (syn.: A. trichomanes-ramosum L.) - N.W. India (Indian Kashmir; Himachal Pradesh; Uttarakhand); Nepal. Thelypteridaceae Athough Holttum separated many genera, a number of authors now use a 4-5 generic system (Thelypteris, Cyclosorus, Pseudophegopteris and Phegopteris), but Holttum himself stated that the most logical alternative to utilising all his genera would be to recognize only one genus. This is a practical alternative with a characteristic and recognisable genus and we prefer here to use the single genus, Thelypteris. At risk *261. Thelypteris beddomei (Baker) Ching (syn.: Parathelypteris beddomei (Baker) Ching) very rare. Sri Lanka; S. India. *262. Thelypteris confluens (Thunb.) C.V.Morton (syn.: Thelypteris squamigera (Schlecht.) Ching) - very rare. Sri Lanka; S. India. *263. Thelypteris cuspidata (Blume) K.Iwats. (syn.: Pronephrium cuspidatum (Blume) Holttum) very rare. Nicobar Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001); Malesia. *264. Thelypteris didymochlaenoides (C.B.Clarke) Holttum) (apparently endemic to N.E. India) very rare. Far N.E. India (Meghalaya, Sohra [= Cherrapunji], inc. by CRFJ). Probably to be expected in Myanmar and ?S.W. China, perhaps under some other name in the latter. IUCN (1998) listed it as Rare. *265. Thelypteris kurzii (Holttum) Fras.-Jenk. (1997) (syn.: Sphaerostephanos kurzii Holtt.) - very rare. Nicobar Islands (not given in their text by Dixit and Sinha (2001), though listed by them as an endemic). 266. ?Thelypteris latebrosa (Kunze ex Mett.) C.F.Reed (syn.: Sphaerostephanos latebrosus (Kunze ex Mett.) Holttum) - ?N.E. India. A single specimen of this S.E. Asian species was reported by Holttum from W. Bengal (Duars, Haldibari, J.S. Gamble 6652 c, K (!)), but may perhaps be a poor specimen of T. dentata (Forssk.) E.P.St. John, with unusually reduced lower pinnae. Its presence in India requires confirmation, but is probably incorrect as its nearest known locality is in Malaya, though considering the above specimen Holttum suggested that more collections could perhaps turn up in Assam and Myanmar if searched for in CAL. The area concerned has been badly damaged by human settlement and cultivation so that almost no natural forest is left there, and
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if the specimen is actually T. latebrosa, it is unlikely to survive there today. It has alternatively been reported from Assam, but actually referring to the specimen from W. Bengal. 267. ?Thelypteris menisciicarpa (Blume) K.Iwats. (syn.: Pronephrium menisciicarpon (Blume) Holttum) - ?Nicobar Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001). Reported from Arunachal Pradesh by Singh and Panigrahi (2005) in error for T. lakhimpurensis (Rosenst.) K.Iwats. *268. Thelypteris namburensis (Bedd.) C.F.Reed (syn.: Christella namburensis (Bedd.) Holttum) (apparently endemic) - very rare. Far N.E. India (Assam, Nambor forest, Jorhat, inc. by CRFJ; E. Arunachal Pradesh); probably to be expected from Myanmar and also China, perhaps under some other name in the latter. Holttum reported it from Thailand, though it was not listed from there subsequently by Tagawa and Iwatsuki (1988). 269. Thelypteris paludosa (Blume) K.Iwats. (syn.: Pseudophegopteris paludosa (Blume) Ching) very rare. S. India; S.E. Asia. Reported from the Himalaya by Iwatsuki (1975) and thence other Indian authors in error for T. pyrrhorhachis (Kunze) C.M.Kuo. Although Fraser-Jenkins (1997) only accepted the presence of T. pyrrhorhachis and its subspecies in India, he has recently identified typical T. paludosa from a few localities in the Palni and Nilgiri Hills, S. India (Shembaganaur and Uthamapalayam, Top Station, V.S. Manickam 31813 and 31510, in RHT herbarium) (Fraser-Jenkins 2008a, in press). *270. Thelypteris palustris Schott subsp. palustris (misapplied name: Thelypteris thelypteroides sensu Chandra (2000), non (Michx.) Holub [= T. novoeboracensis (L.) Nieuwl., from N. America]) - Pakistan; far N.W. India (Indian Kashmir; Himachal Pradesh); Europe; Northern Asia. Replaced in N. America by subsp. pubescens (Lawson) Fras.-Jenk. (1997). Reports by Khullar (2000) from Uttarakhand (Pithoragarh: Deochula and Sandeo) were in error for T. appendiculoides Fras.-Jenk. (syn.: Christella appendiculata (C.Presl) Holttum), and by various authors from S. India for T. confluens (Thunb.) C.V.Morton, while an erroneous report from Meghalaya has not yet been re-identified by us. T. palustris is confined to three lakes in the N.W. part of the Indian subcontinent. 271. Thelypteris opulenta (Kaulf.) Fosberg (syn.: Amphineuron opulentum (Kaulf.) Holttum) -
very rare. Sri Lanka; Nicobar Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001); S. India. Reports from Sikkim; Assam and Meghalaya were in error, partly for T. immersa (Blume) Ching and other species. 272. ?Thelypteris srilankensis Panigrahi (syn.: Christella zeylanica (Fe) Holttum) - Sri Lanka; ??Nicobar Islands (reported as doubtful and not accepted by Dixit and Sinha, 2001). Near-threatened 273. Thelypteris chandrae Fras.-Jenk., nom. nov. for Dryopteris stegnogramme var. asplenioides C.Chr., Act. Hort. Gothob. 1: 56 (1924), non Thelypteris asplenioides (Sw.) Proctor. This species has often been known in error as Stegnogramme aspidioides Blume which is a distinct species from Java, separated by Ching (1936) - far N.E. India (Meghalaya). Named after the present co-author, Dr. Subhash Chandra. 274. Thelypteris elwesii (Baker) Ching (syn.: Oreopteris elwesii (Baker) Holttum) - very rare. Very locally abundant in N.E. India (Sikkim); S.W. China. IUCN (1998) listed it from Sikkim only, as Rare. 275. ?Thelypteris heterocarpa (Blume) C.V.Morton (syn.: Sphaerostephanos heterocarpus (Blume) Holttum) - ?Andaman Islands and ?Nicobar Islands (reported sub Cyclosorus heterocarpus (Blume) Ching by Dixit and Sinha (2001), but probably requiring confirmation). 276. Thelypteris hirsutipes (C.B.Clarke) Ching (syn.: Coryphopteris hirsutipes (C.B.Clarke) Holttum) - far N.E. India (Meghalaya). 277. Thelypteris immersa (Blume) Ching (syn.: Amphineuron immersum (Blume) Holttum) - ?Nicobar Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001); far N.E. India ("Assam", teste Holttum). 278. Thelypteris parishii (Bedd.) Panigrahi (syn.: Pronephrium parishii (Bedd.) Holttum) - far N.E. India (Assam, inc. Nambor Forest, Golaghat, CRFJ; Arunachal Pradesh; Meghalaya). Reported by Dixit and Sinha (2001) from the Nicobar Islands in error for a small plant of Thelypteris ?menisciicarpa (Blume) K.Iwats. 279. Thelypteris subelata (Baker) C.F.Reed (syn.: Christella subelata (Baker) Holttum; Thelypteris assamica (Bedd.) C.F.Reed) - far N.E. India ("Assam", G. Mann); Myanmar; Thailand. 280. Thelypteris thwaitesii (Hook.) C.F.Reed (syn.: Pronephrium thwaitesii (Hook.) Holttum) - S. India; far N.E. India (Assam, Nambor Forest, CRFJ).
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Rare 281. Thelypteris griffithii (T.Moore) C.F. Reed (syn.: Dictyocline griffithii T.Moore; Stegnogramme griffithii (T.Moore) K.Iwats.) far N.E. India (Meghalaya); Myanmar. 282. ?Thelypteris himalaica (Ching) C.F.Reed (syn.: Stegnogramme himalaica (Ching) K.Iwats.) - N.W. India (Himachal Pradesh; Uttarakhand); Nepal; N.E. India (Sikkim) and China. Stegnogramme himalaica (Ching) K.Iwats., was listed from the "N.W." Himalaya (where it does not occur, only in the W. and C. Himalaya) by IUCN (1998) as Vulnerable; this was probably from Dixit, who communicated information on Indian species and often referred to the W. Himalaya as within the N.W. Himalaya. This is a very doubtful species taxonomically, which appears to belong to, or is at least very close to the common Himalayan T. mollissima (Fisch. ex Kunze) N.Thapa (2002), as concluded by Fraser-Jenkins (1997), though some plants have rather more anastomosing veins than might be expected in T. mollissima. 283. Thelypteris hirtisora (C.Chr.) K.Iwats. (syn.: Sphaerostephanos hirtisorus (C.Chr.) Holttum) - far N.E. India (Nagaland; Mizoram); Myanmar; Thailand. 284. Thelypteris phegopteris (L.) Sloss. (syn.: Phegopteris connectilis (Michx.) Watt; misapplied name: Phegopteris hexagonoptera sensu Chandra (2000), non (Michx.) Fe [from N. America], see Fraser-Jenkins, 1992) - N.W. India (Indian Kashmir; Himachal Pradesh; Uttarakhand); Nepal. 285. Thelypteris rectangularis (Zoll.) K.Iwats. (syn.: Pseudophegopteris rectangularis (Zoll.) Holttum) - C. and E. Nepal, inadvertently omitted by Thapa (2003); N.E. India (W. Bengal, Darjeeling; Sikkim). The report of this species from the W. Himalaya (Kinnaur, S.P. Khullar (!)) was in error for T. pyrrhorhachis (Kunze) C.M.Kuo (Fraser-Jenkins, 1997), which, as the second author has seen and collected in many such more desolate inner-Himalayan areas, even if beside streams, often becomes less lobed and with entire pinna-lobes when in the more extreme, inner-Himalayan climatic region. But although the rhizome may be short, it does not have the strongly erect, tallish crown-rhizome of T. rectangularis and the segments are more deeply separate and longer in comparison with true T. rectangularis, as studied in the field by
the author. T. rectangularis has also been reported from Uttarakhand (Pauri), in error. 286. Thelypteris siamensis Tagawa & K.Iwats. (syn.: Christella siamensis (Tagawa & K.Iwats.) Holttum) - N.E. India (W. Bengal, Darjeeling terai, Sevoke, Mongpong, CRFJ; Assam; E. Arunachal Pradesh); China; Thailand. Very close to T. hispidula (Decne.) C.F.Reed, but less hairy and the lowest few pinnae deflexed and slightly dimidate at their basiscopic bases, with an entire basal area there. 287. Thelypteris subpubescens (Blume) K.Iwats. - ?Andaman and ?Nicobar Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001); ?far N.E. India (Assam; Arunachal Pradesh; ?Meghalaya). Panigrahi (1960, 1975a, 1975b) confused this and other related species of its group (see Holttum, 1976) and its identification and range in India require further study. A report from Uttaranchal (Pithoragarh) was in error and reports from W. Bengal and Sikkim require verification, as also from C. and S. India. It appears to be related to T. meeboldii (Rosenst.) Holttum, from S. India and their precise delineation requires study. Woodsiaceae At risk *288. Athyrium atratum Bedd. (syn.: A. gedeanum (Racib.) Christ) - very rare. Far N.E. India (Manipur; N. Arunachal Pradesh); Vietnam; Sumatra and Java. IUCN (1998) listed it from Manipur only, as Endangered. 289. Athryium cumingianum (C.Presl) Ching (syn.: Anisocampium cumingianum C.Presl) - Sri Lanka; S. India; far N.E. India (Meghalaya). *290. Athyrium niponicum (Mett.) Hance (syn.: A. brevisorum Bedd.) - very rare. Far N.E. India (Arunachal Pradesh; Manipur; Tripura). See Fraser-Jenkins, Rush and Ching (1982). 291. Athyrium repens (Ching) Fras.-Jenk. (2008a, in press) (misapplied name: A. subtriangulare sensu Bir, non (Hook.) Bedd. [= A. spinulosum (Maxim.) Milde]) - very rare. Nepal; N.E. India (Sikkim); Bhutan; S.W. China. *292. Athyrium roseum Christ (syn.: A. mengtzeense Hieron.) - very rare. C. Nepal (way to Annapurna Base Camp, CRFJ); N.E. India (W. Bengal, Darjeeling, Palmajua, CRFJ); Tibet; China. Previously unrecorded from the Indian subcontinent. *293. Deparia macdonellii (Bedd.) M.Kato - very rare. Endemic to the far W. (i.e. N.W.) Himalaya only: Pakistan; N.W. India (Indian Kashmir; Himachal Pradesh).
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*294. Diplazium crenatoserratum (Blume) T.Moore - very rare. Andaman Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001); S.E. Asia. *295. Diplazium cordifolium Bl. (syn.: D. integrifolium Bl.; Anisogonium cordifolium (Bl.) Bedd.; D. cordifolium var. listeri ?Baker ms. ined.) - very rare. Far N.E. India (Arunachal Pradesh, J.L. Lister (!), collector for Calcutta, with Col. H. Godwin-Austen, as scientists on the Duphla Hills military expedition of 1874); ?Manipur); S.E. Asia; Australia etc. Dixit (1984) reported it from Manipur. *296. Diplazium griffithii T.Moore (syn.: D. petrii Tardieu) - very rare. Far N.E. India (Meghalaya, inc. Sohrarim, Mawmihtied, CRFJ); S.E. Asia. Widely confused by Baker, followed by Beddome and Clarke, with the common tripinnate species, D. spectabile (Wall. ex Mett.) Ching, though corrected by him later, but often continuing to be misapplied thus in India to this day. Moore's original, true D. griffithii, which he validated with a full description, has been overlooked by several Indian authors and is a quite different, small, bipinnatifid species with simply lobed pinnae, which are pinnatifid or just become pinnate, and black stipe-scales. 297. Diplazium heterophlebium (Mett. ex Baker) Diels (syn.: Dictyodroma heterophlebia (Mett. ex Baker) Ching) - E. Nepal (Ilam, Pashupatinagar, CRFJ); N.E. India (W. Bengal, very rare or perhaps extinct in the Darjeeling area; Sikkim; Arunachal Pradesh; Meghalaya). It was stated by Clarke to be common around Darjeeling, though perhaps a slight exaggeration. Reported from the W. Himalaya in error. *298. Diplazium pinfaense Ching - very rare. Far N.E. India (Manipur). *299. Diplazium pinnatifidopinnatum (Hook.) T.Moore - far N.E. India (Assam; E. Arunachal Pradesh). *300. ?Diplazium tomentosum Blume - very rare, if present. Far N.E. India; a specimen was labelled as from Khasia, W. Griffith (K!), though it has never been found since then in India and may perhaps be doubtfully localised. It otherwise occurs in Myanmar; Thailand; Vietnam and Malesia. It may be noted that a number of Griffith's unique collections suspected previously to have been mislocalised have subsequently turned out to be correct following further exploration in N.E. India. *301. Diplazium virescens Kunze - very rare. Far N.E. India (Meghalaya, Shillong Peak, below
old Peak Lodge, CRFJ, in 1998, not previously reported from India). *302. Diplazium sp. - very rare. S. India. This species is generally close to the simply pinnate D. sylvaticum (Bory) Sw., but with a shortish horizontal rhizome and black, muricate stipe-bases bearing entire, black stipe-base scales. It has stalked, more nearly entire pinnae with cartilaginous margins and narrowly rounded-cuneate bases, without the very shallow, rectangular lobes of D. sylvaticum, and no teeth even towards the pinna-apices. The frond-apex is obviously imparipinnate and unlobed, unlike the gradually decreasing to lobed apex of D. sylvaticum. The second author found two unidentified specimens of this species in the D. sylvaticum cover at RHT herbarium in 2007, collected by the remarkable and energetic pteridologist, Father (Dr.) V.S. Manickam, and identified it as a distinct species apparently previously unrecorded from India (Tirunelvelli Distr., Kannikatty Hills, on the way to Agasthiar Hills, Ambasamudram taluk, 1200 m. V.S. Manickam 32366 and 32384, 9 April 1985). A rather similar species was found by the author near Kyaikto in Mon, S.E. Myanmar, though with more teeth, and further study is being undertaken by CRFJ to identify the two taxa. They are of S.E. Asian affinity, near to the Malayan D. montanum Alderw. or D. subintegrum Holttum, but less toothed. *303. Gymnocarpium oyamense (Baker) Ching (syn.: Currania oyamense (Baker) Copel.) - very rare. Nepal; ?far N.E. India (Arunachal Pradesh). *304. Matteuccia orientalis (Hook.) Trevis. - very rare. Far N.E. India (Meghalaya). Not collected for many years. Replaced in the W., C. and E. Indo-Himalaya, including Sikkim, by the uncommon (though not very rare) M. intermedia C.Chr., which has strongly narrowed frond-bases, especially noticeable in sterile fronds. Nearly all reports of M. orientalis from India refer to M. intermedia, which was omitted by both Dixit (1984) and Chandra (2000). *305. Woodsia cycloloba Hand.-Mazz. - very rare. N.W. India (Uttarakhand); N.E. India (Sikkim); Nepal; China. *306. Woodsia glabella R.Br. ex Richardson - very rare. Far W. (i.e. N.W.) and W. Himalaya; N.W. India (Ladakh, Leos Klimes, Trebon, Czech Republic, det. CRFJ; Uttarakhand, Kumaon in DD, det. CRFJ). These two specimens are the first collections of the N. American; European
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and Siberian species, W. glabella from the Himalayan region. They have straw-coloured stipes, glabrous upper stipe, rachis and lamina (except indusial hairs) and small, less lobed pinnae, rather like a short-pinna'd and unlobed W. hancockii Baker, and with similarly few scales. They differ from the generally similar W. alpina (Bolton) Gray in their smaller, less rounded pinna-lobes, the lowest pinnae being very small, and in that W. alpina has hairs and small scales up the whole stipe, rachis and on the lamina. W. glabella was not previously known from Indian subcontinent. Near-threatened 307. Athyrium nakanoi C.Chr. - very rare. Bhutan; far N.E. India (Arunchal Pradesh, A.K. Baishya, det CRFJ). Reported from Assam and Meghalaya in error for A. puncticaule (Blume) T.Moore. 308. Athyrium kumaonicum Punetha (apparently endemic) - range improperly known. N.W. India (Uttarakhand: Nainital, CRFJ; Pithoragarh, N. Punetha, holotype (!)), may possibly also be found extending further east and perhaps rather doubtfully genuinely endemic unless it is a neoendemic allopolyploid of relatively recent origin. 309. Diplazium beddomei C.Chr. - Sri Lanka; S. India. The scarce, but locally common D. chattagrammica (C.B.Clarke) Ching, from far N.E. India (Assam; Arunachal Pradesh); Bangladesh and Myanmar, is closely related to D. beddomei and may perhaps be conspecific, though it sometimes has slightly more lobed pinnules. 310. ?Diplazium cognatum (Hieron.) Sledge - Sri Lanka; S. India. Apparently closely related and very similar to D. leptophyllum Christ (below) and may perhaps be synonymous, pending further study. D. cognatum was listed by IUCN (1998) from Sri Lanka only, as Indeterminate. 311. Diplazium crinitum (Baker) C.Chr. - very rare. Far N.E. India (Assam, Digboi, CRFJ; E. Arunachal Pradesh, Namdapha, CRFJ); S.E. Asia (Fraser-Jenkins, 1997). 312. Diplazium leptophyllum Christ (possible syn.: D. cognatum (Hieron.) Sledge, described from Sri Lanka) - very rare, ?Sri Lanka; S. India; far N.E. India (Mizoram, Lushai Hills, Rev. Wenger); China etc. 313. Diplazium muricatum (Mett.) Alderw. - Sri Lanka and S. India only [also ?Java, its perhaps erroneous type-locality]. Replaced by D. kawakamii Hayata in the Himalaya; China; S.
Japan etc. (see Fraser-Jenkins, 2008a, in press). 314. Diplazium travancoricum Bedd. - Sri Lanka and S. India only. 315. Woodsia alpina (Bolton) Gray (syn.: W. himalaica Ching & S.K.Wu) - Pakistan; N.W. India (Indian Kashmir; Himachal Pradesh; Uttarakhand); W. Nepal; Tibet. 316. Woodsia lanosa Hook. - N.W. India (Uttarakhand); N.E. India (Sikkim). 317. Woodsia hancockii Baker - N.W. India (Himachal Pradesh; Uttarakhand); W. Nepal. 318. Woodsia rosthorniana Diels - N.E. India (N.E. Arunachal Pradesh); Bhutan. Rare 319. Athyrium davidii (Franch.) Christ (syn.: A. duthiei (Bedd.) Bedd.) - N.W. India (Uttarakhand); Nepal; N.E. India (Sikkim; Arunachal Pradesh). A. duthiei was listed by IUCN (1998) from Sikkim and Kumaon only, as Rare. 320. Athyrium gymnogrammoides (Klotzsch ex Mett.) Bedd. (syn.: A. solenopteris (Kunze) T.Moore var. pusillum (Kunze) T.Moore) - Sri Lanka and S. India. 321. Athyrium puncticaule (Blume) T.Moore - far N.E. India (Meghalaya); Myanmar; Thailand; Vietnam; S. China; Taiwan (Liu and Fraser-Jenkins, 2006) and S.E. Asia. Widely mistaken for the closely related and common species, A. foliolosum T.Moore ex R.Sim, in the W., C. and E. Himalaya etc. 322. Athyrium praetermissum Sledge - Sri Lanka and S. India only. Reported from the Himalaya in error for the more finely dissect and highly setose (above the pinnules) common species, A. distans (D.Don) T.Moore, and the less dissect, but setose species A. xichouense Y.T.Hsieh & Z.R.Wang. A. praetermissum does not have setae above the pinnule-midribs. Manickam and Irudayaraj's (2003) report of A. drepanopterum (Kunze) A.Braun ex Milde from the Nilgiri Hills (XCH 611), tentatively so identified in 1992 by CRFJ, was actually a semi-sterile specimen of A. praetermissum (XCH! redet. CRFJ in 2007). 323. Athyrium rubricaule (C.B.Clarke) Bir - N.W. India (Indian Kashmir; Himachal Pradesh; Uttarakhand); Nepal; N.E. India (W. Bengal; Sikkim); Bhutan; Tibet; China. From Nepal eastwards this species is gradually replaced by the closely similar A. dubium Ching, which has a more delicate frond and thinner stipe, and usually more horizontal rhizome, it also has smallish, but obvious setae above the pinnules,
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whereas A. rubricaule does not have them. The two species have been much confused, especially in China, where they have been combined in error. 324. Diplazium bellum (C.B.Clarke) Bir - Nepal; N.E. India (W. Bengal; Sikkim; Nagaland); Bhutan; Myanmar; China. Often confused, including by Clarke, with the common and widespread, D. laxifrons Rosenst. of the W. and E. Himalaya (the intermediate Diplazium no. 105 of Fraser-Jenkins, 1992: 113), which is not, as Fraser-Jenkins (1997) later thought, D. torrentium (C.B.Clarke) Tardieu (the latter name being a synonym of D. sikkimense (C.B.Clarke) C.Chr.). D. bellum is not present in S. India; Australia; or Africa, as reported by Chandra (2000). 325. Diplazium sibiricum (Turcz. ex Kunze) Sa.Kurata - Pakistan; N.W. India (Indian Kashmir; Himachal Pradesh; Uttarakhand). Closely related to D. squamigerum (Mett.) Matsum. (below), but with a thin, long-creeping rhizome and rather more finely dissect fronds with more remote lobes. 326. Diplazium squamigerum (Mett.) Matsum. N.W. India (Himachal Pradesh; Uttarakhand); Nepal; N.E. India (N. Sikkim; Arunachal Pradesh); Tibet; China; Taiwan and Japan. Reported from Kashmir in error for D. sibiricum (above). 327. Diplazium sylvaticum ["silvaticum" auct.] (Bory) Sw. (syn.: D. firmum Fe) - Mascarene Islands; Sri Lanka; S. India; far N.E. India (Assam, inc. Golaghat, Nambor Forest, CRFJ; Meghalaya). D. mixtum (Roxb.) C.V.Morton is not this species, but an earlier name for D. prescottianum (Wall. ex Hook.) T.Moore ex C.Chr., from S.E. Asia, while D. pseudosylvaticum Panigrahi (D. allantoideum M.G.Price) is a distinct tripinnatifid species from Java, requiring further nomenclatural research. Dryopteridaceae At risk *328. Acrorumohra diffracta (Baker) Ching - very rare. Far N.E. India (N. Arunachal Pradesh); China; Taiwan. Fraser-Jenkins (1989, 1997) doubted his earlier placement of this species within Dryopteris near to the D. sparsa (D.Don) Kuntze group. The genus Acrorumohra (but excluding the other Indian subcontinental species sometimes placed within it) is now maintained as distinct here. It
is presumably more closely related to Leptorumohra and thus in Subfam. Polystichoideae, not Subfam. Dryopteridoideae (see Fraser-Jenkins, 1997), though the D. sparsa group in Dryopteris shows distant connections to the polystichoid ferns. 329. Ctenitis mannii (C.Hope) Ching - far N.E. India (Assam; Arunachal Pradesh; Meghalaya). *330. Cyrtomium fortunei J.Sm. - very rare. Far N.E. India (Manipur). *331. Cyrtomium micropterum (Kunze) Ching - very rare. Africa; S. India. Related to and might perhaps even be synonymous with C. clivicola (Makino) Tagawa from China and Japan. *332. Dryopsis ferruginea (Baker) Holttum & P.J.Edwards (syn.: Ctenitis ferruginea (Baker) Ching) - very rare. S. India. *333. Dryopsis manipurensis (Bedd.) Holttum & P.J.Edwards (syn.: Ctenitis manipurensis (Bedd.) Ching) - very rare. Far N.E. India (Manipur; Meghalaya; ?Assam); S.E. Asia. *334. Dryopteris alpestris Tagawa - very rare. Nepal; N.E. India (Sikkim); Tibet. *335. Dryopteris angustifrons (T.Moore) Kuntze very rare. Probably extinct in Nepal and India; Nepal (Wallich); N.E. India (Sikkim); S.W. China (S. Yunnan). *336. Dryopteris assamensis (C.Hope) C.Chr. & Ching - very rare. N.E. India (W. Bengal: Darjeeling terai, Dulkajhar, near Naxal Bari, C.B. Clarke; Assam; Arunachal Pradesh; Meghalaya). Very probably extinct in W. Bengal due to the draining and cultivation of Dulkajhar, which was formerly a marshy grass-land. *337. Dryopteris austroindica Fras.-Jenk. (endemic) - very rare. S. India (probably extinct in the Shevaroy Hills, searched for in detail by the second author in 1978 and 2007, but area now largely destroyed by fire and rubber plantations; Nilgiri Hills). 338. Dryopteris basisora Christ - very rare. N.W. India (Uttarakhand). To be expected further east. Tibet; S.W. China. *339. Dryopteris costalisora Tagawa (D. bonatiana sensu Fraser-Jenkins (1989), p.p. Ind., non (Brause) Fras.-Jenk. [= D. panda (C.B.Clarke) Christ]) - very rare. E. Nepal (Ilam, Mekma, Tonglo Mountain, CRFJ); N.E. India (W. Bengal, Darjeeling, Tonglo Mountain); China; Taiwan. Levinge's old collection labelled Sikkim (i.e. "British Sikkim", now Darjeeling Distr.) almost certainly referred to the same population on Tonglo. It may be expected
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further east in N.E. India, but has not so far been collected elsewhere in the area. *340. Dryopteris deparioides (T. Moore) Kuntze subsp. deparioides - very rare. Sri Lanka, rare; S. India (Anamalai Hills, very rare). Not collected again in India for 150 years. Conservation of this species with its almost unique sori borne on stalks beyond the segment-margins is highly desirable but will need to be based in Sri Lanka. *341. Dryopteris dickinsii (Franch. & Sav.) C. Chr. very rare. Pakistan; N.W. India (Indian Kashmir; Himachal Pradesh); China; Japan. *342. Dryopteris hasseltii (Blume) C.Chr. (syn.: Arachniodes hasseltii (Blume) Ching, given by Chandra, 2000) - very rare. Far N.E. India (Assam, Dibrugarh, Makum Forest, G. Mann), not collected for over 100 years. This typical member of the D. sparsa (D.Don) Kuntze group has been persistently misplaced in Acrorumohra by Ching and present-day Chinese botanists, obscuring the identity of that genus. Listed sub Arachniodes hasseltii by IUCN (2004) from China as Endangered. *343. Dryopteris himachalensis Fras.-Jenk. - very rare. N.W. India (Himachal Pradesh); China. *344. Dryopteris nobilis Ching - very rare. N.E. India (W. Bengal, Darjeeling, Kurseong, H.C. Levinge, perhaps now extinct in Kurseang area due to building-development; Sikkim, Bridge B2, N. of Gangtok, CRFJ; Assam; Meghalaya). *345. Dryopteris camusiae Fras.-Jenk. (1997) (syn.: "D. kunmingensis Fras.-Jenk.", nom. nud., erroneously left in the script, but should have been changed to D. camusiae; misapplied name: D. x pteridiiformis Christ, pro sp. [a sterile hybrid between D. caroli-hopei Fras.-Jenk. x D. camusiae Fras.-Jenk., from China]) - very rare. Far N.E. India (Naga Hills). Known only from a single collection from India, though common in Yunnan. *346. Dryopteris varia (L.) Kuntze - very rare. Possibly extinct or nearly so in India. Far N.E. India (Assam, Cachar Hills, Kapili hot springs; Meghalaya, Garampani hot springs, probably extinguished at that locality due to tourism-construction and disturbance). *347. Heterogonium pinnatum (Copel.) Holttum very rare. Andaman Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001). *348. Lastreopsis tenera (R.Br.) Tindale - very rare. Sri Lanka; S. India. *349. Polystichum anomalum (Hook. & Arn.) J.Sm.
[forma travancoricum (Bedd.) Fras.-Jenk.] (syn.: P. anomalum var. travancoricum (Bedd.) Sledge; P. travancoricum (Bedd.) B.K. Nayar & S. Kaur; P. eximium (Mett. ex Kuhn) C. Chr.) - very rare. Sri Lanka and S. India. IUCN (1998) listed it from Sri Lanka only, as Indeterminate. Some populations in Sri Lanka, where it is less threatened, have a unique feature of having the sori on the top surface of the leaf [forma anomalum]. Endemic to Sri Lanka and S. India, though Chandra (2000) gave its range as throughout S.E. Asia in error as its synonym, P. eximium, has been widely misapplied in Asia in error for P. scariosum (Roxb.) C.V.Morton (syn.: P. birii Jamir & R.Rao) (see Fraser-Jenkins, 1991). *350. Polystichum duthiei (C.Hope) C.Chr. - very rare. N.W. India (Uttarakhand); Nepal; China; Taiwan. *351. Polystichum glaciale Christ (syn.: Sorolepidium glaciale (Christ) Ching) - very rare. N.E. India (Sikkim); Bhutan; Tibet; China. *352. Polystichum grandifrons C.Chr. (syn.: P. kiusiuense Tagawa) - very rare. Far N.E. India (Manipur). The type-collection of P. grandifrons is partly a gigantic specimen with fusing segments and "coarse morphology", but is otherwise similar to P. kiusiuense and other material connects the two. *353. Polystichum manickamianum Benniamin, Fras.-Jenk. & Irud. (2008, in press) (endemic) very rare. S. India (S.W. Tamil Nadu, Agasthiar Hills, V.S. Manickam, det. CRFJ). Only known from one locality, but a quite distinct species related to P. scariosum (Roxb.) C.V.Morton, but with a shorter frond, more stalked, obtuse and larger segments and nearly marginal sori. Initially mistakenly identified by the second author in 1992 as P. subinerme (Kunze) Fras.-Jenk., but on seeing a photograph and then the specimens again in 2007 (XCH!) it was immediately obvious that it is a very distinct species, not matching other African, Indian, S.E. Asian or Chinese species. He therefore gave it the name P. manickamianum. It was investigated cytologically by Irudayaraj. *354. Polystichum polyodon Wall. ex Ching (apparently endemic) - very rare. Far N.E. India (Meghalaya only), though perhaps to be expected in Myanmar and/or S.W. China. Its "mixed morphology" probably suggests it may be an allopolyploid neo-endemic, though as yet it has not been investigated cytologically and the second author has himself only collected it once.
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*355. Polystichum subinerme (Kunze) Fras.-Jenk. (syn.: P. kunthianum B.K.Nayar & Geev.) (endemic) - very rare. S. India (Tamil Nadu: Shevaroy Hills and Nilgiris; and Kerala: Silent Valley). This proliferous-apexed species was formerly observed by the second author to be reasonably common in the Shevaroy Hills (in 1978), but is now almost extinct in places where it was formerly to be seen there. It is perhaps nearly confined now to the Orchid Garden of the Botanical Survey of India, Yercaud, where it could easily be destroyed by the continual fires that ravage the Shevaroy Hills every year without control. Fraser-Jenkins (1991) misapplied the name P. kunthianum to the common S. Indian species, P. palniense Fras.-Jenk. (Fraser-Jenkins, 2008a, in press), due to the semi-sterile and difficult type-specimen of P. kunthianum (CALI!), seen again in 2007. *356. Polystichum wattii (Bedd.) C.Chr. (syn.: Lastreopsis wattii (Bedd.) Tagawa) - very rare. Far N.E. India (?Arunachal Pradesh, Rao & Hajra, specimen not seen for verification; Manipur). IUCN (1998) listed it sub both Lastreopsis and Polystichum from Manipur only, as Extinct and as Extinct or Endangered, respectively. *357. Polystichum sp. indet. - very rare. Far N.E. India (Manipur, Ukhrul, CAL!; and Nagaland, Poltsero, NEHU!). Reported by Fraser-Jenkins (1991: 274), but widely mistakenly sub P. makinoi (Tagawa) Tagawa. The present species is a brown-scaled species in the P. yunnanense Christ agg., close to P. tangmeiense Ching and P. microphyllum (Blume) C.Presl. Currently under study by CRFJ. *358. Pteridrys cnemidaria (Christ) C.Chr. & Ching (misapplied name: P. syrmatica (Willd.) C.Chr. & Ching - very rare. N.E. India (W. Bengal, Darjeeling, not collected for many years; ?Sikkim; Assam; Meghalaya). *359. Pteridrys syrmatica (Willd.) C.Chr. & Ching very rare. Sri Lanka; S. India. IUCN (1998) listed it from Sri Lanka only, as Indeterminate. 360. Pteridrys zeylanica Ching - very rare. Sri Lanka; S. India (Kerala; Andhra Pradesh). IUCN (1998) listed it from Sri Lanka only, as Indeterminate. 361. Tectaria kehdingiana (Kuhn) M.G.Price (syn.: Luerssenia kehdingiana Kuhn) - Nicobar Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001); Sumatra. *362. Tectaria subconfluens (Bedd.) Ching (apparently endemic) - far N.E. India
(Meghalaya); probably also to be expected in Myanmar and/or S.W. China. Dixit (1984) and thence Chandra (2000) also listed it for Bangladesh and China, though the basis for those Countries was not given as it was not listed for Bangladesh by Beddome or Clarke. It was also not given for China by Wu and Wang (1999) in the Flora Reipublicae Popularis Sinicae, nor by Gias Uddin (2001, ined.), nor in the lists of Bangladesh Pteridophytes in British and Indian herbaria prepared by the present second author (ined.). 363. Tectaria zeilanica (Houtt.) Sledge (syn.: Quercifilix zeylanica (Houtt.) Copel.) - Sri Lanka; S. India; China. Near-threatened 364. Arachniodes superba Fras.-Jenk. (1997) (syn.: Lithostegia foeniculacea (Hook.) Ching) - E. Nepal; N.E. India (Sikkim; ?Arunachal Pradesh); Bhutan; Tibet. 365. Dryopsis scabrosa (Kunze) Holttum & P.J.Edwards (syn.: Ctenitis scabrosa (Kunze) Ching) - S. India. Reported from Meghalaya in error. 366. Dryopteris khullarii Fras.-Jenk. (endemic) N.W. India (Himachal Pradesh; Uttarakhand). A presumed neoendemic which may have arisen through hybridisation. 367. Dryopteris sledgei Fras.-Jenk. - Sri Lanka and S. India. 368. Dryopteris yoroii Seriz. (syn.: D. sparsa (D.Don) Kuntze var. nitidula (Bedd.) Ching) N.W. India (Himachal Pradesh; Uttarakhand); Nepal; N.E. India (W. Bengal, Darjeeling; Sikkim; ?Arunachal Pradesh); Myanmar; Tibet. 369. Tectaria chattagramica (C.B.Clarke) Ching very rare. Far N.E. India (Assam; Meghalaya); Bangladesh; Myanmar; Thailand. IUCN (1998) listed it from Bangladesh only, as Vulnerable. 370. Tectaria dubia (C.B.Clarke & Baker) Ching - ?Nepal (Kaski Distr., above Birethanti, two days on way to Annapurna Base Camp, CRFJ); far N.E. India (N. Arunachal Pradesh); S.W. China. Reported from Pithoragarh by Pangtey and Punetha (1987), and thence others, in error for T. coadunata (Wall. ex Hook. & Grev.) C.Chr. (corrected by Pangtey in Khullar, 2000). 371. Tectaria ingens (Atk. ex C.B.Clarke) Holttum N.E. India (W. Bengal; Sikkim; Meghalaya); ?Bhutan. 372. Tectaria melanocaulos (Blume) Copel. - very rare. Andaman Islands. Reported by Dixit & Sinha (2001), though not by Holttum (1991). 373. ?Tectaria siifolia (Willd.) Copel. (syn.: T. ternifolia (Alderw.) C.Chr.) -?Andaman Islands
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Rare 374. Ctenitis subglandulosa (Hance) Ching (syn.: Ctenitis rhodolepis (C.B.Clarke) Ching) - N.E. India (W. Bengal; Sikkim; Assam; Nagaland; Meghalaya). 375. Dryopteris filix-mas (L.) Schott - N. America (also including subsp. brittonii Fras.-Jenk. & Widn); N.W. Africa; Europe east to the Tien Shan; W. Asia; N.E. Afghanistan; N. Pakistan; N.W. India (Indian Kashmir). A European element confined to the far West Himalaya in the Indian subcontinent. 376. Dryopteris odontoloma (Bedd.) C.Chr. (endemic) - S. India only. Confused in the 19th Century with D. nigropaleacea (Fras.-Jenk.) Fras.-Jenk. and D. juxtaposita Christ of the Himalayan region, which were both referred to D. odontoloma (Fraser-Jenkins, 1989). 377. Dryopteris sikkimensis (Bedd.) Kuntze - N.E. India (Sikkim); Tibet. The range of this high-altitude Himalayan species was correctly given by Fraser-Jenkins (1989) as Sikkim and Tibet. Subsequent inexplicable reports from Nepal; Bangladesh; Myanmar and many low-altitude areas of N., C. and S. India; Sri Lanka and tropical S.E. Asia, where it does not occur, were in error. 378. Dryopteris subtriangularis (C.Hope) C.Chr. (syn.: D. uropinna M.G.Price) - far N.E. India (Assam; Arunachal Pradesh; Meghalaya). 379. Pleocnemia submembranacea (Hayata) Tagawa & K.Iwats. (syn.: P. winitii Holttum) Nepal (Fraser-Jenkins, 1997; Thapa, 2002); N.E. India (W. Bengal; Sikkim; Assam; Meghalaya); Bangladesh; S.E. Asia. Chandra (2000) also gave it from Madhya Pradesh. 380. Polystichum acutidens Christ - N.E. India (W. Bengal; Arunachal Pradesh; Nagaland; Manipur; Meghalaya); Bhutan. 381. Polystichum luctuosum (Kunze) T.Moore Pakistan; N.W. India (Indian Kashmir; Himachal Pradesh; Uttarakhand); W. Nepal; far N.E. India (Arunachal Pradesh). 382. Polystichum mannii C.Hope ex Fras.-Jenk. N.E. India (Sikkim: Bridge B2, N. of Gangtok, CRFJ; Assam; Arunachal Pradesh; Meghalaya); Bhutan. 383. Polystichum woodsioides Christ (misapplied name: P. moupinense (Franch.) Bedd., see Fraser-Jenkins, 1997) - Nepal; N.E. India (Sikkim); Bhutan. 384. ?Tectaria fissa (Kunze) Holttum (syn.: T. oligophylla (Rosenst.) C. Chr.; T. polymorpha
(Wall. ex Hook.) Copel. var. cuneifolia Bonap.; T. cuneifolia (Bonap.) .Lve & D.Lve) - ?Andaman Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001); S.E. Asia. T. polymorpha var. cuneifolia was reported by Dixit and Sinha (2001) from the Andaman Islands. It was previously reported by Dixit (1984) from the Andamans; Myanmar and China. T. oligophylla has thence been reported from the Andaman Islands; Myanmar and China (Chandra, 2000), the two latter in error. But Holttum (1991) gave it as confined to Malesia and it is not given from China in Flora Reipublicae Popularis Sinicae, nor from Myanmar by Fraser-Jenkins (in prep.). 385. Tectaria griffithii (Baker) C.Chr. (syn.: T. multicaudata (C.B.Clarke) Ching) - far N.E. India (Assam; Meghalaya). 386. Tectaria simonsii (Baker) Ching - N.E. India (?Sikkim; Assam; Nagaland; Meghalaya); Bangladesh; S.W. China; Taiwan; Myanmar; Thailand; S.E. Asia. Oleandraceae At risk 387. Arthropteris palisotii (Desv.) Alston (syn.: Nephrolepis ramosa (Pal.Beauv.) T.Moore) very rare. Sri Lanka and S. India. 388. Oleandra undulata (Willd.) Ching (misapplied name: O. cumingii sensu Clarke and Beddome, non J.Sm. ex C.Presl) - very rare. Far N.E. India: ("Assam"; Manipur). Rare 389. Nephrolepis radicans (Burm.f.) Kuhn (syn.: N. volubilis J.Sm. ex C.Presl; misapplied name: N. falcata sensu auct. Ind. p.p., non (Cav.) C.Chr.) - N.C. India; S.E. Nepal (Belbari, N. Thapa; CRFJ); far N.E. India (Assam; Manipur); Bangladesh; Myanmar; Thailand; S.E. Asia. Reported from S. India in error; and from Nainital, by Hope, in error for N. cordifolia (L.) C.Presl, nom. et typ. cons. (syn.: N. auriculata (L.) Trimen). 390. Oleandra musaefolia (Blume) C.Presl - Sri Lanka; S. India. Lomariopsidaceae At risk *391. Bolbitis nodiflora (Bory) Fras.-Jenk. (1997) (syn.: B. appendiculata (Willd.) K.Iwats. subsp. vivipara (Hook.) Hennipman, vars. vivipara and neglecta Hennipman) - Andaman Islands; Nicobar Islands (Hennipman, 1977, not given by Dixit and Sinha, 2001); far N.E. India (Manipur; Nagaland); Bangladesh; Myanmar; Thailand and S.E. Asia. Although Bir (2002)
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mentioned the name B. nodiflora (Willd.) K.Iwats. this was a lapsus mentis for B. appendiculata (Willd.) K. Iwats., as Iwatsuki made no such combination in the reference cited or elsewhere. *392. Bolbitis sinuata (C.Presl) Hennipman Nicobar Islands (Hennipman, 1977; Dixit and Sinha, 2001); S.E. Asia. *393. Elaphoglossum nilgiricum Krajina ex Sledge (endemic) - very rare. S. India. IUCN (1998) listed it from S. India as Endangered. *394. Elaphoglossum stigmatolepis (Fe) T.Moore (endemic) - very rare. S. India. IUCN (1998) listed it from S. India as Vulnerable. *395. Lomagramma sumatrana Alderw. - very rare. Nicobar Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001); Sumatra and Malaya. Near-threatened 396. Elaphoglossum beddomei Sledge (endemic) S. India. IUCN (1998) listed it from S. India as Rare. 397. Lomagramma sorbifolia (Willd.) Ching (syn.: ?Bolbitis nagalandensis R.R.Rao & Jamir) - Far N.E. India (N. and E. Arunachal Pradesh (inc. Namdapha, CRFJ); ?Nagaland). Rare 398. Bolbitis semicordata (Baker) Ching (endemic) - S. India. 399. Elaphoglossum angulatum (Blume) T.Moore Sri Lanka and S. India. 400. Bolbitis presliana (Fe) Ching (endemic) - S. India. Davalliaceae Although Tsutsumi and Kato (2007) and Kato and Tsutsumi (2008, in press) have recognised Humata and Wibelia, mainly on moleculological grounds, we prefer to merge them within Davallia, partly on the grounds of a practical morphological basis. The genus Araiostegia was also sunk by them into Davallodes, but their morphology is so utterly different that this cannot be accepted here and further consideration as to how far moleculological/cladistic findings relate to systematics, evolution and taxonomy is undoubtedly required. We recognise Araiostegia here despite all the genera of the family being uncritically sunk into Davallia by Nooteboom (2007) due to some overlap between them in the indusial characteristics etc. of a few species. Some species formerly placed in Araiostegia have been separated by Tsutsumi and Kato into a new genus Araiostegiella, which we accept here as a genus close to Araiostegia.
At risk *401. Davallia pectinata Sm. (syn.: Humata pectinata (Sm.) Desv.) - Nicobar Islands; Malesia and Oceania. *402. Davallia heterophylla Sm. (syn.: Humata heterophylla (Sm.) Desv.) - Nicobar Islands; S.E. Asia to Oceania. Rare 403. Araiostegia hymenophylloides (Blume) Copel. (syn.: Davallodes hymenophylloides (Blume) M.Kato & C.Tsutsumi (2008, in press)) - Sri Lanka; S. India; ?far N.E. India (?Nagaland; ?Meghalaya). Reports in some N.E. Indian fern Floras were probably in error; it was also reported recently from Darjeeling in error. 404. Araiostegiella hookeri (T.Moore ex Bedd., 1866) Fras.-Jenk. (2008a, in press) (syn.: Acrophorus hookeri T. Moore ex Bedd. (1866); Leucostegia hookeri (T.Moore ex Bedd.) Bedd. (1883); Araiostegia hookeri (T. Moore ex Bedd.) Ching; Davallia clarkei Baker, nom. superfl. for Acrophorus hookeri T.Moore ex Bedd.; Araiostegia clarkei (C. Chr.) Copel.; A. hopei Panigrahi & S.K.Basu; Araiostegiella clarkei (Baker) M.Kato & C.Tsutsumi, 2008, in press) N.W. India (Himachal Pradesh; Uttarakhand); Nepal; N.E. India (W. Bengal, Darjeeling; Sikkim). Although Beddome later said that his A. hookeri (t. 95), i.e. his specimen from Khasia, was a synonym of what is now called Gymnogrammitis dareiformis (Hook.) Ching ex Tardieu & C.Chr., this cannot be accepted as correct as he originally cited Moore's name, clearly described and figured the indusia and also included a W. Himalayan locality for A. hookeri. In particular, he treated G. dareiformis separately (t. 174) and explicitly contrasted it to the indusiate A. hookeri. The main and central part of his concept of A. hookeri was therefore of the indusiate species and not of G. dareiformis. It must be lectotypified by the Sirmur specimen he cited, in agreement with the protologue. The full frond he illustrated without sori, but not the detailed drawings with indusia, was G. dareiformis from Khasia, but cannot alter the application of the name itself to the indusiate species. As Baker's protologue of A. clarkei also cited Moore's A. hookeri and again described the indusia it must be the same as Beddome's A. hookeri and is a superfluous name for it (see Fraser-Jenkins, 2008a, in press). This species should not therefore be called A. clarkei, as was done in contrast to normal Indian usage by Nooteboom (1994).
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405. Araiostegiella perdurans (Christ) M.Kato & C.Tsutsumi (2008, in press) (syn.: Araiostegia perdurans (Christ) Copel.; Araiostegia parvipinnula (Hayata) Copel.; Araiostegia parva (C. Chr.) Ching) - N.E. India (Sikkim; Arunachal Pradesh); Bhutan. Mistakenly sunk by Nooteboom (1994) into A. hookeri (above), under the name Davallia clarkei Baker, but A. perdurans is a distinct and much larger plant with a thicker rhizome and more finely dissect frond. 406. Davallia assamica (Bedd.) Baker (syn.: Humata assamica (Bedd.) Diels.) - far N.E. India (Arunachal Pradesh; Nagaland). 407. Davallia denticulata (Burm.f.) Mett. ex Kuhn (syn.: Wibelia denticulata (Burm.f.) M.Kato & C.Tsutsumi, 2008, in press) - Sri Lanka; Andaman Islands; Nicobar Islands; S. India. 408. Davallia divaricata Blume (syn.: Araiostegia divaricata (Blume) M.Kato; Wibelia divaricata (Blume) M.Kato & C.Tsutsumi, in press) - far N.E. India (Assam; Arunachal Pradesh; Manipur; Meghalaya). 409. Davallia repens (L.f.) Kuhn, nom. cons. (syn.: Humata repens (L.f.) Diels; Davallia pedata Sm.) - Sri Lanka; Andaman Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001); S. India; N.E. India (Sikkim; Nagaland; Meghalaya; Mizoram); S.E. Asia; Australia and Oceania. 410. Davallia solida (G.Forst.) Sw. - Andaman Islands and Nicobar Islands; far N.E. India (Meghalaya); Myanmar; Thailand; S.E. Asia and Australia. Blechnaceae At risk 411. Blechnum finlaysonianum Hook. & Grev. Andaman Islands and Nicobar Islands (Dixit and Sinha, 2001); Thailand; S.E. Asia; New Guinea. *412. Blechnum melanopus Hook. (syn.: Blechnidium melanopus (Hook.) T.Moore - very rare. Far N.E. India (Meghalaya); China; Taiwan. *413. Blechnum melanocaulon (Brack.) T.C. Chambers & P.A. Farrant subsp. pallens T.C. Chambers & P.A. Farrant, Blumea 46: 283-350 (2001) (B. colensoi and B. patersonii sensu auct. Ind., non (Hook.) Wakef. and (R.Br.) Mett. respectively) - very rare. Sri Lanka; S. India; Malesia to Oceania. Near-threatened 414. Brainea insignis (Hook.) J.Sm. (syn.: Blechnum insigne (Hook.) C.M.Kuo) - far N.E. India (Meghalaya, locally abundant, partly fire-resistant); Myanmar; S. China; Malesia.
Marsileaceae Marsilea in India is in a similar state of confusion to Isoetes, with a number of taxa reported and new taxa described but all requiring verification as to whether they constitute genuinely distinct species, which is probably rather unlikely. Most of the new names have been treated as if endemic to India, or to small regions within India, and have been said to be rare or endangered, but this is somewhat meaningless until they have been properly identified and assessed on an international scale in Asia (i.e. as was carried out by Launert in Africa). They have not been classified here as to their threatened status. The names reported are listed below with some preliminary synonymisation carried out by Fraser-Jenkins (1997). The two common species that are definitely present in India, as also in Africa, are the widespread M. minuta L. and the more southerly Indian M. coromandelina Willd., though M. aegyptiaca is also present and M. condensata may perhaps also be accepted as a good species present in India. Reports of the European species, M. quadrifolia L. (syn.: M. coromandelica Burm.f., nom. superfl. illeg.), from Kashmir etc. refer to M. minuta, as do those of the distinct Philippine and Australian species, M. crenata C.Presl. Launert (1968) has pointed out that the great variability of M. coromandelina and M. minuta has caused students much difficulty and misunderstanding.
Marsilea aegyptiaca Willd. - a good species from Africa and India (W.C. and E.C. India). Marsilea ballardii Gupta = M. aegyptiaca. W.C. India (Rajasthan). Marsilea ballardii var. rajasthanensis (Gupta) S.Almeida & M.Almeida (syn.: M. rajasthanensis Gupta; M. rajasthanensis var. ballardii (Gupta) Gupta, comb. inval.) = M. aegyptiaca. W.C. India (Rajasthan). Marsilea brachycarpa A.Braun = M. minuta. S. India. Marsilea brachypus A.Braun = M. minuta. S. India. Marsilea condensata Baker. W.C. India (Rajasthan). Marsilea coromandelina Willd. S. India. Marsilea diffusa Lepr. ex A.Braun (cultivated) = M. minuta. Marsilea gracilenta A.Braun = M. minuta. S. India. Marsilea kedarmalii Bhardwaja, Gena & D'Souza = ?M. coromandelina. S. India. Marsilea maheshwarii Gopal = M. minuta. S. India. Marsilea major (Haines) N.P.Chowdhury = M. minuta. N.C. India (Bihar). Marsilea minuta L. Throughout India. Marsilea minuta var. indica Gupta = M. minuta. W. India (Maharashtra). Marsilea poonensis Kolhatkar. W. India (Maharashtra, Pune).
NON-THREATENED TAXA REPORTED IN ERROR In the course of preparation of this work 84 taxa which are either synonyms or are in some other way not threatened in India have been found to have been
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included in earlier works (Jain, 1980; Dixit, 1983; Datta, 1983; Bir, 1987, 1988; Nayar and Sastry, 1987, 1988, 1990; IUCN, 1998). These are listed below, though it should be noted that a number of additional species from this list were reported as Endangered whose status we have changed above to Near-threatened or Rare. In addition, reference has been made below as well as under each relevant genus above to the 44 Indian species reported in IUCN's (1998) Red List, based on various local reports, of which just over half were neither threatened nor rare. These taxa need to be deleted from present or future publications concerning India. 1. Angiopteris evecta (G. Forst.) Hoffm., from Tahiti - error for A. indica Desv. and A. helferiana C. Presl (Fraser-Jenkins, 2008a, in prep.), neither of which is threatened or rare. 2. Arachniodes aristata (G. Forst.) Tindale - neither threatened nor rare, though not a very common species. 3. Araiostegia delavayi (Bedd. ex C.B. Clarke & Baker) Ching - synonym of the common A. pulchra (D. Don) Copel., not, as tentatively placed by Fraser-Jenkins (1997) pending study of its type, of A. beddomei (C. Hope) Ching (see Fraser-Jenkins, 2008a, in press). 4. Araiostegia pulchra (D. Don) Copel. (syn.: A. pseudocystopteris (Kunze) Copel.) - abundantly common in N., C. and S. India wherever there is a reasonable rainfall. 5. Arthromeris repandula Ching - synonym of A. mairei (Brause) Ching, which is common and widespread in the Himalayan region. 6. Asplenium cheilosorum Kunze ex Mett. - rather common in most of N. and S. India. 7. Asplenium x breynii K. Koch - synonym of the spontaneous, sterile hybrid, A. x alternifolium Wulfen (below). 8. Asplenium x germanicum Weiss, nom. inval. (syn.: A. x germanicum Asch. & Graebn., A. x breynii Retz., nom. illeg., A. x breynii K. Koch) - synonym of A. x alternifolium Wulfen and merely a spontaneous sterile hybrid (A. septentrionale (L.) Hoffm. subsp. septentrionale x A. trichomanes L. subsp. trichomanes), so cannot be treated as if a threatened or rare species. 9. Asplenium unilaterale Lam. - at least sensu Bir, is generally common. True A. unilaterale is uncommon in N. India and generally confused with other related species in Sect. Hymenasplenium. 10. Asplenium unilaterale Lam. var. delicatulum Parish ex Bedd. - synonym of the common species, A. amoenum C.Presl (Fraser-Jenkins, 2008, in press).
11. Asplenium unilaterale var. udum Atk. ex Bedd. synonym of A. amoenum C.Presl. 12. Azolla pinnata R.Br. - actually A. pinnata subsp. asiatica R.M.K.Saunders & K.Fowler, abundant and widespread over large areas in India and Asia. 13. Belvisia callifolia (Christ) Copel. - synonym of B. mucronata (Fe) Copel., but only B. henryi (Hieron. ex C.Chr.) Raymond is certainly known in India, in the Himalaya (Hovenkamp and Franken, 1993). 14. Blechnum orientale L. - one of the commonest and most widespread eastern and southern Indian species. 15. Botrychium lanuginosum Wall. ex Hook. & Grev. - abundant in the Central and Eastern Himalaya at the upper-mid altitude level. 16. Ceratopteris thalictroides (L.) Brongn. - a common species of sluggish streams and a widespread weed in rice-fields. In Masuyama's (2007 and in press) recent revision of the species aggregate in Asia the Himalayan tetraploid, also present in other parts of India etc., is recognised as a distinct entity with a distinct morphology, especially in its stipe to blade length, which may be appropriately treated at the specific rank 17. Christella clarkei (Bedd.) Holttum - synonym of Thelypteris clarkei (Bedd.) C.F.Reed, common throughout the Himalaya from C. Nepal eastwards and in China etc. It was formerly known under its synonym, T. cylindothrix (Rosenst.) K.Iwats. (see Fraser-Jenkins, 1997). IUCN (1998) listed it from Sikkim only, as Vulnerable, due to taxonomic error in separating it from T. cylindothrix. 18. Christella x kumaunica Holttum, pro sp. synonym of Thelypteris x kumaunica (Holttum) Fras.-Jenk., a spontaneous sterile hybrid with abortive spores, presumably between T. arida (D.Don) C.V.Morton and ?T. jaculosa (Christ) Panigrahi, not relevant to the concept of threatened species. IUCN (1998) listed it as a species from Kumaon (Uttarakhand) as Vulnerable. 19. Coniogramme indica Fe - synonym of C. fraxinea (D.Don) Fe ex Diels (see Fraser-Jenkins, 1997); a very common and widespread species in N. and S. India; Nepal; Bhutan etc. IUCN (1998) listed C. indica from N.E. India only, as Endangered. 20. Crepidomanes insigne (Bosch) S.H.Fu - synonym of Trichomanes latealatum (Bosch) Christ, very common and widespread. 21. Cryptogramme gracilis (Michx.) Clute - synonym of C. stelleri (S.G.Gmel.) Prantl, rather common at high altitude throughout the Himalaya.
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22. Cyathea decipiens (J.Scott ex Bedd.) C.B. Clarke & Baker - synonym of C. spinulosa Wall. ex Hook., rather common in N. and S. India. 23. Cyathea gigantea (Wall. ex Holttum) Holttum - a rather common species throughout much of India. 24. Cyathea latebrosa (Hook.) Copel. - error for C. khasyana (T.Moore ex Kuhn) Domin, vulnerable, occurring in N.E. India etc. 25. Cyathea ornata (J.Scott ex Bedd.) Copel. synonym of C. khasyana (T.Moore ex Kuhn) Domin, near-threatened, occurring in N.E. India etc. 26. Cyathea spinulosa Wall. ex Hook. - rather common species in N. and S. India. 27. Cyclogramma squamaestipes (C.B.Clarke) Tagawa - synonym of Thelypteris squamaestipes (C.B.Clarke) Ching, scattered but fairly common from C. Nepal eastwards into China. IUCN (1998) listed C. squamaestipes from Sikkim only, as Rare. 28. Cyrtomium microindusium Sa.Kurata - synonym of Cyrtomium anomalum (Zenker) Fras.-Jenk. (2008a, in press), common throughout N. India; Nepal; Bhutan etc. and present in S. India (rare). IUCN (1998) listed C. microindusium from Japan only, as Vulnerable. 29. Davallia membranulosa Wall. ex Hook. (syn.: Paradavallodes membranulosum (Wall. ex Hook.) Ching), i.e. Davallodes membranulosa (Wall. ex Hook.) Copel. - a common species in the C. and E. Himalaya. 30. Dennstaedtia elwesii (Bedd.) Bedd. - synonym of D. appendiculata (Wall. ex Hook.) J.Sm. (see Fraser-Jenkins, 1997), W. Himalaya and very common throughout the C. and E. Himalaya etc. 31. Deparia boryana (Willd.) M.Kato (syn.: Dryoathyrium boryanum (Willd.) Ching) - an abundantly common and widespread species, though the S. Indian representatives belong to a distinct taxon. 32. Dicranopteris linearis var. sebastineana ["sebastiana"] Panigrahi & R.D.Dixit - synonym of the common and widespread N. and S. Indian, Chinese etc. D. taiwanensis Ching & P.S. Chiu (see Fraser-Jenkins, 1997). IUCN (1998) listed var. "sebastiana" from S. India only, as Vulnerable. 33. Doodia aspera R.Br. - a diploid species native to Australia not present in the Indian subcontinent. Reports from S. India are in error for the adventive tetraploid Australian species, D. caudata (Cav.) R.Br., also naturalised in Sri Lanka. But a second Sri Lankan and Javan native species is D. dives Kunze (Parris, 2006-7).
34. Drynaria mollis Bedd. - very common W. and E. Himalayan species of highish altitude. 35. Drynaria propinqua (Wall. ex Mett.) J. Sm. ex Bedd. - abundantly common and widespread species, throughout the Himalaya, and on trees in Kathmandu; Darjeeling etc. 36. Drynaria quercifolia (L.) J.Sm. - the commonest, abundant low-altitude Drynaria, in large numbers on trees and walls, even in cities, from C. Nepal eastwards and in N. and S. India. 37. Dryopteris gamblei (C.Hope) C.Chr. (syn.: D. darjeelingensis Fras.-Jenk.) - common throughout the Himalaya from Kumaon (Uttarakhand) to Nepal; Bhutan; China etc. (Fraser-Jenkins, 1997). IUCN (1998) listed it from N.E. India and Bhutan only, as Vulnerable. 38. Dryopteris sparsa (D.Don) Kuntze - common and widespread in N. India from Kumaon eastwards to China; Myanmar; Thailand and S.E. Asia; E. to the Philippines and N. Australia (as subsp. sparsa) and in S. India; the E. Indo-Himalaya; China and S. Japan as subsp. rectangularis Fras.-Jenk. (2008a, in press). IUCN (1998) listed D. sparsa from Australia only, as Rare. 39. Equisetum arvense L. - common in the N.W. and W. Himalaya and reaches as far E. as N.W. Nepal, well into or behind the Himalayan main ranges. 40. Equisetum ramosissimum Desf. - abundant throughout India with many, often more westerly-Himalayan plants matching the European, while others mainly, but not exclusively further east and in the south, match the smoother-stemmed form previously known as E. debile Roxb. ex Vaucher, or E. ramosissimum subsp. debile (Roxb. ex Vaucher) Hauke, which are synonyms of E. ramosissimum. 41. Isoetes coromandelina L.f. subsp. coromandelina - fairly common and widespread throughout most of India. 42. Isoetes rajasthanensis Gena & Bhardwaja - a dubious species requiring further study. 43. Isoetes reticulata Gena & Bhardwaja - a dubious species requiring further study. 44. Isoetes tuberculata Gena & Bhardwaja - synonym of the fairly common and widespread I. coromandelina L.f. 45. Lycopodiella cernua (L.) Pic.Serm. - a common species throughout most of India, often in secondary habitats such as roadsides roadsides, not under any threat. 46. Lycopodium clavatum L. - this boreal N. American and European species is not present in India where it is entirely replaced by the common species, L. japonicum Thunb., common and
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widespread even though over-collected for adorning gates etc. 47. Lycopodium hamiltonii Spreng. - synonym of Huperzia hamiltonii (Spreng.) Trevis., which is common in higher-mid altitude forest and even degraded forest areas in the W., C. and E. Himalaya and in S. India. 48. Lycopodium lucidulum Michx., synonym of Huperzia lucidula (Michx.) Trevis., from N. America only - misapplied by Clarke and others to Huperzia herteriana (Kmmerle) T.Sen & U.Sen, which is rather common at higher altitude in the E. Indo-Himalaya etc. 49. Lycopodium setaceum D.Don - synonym of Huperzia pulcherrima (Wall. ex Hook. & Grev.) Pic.Serm., common in the W., C. and E. Himalaya etc. 50. Lycopodium setaceum D.Don var. subulifolium (Wall. ex Hook. & Grev.) C.B.Clarke - synonym of Huperzia subulifolia (Wall. ex Hook. & Grev.) Trevis., common from Kumaon eastwards, which may perhaps only be a growth-form of H. pulcherrima, requiring further study. 51. Lycopodium serratum Thunb. - synonym of Huperzia serrata (Thunb.) Rothm., which is of local, but rather common occurrence in the C. and E. Himalaya etc. 52. Mecodium exsertum (Wall. ex Hook.) Copel. synonym of Hymenophyllum exsertum Wall. ex Hook., one of the commonest Filmy Ferns, abundant in the Himalayan region, except the far west. 53. Mecodium javanicum (Spreng.) Copel. synonym of Hymenophyllum javanicum Spreng., a common species in the Indo-Himalaya and also in S. India. 54. Mecodium polyanthos (Blume) Copel., synonym of Hymenophyllum polyanthos Sw. from C. and S. America - error for Hymenophyllum tenellum D.Don, the commonest Indian Filmy Fern, abundant and widespread throughout India (Fraser-Jenkins, 2008a, in prep.). 55. Metathelypteris decipiens (C.B.Clarke) Ching synonym of Thelypteris decipiens (C.B.Clarke) Ching, common from E. Nepal eastwards to China etc. Listed by IUCN (1998) from Darjeeling and Meghalaya only, as Rare. 56. Microsorum linguaeforme (Mett.) Copel. from S.E. Asia - this was reported as an exotic adventive, escaped from cultivation in S. India, with two of the three localities merely being cultivated plants. Not native and thus hardly to be considered as a threatened species. 57. Microsorum normale (D. Don) Ching (syn.:
Neocheiropteris normalis (D. Don) Tagawa, Tricholepidium normale (D.Don) Ching) - a rather common species in Nepal and N.E. India etc. 58. Microsorum punctatum (L.) Copel. - a very common and widespread species in N.E. and S. India. 59. Ophioglossum costatum R.Br. - uncommon, but scattered over a wide area and often overlooked, though reported from the W. Himalaya in error. 60. Ophioglossum petiolatum Hook. - a common taxon in mountain areas throughout N. and C. India and also present in the South. Due to variation in shape Wieffering (1964) thought it to be a developmental form of O. reticulatum L. with more pointed and less cordate-based sterile fronds, but it appears to be a distinct species. 61. Ophioglossum reticulatum L. - a very common and widespread species throughout India. 62. Ophioglossum vulgatum L. - a mainly European species, not present in India, though often reported in error for O. reticulatum. 63. Osmunda cinnamomea L. - a common species throughout the Indo-Himalaya, occurring as subsp. vestita (Wall. ex Milde) .Lve & D.Lve. 64. Peranema cyatheoides D.Don - a common species in the C. and E. Himalaya, from Kumaon eastwards. 65. Platycerium alcicorne (Willem.) Desv. - this is an African species, cultivated widely in Asia, including India and Nepal, but has not become adventive. Reports from N.E. India are in error for the species At risk, P. wallichii Hook., which Wallich called P. alcicorne Wall., nom. nud. 66. Phymatopteris stracheyi (Ching) Pic.Serm. synonym of the very common and widespread P. quasidivaricata (Hayata) Pic.Serm. 67. Pseudocyclosorus gamblei Holttum & J.W.Grimes - synonym of Thelypteris tylodes (Kunze) Ching, common throughout the Himalaya and in S. India; China etc. IUCN (1998) listed P. gamblei from S. India only, as Endangered. 68. Pseudocyclosorus griseus (Baker) Holttum & J.W.Grimes - synonym of Thelypteris ochthodes (Kunze) Ching; common throughout S. India and probably also present in the N.E. and Myanmar. IUCN (1998) listed P. griseus from S. India only, as Endangered. 69. Pseudodrynaria coronans (Wall. ex Mett.) Ching - synonym of Aglaomorpha coronans (Wall. ex Mett.) Copel., a common lower-altitude species from Nepal eastwards through all N.E. India. 70. Pteris confusa T.G.Walker - synonym of P. arisanensis Tagawa, common from Nepal
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eastwards and in S. India and Sri Lanka. IUCN (1998) listed P. confusa from Sri Lanka only, as Indeterminate. 71. Pteris gongalensis T.G. Walker - perhaps confined to Sri Lanka, though also reported from S. India. IUCN (1998) listed it from Sri Lanka only, as Indeterminate. 72. Salvinia natans (L.) All. - a western element reaching N. Pakistan and N.W. India (the lakes of Indian Kashmir), but neither rare nor threatened there. Its apparent demise and die-back, said to be due to pollution of, among others, the Dal Lake, is a natural annual phenomenon every Autumn, followed by regrowth from spores in Spring. It also occurs in the N.E. and S. of India, but is often confused with the widespread adventive, S. molesta D.S.Mitch., or with the rarer, N.E. Indian S. cucullata Roxb. ex Bory. The species are easily distinguished in the living state by the arrangement of the hairs on the upper surface of the leaf and by the sporangiophores. 73. Selaginella rajasthanensis Gena, Bhardwaja & A.K. Yadav. - synonym of the rather common and widespread S. reticulata (Hook. & Grev.) Spring. 74. Selaginella monospora Spring. - this is one of the commoner, more widespread and abundant species, covering large areas in the E. Himalaya. 75. Stenochlaena palustris (Burm.f.) Bedd. - very common throughout NE India, from S.E. Nepal eastwards, also in S. India, including in secondary habitats. 76. Trichomanes schmidianum Zenker ex Taschner (syn.: Crepidomanes schmidianum (Zenker ex Taschner) K.Iwats., Trichomanes latifrons Bosch) - fairly common from the C. and E. Himalaya and present in S. India. 77-79. Trigonospora angustifrons Sledge, T. glandulosa Sledge and T. zeylanica (Ching) Sledge, all described from and said to be endemic to Sri Lanka - probably all minor forms and synonyms of Thelypteris calcarata (Blume) Holttum, from S. India and Sri Lanka. IUCN (1998) listed all three from Sri Lanka only, as Indeterminate. 80. Trigonospora obtusiloba Sledge, described from Sri Lanka as if endemic - probably a synonym of Thelypteris caudipinna Ching, which is fairly common in N. and S. India and Sri Lanka. IUCN (1998) listed it from Sri Lanka only, as Indeterminate. 81. Vittaria flexuosa Fe - a very common and widespread species. 82. Vittaria garhwalensis R.D.Dixit - synonym of V.
flexuosa (above). A highly immature, small specimen. 83. Vittaria himalayensis Ching - synonym of V. taeniophylla Copel., common from the W. to E. Himalaya; China; Taiwan and S.E. Asia to the Philippines. 84. Woodsia andersonii (Bedd.) Christ - scattered but not rare, from the W. and E. Himalaya of India; Nepal; Bhutan; Tibet and S.W. China. IUCN (1998) listed it from Kumaon only, with its world-status as Extinct or Endangered.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
Between one third and a half of Indian Pteridophyte-species appear to be under threat or rare and in a number of cases these species were described as common, or relatively so, in the "classical" works of Beddome, Clarke and Hope from the late 19th century. It therefore appears that a considerable decline has occurred since that time, the main cause of which is undoubtedly the ever-increasing level of deforestation throughout the region. Approximately 15% (16-17%) or c. one sixth of Indian Pteridophyte species are Critically endangered and thus very rare species which are very seldom seen. Of the Critically endangered species, the present study combined with Fraser-Jenkins (2008b, in press) has allowed us to identify 13 species to be considered of top priority, being Indian endemics, which as they exist nowhere else, will be permanently eliminated from the world's biodiversity resources if they become extinct in India. The particular habitats and localities of these species should therefore be made an urgent and special study of, including locality-mapping, and specifically targeted by State Governments etc. for immediate and strict conservation. Cases also need to be submitted for their official inclusion in the IUCN Red-List. These species are: Selaginella cataractarum Alston - Tamil Nadu. Arthromeris notholaenoides V.K. Rawat & Fras.-Jenk. - Arunachal Pradesh. Oreogrammitis austroindica (Parris) Parris Tamil Nadu. Asplenium exiguum Bedd. - Tamil Nadu. Thelypteris didymochlaenoides (C.B. Clarke) Ching - Meghalaya. Thelypteris namburensis (Bedd.) C.F. Reed Assam; Arunachal Pradesh. Dryopteris austroindica Fras.-Jenk. - Tamil Nadu. Polystichum manickamianum Benniamin, Fras.-Jenk. & Irud. - Tamil Nadu. Polystichum polyodon Wall. ex Ching Meghalaya.
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Polystichum subinerme (Kunze) Fras.-Jenk. Kerala; Tamil Nadu. Tectaria subconfluens (Bedd.) Ching Meghalaya. Elaphoglossum nilgiricum Krajina ex Sledge Kerala; Tamil Nadu. Elaphoglossum stigmatolepis (Fe) T.Moore Tamil Nadu. These specially targeted species may increase slightly in number following further taxonomic revision of some of the dubious species mentioned above. They will also increase if studies in neighbouring countries reveal that non-endemic species which are Critically endangered in India are in the same state in all the other Countries in which they occur, and thus that their World-wide status is tenuous and critical. It must also be of concern that no less than 27 out of the 46 currently accepted political Indian endemic Pteridophytes appear in the present list as threatened species of one category or another. As yet, effective solutions have not been found to combat this common world-wide problem, though the first step is obviously to inculcate public awareness of the extent of the problem, which has gradually begun to be generally appreciated. Pteridophyes are no exception to the general pattern and as many of them are forest-dwelling species they can be taken as good indicators of the extent of the problems of deforestation and habitat-destruction. It is to be hoped that effective measures may be increased to create a network of strict sample-reserves throughout the nation, properly protected against grazing, disturbance and deforestation, which currently continue to affect reserves despite their apparent protected status. Other methods intended to promote conservation, such as the international Convention on Biodiversity, are generally irrelevant to actual conservation on the ground in most scenarios apart from commercially exploited species. In preparing the present assessment it rapidly became obvious that considerable nomenclatural revision required to be incorporated in order to avoid synonyms being treated as if separate species and to ensure correct naming. We have therefore taken steps to incorporate recent revision carried out locally and internationally by various authors. However we have been unable to assess all the species of two genera, Isoetes and Marsilea, due to the unclear taxonomic status of many recently described taxa within them. All the apparent species of these two genera reported from India have therefore been listed without classification in terms of threat or rarity. Taxonomic revision has resulted in one new combination and two
nomina nova being validated here, while others in press are referred to in the list. As a result of recent revision of Indian endemic species, we have accepted only 27 endemics and possible endemics among the threatened and rare pteridophytes of political India, which is a much lower figure than was previously published. This is in keeping with less than 10% of reported endemics being accepted by Fraser-Jenkins (2008b, in press). Greater precision and some further additions should result from taxonomic reinvestigation of some dubious species and from future botanical exploration in botanically rich, but under-collected areas of the Country, particularly in the less known further North-Eastern region of India.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The first-named author is grateful to Prof. Benito C. Tan, of Singapore Botanic Garden, Singapore, for helpful suggestions concerning use of IUCN categories. We are grateful to Prof. G.K. Srivastava, of Allahabad, for kindly providing some additional distributions of Indian Isoetes. We are also most grateful to Dr. Barbara Parris, of New Zealand, for her kind help in providing information elucidating the Indian species of Doodia and the Grammitidaceae, to Prof. M. Kato, of Chiba, for helpful information on the Davalliaceae and to Dr. Michael G. Price, of Michigan, for his helpful information concerning Loxogramme and Pteris pluricaudata, and their permission to publish their comments here. The two junior authors (AK and AS) thank the Director, NBRI, Lucknow, India, and the Head of the Botany Department, D.A-V., College, Kanpur, India, respectively, for providing facilities and encouragement from time to time.
LITERATURE CITED
Alston, A. H. G. 1945. An enumeration of the Indian species of Selaginella, Proc. Nat. Inst. Sci. India 11: 211-235. Ayensu, E. S. 1981. Assessment of threatened plants species in the United States. In: Synge, H. (ed.), The Biological aspects of rare plant conservation. John Wiley & sons Ltd., New York, USA. pp. 19-58. Beddome, R. H. 1866. The ferns of British India: t. 95. Gantz Brothers, Madras, India. Benniamin, A., C. R. Fraser-Jenkins and V. Irudayaraj. 2008 (in press). Polystichum manickamianum (Dryopteridaceae), a new species from South India, Novon, India.
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Bhardwaja, T. N., C. B. Gena and S. Verma. 1987. Status survey of pteridophytic flora of Rajasthan with special reference to endangered ferns and fern-allies, Indian Fern J. 4: 47-50. Bir, S. S. 1987. Pteridophytic Flora of India: rare and endangered elements and their conservation, Indian Fern J. 4: 95-101. Bir, S. S. 1988. Evolutionary trends in the Pteridophytic flora of India. Presidential address, Section of Botany, Indian Science Congress Platinum Jubilee Session 1977, Proc. Indian Sci. Congr. 75: 1-56. Calcutta. [Abridged versions repeated in Curr. Sci. 57: 321-323 (1988); Everyman's Science 23: 29-35 (1988) and In: Bir, S. S. and M. I. S. Saggo (eds.), Perspectives in Plant Sci. India: 1-22 (1989). Today & Tomorrow's Printers and Publishers, New Delhi]. Bir, S. S. 2002. Editorial comment in A. Nath and M. K. Bhattacharya. 2002. Some new records and little known species of Pteridophytes from Barak Valley, Assam, India, Indian Fern J. 19: 104. Chandra, S. 2000. The Ferns of India (Enumeration, Synonyms & Distribution). International Book Distributors, Dehra Dun, India. 459pp. Ching, R. C. 1936. On the genera Stegnogramma and Leptogramma, Sinensia 7: 89-112. Ching, R. C. 1978. The Chinese Fern Families and Genera; Systematic Arrangement and Historical Origin, Act. Phytotax. Sinica 16: 1-19; 16: 16-37. Datta, A. 1983. Occurrence and distribution of some rare ferns. In: Jain, S. K. (ed.), An Assessment of Threatened Plants of India. Botanical Survey of India, Howrah (Calcutta), India. pp. 323-327. Davis, S. D., V. H. Heywood and A. C. Hamilton (eds.). 1995. Centres of Plant Diversity - A Guide and Strategy for their Conservation 2 Asia, Australia and the Pacific. WWF and IUCN, Geneva, London, New York, USA. pp. 61-144. Dixit, R. D. 1983. Rare and interesting Pteridophytes of India - 1. In: Jain, S. K. (ed.), An Assessment of Threatened Plants of India. Botanical Survey of India, Howrah (Calcutta), India. pp. 328-334. Dixit, R. D. 1984. A Census of the Indian Pteridophytes. Flora of India, Ser. 4, Botanical Survey of India, Howrah (Calcutta). India. pp. 1-177. Dixit, R. D. 1987. Lycopodiaceae of India. Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh, Dehra Dun, India. 124pp. Dixit, R. D. 1992. Selaginellaceae of India. Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh, Dehra Dun, India. 196pp. Dixit, R. D. and Balkrishna. 1989. Additions to the endemic Pteridophytes of India and their
survey-cum-conservation strategies. In: Trivedi, M. L. et al. (eds.), Plant Sci. Res. India. Today & Tomorrow Printers and Publishers, New Delhi. India. pp. 7-13. Dixit, R. D. and N. C. Nair. 1977. Holcosorus Moore - a new fern genus record for the Indian region, Proc. Indian Acad. Sci. 86B: 385-387. Dixit, R. D. and B. K. Sinha. 2001. Pteridophytes of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh, Dehra Dun, India. 155pp. Fraser-Jenkins, C. R. 1989. A monograph of Dryopteris (Pteridophyta: Dryopteridaceae) in the Indian Subcontinent, Bull. Brit. Mus. Nat. Hist., Bot., 18: 323-477. Fraser-Jenkins, C. R. 1991. An outline monographic study of the genus Polystichum in the Indian subcontinent. In: Bhardwaj[a], T. N. and C. B. Gena (eds.), Aspects Plant Sci. 13: 249-287. Today & Tomorrow's Printers & Publishers, New Delhi, India. Fraser-Jenkins, C. R. 1992 ("1991"). The ferns and allies of the far west Himalaya, Pakistan Syst. 5: 85-120. Fraser-Jenkins, C. R. 1997. New species syndrome in Indian pteridology and the ferns of Nepal. International Book Distributors, Dehra Dun, India. 404pp. Fraser-Jenkins, C. R. 2008a. Taxonomic revision of a hundred and fifty Indian Pteridophytes. Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh, Dehra Dun, India. 150pp. (in press) Fraser-Jenkins, C. R. 2008b. Endemics and Pseudo-Endemics in Relation to the Distribution Patterns of Indian Pteridophytes, Taiwania 53. (in press) Fraser-Jenkins, C. R. and C. S. Dulawat. 2008. A summary of Indian cheilanthoid ferns and the discovery of Negripteris Chiov., an Afro-Arabian fern-genus new to India, Fern Gaz. 18. (in press) Fraser-Jenkins, C. R., R. Rush and R. C. Ching. 1982. Athyrium goeringianum, a confused name, Fern Gaz. 12: 246-248. Ghosh, S. R., B. Ghosh, A. Biswas and R. K. Ghosh. 2004. The Pteridophytic Flora of Eastern India 1. Flora of India ser. 4, Botanical Survey of India, Kolkata. 591pp. Gias Uddin, M. 2001. A taxonomic study on leptosporangiate ferns of Bangladesh. M.Phil. Thesis, Chittagong University, Chittagong. 225pp. (ined.) Gureyeva, I. I. 2002. Rare fern species of Russia and reasons for their rarity, Fern Gaz. 16: 319-323. Hameed, C. A., K. P. Rajesh and P. V. Madhusoodanan. 2003. Filmy Ferns of South
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Subhash Chandra(1,5), C. R. Fraser-Jenkins(2,5), Alka Kumari(3) and Archana Srivastava(4)

(2007 10 17 2008 1 30 )
950-1000 414 219 160 82 113 41-43%84 Leptochilus pothifolius (D.Don) Fras.-Jenk., Asplenium rivulare Fras.-Jenk. and Thelypteris chandrae Fras.-Jenk.
___________________________________________________________________________
1. Former Head of Pteridology Laboratory, National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, India; D-15 Sector G, Aliganj, Lucknow-226 024, India. Email: chandrasum@rediffmail.com 2. Student Guest House, Thamel, P.O. Box 5555, Kathmandu, Nepal. Email: chrisophilus@yahoo.co.uk 3. National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow-226 001, India. 4. Botany Dept., D.A.V. College, Kanpur-208 001, India. 5.

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Taiwania, 53(2): 170-209, 2008

A Summary of the Status of Threatened Pteridophytes of India

Chandra et al.: Threatened pteridophytes of India

CATEGORIES OF THREATENED PTERIDOPHYTES

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Chandra et al.: Threatened pteridophytes of India

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ESTABLISHING WHICH SPECIES ARE THREATENED

Chandra et al.: Threatened pteridophytes of India

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Chandra et al.: Threatened pteridophytes of India

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Chandra et al.: Threatened pteridophytes of India

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Chandra et al.: Threatened pteridophytes of India

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Chandra et al.: Threatened pteridophytes of India

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Chandra et al.: Threatened pteridophytes of India

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Chandra et al.: Threatened pteridophytes of India

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Chandra et al.: Threatened pteridophytes of India

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Chandra et al.: Threatened pteridophytes of India

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Chandra et al.: Threatened pteridophytes of India

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Chandra et al.: Threatened pteridophytes of India

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Chandra et al.: Threatened pteridophytes of India

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Chandra et al.: Threatened pteridophytes of India

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Chandra et al.: Threatened pteridophytes of India

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Chandra et al.: Threatened pteridophytes of India

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Chandra et al.: Threatened pteridophytes of India

Vol. 53, No. 2

Chandra et al.: Threatened pteridophytes of India

Vol. 53, No. 2

Chandra et al.: Threatened pteridophytes of India

Subhash Chandra(1,5), C. R. Fraser-Jenkins(2,5), Alka Kumari(3) and Archana Srivastava(4)

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