Language: English
Cololejeunea is one of the most delicate liverworts occurring all over the world in a variety of habitats, yet it is poorly understood probably due to the small size of the plants, the specialized habitats, and quite often due to lack of adequate material. The genus represents a heterogeneous assemblage of plants and has been variously defined by most of the workers, who recognized various taxa assigning generic and/or subgeneric ranks down to the level of sections. Our knowledge of Indian Cololejeuneas is mostly fragmentary and the plants have never been critically investigated. At the suggestion of the late Professor Ram Udar, an effort has been made to compile all information, sporadically given by different authors, in one place along with treatment of the many undescribed species of the country. The authors believe that the present work will certainly fill the gap in this field and provide a guideline for future work.
This account reviews past and present concepts of the genus, the systematic position of the genus and its family, and a detailed taxonomic account of the 30 Indian species in the light of modern taxonomic parameters, with a description of morphological diversity, geographical distribution, supplemented with plates, tables and maps. All the figures are drawn by one of the authors (GA).
Preface VII
Acknowledgements VIII
Summary 1
Introduction 3
Material and Methods 15
Genus Cololejeunea (Spruce) Schiffn 16
Taxonomic Parameters 17
Key to the Indian Subgenera of Cololejeunea 20
Subgenus Chlorolejeunea Benedix 21
Cololejeunea madothecoides (Steph.) Benedix 21
Subgenus Aphanolejeunea (Evans) Benedix 22
Key to the Indian Species of the Subgenus Aphanolejeunea 23
Cololejeunea truncatifolia (Horik.) Mizut 24
C. hyalina sp. Nov 25
C. karnatakensis sp. Nov 26
C. nilgiriensis sp. Nov 27
Subgenus Pedinolejeunea Benedix ex Mizut 29
Key to the Indian Species of the Subgenus Pedinolejeunea 30
Cololejeunea furcilobulata (Berrie & Jones) Schust 31
C. ceratilobula (Chen) Schust 32
C. sigmoidea Jovet-Ast & Tixier 33
C. cardiocarpa (Mont.) Evans 34
C. producta (Mitt.) Hatt 35
C. latilobula (Herzog) Tixier 36
C. kashyapii Udar & Srivastava 39
C. udarii sp. Nov 40
C. planissima (Mitt.) Abeyw 42
C. foliicola Srivastava & Srivastava 45
C. lanciloba Steph 46
Subgenus Leptocolea (Spruce) Schiffn 48
Key to the Indian Species of the Subgenus Leptocolea 49
Cololejeunea minutissima (Smith) Schiffn 49
C. longifolia (Mitt.) Benedix ex Mizut 52
C. ceylanica Onraedt 53
C. trichomanis (Gottsche) Steph 54
C. gottschei (Steph.) Mizut 56
C. siangensis sp. Nov 57
Subgenus Cololejeunea Spruce 59
Key to the Indian Species of the Subgenus Cololejeunea 59
Cololejeunea haskarliana (Lehm. & Lindenb.) Schiffn 60
C. spinosa (Horik.) Pandé & Misra 61
C. mizutaniana Udar & Srivastava 62
C. pseudoplagiophylla Wu & Lou 63
C. jelinekii Steph 64
Subgenus Taeniolejeunea (Zwickel) Benedix 65
Key to the Indian Species of the Subgenus Taeniolejeunea 66
Cololejeunea appressa (Evans) Benedix 66
C. floccosa (Lehm. & Lindenb.) Schiffn 68
C. pseudofloccosa (Horik.) Benedix 70
Excluded Species 71
C. acinacifolia (Steph.) Kitag 71
C. marginata (Lehm. & Lindenb.) Schiffn 71
C. occellata (Horik.) Benedix 72
C. raduliloba Steph 72
C. desciscens Steph 72
C. tenella Benedix 72
Distribution and Ecology 73
Map 84
Plates 85
Explanation of Figures 138
References 148
Index of Scientific Names 152