Ferns and Fern-Allies of Nepal, Volume 1

About this book

This book presents a fully revised annotated checklist and critical account of 550 species and an additional 30 subspecies of pteridophytes, for a total of 580 taxa, occurring in Nepal. It is based on specimens seen and reidentified by the first author in the main herbarium holdings from Nepal, with smaller holdings in other herbaria he has visited, in addition to his own extensive collections and field study of pteridophytes carried out throughout Nepal over the last 35 years since 1988. It also includes the very large collections made by Nepalese botanists of the Department of Plant Resources since the late 1950s at the National Herbarium, Godawari, which have been completely revised and critically reidentified by the first author, as well as the large collections made by the pioneer pteridologist and ornithologist in Nepal, the late Dr R.L. Fleming Sr.

The present work provides a definitive account of the taxonomy of Nepalese ferns and fern-allies as we now know them, along with precise descriptive diagnoses for their identification and detailed District-listing of their ranges in Nepal including indication of their range in adjacent Himalayan countries, all based on specimens seen and confirmed and determined by the first author in many herbaria to be available for beginners and students. It is thus helps to bridge the former gap in our knowledge of Indo-Himalayan pteridophytes where Nepal is concerned, as well as providing an accurate specialist produced baseline, which the first author was invited to provide for the account of pteridophytes of the Flora of Nepal, and which would otherwise have been entirely lacking. Many new records have been made from the first author’s collections and identifications.

Volume 1 covers the Eusporangiate families Ophioglossaceae and Marattiaceae; and the Leptosporangiate families Osmundaceae, Plagiogyraceae, Lygodiaceae, Marsileaceae, Salviniaceae, Gleicheniaceae, Dipteridaceae, Hymenophyllaceae, Cyatheaceae, Dennstaedtiaceae, Lindsaeaceae, Pteridaceae, and Vittariaceae.

Contents

Foreword   iii
Foreword   v
Foreword   vii
Author’s Foreword   ix
Acknowledgements   xi
Introduction   1
Phytogeography of Nepalese pteridophytes   2
Pteridophyte collections from Nepal   5
Classification used   8
The present work   12
Format of the taxonomic list   14
List of Nepalese pteridophyte species   17

Taxonomic accounts   45
Fern-allies   45
Eusporangiates (Ophioglossaceae, Marattiaceae)   92
Leptosporangiates:
Osmundaceae   110
Plagiogyraceae   112
Lygodiaceae   114
Marsileaceae   119
Salviniaceae   120
Gleicheniaceae   125
Dipteridaceae   132
Hymenophyllaceae   132
Cyatheaceae   149
Dennstaedtiaceae   159
Lindsaeaceae   191
Pteridaceae   198
Vittariaceae   373

List of plates   391
Appendix: Athyrium setiferum   435
Index   439

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