Taxonomic Revision of Three Hundred Indian Subcontinental Pteridophytes With a Revised Census-List : A New Picture of Fern-Taxonomy and Nomenclature in the Indian Subcontinent
Contents: Foreword. Acknowledgements. Introduction. 1. List of new taxa and combinations. 2. Taxonomic treatments. 3. Lycopodiaceae. 4. Selaginellaceae. 5. Ophioglossaceae. 6. Marattiaceae. 7.Osmundaceae. 8. Plagiogyriaceae. 9. Schizaeaceae. 10. Gleicheniaceae. 11. Polypodiaceae. 12. Grammitidaceae. 13. Hymenophyllaceae. 14. Cyatheaceae. 15. Dennstaedtiaceae. 16. Pteridaceae. 17. Adiantaceae. 18. Lindsaeaceae.19. Vittariaceae. 20. Aspleniaceae. 21. Thelypteridaceae. 22. Woodsiaceae. 23. Dryopteridaceae. 24. Olendraceae. 25. Lomariopsidaceae. 26. Davalliaceae. 27. Blechnaceae. 28. Azollaceae. 29. Alien, adventive and cultivated species. References. Additional notes. List of photographs. Coloured photographs. Appendcies. Index.
"This specialist book runs through the modern families of fern-allies and ferns of the Indian subcontinent, revising critical complex groups and correcting the nomenclature, taxonomy and erroneous records. Much of the work done abroad has not become known to Botanists in this region and is drawn on here, utilising the expertise built up over many decades by the author. Some 159 new taxa or new names are published in 230 numbered notes explaining modern changes to our understanding of the Pteridophytes of S. Asia and many of the new or critical taxa are illustrated by over 200 photographs taken by the author, along with rare photographs of the famous past pteridologists concerned with India. Adventive species are also listed in one of the notes.
It is intended that this work will pave the way for an accurate Pteridophyte-list of India for the first time and set the taxonomic scene for groups identified as requiring future cytological and molecular study, as well as helping to make regional botanists aware of the fascinating complexity of the newer understanding of S. Asian Pteridophytes. It is also hoped that the too carefree description of many new species without ascertaining on an extra-Indian scale that they are genuinely new, can be more widely understood to be the wrong approach, when the large numbers of mistaken new species and their real identity can be seen.
A Skeleton Revised Census-list of Indian Ferns has been prepared, which is considerably different from what has gone before and is intended as a base-line for new investigative research. A list of the author\'s publications is appended for reference and comprehensive. Reference-list and index are also provided." (jacket)
