Splachnobryum (Splachnobryaceae A.K. Kop.) a New Generic Record to the Mosses of Sikkim Himalaya, India
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Splachnobryum (Splachnobryaceae A.K. Kop.) a New Generic Record to the Mosses of Sikkim Himalaya, India S. S. Dash1 • Subhajit Lahiri2 • Pamela Saha2 • Asok Ghosh3 • B. K. Sinha1
Received: 14 March 2018 / Revised: 3 August 2018 / Accepted: 9 January 2020 The National Academy of Sciences, India 2020
Abstract Splachnobryum obtusum (Brid.) C. Muell. (Splachnobryaceae A.K. Kop.) has been recently collected from Dzongri regions of west district of Sikkim at an altitude of 3732 msl. The collection of this species from such a higher elevation in Sikkim indicates its greater adaptability to survive in a varied range of habitats in Sikkim Himalaya and also an indication for possible climate change. The description of the species along with an illustration is provided in the present paper. Occurrence of the genus Splachnobryum has been recorded for the first time from Sikkim Himalaya and also from a subalpine region. Keywords Moss Eastern Himalaya New Generic record Sikkim Splachnobryum
& S. S. Dash [email protected] Subhajit Lahiri [email protected] Pamela Saha [email protected] Asok Ghosh [email protected] B. K. Sinha [email protected] 1
Botanical Survey of India, CGO Complex, Sector-1, Salt Lake City, Kolkata 700064, West Bengal, India
2
Central National Herbarium, Botanical Survey of India, Howrah 711103, West Bengal, India
3
Department of Botany, University of Burdwan, Burdwan 713104, West Bengal, India
Introduction The genus Splachnobryum Muller: 1896 (Splachnobryaceae), consisting of about 10 species [1, 2], is distributed worldwide in the northern tropical and subtropical regions, except a few species that are introduced in temperate glasshouses in South America and Europe. The plants are usually grown in moist and wet inorganic calcareous subtracts, and commonly at low altitudes, extending up to 1870 m [1]. It has greatly been considered that many species that were previously considered under this genus in family Splachnaceae were amalgamation of many taxonomic complexes which were subsequently transferred to many allied genera Bryum, Syrrhopodon, Distichophyllum, Archidium, and Gymnostomiellaor reduced to synonyms [1, 3]. The genus Splachnobryum is characterised by small unbranched dioicous gametophytes, erect slender stem, leaves largely deformed, crowded towards apex, median large laminal cells, with a variable shape, smaller towards the margin and large towards the costa; pair of axillary hairs near leaf insertion, rhizoids in the lower part of stem; terminal clustered antheridia solitary-necked archegonia, while the sporophyte is solitary, with a thin, smooth seta and erect, cylindrical theca. In the current circumscription, the genus is represented in India by three species: Splachnobryum aquaticum C. Muell. (known from Uttarakhand and Gujarat); Splachnobryum assamicum Dixon (known from Uttarakhand and Assam); and Splachnobryum obtusum (Brid.) C. Muell. known from Gangetic South Bengal, Orissa, Western Himalaya, and Western Ghats [1, 4]. During
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