Diversity of Pteridophytes in the Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden, Howrah

Shweta Singh1* and Pushpa Kumari2**

*Post-Doctoral Fellow, UGC, Guru Gobind Singh IP University, USEM, New Delhi-110078

**Central National Herbarium, Botanical Survey of India, Indian Botanic Garden Howrah–711103

Abstract

The present communication provides the diversity and checklist of pteridophytes growing at different sites in the Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden Shibpur, Howrah. The annotated updated list consists of total 72 taxa (62 ferns and 10 fern allies), most of them are introduced species, out of which 6 are climbers, 14 epiphytes and 8 aquatic species. The fronds of Thelypteris prolifera (Retz.) C.F.Reed, Ceratopteris thalictroides (L.) Brongn., Diplazium esculentum (Retz.) Sw., Ophioglossum reticulatum L. and Marsilea minuta L. are consumed as vegetable and salad. Many medicinally important species like Adiantum capillus-veneris L., Angiopteris evecta (G. Forst.) Hoffm., Asplenium nidus L., Lygodium flexuosum (L.) Sw., Nephrolepis cordifolia (L.) C. Presl, Drynaria quercifolia (L.) Sm., Microsorum punctatum (L.) Copel. are introduced and luxuriantly growing in the garden. 7 species are reported under different categories of rare and threatened plants. All the taxa are treated with their current scientific name, family, common name, habitat, distribution and characteristic morphological features which may provide easy identification in herbarium as well as in the field.

Keywords: Indian Botanic Garden, Pteridophytic diversity, Howrah

References

Barbhuiya H.A. & S.K. Singh 2014 Pteridophytes of Thorangtlang Wildlife Sanctuary, Mizoram, India Journal of Threatened Taxa 6(9): 6249–626.

Bandyopadhyay S. & Mukherjee, S. K. 2014. A Contribution To The Fern Flora of Howrah District in West Bengal, India, International Journal of Pharmacological Screening Methods 4(1): 1-3.

Bhattacharyya, A. & Mukhopadhyay, R. 2004. Pteridophytic flora of district of Barddhaman, West Bengal, Geophytology 34: 9-14.

Chandra, S., Fraser-Jenkins C. R., Kumari A., Srivastava A. 2008. A Summary of the Status of Threatened Pteridophytes of India. Taiwania, 53(2): 170-209.

Chandra, S. 1999. The ferns of India (Enumeration, Synonyms and distribution), International Book Distributer, Dehradun, India.

Chowdhery H.J. & Pandey D.S. 2007. Plants of the Indian Botanic Garden. Published by Botanical survey of India.

Clarke, C. B. 1880. A Review of the Ferns of Northern India. Trans. Linn. Society Series 2: Botany, 1: London. (Reprinted in Delhi 1973).

Debnath, H.S., Mahapatra, H.S., Hameed, S.S. & Sreekumar, P.V. 2014. Census of Plants in AJC Bose Indian Botanic Garden: A Report. Botanical Survey of India, Kolkata.

Deb Santanu, Ripan Paul, Sen Tuhinsri & Sen, U. 2018. Biodiversity of Pteridophytes and their pattern of distribution in Hooghly district. Indian Fern J. 35: 255-300.

Dey, Manas & Jnan Bikash Bhandar Indian 2022. Diversity and Ethnomedicinal Pteridophytes of Jalpaiguri District, West Bengal, India. Indian Fern J. 39(1): 100-114.

Dixit, R.D. 1984. A Census of the Indian Pteridophytes. Botanical Survey of India, Howrah.

Fraser-Jenkins C. R., 2012. Rare and Threatened Pteridophytes of Asia 2. Endangered Species of India — the Higher IUCN Categories. Bull. Natl. Mus. Nat. Sci., Ser. B. 38(4): 153–181.

Fraser-Jenkins C. R., Gandhi K. N., Kholia B S & Benniamin A 2016 An Annonated Cheklist of Indian Pteridophytes Part 1 Lycopodiaceae to Thelypteridaceae Bishen Singh and Mahendra Pal Singh, Dehradun, India.

Fraser-Jenkins C. R., Gandhi K. N. & Kholia B. S. 2018 An Annonated Cheklist of Indian Pteridophytes Part 2 Woodsiaceae to Dryopteridaceae Pub Bishen Singh and Mahendr a Pal Singh, Dehradun, India.

Ghosh, Nag, K. & Prashad, R. 1979. A preliminary account of the pteridophytic flora of the Indian Botanic garden, Calcutta. An. Aula. Dei., 14 (3/4): 309-318.

Ghosh, P. K. & Mazumdar, J. 2018. A Checklist of Pteridophytes (Lycophytes and Ferns) of Hooghly District, West Bengal, India. Indian Fern J. 35: 199-202.

Jone, M.J.H., Ashrafuzzaman, M. and Pramanik, M.H.R. 2022. Pteridophytes (Ferns and Fern Allies) diversity in Bangladesh Agricultural University Botanical Garden. Journal of Bangladesh Agricultural University, 20(2): 122–132.

Krishnan, A. and Rekha K. 2021. Diversity of Pteridophytes in Western Ghats – a review. Plant Archives, 21(1): 1115-1129.

Mondal, S. & Shukla, S. 2016. Diversity of Pteridophytes in Birhbhum Districts, West Bengal. Indian Fern J. 33: 91-106.

Patil, Sachin & Dongare, Meena 2014. Nephrolepis undulata: a new distribution record of Western India. Bioscience Discovery, 5(1):82-84.

Prain, D. 1905. The vegetation of the districts Hughly, Howrah and 24 Parganas. Rec. Bot. Surv. India, 3:143-329.

Panda, S. 2015. A Study on Leaves and Fronds Consumed as Vegetables and Salads in West Bengal State, India. International Journal of Advances in Pharmacy, Biology and Chemistry Vol. 4(3), 685-97.

Sen, A. & Bhattacharya, M.K. 2007. Further contribution to the fern flora of Barak Valley, Assam, N.E.India. Indian Fern J., 24,156-160.

Sen, T., Sen, U., Chakraboraty, K., Rahman, S. & Paul R. 2011. Flora Survery of Ferns of Nadia District, West Bengal. Indian Fern J. 28: 85-104.

Shalimov, A.P., Wu Y-D, Zhang X-C 2019. A taxonomic revision of the genus Selaginella (Selaginellaceae) from Nepal. PhytoKeys 133: 1–76.

Srivastava, R.C. 2014. Notes on Green Diamonds of AJC Bose Indian Botanic Garden Howrah. Indian Journal of Plant Sciences Vol.3 (2):151-153.

Vasudeva, S.M. 1999, Economic importance of Pteridophytes. Indian Fern Journal 16: 130-152.