CYTOLOGY OF THE RARE AND THREATENED SICKLE FERN PELLAEA FALCATA (PTERIDACEAE: PTERIDOPHYTA) FROM INDIA

摘要

There are five species of Pellaea in India, of which three are critically endangered. The cytology of only two are known; the cytology of P. falcata is known only from Australia as a diploid sexual taxon. Pellaea falcata has been collected from Meghamalai (Western Ghats, India), a new distributional area in India, and the present cytological study shows that it is tetraploid and sexual (n=58, 2n =116), with 64 normal spores per sporangium. This is the first chromosome count for P. falcata from Asia and is a new cytotype for this species.