SPECIATION, REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY, GERMPLASM EVALUATION AND CONSERVATION OF PTERIDOPHYTES: A CONSIDERATION OF PERSPECTIVES
S. C. VERMA *
Department of Botany, Panjab University, Chandigarh-160 014, India (5452/1, MHC, Manimajra, Chandigarh-160 101)
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Pteridophytes comprise an important component of the plant wealth of India. Many of its species have been listed as of potential economic value, and several species are rated as endangered. Besides, their peculiar life-cycle and unusually high ‘basic’ chromosome numbers in the homosporous kinds coupled with their antiquity stimulated a numbers of workers to explore features of their reproductive biology, modes of speciation and to answer problems of their conservation and evaluation of germplasm, apart from determining regional biodiversity. Such issues have been addressed to briefly with the aim to inspire the botanists of the future to take up research in some or the other aspects of pteridology.
Keywords: Speciation, Reproductive Biology, Germplasm Conservation, Pteridophytes, Homosporous Ferns.