343 



LIVERWORTS OF THE WESTERN HIMALAYAS AND THE 



PUNJAB, WITH NOTES ON KNOWN SPECIES AND 



DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW SPECIES. 



BY 



Shiv Ram Kashyap, M.Sc, B.A. (Cantab.), 



Professor of Botany, Government CoUer/e, Lahore. 



I. 



Marchantiales. 



The following notes are the results of the observations by the writer on 

 Liverworts collected by him during the years 1912-14 in various places 

 in the Western Himalayas from Mussoorie to Kashtwar. Some of the 

 species have already been fully described by the writer elsewhere. Only 

 the names of such species are given with the proper reference. 



Liverworts are very closely allied to mosses along with which they form 

 the class '^ Bryophyta.'" The plants, unlike the mosses, are not always 

 leafy but may be only thallose, and even when leaves are present they are 

 arranged in two or three characteristic rows. Just like the mosses the plant 

 bears sooner or later a fruit-body — the sporogonium, the most essential 

 part of which is the Capsule. The Capsule, however, is not so well differen- 

 tiated in Liverwoi-ts as in mosses. It has no columella (except in the 

 Anthocerotales), no peristome, and no distinct apophysis. It has, however, 

 spirally thickened, elongated cells — the elaters — mixed with spores, which, 

 are absent in the moss capsule. 



The only work on Indian Liverworts is Mitten's Kopatica Indue Orientalis 

 published some fifty years ago and in the light of later information, an 

 •enumeration of the species of this group is urgently needed. 



Note. — All the specimens were found by the writer in places indicated 

 unless otherwise stated. 



Marchantia p>almata,l^ees. Found at Mussoorie. It was found by the 

 late L. Bashambar Das, Assistant Professor of Biology, Government College, 

 Lahore, also near Sialkot. The plant also occurs in Lahore, but it never 

 produces any ripe fruits here. Specimens from Sialkot were also sterile. 

 Both male and female plants are found in Lahore. 



The plant has a definite mycorrhizal region in the central part of the 

 thallus, the cells there being filled with fungal hyphse densely. 



In a specimen from Lahore the stalk of the female receptacle was seen 

 to divide into two near its upper end, the undivided lower part being 

 5 mm. long, while each of the branches was 1 mm. long. Each branch had 

 a perfectly normal receptacle on the top. The main stalk showed four 

 Thizoid furrows in two pairs, while each of the branches had only one pair. 



Another specimen from Mussoorie showed that a lobe of the male receptacle 

 after forming antheridia for some time had begun to form ordinary vege- 

 tative tissue with even a gemmge-cup. The same specimen had an ordinarjr 

 vegetative shoot arising from the ventral surface of another lobe of the male 

 receptacle. These conditions were observed in one of a patch of [dants 

 which were growing in a very moist and shady place which was therefore 

 peculiarly favourable for vegetative growth. 



Marchantia nepalensis, L. et L. Found in Miissoorie, near Dalhousie and 

 at Lahore. In the first two places fertile plants were met with bearing ripe 

 fruits, but in Lahore, ripe fruits are never borne, though male and female 

 plants are common in March. In this species also the thallus has a definite 

 mycorrhizal region in the midrib. 



Marchantia poly morpha, L. Found in Pangie. 



Dumortiera hirsuta, (Sw.) R. Bl. Nees. Found at Mussoorie, Chamba- 



