Revealing a new species of Ophioglossum (Ophioglossaceae-Pteridophyta) from India with palynological and phylogenetic implications

ABSTRACT

In recent years, Indian Ophioglossum L. taxonomy and systematic are receiving increasing interest from pteridologists as India has very rich germplasm of the genus. We present hereunder a new species of the genus Ophioglossum (Ophioglossaceae) from the marshy areas of southern region of Gujarat state, India. Ophioglossum hitkishorei sp. nov. can be diagnosed from other congeners by a combination of its smaller size, globose to subglobose, non-stoloniferous rhizome, number of trophophylls up to six, the absence of persistent leaf bases at top of rhizome and by very unique structure of spores. Spores are typically characterized by possessing granules deposition as exine strings bound around spores on the distal face and granulate assemblage on the proximal face of triradiate spores observed under SEM and also clearly distinct under light microscopic observations. As far as known, beaded strings of exine ornamentation have never been observed in any species of Ophioglossum in the world flora. Molecular study, based on two chloroplast DNA sequences trnL-F and psbA-trnH, also strongly supports O. hitkishorei sp. nov. as a distinct new species.

KEYWORDS:

• Beaded strings of exine
• biodiversity
• ferns
• Gujarat
• spores
• taxonomy

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Professor Hit Kishore Goswami for their guidance and support. We are thankful to Forest Department of Gujarat that issued the necessary research permits. We are also thankful to Malvi Surti, Nirmal Patel, Harshil Patel, Kartik Patel, Viral Chaudhary and Vyomal Chaudhary for their support and encouragement. The authors are grateful to Dr. Germinal Rouhan for his suggestions & improvements, and to the editorial board and an anonymous reviewer.

Data accessibility

All the generated nucleotide sequences have been submitted in GenBank with accession numbers MK358464 and MK358465.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by a National Fellowship for Students of OBC, (NFO-2015-17-OBC-GUJ-29274) from University Grants Commission (UGC), New Delhi, India.

Notes on contributors

Mitesh Patel

Mitesh Patel, is currently pursuing a PhD in Bapalal Vaidya Botanical Research Centre, Department of Biosciences, Veer Narmad South Gujarat University, Surat, Gujarat, India, working on palynology, systematics and taxonomy of pteridophytes. Contribution: designed research, performed field work and wrote the paper.

Mandadi Narsimha Reddy

Mandadi Narsimha Reddy, specializes in medicinal plants, ethanobotany, plant ecology, algal physiology and has published over 35 research papers in international and national journals. He gained his BSc in botany in 1979 from Osmania University, an MSc in 1982 and a PhD in botany in 1987 from Veer Narmad South Gujarat University (VNSGU), Surat, Gujarat, India. Currently he is working as a professor at Bapalal Vaidya Botanical Research Centre, Department of Biosciences, VNSGU, Surat, Gujarat, India. Contribution: discussion of result and development of manuscript.