Filmy Ferns of South India

[pvmadhu]

Dear TAXACOM members
Greetings from Calicut University
I am happy to announce the release of our new book “Filmy Ferns of South
India”.
The filmy ferns are a unique group of plants among pteridophytes
characterised by the one cell thick, delicate lamina lacking stomata and the
sporangia being aggregated on cylindrical receptacles enclosed in
characteristically shaped indusia. This group of plants gained much
attention and acceptance in the Western world as precious garden
curiosities. However, in the East these plants never gained such popularity.
Filmy ferns are the least attended group among pteridophytes of this area,
may be due to the less economic and horticultural potentials.
What we are presenting in this book is an effort to learn more about this
unique group of plants, which had been neglected for a long time. In South
India, owing to their delicate plant body these plants are confined to the
deeply shaded pristine evergreen forests, usually in the spray zones of
waterfalls, on rocks and boulders of streamlets or attached to the bark and
buttresses of shrubs and trees near the perennial water sources. This book
is the result of extensive field studies done by the authors in the dense
and deep evergreen forests of the Western Ghats of South India, one among
the global biodiversity hotspots. Well-illustrated (61 photos and 28
figures) detailed accounts of 28 South Indian filmy ferns are provided in
this book with updated nomenclature including 6 new combinations and
ecological notes.
Have look at http://pvmadhu.tripod.com <http://pvmadhu.tripod.com/>
With best wishes
Yours sincerely,

Dr. PV Madhusoodanan
Professor of Botany
University of Calicut
Kerala-673 635, INDIA
Email: pvmadhu at sify.com <mailto:pvmadhu at sify.com>
Home page: http://pvmadhu.tripod.com <http://pvmadhu.tripod.com/>
For copies contact the Publisher:
M/s. Penta Book Publishers & Distributors
Darussalam Complex, Mavoor Rd.,
Calicut, Kerala-673 004, INDIA
e-mail: pentabooks at yahoo.com <mailto:pentabooks at yahoo.com>

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