Revision of the Charophyte Flora of the Siwalik Group (Neogene-Quaternary) of the Lesser Himalaya, India

Abstract

On the basis of a re-examination of the topotype material of the Siwalikcharophytes described by Bhatia and Mathur (1978) and on additional materialcollected from six new localities, the taxonomy of the charophyte flora isbrought up to date. In all, 17 taxa are recorded and illustrated. At thespecific level, generic shifts have been made in the case ofChara rantzieni sivalensis,Chara contraria (non Braun et Kuetzing),Tectochara sahnii andSphaerochara pecki. The following taxa were hitherto notknown from the Siwalik Group:Chara globularis globularis Thuillier,C. globularis aspera (Deth. ex Wild.),C. sp. cf. hispida Linné,Lychnothamnus breviovatus Lu & Luo,Lamprothamnium papulosum (Wallr.) Groves,L. succinctum (A.Braun),Nitellopsis (Tectochara)bicarinata (MÄdler), N.(T.) helvetica (MÄdler) andSphaerochara prolifera (Zizermann ex A.Braun).