Hepaticology in India (In 2 Volumes)

In recent years great progress has been made in various fields of Hepaticae.  All useful information on Indian hepatics by various prominent authors lies scattered and in various journals/monographs.  There is no all-India or regional hepatic flora and interest in this important group of plants appears to be dwindling.  The want of adequate and compact information on these plants occurring in India, is keenly felt by the teachers and students alike for a considerable length of time.  It was felt that difficulties pertaining to availability of consolidated information on the subject has hindered adequate progress.  Considering all these factors a comprehensive endeavour of providing consolidated, descriptive and illustrative account of hepaticae of India has been made.  All efforts have been made towards accuracy, in updating and incorporating the latest information on the subject.  The book Hepaticology in India is the outcome of a decade of intensive and extensive collection and compilation of data on the work done in India and an attempt to provide a consolidated account of the liverworts (Hepaticopsida) and hornworts (Anthocerotopsida) occurring in India.  The outstanding features of the book is that, besides the pertinent taxonomic account and morphological features of various taxa, it includes significant discussion on distribution, alternation of generations, morphology of gametophytes, reproduction, sporophyte, spore and sporeling patterns, phylogeny, origin and evolutionary trends of bryophytes, historical account of Indian Hepaticae, fossil history and various systems of classification.  In all, about 980 species have been enumerated belonging to 157 genera, 57 families, 24 sub-families and 7 orders.  All genera are provided with names of authors, references and reference to the family and subfamilies.  The taxanomic arrangement of genera is alphabetical with their synonymy are disposed in orders, families and subfamilies, mainly following the recent systems of Schuster and Grolle.  Extensive citations are provided with each taxa and detailed bibliography is appended.  The purpose of this work is to prepare a taxonomic manual of Hepaticae of India.  This is the first ever book on India hepaticology in India.  This pioneering work will be an enormously useful guide and relevant to the needs of research institutes, university/college students, research scholars and teachers throughout the world, particularly in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.