A Checklist of Indian Mosses

Mosses constitute an important component of mountain forest ecosystem. Varied climatic conditions have bestowed India with rich moss flora, yet there is no published checklist for the country. In the recent years various countries like Japan, Indo China, Europe, China etc. have published their moss checklist but ‘India is probably the largest area of land in the world without a published checklist’ (O’Shea, J. Hattori Bot. Lab. No. 93: 293-304, 2003). Bruehl’s (1931) "Census of Indian Mosses" is difficult to match to current geographical boundaries and is almost out of date. Chopra (1975) covered a larger area including the non-Indian Himalayas and mentioned many species as "likely to occur". Gangulee (1969-80) covered only eastern region. To fill this lacunae an attempt has been made by the author to compile the moss checklist which is literature based. In moss flora of India ca 1693 moss taxa (including varieties, subspecies and forma) are represented which also includes 70 taxa which are confined to nearby eastern Nepal but included by Gangulee (1969-80). If strict geographical configurations are adhered to only 1623 taxa of mosses distributed under 342 genera and 57 families occur in India, of which 199 taxa are endemic.