Vivipary, a rare and evolutionarily important phenomenon in a rare homosporous fern Grammitis medialis from the Western Ghats, South India

摘要

Most of the 470-million-year history of plants on land belongs to the bryophytes (non-vascular cryptogams), pteridophytes (vascular cryptogams) and gymnosperms (vascular seed plants with ovules not enclosed by any ovary wall), which eventually yielded to ecological dominance of angiosperms (vascular seed plants with ovules completely enclosed within a structure called ovary) about 90 million years ago. Pteridophytes form the dominant vegetation on the earth, second only to flowering plants. About 239 species of pteridophytes are in record from the Western Ghats, South India. Among these, 17 taxa are endemic to South India while 25 taxa are confined to South India and Sri Lanka.