Pteridology in the New Millennium

The National Botanical Research Institute came into being as the 13th among a chain of National Laboratories established during April, 1953 under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research by the Govt. of India for advanced research in fields of specialisation which have a direct bearing on socio-economic, industrial and scientific advancement of the nation. Christened initially as National Botanic Gardens, the nucleus around which the institution took shape under its founder- Director Late Prof. K. N. Kaul, was a large herbarium of Indian flora and a centu- old botanical garden spread over 35 ha of land on the banks of River Gomti in the heart of Lucknow city. It s a matter of great pleasure and profound satisfaction to me that a Golden Jubilee volume entitled, Pteridology in the New Millennium is being published and released during the Golden Jubilee year of NBRI in the honour of Professor B. K. Nayar who laid the foundation of the Pteridology Laboratory of the NBRI, which is now a well equipped laboratory for the study of Indian pteridophytes. Professor Nayar is a holistic Botanist as evident through his contributions and publications in almost all the areas of study of Pteridophyta. The contribution of Professor Nayar towards the development of modern Pteridology and the role of NBRI in it is indeed great and very important. His publications will be valuable for the younger generation of scientists in the field as well as for the more mature research workers and teachers.

General Papers.- 1 Professor Bala Krishnan Nayar: A biographical sketch.- 2 The Pteridology Laboratory, N.B.R.I., Lucknow (India).- Systematics.- 3 Taxonomy and biogeography of Indian pteridophytes.- 4 Phylogenetics, biogeograpgy and classification of the woodwardioid ferns (Blechnaceae).- 5 Review of the family Woodsiaceae (Diels) Herter of Eurasia.- 6 An Introduction to the pteridophytes of Hainan Island, South China.- 7 Notes on new or interesting Asplenium species from Western Asia, including comments on Ching & Wu (1985), and Fraser-Jenkins (1992) Reliquiae Reichsteinianae 1.- 8 Diversity and distribution patterns of Aspleniaceae in Brazil.- 9 Two new species of Cyathea from North-Eastern India.- 10 Distributional study of the genus Cyrtomium C. Presl (Dryopteridaceae).- 11 Taxonomic studies on the family Sinopteridaceae and the genus Ctenitopsis (Tectariaceae) from Hainan Island, China.- 12 Valuable and noteworthy Chinese fern specimens preserved at the herbarium of Singapore Botanic Gardens (SING).- 13 Pteridophytic flora of Northern part of Bihar (India) adjacent to Indo-Nepal border.- Morphology, Anatomy and Cytology.- 14 Studies on the Chinese Selaginellaceae-V: Observations on the forliar epidermis of Selaginella Beauv. from Hainan Island in China.- 15 Morphological observations on the co-occurring geophytes Isoetes duriei Bory (Lycophyta, Isoetaceae) and Romulea columnae Sebast. et Mauri (Anthophyta, Iridaceae).- 16 Cytomorphological studies on some Indian population of Isoëtes coromandelina L. f..- 17 Studies on the morpho-taxonomy of Indian vittarioid ferns.- 18 Morphological and cytological variations of Japanese Dryopteris varia group (Dryopteridceae).- Ecology and Floristics.- 19 Environmentally related demography: field studies on Isoëtes lacustrisL. (Lycophyta, Isoëtaceae) in Europe.- 20 The vertical distributions of live and dead fern spores in the soil of a semi-natural woodland in Southeast Scotland and their implications for spore movement in the formation of soil spore banks.- 21 Species richness of pteridophytes in natural versus man-made lowland forest in Malaysia and Singapore.- 22 The taxonomy and ecology of the pteridophytes of Mt. Iraya and vicinity, Batan Island, Batanes Province, Northern Philippines.- 23 Some aspects of the fern flora (Filicopsida) of the Netherlands.- 24 Demographic studies of homosporous fern populations in South Siberia.- 25 Eco-morphological characteristics of Pyrrosia petiolosa (Christ et Baroni) Ching (Polypodiaceae) in the primorye territory, in far-Eastern Russia.- 26 Herbivory on three tropical fern species of a Mexican cloud forest.- 27 Animal interaction with pteridophytes with emphasis on Indian records.- Phytoremediation / Economic Utility.- 28 Tolerance of heavy metals in vascular plants: Arsenic hyperaccumulation by Chinese brake fern (Pteris vittata L.).- 29 Economically viable pteridophytes of India.- Reproductive Biology / Tissue Culture.- 30 Gametophyte morphology and breeding systems in ferns.- 31 Some aspects of reproductive biology of the gametophyte generation of homosporous ferns.- 32 Mating systems of Cyatheaceae native to Taiwan.- 33 Plantlet production of the Philippine Giant Staghorn Fern [Platycerium grande (Fee) C. Presl] through spore culture.- 34 Micropropagation and conservation of rare and endangered ferns of the Southern Western Ghats through in vitro culture.- Paleobotany.- 35 Heterosporous water ferns from the late Cretaceous to Neogene periods of India.