PJB-2018-282
The Fern Flora of Malakand Division: A checklist and brief ecological and taxonomic analysis
Syed Nasar Shah
Abstract
Malakand division which have level of biological diversity is situated in the northern area of Pakistan of Khyber PakhtunKhwa and lies between 34°- 22" to 34°- 41" north latitudes and 71°-37" to 72°-14" east longitudes. The present study aims to document the ferns flora of Malakand with an insight to diversity, distribution, habitat, nomenclature, description and taxonomic keys based on morphology. Field surveys for ferns and lycophytes collection were carried out in Malakand from September 2015 to January 2017. Information in this paper is prominently obtained from field visits and various relevant literature related to work on ferns and lycophytes in Pakistan. A total of 55 species belonging to 22 genera and 11 families were documented within elevation of 600-4800 m. These comprises 10 families of ferns and one family of ferns allies. The highest number of species belongs to Dryopteridaceae (12 species) followed by Athyriaceae (10), Pteridaceae (10), Aspleniaceae (9) Thelypteridaceae (5) Cystopteridaceae, Equisetaceae and Dennstaedtiaceae 2 species each while the rest of 3 families Blechnaceae, Selaginellaceae, Marsileaceae represented by one species each. This paper reports the addition of 17 species of ferns to ferns flora of Malakand. Thirty eight species included are those which were recollected and their records in previous literature suggest that they should occur in Malakand. The study demonstrated that Malakand division contain remarkably a high number of fern diversity and contain a number of special taxa as compared to other areas of Pakistan, but most of the areas of the division are still unexplored and need comprehensive exploration. To study the ferns flora of this area would be a valuable addition of unexplored species in the cryptogrammic flora of Pakistan. In addition, this paper highlights the floristic significance of Pakistani ferns at global and local level, and this study will promote great research on ferns in this area.
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