List of pteridophytes of Sri Lanka

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Sri Lanka is a tropical island situated close to the southern tip of India. The invertebrate fauna is as large as it is common to other regions of the world. There are about 2 million species of arthropods found in the world, and more are still being discovered to this day. This makes it very complicated and difficult to summarize the exact number of species found within a certain region.

This is a list of the pteridophytes found from Sri Lanka.

Pteridophytes are vascular plants which reproduce by spores. These free sporing vascular plants show a remarkable life cycle with independent gametophyte and sporophyte generations. Pteridophytes are composed of ferns and lycophytes. Ferns consist of stems, leaves and roots. The stem is usually referred to as rhizome, which is sometimes underground in nature. Most species show stolons and few are with semi-woody trunks. Leaves are referred to as a frond. New leaves typically expand by the unrolling of a tight spiral, the phenomenon known as circinate vernation.^[1] There are about 10,560 known species of ferns in the world.^[2]

Lycopods are belong to the division Lycopodiophyta, and some are homosporous while others are heterosporous. They differ from ferns due to presence of microphylls, which are the leaves that have only a single vascular trace. There are two extant classes of lycopods, which contains a total of 12 genera and 1290 known species.

The earliest notes on pteridophyte diversity of Sri Lanka dated back to 1887 with Baker's Handbook to the Fern Allies and then in 1892 with Beddome's Handbook to the Ferns of British India, Ceylon, and the Malay Peninsula. In 1947, Copeland adopted a taxonomical system to describe modern taxa of pteridophytes of Sri Lanka. Based on these publications, Prof. R.N. de Fonseka and Mr. M.A.B Jansen prepared the checklist of the pteidophytes of Sri Lanka in 1978.^[3] Since then, many experiments and research were carried out about particular families which are important to economy.^{[4][5][6][7][8]}

The following article is based on the checklist by Fonseka and Jansen in 1978.^[9]

• Equisetum debile

• Angiopteris evecta
• Marattia fraxinea

• Botrychium daucifolium
• Botrychium lanuginosum
• Helminthostachys zeylanica
• Ophioglossum gramineum
• Ophioglossum pedunculosum
• Ophioglossum pendulum
• Ophioglossum petiolatum
• Ophioglossum reticulatum

• Cyathea crinita
• Cyathea gigantea
• Cyathea hookeri
• Cyathea sinuata
• Cyathea srilankensis
• Cyathea walkerae

• Dicranopteris linearis

• Osmunda javanica

• Blechnum occidentale
• Blechnum orientale
• Blechnum patersonii
• Doodia dives
• Stenochlaena aculeata
• Stenochlaena palustris

• Cystopteris fragilis
• Cystopteris tenuiseta

• Araiostegia hymenophylloides
• Araiostegia pulchra
• Davallia denticulata
• Davallia trichomanoides
• Humata repens
• Humata vestita

• Dennstaedtia scabra
• Histiopteris incisa
• Hypolepis punctata
• Microlepia firma
• Microlepia majuscula
• Microlepia platyphylla
• Microlepia speluncae
• Microlepia strigosa
• Microlepia trapeziformis
• Pteridium aquilinum

• Diplaziopsis javanica

• Hypodematium crenatum

• Lindsaea caudata
• Lindsaea cultrata
• Lindsaea decomposita
• Lindsaea ensifolia
• Lindsaea heterophylla
• Lindsaea macraeana
• Lindsaea lancea
• Lindsaea orbiculata
• Lindsaea tenera
• Lindsaea walkerae - syn. Isoloma walkerae
• Sphenomeris chusana

• Nephrolepis biserrata
• Nephrolepis cordifolia
• Nephrolepis exaltata
• Nephrolepis falcata
• Nephrolepis hirsutula

• Oleandra musifolia

• Arthropteris obliterata
• Pteridrys syrmatica
• Pteridrys zeylanica
• Tectaria coadunata
• Tectaria decurrens
• Tectaria devexa
• Tectaria paradoxa
• Tectaria polymorpha
• Tectaria subtriphylla
• Tectaria thwaitesii
• Tectaria trimenii
• Tectaria zeilanica

• Marsilea minuta
• Marsilea quadrifolia

• Azolla pinnata
• Salvinia molesta

• Lygodium circinnatum
• Lygodium flexuosum
• Lygodium japonicum
• Lygodium microphyllum

• Schizaea dichotoma
• Schizaea digitata

• Psilotum nudum

• Selaginella brachystachya
• Selaginella calostachya
• Selaginella ciliaris
• Selaginella cochleata
• Selaginella crassipes
• Selaginella intermedia
• Selaginella involvens
• Selaginella ornithopodioides
• Selaginella praetermissa
• Selaginella tenera
• Selaginella wightii

• Isoetes coromandeliana

• Lycopodium carolinianum
• Lycopodium cernuum
• Lycopodium ceylanicum
• Lycopodium clavatum
• Lycopodium complnataum
• Lycopodium hamiltonii
• Lycopodium phlegmaria
• Lycopodium pulcherrimum
• Lycopodium squarrosum
• Lycopodium serratum
• Lycopodium wightianum