B. Papp szerk.: Studia Botanica Hungarica 32. 2001 (Budapest, 2001)

Langangen, A.; Leghari, S. M.: Some charophytes (Charales) from Pakistan

The charophyte flora of West and South Asia is little known, except for India, and partly for Saudi Arabia (KHOJA and HUSSAIN 1990, HUSSAIN et al. 1996). From Iran and Afghanistan there are only scattered information (BRAUN and NORDSTEDT 1882, VlLHELM 1928, CORILLION 1957). So far about 60 species have been reported from India. According to KHAN and SARMA (1979) the proportion Nitella/Chara decreases from East to West, from 2:1 in the Australian area to 1:1 in India. In Pakistan this proportion is further lowered. In Saudi Arabia only one undeterminable Nitella has been found (KHOJA and HUSSAIN 1990). The known charophyte flora of Pakistan is very similar to the nearby parts of India, except for the lower numbers of Nitella (ALLEN 1928, ANAND and LANGER 1988, 1991a, b, DIXIT 1931, 1942). In Gujarat province in India, the neighbouring province of Sindh, PATEL and JAWALE (1981) reported 18 taxa of Nitella. Six of the seven species of Chara found in Saudi Arabia (KHOJA and HUSSAIN 1990) are also found in Pakistan. According to phytogeographical distribution of the Pakistani charophytes (including Kashmir (MUKERJI 1934)) can be grouped in the following categories: - species only found in South Pakistan: Chara connivens, C. corallina, C. gymnophylla, Nitella confervacea, N. dictyosperma; - species only found in the eastern parts of Pakistan: Chara flaccida, C. globularis, C. wallichii, C. zeylanica, Lamprothamnium succinctum, Nitellopsis obtusa; - species only found in North Pakistan: Chara braunii; - species distributed all over the country: Chara canescens, C. contraria, C. setosa, C. vulgaris, Nitella hyalina. In Pakistan many water courses are influenced by human activities. Eutrophication is known to affect charophytes negatively (BLINDOW 1992). One should therefore take steps to protect the water quality of localities with species that are not common, i.e. Chara connivens, C. corallina, C. wallichii, Nitella confervacea, Nitella dictyosperma and Nitellopsis obtusa. Charophytes research in Pakistan has received little attention, but we hope that funds in the future can be provided for a full field investigation of these algae. * * * Acknowledgements - Thanks to Henry Mann (Newfoundland, Canada) for help with the English language. We are also grateful to late Dr Werner Krause (Germany) for the critical remarks and drawing of Figure 1.