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

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

Studia bot. hung. 32, pp. 63-85, 2001 SOME CHAROPHYTES (CHARALES) FROM PAKISTAN A. LANGANGEN

1 and S. M. LEGHARI

2 'Hallagerbakken 82b, 1256 Oslo, Norway; E-mail: langangen®hotmail.com 2

Department of Freshwater Biology and Fisheries, University of Sindh Jamshoro (Sindh), Pakistan The present work gives a review of some charophytes collected in Pakistan in the period 1996-99. A total of 17 species are reported. This article presents a short description of each species found, observed variation and biology, some ecological information, and the known distribution of these species in Pakistan. Species new to Pakistan are: Chara connivens, C. gymnophylla, C.flaccida, Nitella confervacea, N. dictyosperma, and Nitellopsis obtusa. Key words: charophytes, freshwater algae, Chara, Lamprothamnium, Nitella, Nitellopsis, Pakistan INTRODUCTION The charophyte flora of Pakistan has only been investigated to a limited extent. GROVES (1923) reported 5 species from the area which is Pakistan today. One of these species, Chara infirma A. Braun was not accepted by FARIDI (1955). FARIDI (1955) added nine more species and later he (FARIDI 1956) described a new species, Nitella pakistanica Faridi from the area. PAL et al. (1962) reported three more species from Pakistan (West Pakistan). The species reported by the above three authors include: Chara braunii Gmelin, C. canescens Desv. et Lois, in Lois., C. contraria A. Braun ex Kützing, C. corallina Klein ex Willd., C. globularis Thuill., C. setosa Klein ex Willd. (= C. brachypus A. Braun), C. vulgaris L., C. virgata Kützing (-C. delicatula Agardh), C. wallichii A. Braun, C. zeylanica Klein ex Willd., Lamprothamnium succinctum (A. Braun) R. D. Wood, Nitella hyalina (DC.) Agardh, N. mucronata (A. Braun) Miquel, N. oligospira A. Braun, N. pakistanica Faridi, Tolypella proliféra (Ziz ex A. Braun) Leonh. and T. glomerata (Desv. in Lois.) Leonh. Two later works on charophytes from Pakistan, S ARIM (1991), and AlSHA and SHAMEEL (1995) are not accepted here. S ARIM (1991) reported Tolypella intricata Leonh. from Lahore, Nitella batrachosperma A. Braun from Mardan, Chara nuda Pal from Peshawar, C. gymnopytis A. Braun from Hyderabad, C. elegáns Robinson from Chitral, C. excelsa T. F. Allen from Quetta, C. schweinitzii A. Braun from Peshawar and C. sejunta A. Braun from Mardan. However, since the descriptions and illustrations accompanying these reports are mere copies of descriptions and illustrations in PRESCOTT (1951) or in PAL et al. (1962) we cannot have any confidence that these taxa actually occur in Pakistan and we prefer not to Studia Botanica Hungarica 32, 2001 Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest