Research Projects

The genus Riccia L. is the most speciose and most primitive group of amphibious genus of liverworts. They usually grow in patches of rosettes or thick overlapping groups in open land, in lawns, or in pavings, very rarely as aquatic. They need water at the time of reproduction. It is a widespread genus in tropical and subtropical regions of the world, but the detailed studies pertaining to this group is very less especially on the molecular phylogeny. The discovery of several new species from India and particularly from Western Ghats is noteworthy and prove that the genus needs further study. The discovery of Riccia sahyadrica Manju & Cargill, from the Western Ghats of Kerala by Cargill et al. (2019) under the subgenus Viridisquamata which is having only one species earlier viz., Riccia caroliniana Na-Thalang, confined to Australia prove this. The complex nature of the thallus and similarity in morphological characters brought out several new species which are described as invalid during recently. Hence, a thorough investigation is needed to fix its identity and importance of this group in the forest ecosystem. A modern approach, with molecular techniques is thus essential to solve the ambiguity of this taxon in the Western Ghats. No such studies were attempted on this group in India, at large. As a first step, molecular characterisation of Riccia in the Western Ghats is proposed in this project. Molecular characterization and phylogenetic analysis is very less in this group world over, except by Wheeler (2000) and Cargill et al. (2016). The present project is envisaged to test the generic, infrageneric and species delimitations of the accepted species of Riccia in the Western Ghats.