Studies on Lejeuneaceae Subfam. Ptychanthoideae, V. A Review of the Species from Ceylon

In the spring of 1966, the junior author (H. Inoue) made a bryophyte collecting trip to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) with the support of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. The collections have served as a basis for reviews of individual liverwort genera or families occurring in Ceylon, e.g. Frullania (Hattori, 1979) and Plagiochila (Inoue, 1979). The present paper deals with the species of Lejeuneaceae subfamily Ptychanthoideae, which comprises the more robust members of this large tropical family. In his catalogue of the liverworts of Ceylon, Abeywickrama (1959) recorded 18 species of Ptychanthoideae, belonging to the genera Archilejeunea (1 sp.), Brachiolejemea (1 sp.), Lopholejeunea (2 sp.), Mastigolejemea (2 sp.), Ptychanthus (4 spp.), Ptychocoleus (5 spp.), Spruceanthus (1 sp.), Thysananthus (1 sp.), and Trocholejeunea (1 sp.). Unfortunately, his catalogue does not provide precise information on specimens or literature on which individual species records for Ceylon were based. Most of the species listed by Abeywickrama had been treated by Verdoorn (1934) in his monograph of Asiatic Ptychanthoideae. Some are now considered synonyms, however, whereas in other cases some doubts may be cast about the correctness of the identification. Since we have not been able to locate all specimens on which previous Ceylon records of Ptychanthoideae were based, the present review should be considered preliminary.