India’s first cryptogamic garden opens in Dehradun.
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Around 50 species have been grown in the garden at Deoban in Chakrata at a commanding height of 9,000 ft.
It is housing nearly 50 species of lichens, ferns and fungi was inaugurated in Uttarakhand’s Dehradun district.
It is spread over three acres and its low pollution levels and moist conditions are conducive for the growth of these species.
Deoban has pristine majestic forests of Deodar and Oak which create a natural habitat for cryptogamic species.
Cryptogamae
It means “hidden reproduction” referring to the fact that no seed, no flowers are produced. Thus, cryptogams represent the non-seed bearing plants.
Algae, bryophytes (moss, liverworts), lichens, ferns and fungi are the best-known groups of cryptogams that require moist conditions to survive.
Algae comprises the most primitive organisms which are predominantly aquatic, both in marine as well as freshwater habitats.
Bryophytes are the simplest and primitive land plants that occupy an intermediate position between algae and pteridophytes.
Lichens are a complex lifeform that is a symbiotic partnership of two separate organisms, a fungus and an algae
Ferns are the largest living groupof primitive vascular plants while fungi is a kingdom of usually multicellular eukaryotic organisms that are heterotrophs.