Introduction
Psammogeton Edgew. is a small genus with 14 species that are
primarily found in Asia (Mousavi et al. 2022 ). There are currently only
six species known to exist in India (Bhellum and Magotra 2023) and four
of those are from Jammu and Kashmir. As part of the plant collections in
the flora of Jammu and Kashmir, several intriguing sample specimens were
collected during the plant exploration from the Jammu area of Jammu and
Kashmir between 2010 and 2018.
This taxa has never been documented from India, according to a review of
relevant taxonomic literature (Babu 1977, Ahmed and Koul 1980, Sharma
and Kachroo 1981, Swami and Gupta 1998, Dhar and Kachroo 1983). After
carefully examining the samples, it was eventually determined in the lab
that these were new records for the flora for India. According to a
review of the Indian floristic literature, the plant has not yet been
recorded to the Flora of India and is thus Psammogeton canescenssubsp. cabulica listed as a new taxa. The subspecies of the genus
are recognised by sparsely to densely pubescent herb, T-shaped hairs on
fruits, bracts ranging from four to seven and presence of trichomes;
bracteoles five to seven, margin ciliate; peripheral branches longer
than the central main axis. For ease of identification, a brief
description of the subspecies, blooming and fruiting dates,
distribution, photographs, photo plates, and a key to its closely
related subspecies are provided. The taxonomic accounts of the
subspecies under investigation. are also included.