Spore morphology of Selected Pteridophytes Found in the Western Ghats of India

The currents study evaluated the morphology (apperture, size, perine structures and surface ornamentation) of treated spores of 45 selected fern species from the Western Ghats of India, using Scanning Electron Microspcopy (SEM). Twenty-six species of fern spores were trilete type, while 19 of them had monolete aperture types. The size of the spore were found to be highly variable (20X20µm to 60X60µm) with an average mean spore size of 44 µmX38µm. Further more the spores were found to have a highly diverse perine ornementaion with 11 different types of perine structures. Gammate and psilatetype of perine ornamentation,and Globose and ellipsoidal spore shape were found to be the most common within the studies fern spore samples.The variability found in the spore ultra structure and perispore ornamentation of the selected pteridophytes species reflects the morphological differences observed in the sporophyte. The spores could be an important source of characteristics with systematic value in fern taxonomy.The spore morphology of the examined pteridophytes studied common, endemicor otherwise will find a significant role in future taxonomic surveys, and other morphology, Palynology, discrimination, and identification studies of pteridophytesin the Western Ghats.