Systematics and evolutionary biology of the fern genusHymenasplenium (Aspleniaceae)

In Aspleniaceae,Hymenasplenium is a well-defined group with dorsiventral creeping rhizomes. Members ofHymenasplenium are widely distributed in the tropic zones of the world and have great variation in morphology and ecolgy, making it a good model group for plant systematics and evolutionary biology. I have worked on this group using techniques such as comparative morphology, ecology, cytology (for examining chromosomes and reproductive modes), phytochemistry and molecular biology. I considered the evolution of various phenetic characters based on a molecular phylogenetic tree which I recently obtained from sequence comparisons ofrbcL. In this paper, I will summarize the results. Recipient of the Botanical Society Award for Young Scientists, 1993.