Based on a study of peristomes of about 200 species of all subgenera and sections of the Fissidentaceae, 5 basic types of peristome are recognized: the bryoides-type, the scariosus-type, the zippelianus-type, the similiretis-type and the taxifolius-type. The scariosus-type is correlated with 28-40, but mostly circa 32 exothecial cells on the capsule periphery. The number of exothecial cells found with the other types is typically more than 40. The bryoides-type of peristome is characteristic of F. sect. Fissidens, F. subg. Sarawakia and the genus Nanobryum. It also appears that these taxa arc gametophytically more similar to each other than to any other taxon, except that F. subg. Sarawakia is intermediate between F. subg. Octodiceras and sect. Fissidens. The scariosus-type of peristome is characteristic of F. subg. Aneuron, and the F. subg. Fissidens sections Areofissidens, Aloma, Pycnothallia, Semilimbidium and Crenularia. Within this group Aneuron and Areofissidens are gametophytically very similar, and so are Pycnothallia, Semilimbidium and Crenularia. The zippelianus-type of peristome is characteristic of F. sect. Crispidium; the similiretis-type of peristome is characteristic of F. sect. Amblyothallia and the taxifolius-type of peristome is characteristic of F. sect Serridium. Several other peristome forms were also found; these, however, occur in one or just a very few species and are not characteristic of any supraspecific taxon.

  Detailed descriptions of ten species of Pyrenula exhibiting Pyrenula subducta type of spores from India are given; seven of these species, P. zeylanica, P. mastophorizans, P. minarum, P. impressa, P. interducta, P. immersa and P. defossa, are new to the Indian lichen flora.

  Five species of Peltula and two species of Heppia are reported from India. Of the seven species, Heppia lutosa, H. trichophora, Peltula euploca, P. obscurans, P. patellata, P. tortuosa and P. zahlbruckneri, only H. trichophora and P. euploca were previously known from Inida. No lichen compounds were detected in all taxa by TLC.

  Bryum bicolor Dicks. persists during the very hot, dry and prolonged summer of Kuwait by subterranean rhizoidal tubers, stem tubers, protonemata and epiterranean main stems and stem apices, showing both “avoidance” and “tolerance” survival strategies. Funaria hygrometrica Hedw., under the same conditions, shows only “avoidance” strategy by forming subterranean corm-like or bulbiform stem bases and bulbils.

  Thamnobryum negrosense (Bartr.) Iwats. & Tan, a species originally described as Thamnium negrosense Bartr. from the Philippines, is re-described and illustrated. It shows closer affinities to Th. ellipticum (Bosch. & Lac.) Schu.-Mot. than to any other species of Thamnobryum in, among other things, the strongly complanate foliage, the lack of leaf dimorphism, crenulate to minutely serrulate leaf margins at the apex, and multistratose leaf margins. Partially bistratose limbidia are described and illustrated for the first time in Th. ellipticum. Th. negrosense and Th. ellipticum are placed in the new subgenus Parathamnium (Fleisch.) Ochyra stat. & comb. nov. within Thamnobryum, for which Th. ellipticum is chosen as the lectotype.

  After a taxonomic revision of the family Ditrichaceae of Japan, Korea and Taiwan, there remain 8 genera and 20 species, including one new species (Ditrichum sekii). Cladistic relationships among the genera of the Ditrichaceae were explored. Some taxa were reduced to the synonymy of the species indicated in brackets: Ditrichum subtortile Card. [= D. heteromallum (Hedw.) Britt.], D. divaricatum Mitt. var. exaltatum Card. [= D. divaricatum Mitt.], and Pleuridium colei (Robins.) Deguchi et Matsui [= Pseudephemerum nitidum (Hedw.) Hag.]. Detailed descriptions, taxonomic notes, illustrations and distribution maps of each species as well as keys to the genera and species are provided.

  Two species of Anthocerotae and 235 species of Hepaticae collected on two expeditions to Bhutan in 1979 and 1982 by D. G. Long are enumerated. The collection includes six species new to science which have been described elsewhere: Cololejeunea bhutanica, C. longiana, Bazzania bhutanica, Cephaloziella longii, Plagiochila monalata and P. parvivittata. Some 152 species are recorded from Bhutan for the first time, and in addition to the six new species, 37 are newly recorded for the Himalaya as a whole: Phaeoceros carolinianus, Temnoma setigerum, Bazzania assamica, B. revoluta, Cephalozia connivens, C. pleniceps, C. siamensis, Cephaloziella capillaris, C. crispata, C. herzogiana, C. kiaeri, Lophozia chichibuensis, L. diversiloba, Scaphophyllum speciosum, Marsupella boeckii, M. stoloniformis, Diplophyllum nanum, Lophocolea muricata, Plagiochila exigua, P. kitagawae, P. sawadae, P. trabeculata, P. uniformis, Plagiochilion fimbriatum, Schistochila macrodonta, Radula caduca, R. ceylanica, R. chinensis, Porella nitens, P. oblongifolia, P. subobtusa, Aphanolejeunea truncatifolia, Cheilolejeunea khasiana, Cololejeunea hasskarliana, C. madothecoides, C. obliqua and C. ocellata. Many of these represent significant extensions of known range, for example the discovery of Scaphophyllum, a genus previously considered endemic to Taiwan, is particularly noteworthy, as is the new discovery of the genera Aphanolejeunea, Schistochila and Temnoma in the Himalaya. The 44 additional species recorded previously from Bhutan are listed, bringing the total Anthocerotae and Hepaticae recorded to 281. Some ecological observations on the hepatic flora of the major vegetation zones of Bhutan are made together with an assessment of the major phytogeographic elements represented.

  Catalytic properties of glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) and glutamine synthetase (GS) activity were determined in extracts from Sphagnum imbricatum cells grown in medium with 40 mM ammonium as the sole nitrogen source. The properties of GS from the moss cells were quite similar to those from other plant sources, while the properties of GDH were different from other bryophytes in their optimal pHs and pyridine nucleotide specificity: Optimal pH of NADPH-GDH was 8.5 and that of NADH-GDH was 7.6, and activity in NADPH-GDH was higher than in NADH-GDH. Throughout the culture period the activity level of NADPH-GDH was comparable to that of GS synthetase reaction. In redifferentiated plants grown in medium with 8 mM nitrate as the sole nitrogen source GDH activity was greatly suppressed and GS activity was increased compared to the respective levels in callus cells; the ratio of NADH-GDH to GS synthetase activity was 0.07. The same value was observed in axenic plants of S. compactum, S. fimbriatum and S. squarrosum grown on the same solid medium and S. palustre grown in an experimental garden. When both redifferentiated plants and axenic plants were incubated on a solid medium with ammonium as a sole nitrogen source, a high level of GDH activity was induced while GS activity was repressed.