In recent news, Chakrata town in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, became home to India’s first cryptogamic garden. This unique garden will feature around 50 species of lichens, ferns, and fungi, under the collective name of Cryptogamae. For a better understanding, the plant kingdom divides into two parts: Cryptogams and phanerogams. Cryptogams are seedless plants and plant-like organisms, while phanerogams are seed-bearing plants which furthermore divide into gymnosperms and angiosperms.
Why Chakrata Town for the Garden
The garden’s location at Deoban in Chakrata, set at a height of 9,000 ft., was strategically chosen due to its low pollution levels and moist conditions, perfect for the growth of these species. Additionally, Deoban is surrounded by the beautiful forests of Deodar and Oak, providing a natural habitat for these cryptogamic species.
What are Cryptogams?
A cryptogam is a plant that reproduces with spores. The term “Cryptogamae” means ‘hidden reproduction’, indicating the absence of any reproductive structure, seed, or flower. Therefore, they are commonly referred to as “flowerless” or “seedless plants” or ‘lower plants’. Requiring a moist environment for survival, cryptogams are found in both aquatic and terrestrial locations. The most well-known groups of cryptogams include algae, bryophytes, lichens, ferns, and fungi.
Classification of Cryptogams
Cryptogams can be further classified into three groups based on their structural and functional criteria. These groups include Thallophyta, Bryophyte, and Pteridophyta.
Thallophyta
Thallophyta forms a division of the plant kingdom that includes primitive forms of plant life with a simple plant body, devoid of roots, stems, or leaves. This category includes algae like Spirogyra, Sargassum, and others, predominantly found in both marine and freshwater habitats.
Bryophyta
Bryophytes represent a limited variety of non-vascular land plants, which include hornworts, liverworts, and mosses among others. They prefer moist habitats but can survive in dry environments too. As bryophytes thrive in both water and land environments, they earn the epithet of ‘amphibians of the plant kingdom’.
Pteridophyta
Pteridophytes are vascular plants that disperse spores and are the first plants to have xylem and phloem. Ferns, the largest living group of primitive vascular plants, belong to this class.
Other Types of Cryptogams: Lichens and Fungi
Lichens are unique life forms that result from a symbiotic partnership between a fungus and an algae. Fungi, on the other hand, form a kingdom of multicellular eukaryotic organisms that are heterotrophs.