Discussion and Conclusion
Despite achieving general uniformity in a variety of vegetative and
floral features, Psammogeton still exhibits a substantial degree
of variation in fruit morphology, which explains the significance that
fruit has in the opinion of umbellifer taxonomists. Although the fruit
type across all umbellifers is the same, there are differences in the
mericarp, fruit surface texture, and fruit appendages. Therefore, in
systematics, these traits play a significant role. Different scientists
including Drude (1898), Dhakre (1964), Holtum (1968), Arora (1976),
Heywood and Dakshni (1971), and Katz-Downie (1999), have developed
taxonomic delimitations using a variety of fruit traits. Among these
features, the anatomy and morphology shine out. Although anatomical
features and external morphology are more conservative, this does not
diminish the value of morphology research because surface characters are
easier to spot than deeply embedded internal traits. Keeping this in
view, the current authors have made an attempt to distinguish different
species in the genus Psammogeton in the north-west of India. The
results show that surface traits of fruit have enough potential for
genus and sometimes even species delimitation, taking into account the
potentiality of umbellifer taxa and their assessment of surface
architecture. Analyses of morphology show that Psammogeton
hirsuta should be considered a new species (North-West, India). In the
majority of the qualitative and quantitative traits shown in Table 1, it
is comparable to the normal species of P. canescens . The plant,
which favours subtropical climates, grows in arid, sandy areas close to
Jammu. The new species appears to be in the process of extending its
geographic range from Jammu and the surrounding areas westward. There
are several species of Psammogeton that are thought to call this
region of Jammu and Kashmir home.