Introduction
Psammogeton Edgew. (Apiaceae), a small genus particularly confined to Asia, has a native range from Iran and Iraq to Central Asia and India. The species have not yet been determined to be monophyletic (Mousavi et al. 2022). Psammogeton Edgew. comprises of fourteen species distributed in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, India, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Moluccas, Nepal, New Guinea, Pakistan, Phillipines, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and other parts of Central Asia (Hassler 2004–2022, POWO 2023). Psammogeton anethifolia , P. biternatum , P. canescens , P. diffusus , P. involucratum , and P. shivalikense are the species that comprise the genus in India (Bhellum and Magotra 2023a,b). In Jammu and Kashmir, Psammogeton anethifolia , P. biternatum , P. canescens, and P. shivalikense one of the authors (BLB) gathered some fascinating specimens from the lowlands of the Jammu region, the new species’ sole home range, (Fig.1), between 2018 and 2022.
Perusal of floristic literature Boissier (1872), Clarke (1879), Hiroe and Constance (1958), Kitamura (1960), Nasir (1972), Babu (1977), Ahmed and Koul (1980), Sharma and Kachroo (1981, 1983), Mukherjee (1983), Mukherjee and Constance (1986), Hedge et al. (1987), Rechinger (1987), Mohanan and Pimenov 2007, Ghazanfar and Edonson (2014), Pimenov (2017), Ajani and Mozaffarian (2019), Pimenov et al. (2019), and Kljuykov (2019), reveal that the species has not yet been named. The accuracy of the species and description has been verified by consulting floristic literature ( Nasir 1972, Mukherjee 1983, Hedge et al. 1987, Rechinger 1987, Hamal and Koul 1989, Mukherjee and Constance 1993, Khatoon and Ali 1993, Pimenov and Leonov 1993, Downie et al. 2000, Assadi et al. 2008, Pimenov et al. 2019, Kljuykov 2019, Gosavi et al. 2020, 2022). Additional corroboration was obtained from herbarium specimens kept in several domestic and international herbaria. It was established by comparing these specimens and consulting pertinent literature that the species had gone unreported, possibly as a result of its modest size and patchy distribution in the sandy beds. Therefore, considering the unique attributes and comparative morphological analyses, we identified and exhibited the new species under the proposed appellationPsammogeton hirsuta (Fig. 1). Additionally, other information about phenology and ecology, floral components, and fruit morphology is also discussed. The Himalaya, the sub-Himalayan region, and the lowlands of the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir are home to the speciesPsammogeton . Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal are the other states that include Psammogeton species. The species of Psammogeton exhibit similarities with the genusAphanopleura , which is differentiated from closely related genera of this group (Downie et al. 2010).