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).