The Pteridopyhtes of Kupwara, Jammu and Kasmir, India: An illustrated account. 2023. illus. XII, 451 p. gr8vo. Hardcover.

Seventy-two species of Pteridophytes are recorded from district Kupwara based mainly on the interest generated in ferns by SPK in Aadil Abdullah Khoja (AAK) who is based at Thandipora, Kupwara (Jammu & Kashmir) and has made many collections of pteridophytes in an ongoing programme from that area, which lies slightly north of the main Kashmir Valley. His various collections have been identified by SPK and CRFJ from photographs sent by him, as until then he had no knowledge of ferns. All collections have been deposited in KASH (Herbarium, University of Kashmir, Srinagar).

Many interesting findings of ferns, that were not known from Jammu & Kashmir, have been made from Kupwara. The most important was the discovery of Polystichum aculeatum. Other interesting finding from Kupwara are: Polystichum stimulans (not earlier known from Jammu & Kashmir), Pteridium brownseyi (not known east of Jammu & Kashmir), Deparia macdonellii, Diplazium khullarii (species is cantered on Jammu & Kashmir and is gradually replaced from Chamba (Himachal Pradesh) eastwards by the closely related D. Squanigerum), Dryopteris juxtaposita (very uncommon west of Himachal Pradesh), Dryopteris kashmiriana (a very rare species) and Lepisorus morrisonensis (an uncommon high altitude species).

A few European ferns are present in Kupwara and are not known eastwards, some of these are: Dryopteris filix-mas, Polystichum lonchitis, P. aculeatum, Cheilanthes pteridioides subsp. acrostica, Cystopteris fragilis nothosubsp. x montserratii etc.

Attempts have bee made to rectify some misidentifications of the ferns of Jammu & Kashmir (also present in Kupwara) in some publications.