1. Introduction Pteridophytes represent an important group of plants in the plant kingdom. Sri Lanka is popular among the Asian countries as an island having exceptionally high level of species diversity and endemicity of pteridophytes and this is largely due to the country being an island. A total of 348 pteridophyte species from 30 families have been recorded from Sri Lanka of which 50 are reported to be endemic to the country (Shaffer-Fehre, 2006). Studies on pteridophytic flora in Sri Lanka had commenced in the late 18 th and early 19 th centuries and have basically been focused on cataloguing of genera and species based on the taxonomic studies and the preparation of species inventories for selected ecosystems. Followed research work on pteridophytes continued from the mid-1950s to 1982 included cytological studies and monograph preparations (Manton & Sledge, 1954; Sledge, 1982). With the aim of utilization and in-situ and ex-situ conservation of ferns in Sri Lanka, many Sri Lankan scientists extended their research work to encompass the aspects of ecology, genetics and reproductive biology of some pteridophytes as well as their ethnobotanical uses, domestication and conservation measures (Ranil et al., 2010a, 2010b, 2011).
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