Question

Who amongst the following is regarded as the “Father of Indian Bryology”?
(a) Prof. K.C. Mehta
(b) Prof. D.D. Pant
(c) Prof. S.R. Kashyap
(d) Prof. P.N. Mehra

Answer 1

Hint: He was the first secretary of the 'Indian Botanical Society'. He was the president of the 'Indian Science Congress' in 1932. Although he did some work on Pteridophyta, he is known mainly for the work on Bryophyta.

Complete answer:
Prof. S.R. Kashyap was born in 1882 in the Jhelum District of Punjab (now in Pakistan). He studied at the Punjab University and received a medical diploma from Agra in 1904. In 1909, he obtained his M.Sc. in botany. Obtaining the Arnold and Maclagan Gold medals, he went to Cambridge University in the year 1910. He then joined the government college at Lahore as a professor of biology and founded the botany department there, in 1919. He died on 26 November 1934.

Additional Information:
 -F. Cavers are regarded as the Founder of Bryology.
-Bryophyta is a group of the simplest land plants and is considered to have evolved from green algae. Bryophytes occupy an intermediate position between Algae and Pteridophytes.
-Bryophytes include the various mosses and liverworts that are found commonly growing in the moist shaded areas in the hills.
-Bryophytes are also known amphibians of the plant kingdom because these plants can live in the soil but are dependent on water for Bryophytes are Also Called Amphibianssexual reproduction.
-Bryophytes play an important role in plant succession on bare rocks/soil.
So, the correct answer is, ‘Prof. S.R. Kashyap.’

Note: Two of his famous books are- 'Liverworts of Western Himalayas and Punjab Plains' Part I (1929), (S.R. Kashyap) and Part II (1932) (Kashyap and Chopra). He has also discovered some new genera and many new species of Bryophytes. His theory of 'Retrogressive Evolution in the Liverworts' (Marchantiales) is well accepted by bryologists of the world.