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Desikachary, 1959: 359.

Thallus mucilaginous, dull blue-green; trichomes short and uniform, without sheath,
mucilage thin; cells cylindrical, constricted at the cross-walls; heterocyst terminal, at one or

both ends; akinetes always next to the terminal heterocyst, larger than the vegetative cells.
The genus is represented by a single species.

1. C. musicola Kuetz. ex Born. et Flah. Var. longispora Dixit (Pl.- I, Fig. 1 and 2).
Desikachary, 1959: 366.

Thallus mucilaginous, blackish green, trichomes 3.3- 4.1 µm long; heterocysts

oblong, 5.4- 6.4 µm broad, 8.1- 9.5 µm long, spores 8.6- 9.4 µm
broad, 25- 28 µm long.

Distribution: Orissa (Rao, 1939; Das and Dash, 2005), Punjab (Singh, 1942), Tamilnadu

(Tiwari, 1972; Anand and Subramanian, 1994), Madhya Pradesh (Tiwari, 1972), Uttar
Pradesh (Pal, 1975), West Bengal (Sinha and Mukherjee, 1975), Assam (Deka and Bordoloi,

1991; Saikia and Bordoloi, 1994; Talukdar and Sarma, 1998; Ahmed, 2001; Hazarika et al.,
2001; Ahmed and Kalita, 2002), Andhra Pradesh (Suseela and Goyal, 1995 a, b, Rao et al.,

2008), Kerala (Anand and Hopper, 1995; Madhusoodanan and Dominic, 1995; Sankaran,
2001), Maharashtra (Shinde, 1995; Patil, 2000; Balakrishnan and Chaugule, 2002; Pingle and

Deshmukh, 2005; Deshmukh and Pingle, 2005 b, 2006; Auti and Pingle, 2006; Auti, 2007),

Jammu and Kashmir (Ara et al. 2002).
Nostoc Vaucher

Desikachary, 1959: 372.
Thallus mucilaginous, gelatinous, shape variable, solid or hollow, free or attached;

filaments curved or entangled, sheath sometimes distinct; trichomes torulose; cells spherical,
barrel-shaped or cylindrical; heterocyst intercalary; spores spherical, ellipsoidal or oblong

formed in between heterocysts.

The genus is represented by 12 species.
2. Nostoc punctiforme (Kuetz.) Hariot (Pl.- I, Fig. 3).

Desikachary, 1959: 374.

Thallus sub-globose, 2 mm diameter, attached; filaments flexuous, densely entangled;
sheath colourless, delicate; trichome 3- 3.5 µm broad, cells short, barrel-shaped, blue-green;

heterocysts 4.2 µm broad.
Distribution: Andhra Pradesh (Rao et al., 2008), Kerala (Madhusoodanan and Dominic,

1995; Anand and Hopper, 1995; Sankaran, 2001), Maharashtra (Shinde, 1995; Deshmukh
and Pingle, 2006; Auti and Pingle, 2006; Auti, 2007), Manipur (Devi et al, 1999), Assam

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