Flora of Pathanamthitta (Western Ghats, Kerala, India)

Book excerpt: The Pathanamthitta District consists of three natural divisions viz, the lowlands, midlands and highlands. The topography of the district is highly undulating with hills and valleys. The vegetation is divided into 3 categories such as lowland vegetation, midland vegetation and upland vegetation. The Flora presents a systematic account of a total of 1249 species belonging to 658 general of 148 families of seed plants. The species index is registered as 460/1000 sq km which is comparatively very high and indicates the richness of the floristic diversity of the district. Seven new species and two new varieties have been discovered from the district. An analysis of the flora showed that 260 species are endemic which formed 22% of the total species. About 200 species are rare and 175 are severely threatened; most of which are local endemics. A total of 90 wild relatives of cultivated crop plants have been collected. Each species is provided with detailed up-to-date nomenclatural citations including synonyms if any, descriptions, phenology, distribution and notes on ecology, nomenclature, uses etc, if any. Illustrations of good quality of 59 species are also provided. The comprehensive floristic account will be of immense use to the botanists, agriculturists, foresters, pharmacists, phyotochemists, nature conservationists, ethnobotanists and to all the scientists working in other allied disciplines. Contents Chapter 1: Introduction; Chapter 2: Area of Study; Chapter 3: Vegetation; Chapter 4: Review of Earlier Work; Chapter 5: Present Work; Chapter 6: Floristic Analysis; Chapter 7: Threats of the Flora; Chapter 8: Proposed Area for Conservation; Chapter 9: Systematic Treatment.