Alappuzha, the coastal district is one of the unique districts in Kerala in the sense that it is the only one that does not have any mountain ranges of the Western Ghats. Though it is the smallest district without forests and is with little altitudinal variation and high population density, it is rich in floristic diversity. The major part of the district is occupied by wetlands, with rich diversity of aquatic or semi-aquatic plants. Many well protected sacred groves with several representatives of plants of the Western Ghats, the coastal belt with special coastal vegetation, backwaters with mangroves and semi-mangroves and a variety of other kinds of vegetation seen in the cultivated and wastelands contribute to the rich plant diversity of the district.
This book deals with 1111 species of flowering plants collected from Alappuzha district, belonging to 619 genera and 139 families. The species index is registered as 786/1000 sq.km, which is comparatively very high and indicates the richness of the floristic diversity of the district. An analysis of the flora showed that 64 species are endemic and about 145 species are rare. A total of 88 wild relatives of cultivated crop plants and 128 very important medicinal plants have also been collected from the district. Updated nomenclature, detailed description and distributional notes are provided for each species. The book includes 78 colour photographs and 71 line drawings of very interesting plants. |
