Floristic composition of Agrakhal-Kunjapuri area of District Tehri Garhwal, Uttarkhand, India

Abstract

The present area of investigation lies at the elevation from 1300 to 1800 m in the montane zone of Garhwal Himalaya and is covered with dense oak forest. It is situated at a distance of 10 km northwards from Narendra Nagar town of district Tehri Garhwal. For recording the flora of the study area, extensive field studies were conducted for three years (December 1993 to November 1996). The floristic exploration yielded 456 species of vascular plants belonging to 306 genera and 95 families. Among the plant forms the biggest group was of herbs (320 species) followed by shrubs with 84 species and trees with 37 species. The plant diversity of the study area consisted of 439 species of angiosperms (343 dicots and 96 monocots) belonging to 293 genera (218 of dicots and 75 monocots) and 84 families (71 of dicots and 13 of monocots). Pinus roxburghii and Cedrus deodara represented the gymnospermous group. Among Pteridophytes 14 species belong to ferns and one to fern-allies. The plant diversity of the area is quite rich with all habit forms of a Varity of vascular plants. The minimum diversity on south and south-west slopes may be attributed to drier condition. South-east slope had the highest diversity because it consisted of scattered woody vegetation which caused the development of more herbaceous species. The road side vegetation had maximum number of exotic species including the invaders.