&lt;b&gt;Angiosperm diversity of Sonbhadra District, Uttar Pradesh: a checklist&lt;/b&gt;

Arun Kumar Kushwaha,Lal Babu Chaudhary,Lalit Mohan Tewari

doi:10.11609/jott.3283.10.9.12247-12269

<b>Angiosperm diversity of Sonbhadra District, Uttar Pradesh: a checklist</b>

Arun Kumar Kushwaha, Lal Babu Chaudhary + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.3283.10.9.12247-12269

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Abstract

The present study provides a taxonomic account of the angiosperms of Sonbhadra District in Uttar Pradesh. The district, which comes under the Vindhyan region of Uttar Pradesh, is one of the richest areas in the state as far as plant diversity is concerned. It is spread over about 6788km² of geographical area, which constitutes about 36% forest cover on highly undulated land. The extensive survey of the area conducted during 2011-–2016, critical examination of previous collections housed at various herbaria, and review of published literature have resulted in a total of 705 species belonging to 459 genera under 110 families. Out of these, 541 species (76.73%) under 354 genera (77.12%) and 89 families (80.90%) belong to dicots, and 164 species (23.26%) under 105 genera (23.26%) and 21 families (19.09%) to monocots. The present enumeration of the species also includes about 78 species cultivated in the area for various purposes. Fabaceae (110 spp.) comprises of the maximum number of species, followed by Poaceae (89 spp.), Asteraceae (38 spp.), Cyperaceae (33 spp.), and Malvaceae (33 spp.). Some of the largest genera in the area are Cyperus (14 spp.), Ipomoea (9 spp.), Solanum (9 spp.), Ficus (9 spp.), Crotalaria (7 spp.), Desmodium (7 spp.), Bauhinia (6 spp.), Hibiscus (6 spp.), Fimbristylis (6 spp.), Acacia (5 spp. ), etc. The entire forest is chiefly dominated by trees such as Acacia catechu (L.f.) Willd., Boswellia serrata Roxb. ex Colebr., Butea monosperma (Lam.) Taub., Hardwickia binata Roxb., and Shorea robusta Gaertn.

Highlights

The floristic account provides lots of information of plant wealth of an area, which may be beneficial for university students, botanists, researchers, NGOs, naturalists, environmental engineers, forest managers, conservation biologists, and policy makers
The identification of species was done with the help of different floras and important taxonomic works (Hooker 1872–1897; Duthie 1903–1929; Brandis 1906; Singh 1997) and after matching with the authentic specimens housed at various Indian herbaria such as Botanical Survey of India, Allahabad (BSA), Botanical Survey of India, Dehra Dun (BSD), Botanical Survey of India, Kolkata (CAL), Forest Research Institute, Dehra Dun (DD), and National Botanical Research Institure, Lucknow (LWG)
Each species was furnished with the correct recent name following websites such as The International Plant Names Index (IPNI), Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), International Legume Database and Information Service (ILDIS), The Plantlist, Wikipedia, and Tropicos, along with habit, distribution and reference to voucher specimens

Summary

Introduction

The floristic account provides lots of information of plant wealth of an area, which may be beneficial for university students, botanists, researchers, NGOs, naturalists, environmental engineers, forest managers, conservation biologists, and policy makers. There is a need for proper inventory and documentation of all plants available in Sonbhadra District with their up to date taxonomic information. Kushwaha et al (2016 a, b) have thoroughly studied the family Cucurbitaceae of the area and have presented a preliminary overview of angiospermic plants.

Results

Conclusion