Status of some species of rattans in the forests of the Western Ghats of Karnataka, India

Abstract

The rattans of Peninsular India belong to only one genus namely Calamus and of the 21 species reported here, 20 are from the western Ghats Forests. Of these, the status of Calamus delessertianus and Calamus rheedei is uncertain and of the remaining 18 species 15 are endemic to the Western Ghats. Among the five states falling within the jurisdiction of the Western Ghats, Karnataka has the maximum number of Calamus species (13), of which 11 are endemic to the Western Ghats. Of these, three species namely, Calamus lacciferus, Calamus lakshmanae andCalamus prasinus are restricted only to Karnataka Region of the Western Ghats. Of the 13 species of Calamus occurring in Karnataka, 12 are found in Kodagu District. Studies undertaken to determine the status of rattans in some cane rich forests of Kodagu, Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada Districts of Karnataka by belt transect method have revealed that Sampaje, Karike and Makut in Kodagu District, Subramanya and Charmadi in Dakshina Kannada District and Anantavadi (Honnavar) in Uttara Kannada District are rich in some species of rattans including those endemic to the Western Ghats. The population of C. lakshmanae (restricted only to Karnataka) is high in Sampaje Forest, C. prasinus (restricted only to Karnataka) is high in Karike Forest and Calamus stoloniferus (restricted to Karnataka and Maharashtra) is very high in Makut Forest of Kodagu District. In Dakshina Kannada District, Calamus nagabettai is well distributed in about 25 km radius around Subramanya, while Charmadi area possesses a rich population ofCalamus thwaitesii and fairly good representations of C. prasinus, C. pseudotenuisand C. nagabettai. The density of population of Calamus karnatakensis (restricted to Karnataka and Goa) is very high in Anantavadi Forests near Honnavar. Key words: Western Ghats, Karnataka, Calamus sp., Daemonorops sp., Plectocomia sp., Korthalsia.