loristic Studies in Kheoni Wildlife Sanctuary

Abstract

The floristic composition of the Wildlife sanctuary was dominated by angiosperm. A total of 363 plant taxa belonging to 363 species, 266 genera and 97 families of spermatophytes have been collected from the study area. Among these dicots and monocots were recorded with 204 and 62 genera respectively. Herbs were the most dominant plant form in the study area represented by 56% species. It was followed by shrubs 24% species, trees 12% species, climbers 7% species and parasites 1% species. It is clear from the study that the ratio of total number of genera to species is 1:1.36, It is also interesting to note from the percentage occurrence of the genera (76.70) and species (70.52) of Dicotyledons is more and less identical. This similarity is also evident in Monocotyledonous genera (23.30) and species (29.48). Out of 363 plant taxa floristic analysis, 33 taxa red data book in Indian plants have been reported as rare, endemic and threatened. Critical studies of endangered species of the area reveal that 33 taxa of vascular plants belonging to 23 families have been marked as rare and threatened plants of the area. It is noted that out of the total rare and threatened taxa of KWLS, Dicots are represented by 29 species belonging to 27 genera and 20 families. While monocots are having representation of 4 species belonging to 4 genera and 3 families. Fabaceae is having highest representation of endangered taxa with 8 species not surprisingly; the largest families also contain the largest number of threatened species, while Asclepiadaceae 3, Dioscoreaceae, Liliaceae and Combretaceae have representation of 2 species each. newline