Indian J. Applied & Pure Bio. Vol. 26(2), 321-325 (2011).
Floristic composition of the forest areas under Bankati Gram Panchayat in Burdwan District, West Bengal Tripti Bouri and Ambarish Mukherjee UGC Centre for Advanced Study, Department of Botany, Golapbag, Burdwan University, Burdwan-713104 (India) E-mail:
[email protected] Abstract A survey was undertaken to record the floristic composition of the tropical dry deciduous Sal forest prevailing under Bankati Gram Panchayat, Burdwan district. This work enumerates only 41 plant species belonging to 40 genera and 29 families of angiosperms. The Generic Coefficient was found to be 97.56 indicating high diversification. Habit analysis of the vegetation shows that tree: shrub: herb ratio is 15:8:14. The impoverished state of the existing forest flora is mainly due to overexploitation of its phytoresources and acute soil erosion.
Destruction of nature has always been the consequence of developmental activities. Of the different natural resources, forests seem to be depleted the most. According to the State Forest Report (2003), only 225 sq Km i.e. 3.2 % of the total geographic area of Burdwan, a district of West Bengal State in India, is under forest-cover. Most of these tropical deciduous Sal forests are highly degraded2 with attenuated species diversity due to overexploitation of phytoresources, soil erosion and afforestation with exotic species. Since stock-taking of biodiversity is the most important prerequisite for planning and execution of any ecorestoration programme the present work was undertaken which deals with floristic characterization of the forest areas in Bankati Gram Panchayat under Kanksa
Block of Burdwan District. The study site is located between the rivers Ajoy in the north and Kunur in the south. The villages under this Panchayat lie in the proximity of and in conformity with forests. The local people are mostly economically backward and belong to the Santhal community. The soil type is lateritic with extremely eroded soil. Field surveys were carried out in the study site during 2009 to collect the primary data pertaining to phytodiversity following the standard methodology used for preparation of people’s biodiversity register3. Plant specimens were collected and some of them processed for herbarium preservation as voucher specimens for future reference. The remaining specimens
(322) were taxonomically worked out and identified using standard literature4, 6 - 8. The updated names1 of the plants were then arranged in the alphabetic order of their families. Habits of the plants were also recorded (Table-1) and analyzed (Figure1). For determination of
Generic Coefficient5, the following formula was used: Generic coefficient = (No. of genus/ No. of species) X 100.
Table-1. An enumeration of the angiosperms composing the forest flora of Bankati, Burdwan. Sl. No. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24.
Scientific Name
Family
Local name
Habit
Abrus precatorius Linn. Acacia catechu Willd. Achyranthes aspera L. Alangium salvifolium Linn.f. Bambusa arundinacea (Retz.)Willd. Barringtonia acutaugula (Linn.)Gaertn. Butea superba Roxb. Caesalpinia pulcherima L. Cassia occidentalis L. Cassia tora L. Combretum decandrum Roxb. Cordia myxa Roxb. Cryptolepis buchanani Roem &Schult Curculigo orchioides Gaertn. Dioscoria tomentosa Koenig Elephantopus scaber L. Eragrostis coarctata Stapf. Ficus hispida Linn.f. Gloriosa superba L. Glycosmis pentaphylla Corr. Grewia asiatica Linn. Gymnema sylvestre R.Br. Hemidesmus indicus (L.) Ait Holoptelea integrifolia Planch
Leguminaceae Mimosaceae Amaranthaceae Alangiaceae Gramineae
kunch khayar apang ankar Saru bans
Herb(Dicot) Tree(Dicot) Herb(Dicot) Shrub(Dicot) Tree(Monocot)
Lecythidaceae
hidjal
Tree(Dicot)
Fabaceae Caesalpiniaceae Caesalpiniaceae Caesalpiniaceae Combretaceae Boraginaceae Asclepiadaceae
Lata palas krishna chura Kal-kashonda chakunda atena lashora Dudhi lata
Shrub(Dicot) Tree(Dicot) Shrub(Dicot) Shrub(Dicot) Shrub(Dicot) Tree(Dicot) Shrub(Dicot)
Hypoxidaceae Dioscoreaceae Asteraceae Poaceae Moraceae Liliaceae Rutaceae Tiliaceae Asclepiadaceae Asclepiadaceae Ulmaceae
talamuli Kham alu manjurjuti Pita-chura dumur Bisha-languli ash seora phalsa gurmar anantamul chharra
Herb(Monocot) Herb(Monocot) Herb(Dicot) Herb(Monocot) Tree(Dicot) Herb(Monocot) Shrub(Dicot) Tree(Dicot) Herb(Dicot) Herb(Dicot) Tree(Dicot)
(323) 25. Madhuca indica Koenig 26. Melochia corchorifolia L. 27. Mitragyna parviflora (Roxb.) Korth 28. Morinda citrifolia L. 29. Physalis minima L. 30. Randia uliginosa DC. 31. Scilla indica Bak. 32. Semecarpus anacardium L.f. 33. Smilax zeylanica L. 34. Strychnos potatorum L.f. 35. Syzygium cumini (L.) Skeels 36. Tinospora cordifolia (Willd.) Miers 37. Triumfetta rhomboidea Jacq. 38. Tylophora indica (Burm.f.) Merrill 39. Vangueria spinosa Roxb. 40. Vitis reticulata Gagnep. 41. Zizyphus sylvatica Juss.
Sapotaceae Sterculiaceae Rubiaceae
mahul pat kelikadam
Tree(Dicot) Shrub(Dicot) Tree(Dicot)
Rubiaceae Solanaceae Rubiaceae Liliaceae Anacardiaceae Smilacaceae Loganiaceae(T) Myrtaceae Menispermaceae
noni Ban-tipariya piralo Safedi-khus Vela kumarika Kuchila Jaman Gulancha
Tiliaceae Asclepiadaceae
Ban-okra antamul
Shrub(Dicot) Herb(Dicot)
Rubiaceae Vitaceae Rhamnaceae
moyena Bon angur Bon kul
Tree(Dicot) Herb(Dicot) Tree(Dicot)
Tree(Dicot) Herb(Dicot) Shrub(Dicot) Herb(Monocot) Tree(Dicot) Shrub(Monocot) Tree(Dicot) Shrub(Dicot) Herb(Dicot)
Figure:1 Numerical ratio of Tree, Shrub and Herb under
Bankati forest area(Durgapur Range)
16 14 12 10 8
Series1
6 4 2 0 Tree
Shrub
Herb
(324)
Angiospermic plants Family Genus Species
Table-2. Taxonomic analysis of the concerned flora Total Dicot Plants Monocot plants Dicot: No. Total Percen Total PercenMonocot tage tage ratio 29 25 86.20 5 17.24 5:1 40 33 82.50 7 17.50 4.7:1 41 34 82.92 7 17.07 4.8:1
Generic Coefficient 97.56
The inventory of the angiosperms in Bankati forest areas (Table-1) shows that the community is composed of 41 species, 34species of which are dicotyledonous and 7 species monocotyledonous (Table-2). The floristic analysis shows that the dicot and monocot ratio at species level was 4.8:1, at generic level 4.7:1 and at family level 5:1(Table-2). At all levels (species, genus and family), the dicotyledonous taxa have dominance over monocots as regards the relative contribution to the forest flora. From the overall impression of the flora it can be inferred that the total number of species (41) is quite low and the impoverished state of the flora is mainly a consequence of deforestation for exogenous human settlement, overexploitation of forest resources and severe soil erosion. The etymology of the Gram Panchayat ‘Bankati’ itself refers in local language to forest felling.
desirable in a tropical Sal forest. The transition of Sal into a mixed type of forest might have resulted from overexploitation of Sal, introduction of exotic species and conservational indifference to progressively increasing soil erosion and decreasing water holding and nutrient retention capacities of soils. The Jacard’s Generic Coefficient which is hundred times the reciprocal of average number of species per genus speaks of high generic diversification of the species contained in the association. The species quota of each genus being close to 1, generic diversification reflects heterogeneity, antiquity and species impoverishment of the community. There is an urgent need to optimize ‘nature’s economy’ so that there is an enhancement in the species diversification adequate to restore the existing forest-ecosystems in the Bankati Panchayat area.
Habit analysis of the vegetation shows that tree: shrub: herb ratio is 15:8:14 (Figure 1). The dominance of trees is established and the proportion of shrubs is moderate. Although the number of herbaceous species is very close to that of trees, the proportion becomes much lower when compared with the ligneous species (trees and shrubs taken together). The high number of arborescent species speaks about heterogeneity and interference with Shorea robusta to subdue its dominance which is not
The authors are thankful to Mr. Safikul Islam, Ranger of Durgapur Forest Range for all sorts of cooperation. The people of Bankati Gram Panchayat also deserve thankful appreciation for sharing their knowledge during field work. References : 1. Bennet, S.S.R. (1987). Name Changes in Flowering plants of India andAdjacent Regions,
(325) Triseas Publications, Dehra Dun. 2. Bhattacharya, A. and A. Mukherjee (2006). Indian Journal of Applied and Pure Biology, 21(2): 293- 298. 3. Gadgil, M. (2006). Ecology is for the people: A methodology manual for People’s Biodiversity Register, Chennai (http:// ces.ernet.in/hpg/cesmg/). 4. Guha Bakshi, D.N. (1984). Flora of Murshidabad District, West Bengal, India. Scientific Publishers, Jodhpur.
5. Jaccard, P. (1901). Étude comparative de la distribution florale dans une portion des Alpes et des Jura. Bulletin de la Société Vaudoise des Sciences Naturelles 37: 547579. 6. Murti, S.K. and G. Panigrahi (1999). Flora of Bilaspur District, M.P. vol. 2, BSI, Calcutta. 7. Panigrahi, G. and S.K. Murti (1989). Flora of Bilaspur District, M.P. vol.1, BSI, Howrah. 8. Prain, D. (1903). Bengal Plants, Calcutta.
