Flora of Little Andaman Island, India

About this book

This book provides a detailed floristic account of Little Andaman Island, the southernmost Island of the Andaman group, located between the South Andaman and North Nicobar group of Islands. The floristic account is based on specimens collected during the study period as well as the assimilation of published and unpublished information and specimens collected over a period of more than 150 years. The general chapters provide a detailed account of the physical features, geography, climate, vegetation types, plantations, effects of the 2004 tsunami and the peoples of the
Island. A key to families is provided for all families represented on Little Andaman Island. A total of 644 species of flowering plants have been documented with a detailed citation, a short description for common plants and a detailed description for rare and endemic plants. Colour photographs have been provided for 124 species apart from the vegetation types, peoples, and plantations. A detailed floristic analysis with the breakup of Dicots, Monocots and Gymnosperms, a comparative table of dominant families and their number of genera and species, an analysis of life forms and a list of endemic plants are also provided.

The present study resulted in the discovery of one new species viz., Vanilla sanjappae (Orchidaceae), three new additions to the flora of India viz., Trichosanthes quinquangulata (Cucurbitaceae), Knema andamanica subsp. peninsularis (Myristicaceae) and Ficus annulata (Moraceae), and ten new additions to the flora of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands viz., Fioria vitfiolia (Malvaceae), Combretum acuminatum (Combretaceae), Sesuvium portulacastrum (Aizoaceae), Marsdenia tinctoria, Toxocarpus kleinii (Asclepiadaceae), Achyranthes aspera var. porphyristachya (Amaranthaceae), Phoebe lanceolata, Neolitsea umbrosa (Lauraceae), Tropidia angulosa (Orchidaceae) and Schoenoplectus mucronatus (Cyperaceae). Several rare plants are also recollected during the study. Plants which are collected after a lapse of 50 or more years include: Orophea torulosa (Annonaceae), Neonauclea gageana (Rubiaceae), Ginalloa andamanica (Viscaceae) and Boesenbergia siphonantha (Zingiberaceae). The original description of Orophea torulosa (Annonaceae), which was based on insufficient materials was amended after a thorough study of sufficient materials collected fiom the area. This book is expected to be a good field guide for researchers, students, foresters, policy makers, nature lovers and NGOs working on the floristic and environmental aspects of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Contents

Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgements
Photo plate

I. Introduction
1. Study area
2. Geology
3. Climate
4. Peoples
5. Botanical history
6. Vegetation
7. Materials and methods
8. Plan of presentation
9. Floristic analysis
10. Dominant families
11. Endemic plants
12. Selected references

II. Key to families
III. Systematic enumeration
IV. Index to scientific names

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