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Language: English
Matheran is a hill station in the Indian state of Maharashtra, located in Sahyadri ranges of the northern extent of the Western Ghats, about 43 km east of the state's capital city Mumbai. Matheran lies between 18° 58' 48" N and 73° 16' 12" E. The average elevation of the area is 800 m from mean sea level, and covers a total geographical area of 21 km². The name is derived from two Marathi words 'mathe' means a head and 'ran', a wood or forest, i.e., the name Matheran means a 'wood-headed' or 'forest perched at the top'.
Matheran is an eco-sensitive region declared by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India on February 4, 2003. It is known for its salubrious climate and well-preserved colonial architecture. Matheran is floristically a very rich pocket with almost undisturbed vegetation, visited by a large number of tourists but vehicles are not allowed to this hill station. This book reports the occurrence of 743 species and 20 infra-specific taxa belonging to 438 genera under 121 families of angiosperms and 1 species of gymnosperm based on extensive botanical explorations in the area. The book has a map of the area and photographs of plants. For every taxon, up-to-date nomenclature and information on the habitat and phenology are provided. Artificial keys to the families, genera and species are provided for easy and correct identification. This flora will be most useful for students, researchers, foresters, agricultural scientists and in general to all the nature lovers who are concerned with the preservation and proper utilization of the plant wealth of our country.
