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Language: English
The Himalayan state of Uttarakhand is floristically one of the richest in lndia. With over 70 per cent of the area under forests, the spectacular plant wealth of the state can be easily known looking at the divers forest and vegetation types, varying with elevations, from subtropical forests at Shiwalik foothills through all possible temperate vegetation leading to Conifer-Oak-Rhododendron-Birch forests of inner Himalayan valleys and mountain slopes adorned with signature alpine meadows finally terminating into high-montane, arctic cold desert and peri-glacial flora. This exceptionally beautiful natural landscape of Garhwal-Kurnaun Himalaya is not only well-known for mighty high-mountainous rivers, diverse vegetation types, floristic hotspots, pristine wildemess endowed with endemism that provides sanctuary to number of rare and endangered species, but is also considered as a leading natural and religious tourism destination with aesthetic and scenic beauty of snow-clad valleys covered with dense forests and lush-green bugyals. In spite of a long botanical history of floristic surveys and plant explorations with the availability of vast herbarium collections and very rich floristic literature, a detailed flora of the state was unavailable and urgently needed.
The Botanical Survey of India initiated the compilation of the state’s floristic resources under department's ‘State Flora Series’ programme. A complete floristic inventory of the state, dealing with Gyrrmosperms and Angiosperms, is proposed to be brought out in five volumes. The present volume, which is the first in the series, deals with general introductory chapters, bibliography and systematic enumeration of 873 taxa comprising 827 species and 46 infra-specific taxa of 274 genera under 65 families of Gyrnnosperms and Angiosperms (Ranunculaceae to Moringaceae).
