The Biobrio 2(3 & 4), 2015

Angiospermic Floral Diversity of Delhi in the Context of Urbanization and Habitat Loss

Anand Kumar Mishra, Maheshwar Prasad Sharma, Harbhajan Singh

ABSTRACT:

Vegetation of the Delhi flora contains dry scrub and thorn forest, ravines, and aquatic types. The collections from the area and their subsequent critical study have resulted in the documentation of 604 species, distributed under 399 genera and 92 families of flowering plants. Out of these, 473 species under 310 genera and 78 families belong to dicots and the remaining 131 species under 89 genera and 14 families to monocots. Family Poaceae is the most diverse and is represented by 84 species, followed by Fabaceae with 80 spp., Asteraceae with 43 spp., Malvaceae with 30 spp Amranthaceae (21), and Apocynaceae Convolvulaceae and Euphorbiaceae with 20 species each. At generic level, the genus Euphorbia comprised maximum number of 14 species followed by Ipomoea with 10 species, Indigofea, Ficus and Cyperus 7 spp. etc. The floristic diversity of the Delhi has been analyses after 1963 and causes of threat to the flora are discussed.

Keywords:    

Delhi Flora, Floristic diversity, Urbanization

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