Abstract

The principal plant growth of the Western Ghats is Angiosperms. It is estimated that between 2. 5 and 3 lakhs Angiosperms are occurring in the world and 60 per cent of them are in the tropics. In India, the number of Angiosperm is estimated to be 17000 and about one fourth of them occur in the Western Ghats. In the Western Ghats, it is the Southern Western Ghats consisting southern parts of Karnataka, Kerala and South Tamil Nadu is the richest in terms of diversity. Out of the approximate estimate of 4250 species of flowering plants, 3900 ocur in the southern Western Ghats, and 3800 in Kerala (Nayar, 1997) . The distribution pattern of the major families of the Western Ghats and Kerala is almost the same. There exists the variety of diversity among the plants of Western Ghats. Woody climbers are a feature of the tropical rain forests and 40 species are found in the forests of Kerala. Occurrence of palms are also a feature of the tropical forests. There are 8 palms