Abstract

The floristic study in Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary, from 1994 to 1998 resulted in the documentation of an exclusive and concise flora of its own. During the study, 965 species of flowering plants were collected accounting for 578 genera representing 135 families. The angiosperms are represented with 964 taxa under 577 genera representing 134 families. Among the angiosperms 794 taxa accounts for the major Dicotyledons representing 466 genera of 166 families. The other group, Monocotyledon is represented with 171 species belonging to 111 genera of 18 families. Gymnosperm is represented with only one taxa. There are 114 Peninsular Indian endemics which constitute about 11.8 of the plant wealth of the Sanctuary. One species of Cuscuta collected from theSanctuary needs confirmation for its new identity. Albizia lathamii, Kalanchoe olivacea, Crysopogon velutinus, Cryptocoryne consubrina, Knoxia sumatrensis var. Linearis and Theriophonum sivaganganum belong to the endangered category. Exacum anamallayanumbrought under the rare category could be collected. Ipomoea mombassana collected from the Sanctuary was a new record to India. The Sanctuary is a treasure house of medicinal plants with 355 species out of 964 recorded from the Sanctuary. The study area is located on the eastern side of the phytogeographic region of the Western Ghats and is one of the two regions in Kerala lying on the leeward side of the Western Ghats. Because of these climatic and geographic characteristics, the flora of the study area closely resembles to that of Deccan and Carnatic region