FLOWERING PLANTS IN KERALA

FLOWERING PLANTS IN KERALA

The Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI) has launched a DVD giving comprehensive information on the flowering plants of the State. It states that 5,094 flowering plants from 1,537 genera belonging to 221 families have been recorded in the State.Of this, 1,418 are newly recorded plants since the publication of The Flora of the Presidency of Madras (1916 to 1936). Among the flowering plants, 880 are exotic, which have either been introduced or accidently entered the State.There are 819 medicinal, 52 poisonous, and 55 leafless flowering plants. A total of 493 flowering plants in the State are facing extinction as per the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.Idukki has the highest number of flowering plants in the State. The DVD also contains 18,570 images of plants including rare, endangered, threatened and interesting species, 11,437 scientific names, and 6,768 local, trade, and common names.Reportedly the first of its kind in the country, the DVD is a research compilation by N. Sasidharan, grade G scientist attached to the Forest Ecology and Biodiversity Conservation Division of the KRFI.

Dr. Sasidharan told The Hindu the prime objective of the DVD was to provide the layman a better understanding of the plant biodiversity of the State. He said the conventional flora system of providing information on plant biodiversity contained too much of botanical jargon, which is difficult for the layman to understand. “The user friendly DVD provides simple but detailed information with the help of a few mouse clicks. It becomes very useful for biodiversity documentation too,” he added.The DVD has two sections. One deals with the chapters’ introduction, location, soil, geology, vegetation and climate. The other deals with search categories. The search category comprises three options, which what makes the DVD attractive to the layman.Through the search options, the user can sort out plants by the generic or species names. For example if one types the letter “malab”, all scientific names with the specific epithet such malabaricum, malabaricus, malabatrum or malabarica will be displayed with full citation of publications and images.The second option is search for plants based on their local names. The window for this option enables the user to either type the local name or select the local names displayed in alphabetical order.When a local name is selected, the corresponding scientific name and other local names plus an option for viewing details will appear.The third option is for advanced search. Here the user will be able to search for trees, shrubs, climbers, leaf type, leafless, fruit bearing, flower colour, conservation status, habitat, district wise distribution, exotic or endemic, poisonous, vegetables, parasites and weeds.The DVD is available at the KFRI Library. For details, contact 0487-2690291.KERALA 

Prof. John Kurakar