Angiosperms, tropical dry evergreen forests of southern Coromandel coast, India

Abstract

We provide a check list of angiosperm plant species with their bioresource potential as medicinal plants enumerated from a total of seventy-five tropical dry evergreen forest sites along the Coromandel coast of peninsular India. These are poorly known sites even within Indian sub-continent and form an under-studied forest type. Tropical dry evergreen forests harbour 312 species belonging to 251 genera and 80 families. The families with the greatest numbers of species were Euphorbiaceae (20 species), Apocynaceae (18 species), Rubiaceae (15), Fabaceae (12), Mimosaceae (11) and Capparaceae and Asteraceae (10 each). Physiognomically evergreen species dominated the forest. Plant specimens are identified and confirmed using regional floras. These forests are conserved by the local people on religious ground as sacred groves, although they are also subjected to various levels of anthropogenic impacts.