Flora of Allahabad District, Uttar Pradesh, India

The flora of British India and the different regional floras are today old by a century and half century respectively. Since then the list of additional and extinct species has swollen so enormously that these floras no more represent the real picture of the vegetation of the concerned areas. Furthermore the territories of the country, as well as, the various regions of it have also changed considerably. In the same context Santapau (1956, 1958) has rightly suggested that the universities should take up extensive exploration of their respective towns and neighbouring areas. He strongly pleaded for creation and development of local herbaria; and recommended critical study of plants in field by taking small areas under study. During the last three decades a keen interest has been shown in this direction. With the result a number of floras, covering an area of a district or a part of province, have been published. If the things go on right way at the micro level, the writing of the national and regional floras de novo would be easier and accurate. Allahabad forms the representative part of Upper Gangetic plain (Dudgeon, 1920) and yet it does not have a comprehensive and modern flora of its own. Thus far remote and rural localities of the district were, by and large, not or under explored. The aim of present work is to provide a complete, comprehensive and up to date account of the flora of Allahabad district, for the benefit of students, teachers, research workers and the persons interested in the plants of this area.