Bihar, one of the largest states in the country, is endowed with rich floristic wealth because of its varied topography. This state has not been adequately explored. Therefore, district Hazaribagh was selected and entrusted to Dr. N.D. Paria, Department of Botany, University of Calcutta for exploring the flora under a project financed by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, accordingly, the Flora of Hazaribagh district. Bihar has been prepared, based on extensive survey and explorations in the district covering all seasons for about five years since 1985. The result of the entire work has been divided into two volumes. Volume-I contains introductory chapters including topography and general features, geology and soil, climate, forest biota, general vegetation and its types, floristic analysis, economic and ethnobotanical notes on important plants, etc., and systematic enumeration of taxa explored beginning with the family Magnoliaceae to Oxalidaceae. Volume-II contains largely the continuation of systematic enumeration starting with the family Tropaeolaceae to Orchidaceae followed by concluding remarks and selected bibliography. Some line drawings and coloured photographs have been provided in each volume. The systematic treatment deals with 972 species under 615 genera belonging to 142 families (Vol. I: 89 families, 279 genera and 452 species, Vol. II: 53 families, 336 genera and 520 species). The keys have been provided to facilitate easy identification at the level of group, family, genus and species. Notes on flowering and fruiting time, ecology, distribution, uses, etc. have been provided for each taxon in the text. The specimens collected are housed in the Central National Herbarium (CAL). There has been a slight deviation in the arrangement of families in not following the Bentham and Hooker’s (1862) system as is usually done in B.S.I. Instead, Cronquist’s (1981) system is followed here, which is difficult to change at this final stage.
There are no reviews yet.