Insectivorous Plants of Khasi and Jaintia Hills, Meghalaya, India

The Insectivorous plants from a curious group of plants exhibiting characteristic physiological behaviour in the struggle for existence. It has been estimated that the world flora consists of about 450 species of insectivorous plants. Though Kanjilal’s Flora of Assam has described only four species from the erstwhile Assam under the three genera, the present work deals with 13 species under the genera Utricularia, Drosera and Nepenthes from the State of Meghalaya out of the total Indian record of 36 species. Authors have studied this group of plants and has also introduced few of them in the Experimental Garden at Shillong. This was done when Dr. J. Joseph was ij-charge of the Eastern Circle as Deputy Director. The present work published by the department would be useful to students and scientific workers. It is hoped that this work would generate interest in the study of this group of interesting plants. From the point of survival of the species, since they are adapted to particular ecological niche, as a group in general, insectivorous plants are vulnerable due to habitat loss.