The Himalayan ranges by their location at the boundary of so many biogeographical regions such as Palaearctic, Mediterranean, Indo-Chinese, Indo-Malayan and Peninsular India, are one of the richest areas of India in terms of habitat and species diversity. The cold deserts of India come under the trans-Himalayan zone and constitute a unique ecosystem. Charged by the foregoing and related exigencies, the task of surveying the high altitude cold desert areas was undertaken by the scientists of the Northern Circle, Botanical Survey of India, Dehra Dun, including the author. The present flora is an outcome of this extensive and intensive survey and study of the plants of this region. The present work deals with 347 species, belonging to 103 genera under 16 families of monocot group of Angiosperms. The work on dicot group of Angiosperms is under preparation, which comprises about 850 species belonging to about 295 genera under 72 families. The work is divided into 2 major parts. The first part deals comprehensively with area and drainage system, physical features, geology, soil, climate, vegetation, floristic diversity, agricultural practices and cultivation of economic plants, introduced phytodiversity, phytogeographical affinities, earlier botanical work in the region, and materials methods and style of the presentation of the flora. The second part deals with the taxonomic treatment of the plant taxa. A comprehensive bibliography is provided. An index to the botanical names is provided at the end of the flora.
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