Flora of the Sunderbans Biosphere Reserve (India)

Flora of Sunderbans Biosphere Reserve India deals with the detailed account of the mangrove, mangrove associate and back mangrove flora of total Indian Sunderbans Biosphere Reserve. Sunderbans one of the biosphere reserves in India, is the largest contiguous mangrove patch along with Bangladesh on the globe with an area of 25, 500 km. of which Indian part is about 9,630 km. The vegetation of the Sunderbans drew the attention of many great scientists from the remote past. But, there is no such publication dealing with the entire flora of the Indian Sunderbans Biosphere Reserve, except the floristic study by Sir David Prain 1903. In this book total number of 964 angiospermic plant species have been documented which have been noted from an area between the Dumpier and Hodges Line to the Core Zone. In addition to the mangroves and mangrove and mangrove associate plants, non-mangrove Littoral plants mainly from the transition zone of this biosphere reserve have also been described in this publication. In this systematic enumeration of taxa, the arrangement of families has been followed principally according to Bentham and Hooker’s system of Classification of Angiosperms 1862-1883. Short description of plant species with key characters, their vernacular names, author citation, and flowering and fruiting season are given in this publication along with key to the families, genera and species for easy identification. This flora will provide essential information to all people from different corners of life interested in the plant wealth of the Sunderbans Biosphere Reserve and serve as a field guide book for identifying the plants wealth of Indian Sunderbans.