Today as the whole world is seriously concerned about the conservation and sustainable utilization of bioresources, the dream of Dr. V.S. Manickam and his colleagues to bring out a comprehensive taxonomic account of the angiosperm flora of Tirunelveli Hills, the Eastern slopes of Agathimalai, the Southern most part of Western Ghats with a potential for declaration as biosphere has become a reality. This is the result of continuous fieldwork on these slopes for four full years, including 300 field days 13500 field numbers. The team headed by Dr. V.S. Manickam has taken enormous efforts to collect, process and identify about 2000 species of angiosperms, the identification of all the species was done with meticulous cere checking with the specimens at BST, Coimbatore and receiving help from the taxonomic experts and using relevant previous literature particularly, the work of G.S. Gamble. The flora incorporates details of geology, vegetational types, distribution, climatology, taxonomic account, endangered vulnerable and endemic species and species of medicinal and economic importance. The unique feature of this flora is the preparation of taxonomically useful line drawings for all the 2000 species. Much attention is paid to the taxonomic accuracy of all drawings which will enable all research scholars and scientists to identify their collection with case. The volume I, Polypetalae includes 667 species in 275 genera and 77 families. The subsequent volumes namely gamopetalae, monochlamydae and monocots will appear in print from with short intervals. The production of the Flora of Tirunelveli Hills is a significant milestone in the history of South Indian Botany and will be of use for scholars, bioscientist, environmentalists, conservationist and particularly taxonomists. Each of the 4 volumes includes a number of color photographs so species.
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