Original Article

, Volume: 12( 2)

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Species Diversity and Enumeration of Various Plant Species in Medak Telangana State

*Correspondence:

Naresh K Department of Botany, University College of Science, Osmania University, Hyderabad, India
Tel: 04027682444; E-mail: ksnaresh822@gmail.com

Abstract

Medak is one of the district of Telangana state which is known for its low nutrient soils, supporting growth of some of the inferior plant species in 2016(Feb)-2017 (Feb). In this research work vegetation found in the Medak district is being divided into two broad categories, that is forest vegetation and non- forest vegetation. The vegetation found in the field area was further divided into various groups depending on morphological characteristics shown by them. A vast exploration was conducted wherein the researchers have visited various areas to observe the versatility seen in the respective regions. It is been found that the field area is inhabited by various types of plants belonging to families like Leguminosae (104), Poaceae (83), Cyperaceae (49), Asteraceae (37), Euphorbiaceae (31), Acanthaceae (22), Rubiaceae (20), Lamiaceae (18), Convolvulaceae (17) and Amaranthaceae (15). During the studies, the predominant of the plant species observed belonged to Leguminosae family. This study can be further proceeded by doing a detailed analysis of the soil for its physicochemical characters which specifically supported the growth of Leguminosae members.

Keywords

Morphology; Vegetation; Plant collection; Medak; Enumeration; Medicinal plants

Introduction

Medak district forms part of the Table land of the Deccan plateau and is crossed by different ranges of hills. The ground is mostly of plains, gentle slopes and undulating hills. Isolated peaks and rocky clusters lie scattered all over the district. The elevation of the ground in the district is between 500 m to 600 m with occasional hills up to 638 m above Mean Sea Level. The hills that are of considerable size in the forest division are in a state of erosion because of reckless felling and indiscriminate grazing [1-5]. The rock formation in the district is of the oldest type (archaeon gneisses) and consists principally of peninsular granite complex i.e. pink and grey granites and their metamorphic variations. Minor inliers of Dharwar rocks occur as narrow bands in the granite and consist of horn blend schists, chlorite schists and banded or massive ferruginous quartzite. A few such exposures are seen due North and North-east of Siddipet. A part of the Sangareddy taluk in the south-west of the district is covered by the Deccan traps (Basalt Flows) formation. Building material, the granites found in the district yield large quantity of building stone and road-metal. There are numerous quartz veins cutting across the granite all over the district. Quartz useful for glass industry may be obtained from selected deposits. In the granite feldspars are colonized in some places giving rise to small deposits of white clay in the form of veins and pockets. The soils of the district are mainly red earths comprising loamy sands, sandy loams and sandy clay loams. Red laterite soil is predominant in Zaheerabad taluk. Black cotton soils comprising of clay loams, clays and silty clays are found in Sangareddy, Andole, Narayankhed and Narsapur taluks. The red soils are generally non-saline, non-alkaline while the black soils are moderately alkaline with high soluble salt content. The district is not watered by any big river. The Manjira, a tributary of the Godavari, is an important river. Manjira rises in Bidar district of Karnataka state and enters Medak district in the South-East. It flows for about 96 km in the western and North-Western taluks of Narayankhed, Zaheerabad, Sanga Reddy, Narsapur and Medak. The other important streams are the Haldi or Paspuyeru and the kudlair. Haldi is a tributary of the Manjira and enters the district from the North and flows through Medak town. The kudlair, which drains siddipet taluk, is another river in the district and forms a tributary of Mahai. The chief sources of irrigation in the district are the Bhanpur Ayacut the Rayanpalle project, the Gangakathwa project, the Beglempalli (Bogulapalle) project and the Peddavagu project. The undulating characters of the terrain of the district lend itself favourable to irrigation from canals, tanks, wells and streams. The climate of the district is characterized by a hot summer and generally dry weather with some pleasing showers, except during the south-west monsoon season. The year may be divided into three seasons, viz, winter season (November-February), summer season (March-May) and South-west monsoon season (June-October). The rainfall during the South-west monsoon months amounts to about 84% of the annual rainfall. July is the rainiest month. The average annual rainfall in the district is 896.7 mm. The heaviest rainfall in 24 hours recorded at any station in the district was 307.3 mm at Sangareddy in September, 1908 [6-12]. The rainfall in the district increases from the south towards North. After February, temperature rapidly increases. May is the hottest month with the mean daily maximum temperature of about 40°C and the mean daily minimum temperature of about 26°C. With the onset of the south-west monsoon in the middle of June, temperature decreases appreciably and the weather becomes more pleasant. December is the coldest month with mean daily maximum temperature at about 29°C and the mean daily minimum temperature of about 14°C. During the cold season, the temperature may go down to about 6°C.

Methods and Materials

The present work on Plant Diversity in Medak is based on intensive explorations by the authors during the year 2016-2017 and also on the critical analysis of collected specimens. In the present investigation, a total of 694 species belonging to 373 genera under 110 families have been included. A few exploration trips were conducted during different months of a year covering all ranges of the forests and non-forest areas in the Medak district. During field trips, every plant was collected in quadruplicates either with flowering or fruiting stage. Each collection of the individual specimen was labelled with field numbers and every attempt was made to study the habit, habitat, colour of the flower, flowering and fruiting season, frequency of distribution and relative abundance. All the above information was recorded in the field itself. Special care was taken for collecting aquatic species, bulbs, corms, tubers etc. [13-16].

Results and Discussion

Forests and vegetation

The vegetation of the district can be categorized into forest, non-forest and aquatic types.

Forest vegetation

The district forests are of Southern Tropical Dry deciduous type and account for 9.9% of the total geographical area. The forests as grouped into only one division i.e. Medak which includes 6 ranges (Table 1).

Table 1. Forest ranges of Medak district.

The forests are further classified into dry mixed deciduous type, Dry deciduous type and Dry savannah type. Locally the forests are sub classified by the forest officials as teak type (teak over 40%), mixed teak type (Teak 10% to 30%) and mixed type (Teak less than 10%) depending on the abundance of teak in the forests.

Dry mixed deciduous forests

These types of forest are widespread throughout the district and are distributed in the forest blocks of Medak and Narsapur taluks (Tables 2-9). The compositions of these forests are as follows;

Table 2. List of large tree members (some Imp. examples).

Table 3. List of tree members (some Imp. examples).

Table 4. List of shrubs (some Imp. examples).

Table 5. List of climbers (some Imp. examples).

Table 6. List of shrubs (some Imp. examples).

Table 7. List of grasses (some Imp. examples).

Table 8. List of parasites (some Imp. examples).

Table 9. List of Pteridophytes (some imp. examples)

Dry deciduous scrub forests

Scrub forests are mostly distributed in cornet blocks of Siddipet, Zaheerabad and Narayankhed ranges. Scrub vegetation is characterised by the predominance of the list of plants mentioned in Table 10.

Table 10. List of dry deciduous scrub forest members (some Imp. examples).

Dry savannah forests

These types of forests are distributed in patches in the outer edges of the forest blocks and usually found in Siddipet, Narayankhed and Zaheerabad ranges and parts of Ramayampet and Narsapur. The trees stand far apart singly or in small groups along with more or less heavy grass growth in which certain fire-resistant plants persist, of which stemless phoenix that is Phoenix loureiri is one among many found. Other common species encountered in these forests include Cassia auriculata, Dodonea angustifalia and Lantana camara [17-20].

Non-Forest Vegetation

Waste land and road side plants

The list of waste land and road side plants are mentioned in Tables 11-13.

Table 11. List of waste land and road side plants (some Imp. examples).

Table 12. List of some of the important plants growing in towns and villages.

Table 13. List of some of the important Hedges.

Common weeds of dry and cultivated fields and dry irrigated fields are listed in Tables 14 and 15.

Table 14. Chief climbers seen in hedges are.

Table 15. List of weeds (some Imp. examples).

These plants are rooted in the soil saturated with water, but also survive in dried conditions in the later part of their life cycle (Table 16).

Table 16. List of wetland hydrophytes (some Imp. examples).

Apart from the species encountered in above vegetation types, number of plants are under cultivation in the district. They are appended at the end of concerned family in the systematic enumeration.

Floristic analysis

In the present study, a total of 862 numbers of fields have been collected and identified. These comprise 694 wild and naturalized species belonging to 373 genera and 110 families. Among the 694 species Dicots comprise 513 species, Monocots 177 species and Pteridophytes 4. The results are shown below in tabulated manner. The ratio of Monocotyledons to Dicotyledons is 1: 4.47 of families (19:87), 1:3.40 of genera (91:278); 1:2.91of species (177:513). The ratio of genera to species in the present study is 1:1.7, whereas for the entire Indian region it is 1:7 (Table 17).

Table 17. Dominant ten family?s in Medak district, Telangana state.

The genera having 5 or more than 5 species are Cyoerus and Eragrostis with 12 species followed by Crotalaria and Fimbristylis (11); Indigofera (10); Cassia and Ipomoea (09); Desmodium, Euphorbia, Phyllanthus and schoenoplectus (07); Acacia, Alysicarpus, Ficus, Hedyotis, Heliotropium, Justicia and Leucas (06); Commelina and Grewia.

Conclusion

As it is been already mentioned about the nutritive value of the soil supported growth of inferior varieties of plants and it is also been seen that the varieties found were limited when compared with other areas.

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank the funding agency that is UGC – CAS-I (SAP-II) for its timely support. It is a privilege to work under the guidance of my co-ordinator Prof. C. Venkateshwar, Department of botany, Osmania University who have been a guiding and motivating spirit for doing my work effectively. I would render my special thanks to the Department of Botany, Osmania University for providing space to assimilate the work in written form.

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