Tamil Nadu, with its rich flora spread across a unique combination of the Western and Eastern Ghats, is on a mission to save some of the rare, endangered and threatened plants, of which many are endemic to the State.
More than 30 taxonomists of premier institutions in the country carried out an assessment of threat to the State’s flora and came out with a list of 25 plants. Conservation strategies will be designed for these plants under the Tamil Nadu Biodiversity Conservation and Greening Project for Climate Change Response.
The taxonomists initially shortlisted 100 plants for the exercise. They conducted a conservation assessment management and prioritisation (CAMP) workshop in collaboration with the Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding (IFGTB), Coimbatore, and 25 rare, endangered and threatened endemic plants were chosen for conservation and restoration.
M.U. Sharief, scientist ‘F’ and head of the Botanical Survey of India’s Southern Regional Centre, Coimbatore, said the taxonomists came up with the list of 25 plants by assessing their conservation status in four groups and considering various factors.
Population assessment surveys
“The Forest Department will carry out population assessment surveys and come out with recovery plans for them. It will also collect the germplasm in ex-situ gardens. Some of the species are fewer than 500 or 1,000 individuals left in the wild. The remaining plants in the list of 100 will continue to be in the reckoning,” says I. Anwardeen, Additional Principal Conservator of Forests and Chief Project Director, the Tamil Nadu Biodiversity Conservation and Greening Project.
Besides their conservation status, the 25 shortlisted species were assessed for their economical, biological, cultural and ecosystem values, says A. Rajasekaran, scientist ‘F’ of the Forest Ecology and Climate Change Division, IFGTB.
“Since identification of the species in the wild is not very easy, we will help the Forest Department identify them, assess their population status and develop propagation techniques. Ecosystem improvement should also be carried out in places identified as micro-centres of endemism,” says Mr. Rajasekaran.
P.S. Udayan, senior consultant, Kerala Forest Research Institute, points out that some of these plants have a very restricted population. There needs to be more field explorations to check the occurrence of these plants in the wild.
Three species over-exploited
Three species that have come up in the list — Dysoxylum malabaricum, Coscinium fenestratum and Myristica malabarica — are assessed to be over-exploited for their medicinal values, he notes. “Now, 25 plants having been prioritised, the aim is to enrich their population through propagation methods and reintroduce them in the same agro-climatic conditions and habitats,” he adds.
According to IFGTB Director C. Kunhikannan, the threat assessment and the CAMP workshop cement Tamil Nadu’s commitment to preserving its rich flora.
Flowering Plants of Tamil Nadu: A Compendium, authored by D. Narasimhan and Sheeba J. Irwin, lists 6,723 taxa belonging to 1,979 genera and 225 families in the State. The 212 endemic taxa reported in the State, according to the book, include 22 herbs, 51 shrubs, 36 trees and three climbers. While 85% of the endemic taxa are from the Western Ghats, 8% are from the Eastern Ghats and 6% are from coastal regions.
M. Sanjappa, former director of the Botanical Survey of India, feels the exercise is crucial to protecting the endangered plants as they are identified and preserved to save them from extinction.
“Human interventions in the name of development, in the name of agriculture; expansion of the plantation of crops; and diversion of forest areas for other activities are the major threats to these rare plants. Over-exploitation of the medicinal and wood-yielding plants for commercial purposes also pose threats to these plants and their habitats,” he says.
