Flowering Plant Diversity in the Southern End of the Western Ghats

The Western Ghats is one of India’s biodiversityBiodiversity hotspotsHotspots, and many attempts have been made to document its diversityDiversity. The floraFlora of the Tirunelveli Hills was considered the epitome of the floraFlora of Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka; however, previous studies were not as extensive as the present one. In this study, the flowering plant diversityDiversity on the eastern slopes of the Western Ghats, from Sivagiri in the north to Mahendragiri in the south, was documented. The study is based on 360 field days between 1996 and 2001, and 1,931 speciesSpecies were collected and preserved at Xavier’s College Herbarium. Eighteen new speciesSpecies were discovered, and 12 speciesSpecies were recorded as new to Indian floraFlora. Nine speciesSpecies were rediscovered after a lapse of >100 years. This work is the first comprehensive and illustrated study for the Tirunelveli Hills. During our visit, we could recognise the regenerative potential of various habitatsHabitat in the southern end of the Western GhatsSouth Western Ghats.