Leaf classes, foliar phenology and life forms of selected woody species from the tropical forests of central and southern Eastern Ghats, India

By

Stephen, Azariah
Anupama, Krishnamurthy
Aravajy, Soupramanien
Livingstone, Chrispus

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2012-12-1

Original Publication

Check list : journal of species lists and distribution

Volume

8

Series / Issue

Issue: 6

Pages

1248--1266

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

[São Paulo, Brazil] Luís Felipe Toledo 2005-

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15560/8.6.1248

 

Abstract

A checklist of selected woody species of Angiosperms is provided with the aim of classifying their life forms, foliar phenology and leaf classes from the tropical forests of central and southern Eastern Ghats, India. Though there are checklists available for the plants of the Eastern Ghats, a comprehensive listing of quantitative foliar measurements as done in other parts of the world, leading to valuable inputs for Plant Functional Type (PFT) classification, has not thus far been done for this key biogeographic zone of India. The list, gathered from 388 individual plants through the study area, encompasses 156 species and 3 infraspecific taxa which belong to 116 genera and 50 families. Of the total 159 taxa, 83 are evergreen and 76 are deciduous. 135 taxa are trees, 13 are shrubs 10 are climbing shrubs and one hemiparasite. Among the leaf classes of species, mesophyll dominated with 87 species, followed by notophyll (39), microphyll (24) and macrophyll (9). Hence, quantitative leaf trait measurements for selected woody species and the methodology for such studies in the tropics is the unique contribution of the present paper to the existing state-of-the-art.