During the last two decades much has been written about the biodiversity richness of country. Avoiding all the numerical details about the documented species an attempt has been made to provide information about the relative forest systems of India. For classifying the vegetation the altitude has been adopted as vital factor in detailing the vegetation. The Darjeeling district has been cleared off the forest for tea plantation while in Sikkim this has been done for cultivation. Prime forests in India are left in a few localities because of tremendous amount of population increase. The high density biodiversity rich forests may be listed as the Sacred Groves of Meghalaya, Silent Valley, Valley of Flowers, Pachmarhi Forest, Kala Top, Chadwick Falls, Glen, Deoban, Kalamuni, Jaber Khet, Chitray Forest, Chungthang, Lachung, Shem Bagnaur, etc.

Trema orientalis Blume provides nutritious and palatable fodder to the Mithun (Bos frontalis) which is an indigenous semi domesticated animal in humid tropics of Eastern Himalaya of India. This fodder tree has poor regeneration through seeds. Hence an experiment was conducted to evaluate the optimum conditions for successful vegetative propagation of this multipurpose tree species through stem cuttings. The study examined the type of cuttings (hardwood, semi hardwood and softwood), effect of Indole – 3 butyric acid (IBA) treatment (0, 200, 400, 600 mg/lt), the effect of season and wounding base of the cuttings. The rooting ability of the cutting was significantly influenced by all these factors. Semi hardwood cuttings during spring season performed better than others. On an average, IBA treatment (600 ppm), high humidity (> 90%), spring season and wounding increased the rooting capacity of the cutting significantly (P=0.05). The wound at the base of soft wood cutting had resulted in enhanced sprouting and rooting capacity. Further, rooting was significantly improved in wounded hardwood cuttings compared to non wounded ones.

Illicium griffthii is an important medicinal tree species of the temperate broad-leaved forests of Northeast India. The species has high demands for its fruits. In view of scanty information on the species in natural stands, this investigation explores three forest stands under different management regimes in Western Arunachal Pradesh with particular reference to study stand structure, fruit production and phonological behaviour of I. griffthii. The study revealed that I. griffthii was an important species in the middle storey and it grew frequently with other top canopy species. The tree species richness, stand density and total basal cover of three stands varied between 27 to 40 species, 482 to 568 tree ha-1, and 18.08 to 59.28 m2 ha-1, respectively. The data showed that high biotic pressure resulted decline in tree species richness, stand density and total basal area while moderate level of pressure was beneficial. The contribution of I. griffthii to total stand density and basal cover was high at all three forests. It was interesting to note that these forests supported 72-81% tree species used for fuel, fodder, timber, edible fruits and other useful products, thus provided diverse opportunities to communities to visit these stands. The dominance-diversity curve showed that the resource allocation were homogenous to shared by a few species at different stands. Tree girth class structure showed that all forest stands are still evolving. The phenological progression of I. griffithii showed no marked leaf fall event, the flowering phase prevailed between February to April and mature fruits in October. The fruit yield for I. griffithii varied from 0.015 kg to 23.28 kg per tree for 11 to 180 cm girth class individuals. The study concluded that in view of high demand of fruits of I. griffithii, these forests may face higher pressure in near future, therefore information on stand structure, phenology and fruit productivity would help the management planners. It is suggested that if local communities could be educated about the potential of I. griffithii and promoted in agroforestry systems, the income of local farmers could be increased substantially, at the same time the species could be conserved in natural stands.

A field experiment was conducted on loamy soil with pH 8.10 and Ec 0.42 during 2007-2008 at the demonstration/research farm of Punjab Agricultural University to study the effect of irrigation regimes on leaf area and changes in soil nutrients in the plantation of Eucalyptus clones. Three irrigation regimes viz.50mm, 75mm and 100mm CPE were applied to four Eucalyptus clones viz.72,413, 2045 and 2070. Irrigation treatment applied at 75mm CPE (51.44m2) resulted in significantly higher average leaf area compare to other irrigation applied at 50mm and 100mm CPE. Whereas, the higher leaf area index (.470m2 m-2) was observed under irrigation applied at 50mm CPE in clone number 413. The available soil N, P and K found to be decreased at the end of the experiment.

Dalbergia sissoo is an important commercial tree species known for its variety of adaptive and economic traits. Ontogeny plays a significant role in adventitious rooting in Dalbergia sissoo as mature trees of 12 yr of age do not exhibit marked rooting. However, cuttings from young donors receiving auxin treatment induce ample rooting for mass cloning and plantation programmes. Despite variable response to growth regulators in different experiments, IBA treatment with 4000ppm concentration clearly maintains superiority for rooting in juvenile and coppice shoot cuttings of Dalbergia sissoo.

The present study on the Phenotypic, genotypic and environmental correlation studies on leaf fodder nutritional traits in Grewia laevigata Vahl revealed that some nutritional traits viz., nitrogen (%), phosphorus (%), potassium (%), calcium (%), magnesium (%), leaf fresh weight (g), leaf dry weight (g), leaf dry matter (%), crude protein (%), crude fibre (%), ether extract (%), total ash (%), nitrogen free extract (%) exhibited genotypic correlation coefficients of all parameters were found greater than phenotypic and environmental correlation coefficients. Study concludes that there is need for calculation of genotypic and phenotypic Variances heritability and genotypic advance in different characters with this basic information.

An attempt has been made to study the mineralogy and distribution pattern and concentration trends of trace element in the soil clay fractions and parent material of Maldeota, Satengal and Dhanaulti in Mussoorie forest division, Uttarakhand.  Light minerals constituted bulk of sand fractions and comprised quartz, feldspar and mica in order of their abundance. Heavy minerals contributed small fractions and were dominated by opaque minerals, calcite, chlorite, zircon, hornblende etc. Clay fractions are characterized by illite as the dominant clay mineral associated with appreciable amount of kaolinite, mixed layer minerals, chlorite and small amounts of vermiculite, calcite and quartz. Chemical analysis of clay fractions indicates that the soils developed over quartzite, black shale, phosphorite and phyllite, do not show marked variation in silica-sesquioxides as well as silica-alumina ratios within the profiles, whereas in the profiles developed over dolomite and limestone, impoverishment of the sesquioxides in the upper horizons was noticed. This has resulted in the increase in the content of silica in the clay complex of the latter soils as also an increase in silica-sesquioxides ratio at the surface. Trace element studies of rocks and clay fractions show significant correlation between the trace elements (Viz. V, Cr, Co, Ni, Zn, Bo etc.) available in rocks and corresponding clay fractions.

Pinus gerardiana an economically important and ecologically significant coniferous tree species grows in the dry temperate forests of Kinnaur in Western Himalayas. Natural regeneration of the species is deficient as every single cone is harvested from the tree and no seed is allowed to fall on the ground. Present study throws light on its distribution and the status of natural regeneration in its natural zone of occurrence. The species is distributed from an average altitude of 1,960 m to 3,365 m above msl, but dominates the community 2,900 m upwards. In most of the sites it was contagiously distributed except one site where it had random distribution. From stand structure as revealed by frequency distribution, it is evident that P. gerardiana stands are unmanaged. In general, regeneration was poor and there was preponderance of mature and over-mature trees.

Introduction of root trainer technology for raising Teak planting stock has had a major impact on seedling production system as well as nursery and plantation management as a whole. Even though, the new technology offers various advantages over the conventional nursery techniques, there is a paucity of data on status of seedling health in root trainers. A systematic disease survey was carried out in seven Teak root trainer nurseries in the Kerala State during 2000-2004. The study revealed that Teak root trainer seedlings were almost free from soil-borne fungal diseases. Often seedling congestion in root trainers led to foliage infection by pathogens, Alternaria alternata, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, Curvularia lunata, Pestalotiopsis maculans,  Phoma glomerata, P. eupyrena, Phomopsis tectonae, P. variosporum,  Rhizoctonia solani  etc. In general, severity and spread of foliage infection caused by most pathogens was low in all the nurseries surveyed, except leaf blight caused by Phoma glomerata. Bacterial seedling infections by Psuedomonas tectonae were the major threat to the planting stock in most nurseries. Management of foliage disease was possible by application of fungicides (Mancozeb @ 0.2% a.i. / Carbendazim @ 0.1% a.i / Carboxin @ 0.1% a.i). Bacterial infections were controlled by application of Plantamycin/ Oxytetracycline/ Streptomycin sulphate + Tetracycline hydrochloride @ 1000 ppm.

An experiment was conducted in root trainers using chemical and biofertilizers in different combinations. The experiment was laid out in RBD (Randomized Block Design) with seven treatments and four replications. The results indicated that out of seven treatments T5 (N17.5P33.0 mg/Root Trainer + Rhizobium + VAM) demonstrated a significant difference in the mean values of morphological and quality parameters of Acacia catechu seedlings. The study revealed that chemical fertilizer can be used in combination with biofertilizers resulted in the good quality seedlings. Biofertilizers alone were not found to be effective.

Experiment was conducted to optimize the appropriate potting mixture ingredients, their proportion for raising quality planting stock of Albizia lebbeck seedlings. Among all the treatments T4 produced best results with respect to most of the growth (i.e. height and collar diameter), biomass (fresh and dry weights) and quality parameters (DQI); however its performance was at par with T3 treatment. On the other hand seedlings raised in treatment T2 performed better for root: shoot ratio and sturdiness compared to other treatments. Thus FYM in combination of soil and sand holds promise as a potting medium for raising seedlings of Albizia lebbeck, as FYM possess better water holding capacity and regulates nutrient uptake, improve plant yield and physical status of soil.

Analysis of woody components of 4 communities in Nubra valley of Ladakh revealed that Hippophae rhamnoides was the most dominant species sharing 31 per cent of total importance value. Across the communities within landscape relative dominance of this species decreased from 77.76 per cent on most hydric sites (along river bank) to merely 0.27 per cent on most xeric sites (dry rocks). On the other hand, relative dominance of Ephedra gerardiana and Berberis ulicina increased with increasing aridity of sites. Productivity-diversity relationship followed unimodal curve which peaked at sites along streams. Maximum species turnover rate was found across the sites along steams while the most xeric sites were more uniform within.

A reduviid bug, Panthous bimaculatus Distant. is reported as a potential biocontrol agent against the two major pests of Ailanthus triphysa (Dennst.) Alston. viz., Eligma narcissus Roth. and Atteva fabriciella Swed. Based on both laboratory and field studies, it was found that the bugs were able to devour the larvae of both the pests. The predatory bugs were reared out successfully in the laboratory. Under field conditions, the predatory bug exerted only minimum control of pest population.

The population dynamics of Lantana camera, an exotic weed, was studied over a period of 25 months on annual basis along a disturbance gradient in Teak forest of Topslip, Western Ghats. Both the natality and mortality of the weed were increased along with the increase in the level of disturbance in the studied Teak forests. The natality rate was higher (116.67%) in the degraded forest without tree canopy during the year 1997-1998 and it was lower (42.31%) in undisturbed Teak forests. In the similar fashion, the per cent mortality of the weed was also higher (273.33%) in degraded forest than the disturbed and undisturbed Teak forests. Consequently the population increase of L.camara was significantly higher in degraded forest during the year 1997-1998.

The experiment was conducted in the existing plantations of A. mollissima having three density classes (D1, D2 and D3) at Dr. Y. S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry Solan (India). Adjacent grassland was considered as control. Three exotic grasses viz., Setaria sphacelata var. Narok (S1), Setaria sphacelata var. Kajungula (S2) and Panicum maximum (S3) were planted under each density class and the grassland in the month of July. Survival and growth parameters (density and basal area) of these grasses were recorded after first growing season. Survival (%), density and basal area of exotic grasses decreased significantly under trees. Survival (%) varied from 73.33 to 82.22 in grassland and 50.00 to 7.8% under plantations. Density (tillers/m2) of exotic grasses varied from 28.42 to 39.47 in grassland and 11.92 to 27.22 under plantations. Basal area (cm2/m2) of the grasses ranged from 9.56 to 43.05 in grassland and 0.58 to 15.19 under plantations. D3 density of trees showed more adverse effects on grasses followed by D2 and D1. Among the three grasses Panicum maximum showed more tolerance to the effect of trees. However, the other two grasses showed moderate success under trees.

the study reveals the impact of three exotic tree species namely Dalbergia melanoxylon, Guill. and Per., Gliricidia sepium, Kunth ex Steud. and Leucaena leucocephala de Wit. on the indigenous tree and shrub species through a phytosociological study and statistical analysis on Vetal hill in Pune. It reveals the declining status of native woody species due to rapid growth and spreading of these exotic species.

World’s richest productive ecosystem is the coastal zone. Its richness attracted high human population growth in coastal areas resulting in deforestation for establishment of industries, tourism, port and disposal ground of waste. In the East Coastal Zone 9 rivers, including Gang-Hooghly river system fall into Bay of Bengal adding about 21, 660 m3/day of waste and 21.0152 MT/day of solid waste which finally goes to Sunderban area polluting marine water, soil and plant population. Similarly, in the Western Coastal Zone, 11 major ports and about 10,000 ships per year continuously polluting water, soil and flora and fauna. The water, soil status of Eastern and Western zone from different identified location indicated high salinity C.O.D., B.O.D., pH. For those area, the mangrove, Avicennia officianalis is identified as bio-marker and hyper heavy metal accumulator for salinity and heavy metals.

The influence of neighbouring tree species on architectual traits of companion tree species was studied in mixed plantations raised for revegetation of coal mine spoil. The three types of combinations used were legume: legume, legume: non-legume and non-legume: non-legume. The architectural traits analysed were height-diameter relationships and crown mass-trunk mass relationships. The neighbouring species altered the height-diameter relationships in Acacia catechu, Pongamia pinnata, Tectona grandis and Terminalia bellirica. Similarly, the neighbouring species was also found to alter the crown mass-trunk mass relationships in A. catechu, Gmelina arborea, P. pinnata, T. grandis and T. bellirica.

To find out the impact of trees on some physical and chemical properties of soil, nine and eight MPTS were planted at 3x3 m spacing in July month of 1984 and 1985 respectively at AICRP on Agroforestry Farm, SDAU, Sardarkrushinagar. The results obtained from tree plantations of 16 years age and from fallow land indicated striking variation due to tree species with respect to physical and chemical properties of soil. The bulk density (BD) significantly decreased under all the tree plantations. Among the tree species studied, Ailanthus excelsa recorded significantly lower value of BD (1.49 g/cc) and highest water holding capacity (31.32 %) in comparison to other tree species. The organic carbon content in the soil under all the tree species was significantly higher as compared to control (0.17%). Considerable increase in the availability of N, P, and K was observed in the soil samples drawn from the tree plantation as compared to control. Among different species, maximum content of available N (235.5kg/ha), P(45.1kg/ha) and K (403 kg/ha) was recorded under Albizia lebbeck, Prosopis cineraria and Azadirachta indica, respectively. These nutrients decreasing with increase in depth. Among the trees, Azadirachta indica and Ailanthus excelsa were relatively superior in soil amelioration.

This article presents an overview of Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification, its genesis and culmination to APG III. An analysis of the 413 families recognized in APG III revealed that 259 families are represented in India. It is hoped that this article may initiate the option of arranging the specimens in Indian herbaria following APG classification and would facilitate teachers and students in knowing the current and advanced phylogenetic system of classification.

Life-forms and biological spectrum of the flora of a riverine forest of Song river have been determined. The biological spectrum reveals that the vegetation of this area is thero-phanerophytic. The life-forms observed were therophytes (52.79%), phanerophytes (29.33%), chamaephytes (7.33%), cryptophytes (5.87%) and hemicryptophytes (4.68%). Results show that the percentage of the therophytes in the riverine area is nearly four times higher than those of the same life forms in the normal biological spectrum of Raunkiaers. The higher percentage of therophytes was due to the biotic disturbances like mining, grazing, browsing and lopping of trees.

The structure,composition, yield and diversity of ground vegetation under eight  tree plantations on sodic wasteland were compared among each other and with an adjacent open stand. The communities were floristically distinct   from   each other on different stands. However, the community on open stand was relatively more similar with the communities under Eucalyptus tereticornis and Acacia catechu plantation stands than with other stands. The herbage yield was lowest on open stand and it was higher under Acacia auriculiformis and Casuarina equisetifolia plantation stands. The contribution of grasses to the total herbage yield was maximum (98%) on open stand and minimum (27%) under C. equisetifolia plantation stand. Herbage yield in the present study also indicated an inverse relationship with soil ESP and pH, thus suggesting that on improving the sodic level of the soil, the herbage yield also increased. Shannon – Wiener diversity was lower, while concentration of dominance was higher for ground vegetation on open stand than any of the plantation stand. Among the plantation stands, diversity was higher under A. catechu, E. tereticornis and Terminalia arjuna plantation stands than under other plantation stands. Diversity tended to show a positive relation with the herbage yield, whereas the relationships between diversity and soil ESP and pH were negative. Dominance-diversity curves for all the herbaceous communities fit the geometric series. Single species dominance is more pronounced in the community on open stand than the communities under tree plantation stands.

This paper is based on the analysis of survey data of 500 lac growers in Ranchi and West Singhbhum districts of Jharkhand during two years (2002-2004). On the basis of survey data analysis, the yield gaps were observed to be 38.0, 49.3 and 19.1 per cent of the potential farm yield on the major lac host plants Palas (Butea monosperma), Ber (Zizyphus mauritiana) and Kusum (Schleichera oleosa) respectively. The lower yield gap in case of lac cultivation on Kusum as compared to palas and ber can be attributed to higher realized yield of lac on Kusum. Lac growers could not adopt improved techniques of lac cultivation because of their poor condition. About 87.5% lac growers have adopted Phunki removal, 62.5% have adopted pruning of lac hosts, 42.0% have adopted bundling of broodlac and tagging on plant and 28.0% have adopted selection of good quality broodlac techniques. The adoption of coupe system of lac cultivation, spray of insecticide and use of synthetic net was below 10%. The major constraints faced by the lac growers (more than 50%) in lac cultivation have been identified to be shortage of funds for purchase of input, non-availability of improved inputs in local market, theft of lac, lack of scientific knowledge on lac cultivation, insect mortality due to environmental factors, operational difficulty due to host height, lack of demonstration on farmer’s field, long distance of market and lack of grading facility in the market.

Fallopia dentatoalata (F. Schmidt) Holub (Polygonaceae) is reported here from Himachal Pradesh, for the first time for India. Detailed description, colour photographs, SEM plates and relevant notes are provided to facilitate easy identification of the species.

Two species of Cololejeunea (Spruce) Schiffn., viz. C. macounii (Spruce ex Underw.) A. Evans, an Asian-North American disjunct, and C. ocellata (Horik.) Benedix, an East Asian species, are described for the first time in Indian bryoflora from West district of Sikkim.

Gastrochilus distichus (Lindl.) Kuntze is reported for the first time in Himachal Pradesh and the occurrence of Coelogyne cristata Lindl. in Himachal Pradesh is confirmed.

Christisonia keralensis Erady (Orobanchaceae), a taxon so far known from Western Ghat, is described here as a new report to North-East India from Manas National Park, Assam. A detailed description, photograph and distribution is provided for its easy identification.

The present taxonomic review on the genus Lobelia L. recognizes 6 species. These are keyed out and each species is appended with description, distribution and ecological notes. 4 exotic ornamentals are also included in study.

Tofieldia coccinea Richardson is described as a new distributional record for India, and the genus is recorded first time with two species for Flora of Arunachal Pradesh.

Cassytha filiformis L. is reported for the first time from Jammu and Kashmir.

Thelypteris nudata (Roxb.) C.V. Morton and Nephrolepis cordifolia (L.) Trimen belonging to the family Thelypteridaceae and Oleandraceae respectively have been collected recently from the area evidently indicating their possible rarity in Nainital hills due to which they have not been recollected in the past by the earlier workers. This paper attempts to provide relevant information about them along with a brief description, ecology and distribution in India and world.

A new species Cryptocoryne tambraparaniana is described and illustrated. The species differs from its closely allied species, Cryptocoryne spiralis (Retz.) Fischer ex Wydler, in having long peduncle, long runner internodes, cataphylls shape, number of appendages, nature of spathe margins, long staminate flower, syncarpium shape and number of seeds.

Eria alba Lindl. (Orchidaceae) is recollected from Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh after a gap of more than a century. It was earlier recorded by Duthie in 1906 from Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh.

Arnebia linearifolia A.DC., belonging to family Boraginaceae, so far reported from North Africa, W. and Central Asia, Transcaucasus, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan are now reported for the first time from Hoshiarpur, Punjab in India as a new record. The detailed description, illustrations and range of distribution of the taxon along with specimens examined have been provided.

In the present study, an attempt has been made to record the changes in floristic composition in Parasnath hill during the past 150 years. In all 568 taxa belonging to 360 genera and 101 families are reported from the area, out of those 188 taxa (33.09%) recorded on or before 1955 have diminished or untraceable and 136 taxa (23.94%) are reported as new additions during present survey. The possible reasons for the changes are also discussed.