NATURAL VEGETATION

NATURAL VEGETATION
        India possesses a great variety of natural vegetation. We have about 47,000 plant species. According to an estimate India is tenth in the world and fourth in Asia in plant diversity. Flowering plants alone number 15,000 in India.
1.    Tropical Evergreen Rainforests – Evergreen forests are found in regions with rainfall above 300 cm. The climate is highly moist and humid. The temperature is even. The dry season is very short. These forests are of equatorial type. They are commonly            found in the Western Ghats and hills of Assam . Important trees of evergreen forests are oak, chestnut, deodar, cedar, chir and pine etc. The trees are often very high (about 100 metres). They have hard wood and broad leaves, and remain green all the              year round.

2.    The Tropical Deciduous Forests or the Monsoon Forests – These forests are the most widespread forests of India. They extend from the Western Ghats in the south to the Shivalik Hills in the north. They are found in areas where the rainfall is between        100 to 200 cm. The trees of these forests shed their leaves during the hot season before the monsoons. The main types of trees include teak, sal, sandalwood, rosewood, ebony, shisham, deodar, khair, Mahua, bamboo, etc. These trees provide                           valuable wood for making furniture and constructing buildings.

3.    The Thorn Forests – These forests are found in regions with less than 100 cm of rains per year. They often consist of stunted forests and bushes. The trees have long roots, small fleshy leaves and often sharp spines. They are stunted and widely spread.         Mainly two kinds of vegetations are found in these forests. Kikar and wild palm are found in areas with moderate rainfall. Scrubs, shrubs and thorny bushes are found in regions having scanty rainfall. This type of vegetation is found in Rajasthan, Punjab,             Haryana, Gujarat and the dry parts of the Deccan Plateau and Madhya Pradesh.

4.    The Tidal Forests or Mangrove forests – These forests are mainly found along the deltas of the rivers, especially the deltas of the Ganga, Mahanadi, Godavari and Krishna rivers. Their dense growth depends on the tidal waters which flood the land                   during the high tides. Mangrove and sundari trees are the common trees found in the Ganga delta in Bengal . It is also called the Sundarbans. Casurina is another important tree of these forests. The hard wood of these trees is very useful for building boats.

5.    Mountain Forests Vegetation of the Himalayan Region – The vegetation in the Himalayan region varies with height or altitude. It changes according to altitude upto the snow line. There are tropical deciduous forests at the foothills . Sal is the most                 common tree of this region. Above the tropical deciduous forests is found the sub-tropical hill vegetation. The green oak, chestnut and chir-pine are the common trees of this region. Coniferous forests are found at the heights between 1,600 and 3,300                 metres. Blue pines, cedars, silver firs and deodar are the common trees of this region.