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Vascular Wall Flora of the Varanasi City, India

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Vascular Wall Flora of the Varanasi City, India International Journal of Research in Pharmacy and Biosciences Volume 3, Issue 3, March 2016, PP 1-10 ISSN 2394-5885 (Print) & ISSN 2394-5893 (Online) Vascular Wall Flora of Varanasi City, India: An Update Arvind Singh Department of Botany, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi-221 005, India ABSTRACT An observational study was conducted to update the vascular wall flora of the world’s oldest city of Varanasi, which spreads over an area of about 150 km2 and situated on the bank of sacred Ganges River in Uttar Pradesh state of India. A total of 192 vascular plant species were recorded from the walls of city, of which 190 species were represented by angiosperms belonging to 147 genera and 51 families while only 2 species were represented by the pteridophytes belonging to 2 genera and 2 families. No any species of gymnosperms was recorded from the walls of Varanasi city. Asteraceae, Poaceae and Fabaceae were the dominant families of the vascular wall flora of Varanasi city. Analysis of wall flora with respect to life forms indicated the dominance of therophytes. The exotic plant species exceeds the number of native plant species on the walls of Varanasi city. Ficus benghalensis, Ficus racemosa, Ficus religiosa, Lindenbergia indica and Tridax procumbens were the most common vascular plant species observed on the walls of Varanasi city. Keywords: Exotic species, native species, Uttar Pradesh, Varanasi city, vascular wall flora INTRODUCTION Varanasi popularly known as Kashi, Benares or Banaras is located in the eastern region of Uttar Pradesh state in Northern India. This city exists between the rivers Varuna and Asi, the two tributaries of the holy river Ganges (also known as Ganga) from which it derives its name Varanasi. It is the cultural capital of India and has long continuous history since 1500 B.C. and finds a mention in the Veda and Purana [1]. Thus Varanasi is the most ancient living city of the world. Varanasi has also been a very important center of learning from ancient times. The city hosts four universities including Banaras Hindu University which is the largest teaching and residential university of Asia. Walls are human-made habitats representing a specific environment which is partly similar to rocks and rock fissures [2]. The artificial origin of walls, their location in urban landscape and technology of their building influences a range of plant species which are able to colonize such habitats [3]. As a specialized microenvironment conditioned by human beings, walls are colonized only by plant species with specific adaptations for development and reproduction [4, 5]. Considering vertical division, walls usually consist of three different zones (i) the base, (ii) the vertical wall surface with joints (fissures); and (iii) the wall top [3]. The colonization of plants on walls is favoured by the age of walls, presence of lime mortar and exposure to rain [6]. According to Gilbert (1991) [7] most true wall species are only found on vertical walls and as the angle of inclination decreases an ever-widening range of common species colonize. Plants growing on the walls reach these habitats by wind, birds and animals and by stolon fragments [3, 8] and grow there randomly [6]. The study of wall flora provides a better understanding of the urban environment [2, 9-11]. Various studies have been conducted to explore the wall flora in urban environment [2, 3, 6, 9-18]. Varshney (1971) [19] was the first to study the wall flora of Varanasi. Thereafter Singh (2014) [20] has attempted to investigate the vascular wall flora of this old city. The present study was undertaken with main objective to update the vascular wall flora of Varanasi city which is the most ancient among the extant cities of the world. The questions addressed in the study were: (i) how many species of vascular plants are hosted by the walls of Varanasi city? (ii) which families dominate the wall flora of the city? (iii) vascular wall plants of which origin status dominate the wall flora of Varanasi city?; and (iv) vascular plant species of which life forms dominate the wall flora of Varanasi city? *Address for correspondence [email protected] International Journal of Research in Pharmacy and Biosciences V3● I3● March 2016 1 Arvind Singh “Vascular Wall Flora of Varanasi City, India: An Update” STUDY AREA Varanasi is situated on the left crescent bank of sacred river Ganges (Fig. 1). It lies 25o 18’ north latitude and 82o 59’ east longitude and stands a height between 71-80 m above mean sea level. The city spreads over an area of about 150 km2 with population of about 1.4 million according to 2011 census. Figure1. Map of the study area Figure2. Ficus benghalensis growing on vertical surface of an older wall near Asi Ghat of Varanasi city 2 International Journal of Research in Pharmacy and Biosciences V3 ● I3 ● March 2016 Arvind Singh “Vascular Wall Flora of Varanasi City, India: An Update” The soil is alluvial type formed by the deposition of sediments of Ganges River. Being located in the Indo-Gangetic Plains of North India the soil is very fertile as the low level floods continuously replenish the soil. Moreover, the soil is sandy loam in texture. The climate is Tropical monsoonal type with three distinct seasons; the cold (November to February), the hot (March ˗ mid-June), and the rainy (mid-June ˗September) while October is regarded strictly as transitional month. The diurnal range of temperature ranges on average between 13 and 14.5o C in the cold and hot months. The highest monthly temperature is recorded in May, varying between 32 and 42oC. The annual rainfall is around 1000 mm of which about 90% occurs in the rainy season [21]. The Varanasi district is rich in floral diversity dominated by the Fabaceae, Asteraceae and Poaceae families [22]. METHODOLOGY The present study is based on a yearlong intensive field survey and collection taken from July 2014 to June 2015. The entire city was divided into four zones i.e. north, south, east and west. One weekly field visit was made in each zone of the city in a month (i.e. 12 field visits in each zone in a year). Thus a total of 48 visits were made in one year in city in the hunt of vascular wall plants. During the field visit all attempts were made to cover the each and every corner of the city. The walls were thoroughly observed from the base to the top to record the plant species. The recorded vascular wall plants were collected from the field for identification. Plants growing on much height on vertical wall surfaces and the wall tops were collected by climbing with the help of ladder. The walls surveyed to record and collect the plants included older walls surrounding residential compounds, parks, gardens, schools, colleges, universities, hospitals, temples, forts, monuments etc., and also the walls of all types of buildings, temples, forts and monuments as well. The collected specimens were identified through various sources [23-25]. The APG III (2009) [26] classification was followed for arranging the taxa to families. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION A total of 192 vascular plant species were recorded from the walls of Varanasi city, of which 190 plant species were represented by the angiosperms while only 2 species were represented by the pteridophytes (Table 1). Compared to the result of the present study Varshney (1971) [19] has recorded 136 vascular plant species from the walls of Varanasi of which 135 species were represented by angiosperms while only one species was represented by the pteridophytes. Another previous study on wall flora of the city of Varanasi reports 173 plant species, of which 171 plant species were represented by angiosperms and only two by the pteridophytes [20]. Studies on the wall flora of European cities reports 174 to 385 plant species [27, 28]. Furthermore, Dos Reis et al. (2006) [16] have recorded only 28 plant species from the walls of a Brazilian city. In the present study no any species of the gymnosperms was recorded from the walls of Varanasi city. Thus the vascular wall flora of Varanasi city is dominated by the angiospermic group of plants. The angiosperms were represented by 147 genera belonging to 51 families. Of the total recorded angiospermic plants, 160 plant species were represented by dicotyledons belonging to 123 genera and 48 families whereas the monocotyledons were represented by 30 plant species belonging to 24 genera and 3 families (Table 2). Thus it is evident from the study that the dicotyledonous plant species dominate the vascular wall flora of Varanasi city with greater degree of variety compared to monocotyledonous species. Majority of the species recorded in the study are weeds of agro-ecosystems and ruderal plants [22]. Weeds of agricultural fields and ruderal plants are the chief constituents of the wall flora [16, 28]. Table1. List of vascular plants recorded from the walls of Varanasi city S. No. Family/Plant species Habit Origin status Life forms ANGIOSPERMS Dicotyledons Acanthaceae 1. Blepharis boerhaviaefolia Pers. Herb Native Therophyte 2. Elytraria acaulis (L. f.) Lindau Herb Exotic Therophyte 3. Justicia diffusa Willd. Herb Exotic Therophyte 4. Justicia simplex D. Don Herb Exotic Therophyte 5. Peristrophe bicalyculata (Retz.) Nees Herb Native Therophyte 6. Ruellia tuberosa L. Herb Exotic Therophyte International Journal of Research in Pharmacy and Biosciences V3● I3● March 2016 3 Arvind Singh “Vascular Wall Flora of Varanasi City, India: An Update” 7. Rungia pectinata (L.) Nees Herb Native Therophyte 8. Rungia repens (L.) Nees Herb Native Therophyte Aizoaceae 1. Trianthema portulacastrum L. Herb Native Therophyte Amaranthaceae 1. Achyranthes aspera L. Herb Native Therophyte 2. Aerva lanata (L.) Juss.
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