2021 Journal of Plant Resources Vol.19, No. 1 Plant diversity in Lumbini Area: Plants related to Gautam Buddha’s Life Need Ecological Restoration Achyut Tiwari1*, Prashanna Tiwari2 & Mitra Lal Pathak3* 1Central Department of Botany, Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Kathmandu, Nepal 2Nardevi Central Ayurveda Hospital, Nardevi, Kathmandu, Nepal 3National Botanical Garden, Department of Plant Resources, Ministry of Forest and Environments, Godawari, Lalitpur, Nepal *Email:
[email protected] Abstract Plant diversity of Lumbini area was studied especially focusing on native plants, although large number of non-native species has been planted in the area. We have also compiled the plant species used by Lord Gautam Buddha during his life period through published literature. Altogether, 181 plant species belongs to 51 families were reported from this study. Of them, 41 families were dicot, seven were monocot and three were belongs to Fern and fern allies. 27 plant species were reported as plants used by Lord Gautam Buddha in his life period. 23 species belongs to 10 families were reported as invasive species whereas 39 species of 17 families were found as only tree species. The study area was found rich for Fabaceae and Asteraceae as previous studies in the low land or Terai regions of Nepal. Some of the common species in the ecological region have not been recorded during the survey, indicating that the sacred landscape needs immediate intervention for restoring the native species in Lumbini. Keywords: Invasive plant species, Lumbini, Nepal, Plant diversity Introduction high altitudinal and climatic variation within the small area of 147, 181 km2, ranging from 59 m above Plant diversity refers to the diversity of plants sea level to 8,848 m, the highest point in the world.