International Journal of Botany and Research (IJBR) ISSN (P): 2277-4815; ISSN (E): 2319-4456 Vol. 7, Issue 4, Aug 2017, 41-54 © TJPRC Pvt. Ltd. ANGIOSPERMIC FLORA OF ACHANAKMAR-AMARKANTAK BIOSPHERE RESERVE, CENTRAL INDIA SHILPA VINODIA & A K DIXIT Department of Botany, Guru-Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya, Koni, Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, India ABSTRACT A precise report is done in unexplored locales of Achanakmar-Amarkantak Biosphere Reserve (AABR), Central India, which has uncovered 442 taxa belonging to 345 genera under 109 families. Out of these recorded taxa, 238 are herbs, 49 climbers, 72 trees and 83 bushes species. Most frequent families are Fabaceae with 64 species, Asteraceae with 28 species, Lamiaceae with 22 species, Apocynaceae with 20 species and Acanthaceae with 19 species. Out of 442 taxa, 51 species are assessed as threatened, belonging to 46 genera and 28 families. Habenaria diphylla, Nervillia aragoana, Nervillia crociformis, Dendrobium herbaeceum and Acampe rigida of family Orchidaceae, Abrus precatorious var. alba (Fabaceae), Brugmansia suaveolens (Solanaceae), Cleome rutidosperma, C. gynandra (Cleomaceae), and Cinnamomum tamala (Lauraceae) are accounted for surprisingly and gives update to the angiospermic floral database alongwith IUCN categories. Article Original KEYWORDS: Angiosperms, Flora, Achanakmar-Amarkantak Biosphere Reserve & Threatened Taxa Received : Jun 2 8, 2017; Accepted : Jul 18, 2017; Published : Jul 21, 2017; Paper Id : IJBRAUG20176 INTRODUCTION Achanakmar-Amarkantak Biosphere Reserve (AABR) is the 14 th National Biosphere Reserve of India blow out from Maikal Hill Range to Vindhyan and Satpura hill range in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh state of Central India. It lies between 22 015 to 20 058 N and 81 025 to 82 05 E occupies 383551.0 hectare of Geographical area. The forest types are: Northern Indian Tropical moist Deciduous Forest (subtype- moist high level, moist low level and moist valley Sal) and Northern Indian Dry deciduous forest (subtype- Moist mixed deciduous and dry mixed deciduous).The major river originating from the buffer zone of AABR- Narmada river flows toward west, other two Johila and Sone rivers flow towards North. Indian Forest Act VII declared AABR as Reserve forest in 1878. Many tribal communities reside here and relied on forest produces for their livelihood. AABR is endowed with rich biodiversity with varied climate and support highly medicinal flora. But, in present scenario, it is observed that there has been a continuous decline in floristic pattern, influenced by anthropogenic activity like fire, technology and trade (McNeely, 1994). In India, information on medicinally important RET taxa is given by Jain (1983); Nair and Shastry (1988); Margules and Pressey (2000), Ahmedullah and Nayar (1986); Ghate and Vartak (1990); Vajravelu and Daniel (1983); Reid (1992); Oldfield et al. (1998), IUCN (2001, 2005), Chaudhary and Sarkar (2002), Das (2003); Burton (2003); Jain and Vairale (2007); Modi & Mathad (2016). Documentation of RET plants in Sindhuragiri hills, Southern Western Ghats, Tamil Nadu was done by Aadhan and Anand (2017), enumerated 45 RET Species, out of which 18 are rare, 11 endangered, 10 are vulnerable, 2 are critically endangered and 01 near threatened. In Central India, many contributions on plant diversity and their RET status have been carried out viz., Mujaffar et al.(2013) recorded some Angiospermic plants www.tjprc.org [email protected] 42 Shilpa Vinodia & A K Dixit new to Central India. Ray and Sainkhediya (2014) reported 94 RET plants distributed in 45 families of which 25 are Vulnerable, 40 are Endangered and 18 are Critically Endangered in Nimar Region of Madhya Pradesh. Bharti (2015) enumerated 37 rare and endangered species form Shahdol (M.P). Tewari at al. (2014) investigated 15 threatened wild herbal medicinal species from Bilaspur district. Sinha (2013) reported some threatened plants, 62 as vulnerable, 27 as endangered, and 14 as critically endangered. ENVIS Centre on Conservation of Medicinal Plants reported 47 species as threatened. 1 species has been assigned critically endangered (CR) status, 05 species as Endangered (EN), 11 species as Vulnerable (VU) and 30 species as Near threatened (NT) (ENVIS,2010). Ahirwar and Sandya (2015) highlighted 33 threatened ethnomedicinal plant of 33 genera and 26 families used by tribal community of Achanakmar-Amarkantak Biosphere Reserve (AABR). From AABR, 1572 species of flora was identified by Anon (2007, 2008, 2010) including 511 flowering plants of medicinal values. Joshi et al., (2010) reported more than 1,111 species of Angiosperms from Achanakmar-Amarkantak Biosphere Reserve, Out of which Twenty eight threatened species was reported as threatened (Ved, et al., 2003; Ved et al ., 2006). Vinodia and Dixit (2017) reported a new terrestrial orchid H.diphylla from AABR. Literature suggested that previous publication of AABR contain some contradictory, confusing and old data, which needs an updated. An attempt has been made to update existing information along with new taxa and new locales with biosphere reserve. MATERIAL AND METHODS Plants Specimens have been collected from ten localities of Achanakmar-Amarkantak Biosphere Reserve (Fig. 1) between January 2014 – March 2017 in regular interval. Collected specimens were dried, poisoned and preserved using standard herbarium techniques (Jain and Rao, 1977). Voucher specimens are deposited in the Department of Botany, Guru- Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya, Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh). Figure 1: Map of Achanakmar-Amarkantak Biosphere Reserve Identification done with the help of regional Floras, Literature, viz. Hooker (1872-1897), Singh et al., (2001), Murthi and Panigrahi (1999); Verma et al., (1993); Mudgal et al . (1997), Khanna et. al., (2009).Status of each plant species have been assessed on the basis of IUCN criteria 2010 (Version, 8.1); (2010) and list of angiospermic flora has been prepared alphabetically (Table.1). Database of Threatened plants based on IUCN criteria (IUCN, 2010, Ver. 8.1) was Impact Factor (JCC):3.8754 NAAS Rating: 4.08 Angiospermic Flora of Achanakmar-Amarkantak Biosphere Reserve, Central India 43 categorized (Table. 2). The five criteria used to frame RET status are: A. declining population (past, present and/or projected).B. Geographic range size, and fragmentation, decline or fluctuations. C. Small population size and fragmentation, decline, or fluctuations. D. Very small population or very restricted distribution. E. Quantitative analysis. RESULT AND DISCUSSIONS A total of 442 angiosperm species have been identified on the basis of present investigation in AABR. These species are distributed in 109 families and 345 genera. 54 % of the total species are represented by herbs, whereas shrubs, trees and climbers are represented by 19%, 16% and 11 % respectively. In dicots, Fabaceae is the largest family represented by 64 species, followed by family Asteraceae with 28 species, while in monocots, Poaceae is the largest family represented by 15 species. Some medicinally and economically important plants encountered during field visit are Asparagus recemosus Willd. (Satavar), Buchanania lanzan Spreng. (Char), Celastrus paniculatus Willd. (Malkangini), Curculigo orchioides Gaertn. (Kali-musli), Gloriosa superba (Kalihari), Costus speciosus (Keokand)), Abrus precatorius (Gunchi), Nervillia aragoana, Clerodendrum serratum, Chlorophytum tuberosum, Habenaria digitata, Dioscorea bulbifera L. (Dankkanda) etc. Moreover, it is likewise watched that there has been a progressive decrease in the vegetation of Biosphere Reserve. Some intrusive species, for example, Chromolaena odorata, Lantana camara, Parthenium hysterophorus, have additionally been experienced amid field visits, which influence the recovery and regeneration status of neighboring species. Beside this, abuse of woodland produces by local residents and aboriginal inhabitants creates irrelevant weight on timberland and makes insignificant stress on flora. In this specific situation, 51 threatened plants have been discovered in the investigation zone, out of which 33% are vulnerable, 43% are Endangered and 24% are critically endangered (Table.2). CONCLUSIONS From present contemplate, it can be presumed that AABR is rich in botanical wealth and support medicinally and economically important threatened taxa. These important plants require uncommon consideration for their preservation in wild. On the other hand, to mitigate the increasing demands of traditional healers and future challenges, awareness programs should be conducted at local levels for sustainable utilization of threatened restorative plants. Present assessment provides an updated and specific floral diversity in AABR (Central India) yet certain regions remain unexplored. Some plants reported in earlier publications were not encountered during present survey may be due to climate change, habitat loss, introduction of invasive taxa, anthropogenic disturbances, soil erosion etc. Yet, some new taxa has likewise been accounted for interestingly for the first time viz., Habenaria diphylla, Nervillia aragoana, and Nervillia crociformis (Terrestrial orchids), Dendrobium herbaeceum and Acampe rigida (Epiphytic orchids) of family Orchidaceae, Abrus precatorious var. alba (Fabaceae), Brugmansia suaveolens (Solanaceae), Cleome rutidosperma, Cleome. gynandra (Cleomaceae) and Cinnamomum tamala (Lauraceae) which gives an evidence for more conceivable outcomes of discovering fortunes of new taxa and numerous significant threatened species. Table