Journal of Threatened Taxa |
www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 April 2020 | 12(5): 15619–15630
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893
(Print)
doi: https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.5614.12.5.15619-15630
#5614 | Received 12 December 2019 | Final
received 09 January 2020 | Finally accepted 06 April 2020
Grasses of Kundadri
Hills in the Western Ghats of Karnataka, India
Hanchali Udayashankar
Abhijit 1 & Yelugere Linganaik Krishnamurthy 2
1,2 Department of PG studies and
Research in Applied Botany, Kuvempu University, Jnanasahyadri, Shankaraghatta,
Shivamogga, Karnataka 577451, India.
1 abhitrogon@gmail.com, 2 murthy_ylk@yahoo.co.in
(corresponding author)
Editor: N.P. Balakrishnan, Ret. Joint
Director, Botanical Survey of India, Coimbatore, India. Date
of publication: 26 April 2020 (online & print)
Citation: Abhijit, H.U. & Y.L.
Krishnamurthy (2020). Grasses of Kundadri
Hills in the Western Ghats of Karnataka, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 12(5): 15619–15630. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.5614.12.5.15619-15630
Copyright: © Abhijit & Krshnamurthy 2020. Creative
Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction,
and distribution of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to
the author(s) and the source of publication.
Funding: DST Inspire.
Competing interests: The authors
declare no competing interests.
Author details: Hanchali Udayashankar Abhijit is DST Inspire awardee and he
has very much Interest in Plant taxonomy and diversity assessment. Presently
working on diversity and distribution of grasses in the central Western Ghats
of Karnataka, India and he was document the three additional grasses to the
flora of Karnataka. Yelugere Linganaik Krishnamurthy is
Professor in Applied Botany and he has expert in Plant Biodiversity - survey,
documentation and conservation and fungal endophytes - Enhancement of plant
growth by incorporation of beneficial fungi and fungal metabolite profiling,
Exploration and characterization of lichens. Presently four of his students
working on plant systematics.
Author contribution: HUA - carried out the field work,
data collection, identification, photography, herbarium preparation, data
interpretation, manuscript writing. YLK
- carried out the field work, guided for data interpretation and manuscript
writing.
Acknowledgements: The authors are thankful to Prof. K. Gopalakrishna Bhat,
Taxonomic research Centre, Poorna Prajna College,
Udupi for their help in the ID conformation. The gratitude extended to
Karnataka forest department for giving the entry to the study site. First
author thank to DST Inspire, Govt. of India for financial support and also Mr.
Krishna Kulkarni, Department of Environmental Science, Kuvempu
University, Mr. G.S. Adithya Rao, Mr. H.U. Vishwajith
and Mr. Praveena Hosagadde
for their support during the research work.
Abstract: The present communication
provides a checklist of grass flora in Kundadri Hill
of central Western Ghats, Karnataka.
During the exploration, a total of 78 species belonging to two
sub-families, 12 tribes, and 43 genera of Poaceae
have been documented.
Keywords: Checklist, diversity, plant
taxonomy, Poaceae.
INTRODUCTION
Grasses are morphologically complex and diverse
angiosperms and cover one-fifth of the earth’s land surface (Shantz 1954). Twenty-four percent of the earth’s vegetation
is comprised of Grass; they grow in both tropical and temperate regions (Jain
1986). Globally, grasses are represented
by 10,550 species belonging to 715 genera (Pathak 2013) whereas, in India 1,200
species belonging to 268 genera are documented (Karthikeyan et al. 1989; Moulik 1997). About
430 grass species are endemic to India, among them Indian peninsular region
shows 55% endemism (Jain 1986).
India is one among the 17 mega biodiversity nations
with 5,000 endemic flora (Nayar 1996). In India, the Western Ghats is one of the hot
spots and the second most speciose center for
endemism comprising 1,500 endemic flora (Nayar
1980). The Western Ghats is a long
mountain range running parallel to the western coast of India. It consists of dense evergreen forests,
grasslands, streams, and other wetlands.
The region receives heavy precipitation from southwest monsoon and has
good edaphic factors giving it a dense plant life (Gadgil
1996). Grass flora has been extensively
studied in the northern and southern Western Ghats (Sreekumar & Nair 1991;
Kabeer & Nair 2009; Potdar et al. 2012). The central Western Ghats, however, remains
largely understudied. Therefore, in the present work, we explored the grass
diversity in Kundadri Hill, a hillock in central
Western Ghats of Karnataka that records the highest rainfall in peninsular India
(Manjunatha 2015).
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Study area
The Kundadri Hill
(13.553–13.564 0N and 75.156-–75.177 0E) is a monolith
(Figure 1). It consists of tropical
evergreen forest and patches of shola grasslands. Hill top having 17th century Jain
temple of 23rd thirthankara Parshwanath and two ponds that hold water throughout the
year. The Hill is located amidst the
rain forests of central Western Ghats. It receives 7,620mm average annual
rainfall and the average annual temperature is 23.50C (Manjunatha et al. 2015).
This area provides both rocky as well as soil substrates. The rock and its crevices act as a micro
habitat for many annual specialized endemic grass communities (Porembski 2000).
Data collection
Opportunistic sampling method was used for the
collection of grasses. The survey was
conducted during August 2017–August 2019.
The habitats for sampling was classified according to Bhat & Nagendran (2001) and Kabeer & Nair (2009). Our study site consisted of open areas,
grasslands, road cuttings, rock crevices, forest area, moist places, shady
places, and stream sides. Specimens were
collected and identified using floras and research papers (Bor
1960: Bhat & Nagendran 2001; Potdar
et al. 2012). Herbaria was prepared as
described by Rao & Sharma (1990).
The documented grasses are classified on the basis of Bor classification (1960) Voucher specimens are deposited
in the herbarium, department of applied botany, Kuvempu
University, Karnataka, India.
RESULT AND DISCUSSION
The floristic assessment of the family Poaceae in different regions of the study area revealed a
total of 78 species of 43 genera belonging to 12 tribes and two
subfamilies. A detailed checklist of
grass species, their subfamilies, tribe and habitat of each species (Table 1)
and photographs of the selected species (Images 1–4) are provided. The subfamily Panicoidae
shows 47 species of 27 genera and two tribes, of which 26 species belong to
tribe Andropogoneae including four varieties and 21
species belong to tribe Paniceae. Genus Ischaemum
shows maximum number of species (seven).
The sub family Pooideae shows 31 Species of 16
genera and 10 tribes, in that six species belong to Arundinellae,
10 Species belong to Eragrostaeae, and three species
belong to both Chloridae and Isachneae. Two species in Garnotieae,
Babuseae, and Sporoboleae
and the tribe Aristidae, Centotheceae,
Oryzeae have one species each. Genus Arundinella
shows the maximum number of species (five) (Figure 2 & 3). Apluda mutica L. and Indopoa
paupercula (Stapf)
Bor., are the two monotypic genera recorded during the study. This indicates the small geographical area of
Kundadri Hill having rich grass diversity. Open area, moist area, grasslands and, rock
crevices are the common habitats in the study area. We documented 26% from the open area, 19%
from grasslands, 18% from rock crevices, 13% from moist wet area, 9% from road
cuttings, 8% from moist shady area, and 5% and 2% from forest area and stream
side, respectively. According to IUCN
Red List status all the documented species come under Not Evaluated (NE)
category but regionally 27 species are rare and remaining 51 species are common
to the study site (Figure 4). Open area,
grasslands and rock crevices are the most suitable habitats for grasses in the
study area.
Grass flora of northern Western Ghats and southern
Western Ghats are well studied (Sreekumar & Nair 1991; Kabeer & Nair
2009; Potdar et al. 2012). Thomas et al. (2012) worked on Chasmophytic grasses of Vellinagiri
Hills located in southern Western Ghats.
They documented 30 species of wild chasmophytic
grasses belong to 23 genera and dominated by four species of genera Eragrostis. Barbhuiya et al. (2013) recorded grasses in Barak Valley of
southern Assam around 6,922km2 area and provide the checklist of 98
grass species belonging to 49 genera.
Region exhibit 32% of grass flora of Assam State. Various authors have explored the flora of
central Western Ghats (Saldanha & Nicholson 1976; Yoganarasimhan
et al. 1982; Saldanha 1984; Murthy 1990; Ramaswami et
al. 2001). Poaceae,
however, is underrepresented in these reports except for Bhat & Nagendran (2001), who have explored grasses and sedges in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts which act as a first
grass flora of central Western Ghats. We
recorded 78 species of grasses in our study site which is just around
155ha. This represents 6.5% of grass
species recorded in India. This
indicates the richness of grass species in the region. Much of the documented species are recorded
in habitats like rock crevices and grasslands which are prone to change in land
(Figure 4). Habitat disturbance is known
to alter grassland species composition (Joy 1992).
Various disturbance factors like livestock grazing, ecotourism, and
development affect Kundadri Hills. Similarly, threats like urbanization,
encroachment, agricultural intensification, resource exploitation are plaguing
the Western Ghats region (Gunawardene et al.
2007). Therefore, we stress the
importance of conservation of these species and the habitat.
Table 1. Checklist of documented grasses in Kundadri Hill .
|
Botanical
name |
Subfamily |
Tribe |
Habitat |
1 |
Acroceras munroanum (Balansa)
Henr. |
Panicoideae |
Paniceae |
Moist shades |
2 |
Alloteropsis cimicina (L.) Stapf |
Panicoideae |
Paniceae |
Open area |
3 |
Apluda mutica L. |
Panicoideae |
Andropogoneae |
Road cuttings |
4 |
Aristida setaceae Retz. |
Pooideae |
Aristideae |
Open area |
6 |
Arthraxon hispidus (Thunb.)
Makino |
Panicoideae |
Andropogoneae |
Rock crevices |
5 |
Arthraxon hispidus var. santapaui
(Bor) Welzen |
Panicoideae |
Andropogoneae |
Rock crevices |
7 |
Arthraxon lanceolatus (Roxb.)
Hochst |
Panicoideae |
Andropogoneae |
Moist shades |
8 |
Arundinella ciliata (Roxb.)
Nees ex Miq. |
Pooideae |
Arundinelleae |
Road cuttings |
9 |
Arundinella nepalensis Trin. |
Pooideae |
Arundinelleae |
Stream side |
10 |
Arundinella pumila (Hochst.
ex A.Rich.) Steud. |
Pooideae |
Arundinelleae |
Road cuttings |
11 |
Arundinella purpurea Hochst.
ex Steud. |
Pooideae |
Arundinelleae |
Grasslands |
12 |
Arundinella tuberculata Munro ex Lisboa |
Pooideae |
Arundinelleae |
Grasslands |
13 |
Bambusa arundinacea (Retz.) Willd. |
Pooideae |
Bambuseae |
Forest area |
14 |
Capillipedium huegelii (Hack.)Stapf |
Panicoideae |
Andropogoneae |
Moist shades |
15 |
Centotheca lappacea (L.) Desv. |
Pooideae |
Centotheceae |
Open area |
16 |
Chloris
barbata Sw. |
Pooideae |
Chlorideae |
Open area |
17 |
Chrysopogon aciculatus (Retz.) Trin. |
Panicoideae |
Andropogoneae |
Open area |
18 |
Chrysopogon hackeli (Hook.f.)
C.E.C.Fisch. |
Panicoideae |
Andropogoneae |
Grasslands |
19 |
Coelachne simpliciuscula
(Wight & Arn. Ex Steud.)
Munro ex Benth |
Pooideae |
Isachneae |
Moisty area |
20 |
Cymbopogon martinii (Roxb.) |
Panicoideae |
Andropogoneae |
Grasslands |
21 |
Cynodon dactylon L. |
Pooideae |
Chlorideae |
Open area |
22 |
Cynodon
radiatus Roth ex Roem.
& Schult |
Pooideae |
Chlorideae |
Open area |
23 |
Cyrtococcum deccanense Bor. |
Panicoideae |
Paniceae |
Moist shades |
24 |
Cyrtococcum longipes (Wight & Arn. ex Hook.f.) A.Camus |
Panicoideae |
Paniceae |
Moist shades |
25 |
Cyrtococcum oxyphyllum (Steud.)
Stapf |
Panicoideae |
Paniceae |
Moist shades |
26 |
Dactyloctenium aegyptium (L.) Willd. |
Pooideae |
Eragrosteae |
Open area |
27 |
Dichanthium annulatum (Forssk.)
Stapf |
Panicoideae |
Andropogoneae |
Open area |
28 |
Digitaria bicornis (Lam.) Roem.
& Schult. |
Panicoideae |
Paniceae |
Open area |
29 |
Digitaria ciliaris (Retz.) Koeler |
Panicoideae |
Paniceae |
Open area |
30 |
Digitaria longiflora (Retz.) Pers. |
Panicoideae |
Paniceae |
Grasslands |
31 |
Digitaria Radicosa (J.Prisl.)
Miq. |
Panicoideae |
Paniceae |
Open area |
32 |
Dimeria lawsonii (Hook.f.)
C.E.C.Fisch. |
Panicoideae |
Andropogoneae |
Grasslands |
35 |
Dimeria ornithopoda Trin. |
Panicoideae |
Andropogoneae |
Road cuttings |
33 |
Dimeria stapfiana C.E.Hubb.
ex Pilger |
Panicoideae |
Andropogoneae |
Rock crevices |
34 |
Eleusine indica (L.) Gaertn. |
Pooideae |
Eragrosteae |
Open area |
36 |
Elytrophorus spicatus (Willd.)
A. Camus |
Pooideae |
Eragrosteae |
Open area |
37 |
Eragrostis atrovirens (Desf.)
Trin. ex Steud. |
Pooideae |
Eragrosteae |
Moisty area |
38 |
Eragrostis
japonica (Thunb.) Trin. |
Pooideae |
Eragrosteae |
Open area |
39 |
Eragrostis unioloides (Retz.) Nees
ex Steud. |
Pooideae |
Eragrosteae |
Open area |
40 |
Eulalia
trispicata (Schult.) Henrard |
Panicoidae |
Andropogoneae |
Grasslands |
41 |
Garnotia arundinacea Hook.f. |
Pooideae |
Garnotieae |
Road cuttings |
42 |
Garnotia tenella (Arn.
ex Miq.) Janowski |
Pooideae |
Garnotieae |
Rock crevices |
43 |
Glyphochloa forficulata (C.E.C.Fisch.)
Clayton |
Panicoideae |
Andropogoneae |
Rock crevices |
44 |
Glyphochloa mysorensis (S.K.Jain
& Hemadri) Clayton |
Panicoideae |
Andropogoneae |
Rock crevices |
45 |
Heteropogon contortus (L.) P.Beauv.
ex Roem. & Schult. |
Panicoideae |
Andropogoneae |
Grasslands |
46 |
Imperata cylindrica (L.) Raeusch.
* |
Panicoideae |
Andropogoneae |
Open area |
47 |
Indopoa paupercula (Stapf)
Bor |
Pooideae |
Eragrosteae |
Rock crevices |
48 |
Isachne globosa (Thunb.)
Kuntze |
Pooideae |
Isachneae |
Moisty area |
49 |
Isachne gracilis C.E.Hubb. |
Pooideae |
Isachneae |
Moisty area |
50 |
Ischaemum commutatum Hack. |
Panicoideae |
Andropogoneae |
Grasslands |
51 |
Ischaemum indicum (Houtt.)
Merr. |
Panicoideae |
Andropogoneae |
Grasslands |
52 |
Ischaemum rugosum Salisb. |
Panicoideae |
Andropogoneae |
Moisty area |
53 |
Ischaemum semisagittatum Roxb. |
Panicoideae |
Andropogoneae |
Road cuttings |
54 |
Ischaemum timorense Kunth |
Panicoideae |
Andropogoneae |
Grasslands |
55 |
Ischaemum tumidum Stapf ex
Bor |
Panicoideae |
Andropogoneae |
Grasslands |
56 |
Ischaemum zeylanicolum Bor. |
Panicoideae |
Andropogoneae |
Rock crevices |
57 |
Jansenella griffithiana (Mull.
Stuttg.) Bor |
Pooideae |
Arundinelleae |
Road cuttings |
58 |
Leersia hexandra Sw. |
Pooideae |
Oryzeae |
Moisty area |
59 |
Ochlandra scriptoria (Dennst.) C.E.C.Fisch |
Pooideae |
Bambuseae |
Forest area |
60 |
Oplismenus compositus (L.) P.Beauv. |
Panicoideae |
Paniceae |
Forest area |
62 |
Panicum
curviflorum Hornem. |
Panicoideae |
Paniceae |
Moisty area |
63 |
Panicum
repens L. |
Panicoideae |
Paniceae |
Moisty area |
64 |
Paspalum canarae var. canarae |
Panicoideae |
Paniceae |
Rock crevices |
65 |
Paspalum canarae var. fimbriatum (Bor) Veldkamp |
Panicoideae |
Paniceae |
Rock crevices |
66 |
Paspalum conjugatum P.J.Bergius |
Panicoideae |
Paniceae |
Open area |
67 |
Paspalum scrobiculatum L. |
Panicoideae |
Paniceae |
Moisty area |
68 |
Pennisetum hohenackeri Hochst.
ex Steud |
Panicoideae |
Paniceae |
Moisty area |
69 |
Pennisetum
purpureum Schumach. * |
Panicoideae |
Paniceae |
Open area |
61 |
Pseudechinolaena polystachya (Humb.,
Bonpl. & Kunth) Stapf |
Panicoideae |
Paniceae |
Forest area |
70 |
Sacciolepis indica (L.) Chase |
Panicoideae |
Paniceae |
Moisty area |
71 |
Setaria pumila (Poir.)
Roem & Schult. |
Panicoideae |
Paniceae |
Grasslands |
72 |
Sporobolus fertilis (Steud.)
Clayton |
Pooideae |
Sporoboleae |
Stream side |
73 |
Sporobolus piliferus (Trin.)
Kunth |
Pooideae |
Sporoboleae |
Open area |
74 |
Themida tremula (Nees
ex Steud.) Hack |
Panicoideae |
Andropogoneae |
Grasslands |
75 |
Themida triandra Forssk. |
Panicoideae |
Andropogoneae |
Grasslands |
77 |
Tripogon bromoides Roem.
& Schult. |
Pooideae |
Eragrosteae |
Rock crevices |
76 |
Tripogon capillatus Jaub.
& Spach |
Pooideae |
Eragrosteae |
Rock crevices |
78 |
Tripogon lisboae Stapf |
Pooideae |
Eragrosteae |
Rock crevices |
* non-native species.
For
figures & images - - click here
REFERENCES
Barbhuiya, H.A., B.K. Dutta, A.K. Das & A.K. Baishya. (2013). An annotated checklist of the grasses (Poaceae) of southern Assam. Check List 9(5): 980.
Joy, B.A. (1992). Effects of Grazing, Competition, Disturbance and Fire
on Species Composition and Diversity in Grassland Communities. Journal
of Vegetation Science 3(2): 187–200.
Bhat, K.G. & C.R. Nagendran
(2001). Sedges and Grasses (Dakshina Kannada and Udupi Districts). Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh,
Dehradun, 341pp.
Bor, N.L. (1960). The Grasses of Burma, Ceylon, India and Pakistan
(excluding Bambusae). Pergamon
Press, Oxford, 767pp.
Gunawardene, N.R., A.E.D.
Daniels, I.A.U.N. Gunatilleke, C.V.S. Gunatilleke,
P.V. Karunakaran, K.G. Nayak, S. Prasad, P. Puravaud, B.R. Ramesh, K.A. Subramanian & G. Vasanthy (2007). A brief overview of the Western Ghats - Sri Lanka
biodiversity hotspot. Current Science 93: 1567–1572
Gadgil, M. (1996). Western Ghats: a lifescape.
Journal of the Indian Institute of Sciences 76: 495–504.
Jain, S.K. (1986). The grass genera of India - A synoptic account of
uses and phytogeography. Bulletin of the Botanical Survey of India 28: 229–240.
Kabeer, K.A. & V.J. Nair (2009). Flora of Tamilnadu-
Grasses. Botanical Survey of India, 525pp.
Karthikeyan, S., S.K. Jain, M.P. Nayar
& M. Sanjappa (1989). Florae Indicae Enumaratio: Monocotyledonae.
B.S.I., Calcutta, 435pp.
Manjunatha, B.R., K. Balakrishna, K.N. Krishnakumar,
H.V. Manjunatha, K. Avinash,
A.C. Mulemane & K.M. Krishna (2015). Increasing trend of rainfall over Agumbe,
Western Ghats, India in the scenario of global warming. The Open
Oceanography Journal 8: 39–44.
Moulik, S. (1997). The grasses and bamboos of India. Vols. 1 and
2. Scientific Publishers, Jodhpur, 359pp + 636pp.
Murthy, M.L.K. (1990). Flora of Coorg (Kodagu) Karnataka, India. Vimsat Publishers, Bangaluru,
711pp.
Nayar, M.P. (1996). Hot spots of endemic plants of India, Nepal and
Bhutan. TBGRI, Thiruvananthapuram.
Nayar, M.P. (1980). Endemism and patterns of distribution of endemic
genera. Journal of Economic and Taxonomic Botany 1: 99–110.
Porembski, S. (2000). Biotic diversity of isolated rock outcrops in
tropical and temperate regions. Journal of Ecology 146: 177–208.
Pathak, S. (2013). Cenchrus prieurii – a new record for North Eastern India. Reedea 23(2): 132–134.
Potdar, G.G., C.B. Salunkhe &
S.R. Yadav (2012). Grasses
of Maharashtra. Shivaji University, Kolhapur,
656pp.
Ramaswami, S.N., R. Rao & G.D. Arekal
(2001). Flora of Shimoga
District. Prasaranga, University of Mysore,
Mysore, 753pp.
Rao, R.R. & B.D. Sharma (1990). A Manual for Herbarium Collection. Botanical
Survey of India, Calcutta, 20pp.
Saldanha, C.J. (1984). Flora of Karnataka. Vol. 1 & 2. Oxford and
IBH, New Delhi, 535pp + 316pp.
Saldanha, C.J. & D.H. Nicholson (1976). Flora of Hassan District, Karnataka, India.
Oxford and IBH Publishing Co., New Delhi, 915pp.
Shantz, H.L. (1954). The place of grasslands in the earth’s cover of
vegetation. Ecology 35: 143–145.
Sreekumar, P.V & V.J. Nair (1991). Flora of Kerala- Grasses. Botanical Survey of India, Calcutta, 470pp.
Thomas, B., A. Rajendran, K.A.A. Kabeer & R. Sivalingam (2012). Chasmophytic grasses of Velliangiri Hills in the southern Western Ghats of Tamil
Nadu, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 4(15): 3462–3472. https://doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o3107.3462-72
Yoganarasimhan, S.N., K. Subramanyan &
B.A. Razi (1982). Flora of Chikkamagalore
District, Karnataka, India. International Book Distributers,
Dehradun, 407pp.