Flora in Sanjay Gandhi National Park

Flora in Sanjay Gandhi National Park reminds us of the above poem by Joyce Kilmer. Sanjay Gandhi National Park is also known as Borivali National Park. In the year 1974 it has been attributed a Heritage Status. The lush green setting of this place and the exquisite view of the mountains and hills that are located nearby are relaxing for the eyes. Flora generally means the vegetation part of the forest. In Sanjay Gandhi National Park the flora consists of two typical varieties. They are South Indian Moist Deciduous and Semi Evergreen types. The deciduous trees mainly shed their leaves during winters but the evergreen trees bear leaves all round the year. Moist deciduous trees survive in a humid condition and also shed their leaves during the winters. The flora in Sanjay Gandhi National Park also sheds their leaves during winter season. There are also Teak Bearing and Mangrove type of forests in the Sanjay Gandhi National Park. The major trees here includes the

Acacia Ziziphus Euphorbia Teak Shisham Red Silk Cotton Kadamba

Flora in Sanjay Gandhi National Park consists of numerous flowering and non flowering trees. The Park was also known as the Krishnagiri National Park during the pre independence era. Sanjay Gandhi National Park has earned its name in a unique manner. While Sanjay Gandhi, son of the Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, was traveling by plane, it crashed in air and he lost his life. To commemorate him, this National Park was renamed as the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Borivali.

Acacia (pron.: /ke/ or /kesi/), also known as a thorntree, whistling thorn or wattle, is a genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae, first described in Africa by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1773. Many non-Australian species tend to be thorny, whereas the majority of Australian acacias are not. They are pod-bearing, with sap and leaves typically bearing large amounts of tannins and condensed tannins that historically in many species found use as pharmaceuticals and preservatives. The generic name derives from (akakia), the name given by early Greek botanistphysician Pedanius Dioscorides (ca. 40-90) to the medicinal tree A. nilotica in his book Materia

Medica.[2] This name derives from the Greek word for its characteristic thorns, (akis, thorn).[3] The species name nilotica was given by Linnaeus from this tree's best-known range along the Nile river. The genus Acacia previously contained roughly 1300 species, about 960 of them native to Australia, with the remainder spread around the tropical to warm-temperate regions of both hemispheres, including Europe, Africa, southern Asia, and the Americas. However, in 2005 the genus was divided into five separate genera under the tribe "Acacieae." The genus Acacia was retained for the majority of the Australian species and a few in tropical Asia, Madagascar and Pacific Islands. Most of the species outside Australia, and a small number of Australian species, were reclassified into Vachellia and Senegalia. The two final genera, Acaciella and Mariosousa, each contain about a dozen species from the Americas.

Ziziphus (pron.: /zzfs/)[3] is a genus of about 40 species of spiny shrubs and small trees in the buckthorn family, Rhamnaceae, distributed in the warm-temperate and subtropical regions throughout the world. The leaves are alternate, entire, with three prominent basal veins, and 27 cm (0.792.8 in) long; some species are deciduous, others evergreen. The flowers are small, inconspicuous yellow-green. The fruit is an edible drupe, yellow-brown, red, or black, globose or oblong, 15 cm (0.392.0 in) long, often very sweet and sugary, reminiscent of a date in texture and flavour.

The generic name is derived from zizfum or zizafun, the Persian word for Z. lotus.[4] They are Rhamnaceae, near to the Buckthorn genus.

Ecology
Ziziphus species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Bucculatrix zizyphella, which feeds exclusively on the genus, and Endoclita malabaricus. Well known species includes Z. zizyphus (Jujube), Z. spina-christi from southwestern Asia, Z. lotus from the Mediterranean region, and Ber (Ziziphus mauritiana), which is found from western Africa to India. Ziziphus joazeiro grows in the Caatinga of Brazil. Ziziphus celata is listed as an endangered species in the United States. The fruits are an important source for birds, that eat the whole fruit and regurgitate seeds intact, expanding the seeds in the best conditions for germination (ornitochory). Secondly, the seed dispersal is carried out by mammalians or fishes. The fruit is energy-rich because of the large amount of sugar it contains. It is cultivated and eaten fresh, dry, and in jam. They also get added as a base in meals and in the manufacture of candy. The leaves can be either deciduous or evergreen depending on species, and aromatic. They are temperate or tropical plants, having a great range. They are most abundant in annual average temperatures between 12 and 35 C, minimum winter temperatures not lower than -2 C. Prefers locations with a high temperature coupled with humidity. They require a deep soil,

fresh, soft, siliceous-calcareous nature or limestone-clay-silica-clay and subsurface permeable, with pH between 5.5 and 7.8. they not grow well on excessively sandy or clay soils which may be affected by standing water, the plants acquire a limited development. Many species are very sensitive to drought, and if the land is excessively dry and of calcareous nature, may resent the lack of moisture. At the slightest drought is frequent premature fruit drop. Ziziphus has several relict species living in temperate areas. The species can not enduring the bad winter, from temperate continental climate. The ecological requirements of the genus, are mostly those of vigorous species with a great ability to populate the habitat that is conducive. This genus is adapted mostly to high rainfall and humidity, but some species are deciduous living in mediterranean humid climate. The deciduous Ziziphus species lose all of their leaves for part of the year depending on variations in rainfall. In deciduous tropical species, leaf loss coincides with the dry season in tropical, subtropical and arid regions. They grow mostly in tropical forests but has also been found in stubbles, pastures, in the coastal ranges, tropical mountain areas and interior in wet areas to dry regions. The family is distributed throughout tropical, subtropical areas, and cloud forest. The differences are ecological adaptations to different environments over a relatively dry-wet climate. Species in less humid environment are smaller or less robust, with less abundant and thinner foliage and have oleifera cells that give trees with a more fragrant aroma.

Euphorbia is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Euphorbiaceae. Consisting of 2008 species,[1] Euphorbia is one of the largest and most diverse genera in the plant kingdom, along with Rumex and Senecio.[2] Members of the family and genus are commonly referred to as spurges. Euphorbia antiquorum is the type species for the genus Euphorbia;[3] it was described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 in Species Plantarum. The family is primarily found in the tropical and subtropical regions of Africa and the Americas, but also in temperate zones worldwide. Succulent species originate mostly from Africa, the Americas and Madagascar. There exists a wide range of insular species: on the Hawaiian Islands, where spurges are collectively known as "akoko",[4] and on the Canary Islands as "tabaibas".[5][6] The common name "spurge" derives from the Middle English/Old French espurge ("to purge"), due to the use of the plant's sap as a purgative. The botanical name Euphorbia derives from Euphorbus, the Greek physician of king Juba II of Numidia (5250 BC 23 AD), who married the daughter of Anthony and Cleopatra.[7] He wrote that one of the cactus-like Euphorbias was a powerful laxative.[7] In 12 B.C., Juba named this plant after his physician Euphorbus in response to Augustus Caesar dedicating a statue to Antonius Musa, his own personal physician.[7] Botanist and taxonomist Carl Linnaeus assigned the name Euphorbia to the entire genus in the physician's honor.[8 The plants are annual or perennial herbs, woody shrubs or trees with a caustic, poisonous milky sap (latex). The roots are fine or thick and fleshy or tuberous. Many species are more or less succulent, thorny or unarmed. The main stem and mostly also the side arms of the succulent

species are thick and fleshy, 1591 cm (636 inches) tall. The deciduous leaves are opposite, alternate or in whorls. In succulent species the leaves are mostly small and short-lived. The stipules are mostly small, partly transformed into spines or glands, or missing. Like all members of the family Euphorbiaceae, all spurges have unisexual flowers. In Euphorbia these are greatly reduced and grouped into pseudanthia called cyathia. The majority of species are monoecious (bearing male and female flowers on the same plant), although some are dioecious with male and female flowers occurring on different plants. It is not unusual for the central cyathia of a cyme to be purely male, and for lateral cyathia to carry both sexes. Sometimes young plants or those growing under unfavorable conditions are male only, and only produce female flowers in the cyathia with maturity or as growing conditions improve. The bracts are often leaf-like, sometimes brightly coloured and attractive, sometimes reduced to tiny scales. The fruits are three (rarely two) compartment capsules, sometimes fleshy but almost always ripening to a woody container that then splits open (explosively, see explosive dehiscence). The seeds are 4-angled, oval or spherical, and in some species have a caruncle. In the genus Euphorbia, succulence in the species has often evolved divergently and to differing degrees. Sometimes it is difficult to decide, and it is a question of interpretation, whether or not a species is really succulent or "only" xerophytic. In some cases, especially with geophytes, plants closely related to the succulents are normal herbs. About 850 species are succulent in the strictest sense. If one includes slightly succulent and xerophytic species, this figure rises to about 1000, representing about 45% of all Euphorbia species.

Teak is the common name for the tropical hardwood tree species Tectona grandis and its wood products.[1] Tectona grandis is native to south and southeast Asia, mainly India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Burma, but is naturalized and cultivated in many countries, including those in Africa and the Caribbean. Burma accounts for nearly one third of the world's total teak production.[citation needed] The word teak comes from the Tamil word thekku.[2] This tree is mentioned in the seventhcentury literature of Tamil popularly known as the Tevaram. In Bengali it is called 'Segun' ( ) or more commonly as Sagwan in various Indian languages. Tectona grandis is a large, deciduous tree that is dominant in mixed hardwood forests. It has small, fragrant white flowers and papery leaves that are often hairy on the lower surface. Tectona grandis is a large, deciduous tree up to 40 m (131 ft) tall with gray to grayish brown branchlets. Leaves are ovate-elliptic to ovate, 1545 cm (5.917.7 in) long by 823 cm (3.19.1 in) wide, and are held on robust petioles that are 24 cm (0.81.6 in) long. Leaf margins are entire.[3] Flowers at Ananthagiri Hills, in Rangareddy district of Andhra Pradesh, India. Flower, fruit & leaves of Tectona grandis in Kolkata, West Bengal, India.

U Bein Bridge Amarapura, Myanmar. The longest teak bridge in the world at 1.2 km (0.75 mi) in length.

Leaves of Tectona grandis in Palakkad, Kerala. Fragrant white flowers are borne on 2540 cm (1016 in) long by 30 cm (12 in) wide panicles from June to August. The corolla tube is 2.53 mm long with 2 mm wide obtuse lobes. Tectona grandis sets fruit from September to December; fruits are globose and 1.2-1.8 cm in diameter.[3] Flowers are weakly protandrous in that the anthers precede the stigma in maturity and pollen is shed within a few hours of the flower opening.[4] The flowers are primarily entomophilous (insect-pollinated), but can occasionally be anemophilous (wind-pollinated).[5] A 1996 study found that in its native range in Thailand, the major pollinator were species in the Ceratina genus of bees.[4

Dalbergia sissoo (or Indian Rosewood) (Urdu: ), is a deciduous rosewood tree, also known as sisu, sheesham, tahli/Tali/ , or Irugudujava. It is native to the Indian Subcontinent and Southern Iran. In Persian, it is called Jag. It is the state tree of Punjab state (India) and the provincial tree of Punjab province (Pakistan). It is primarily found growing along river banks below 900 metres (3,000 ft) elevation, but can range naturally up to 1,300 m (4,300 ft). The temperature in its native range averages 1040 C (50104 F), but varies from just below freezing to nearly 50 C (122 F). It can withstand average annual rainfall up to 2,000 millimetres (79 in) and droughts of 34 months. Soils range from pure sand and gravel to rich alluvium of river banks; shisham can grow in slightly saline soils. Seedlings are intolerant of shade.

Timber
Sheesham wood

Shisham is best known internationally as a premier timber species of the rosewood genus, but is also used as fuel wood and for shade and shelter. With its multiple products and tolerance of light frosts and long dry seasons, this species deserves greater consideration for tree farming, reforestation and agro forestry applications. After teak, it is the most important cultivated timber tree of the Bihar, which is the largest producer of shisham timber in India and Pakistan. In the Bihar, the tree is planted on roadsides, along canals and as a shade tree for tea plantations. It is also commonly planted in southern Indian cities like Bangalore as a street tree. Shisham is among the finest cabinet and veneer timbers. It is the wood from which 'Kartaals', the Rajasthani percussion instrument, are often made. In addition to musical instruments, it is used for plywood, agricultural tools, carvings, boats, skis, flooring, etc.

The heartwood is golden to dark brown; the sapwood, white to pale brownish white. The heartwood is extremely durable (the specific gravity is 0.7 0.8) and is very resistant to drywood termites; but the sapwood is readily attacked by fungi and borers. Dalbergia sissoo is known to contain the neoflavonoid dalbergichromene in its stem-bark and heartwood.[1]

Fuel wood
The calorific value of the sapwood and heartwood of 'excellent' fuel wood is reported to be 4,908 kcal/kg and 5,181 kcal/kg respectively. As a fuel wood it is grown on a 10 to 15-year rotation. The tree has excellent coppicing ability, although a loss of vigor after two or three rotations has been reported. Shisham wood makes excellent charcoal for heating and cooking.

Botany
D. sissoo is a medium to large deciduous tree with a light crown which reproduces by seeds and suckers. It can grow up to a maximum of 25 m (82 ft) in height and 2 to 3 m (6 ft 7 in to 9 ft 10 in) in diameter, but is usually smaller. Trunks are often crooked when grown in the open. Leaves are leathery, alternate, pinnately compound and about 15 cm (5.9 in) long. Flowers are whitish to pink, fragrant, nearly sessile, up to 1.5 cm (0.59 in) long and in dense clusters 510 cm (2.03.9 in) in length. Pods are oblong, flat, thin, strap-like 48 cm (1.63.1 in) long, 1 cm (0.39 in) wide and light brown. They contain 15 flat bean-shaped seeds 810 mm (0.310.39 in) long. They have a long taproot and numerous surface roots which produce suckers. Young shoots are downy and drooping; established stems with light brown to dark gray bark to 2.5 cm (0.98 in) thick, shed in narrow strips; large upper branches support a spreading crown.

Red Sil Cotton tree , like other trees of the genus Bombax, is commonly known as cotton tree. This tropical tree has a straight tall trunk and its leaves are deciduous in winter. Red flowers with 5 petals appear in the spring before the new foliage. It produces a capsule which, when ripe, contains white fibres like cotton. Its trunk bears spikes to deter attacks by animals. Although its stout trunk suggests that it is useful for timber, its wood is too soft to be very useful. The dry cores of the Bombax ceiba flower (Thai: )[1] are an essential ingredient of the Nam ngiao spicy noodle soup of the cuisine of Shan State and Northern Thailand,[2] as well as the Kaeng khae curry.[3] Bombax ceiba grows to an average of 20 meters, with old trees up to 60 meters in wet tropical weather. The trunk and limb bear numerous conical spines particularly when young, but get eroded when older. The leaves are palmate with about 6 leaflets radiating from a central point, an average of 7~10 centimeters wide, 13~15 centimeters in length. The leaf's long flexible petiole is up to 20 cm long.

Cup-shaped Flowers solitary or clustered, axillary or sub-terminal, fascicles at or near the ends of the branches, when the tree is bare of leaves, an average of 7~11 centimeters wide, 14 centimeters in width, petels up to 12 centimeters in length, Calyx is cup-shaped usually 3 lobed, an average of 3~5 centimeters in diameter. Staminal tube is short, more than 60 in 5 bundles. Stigma is light red, up to nine centimeters in length, Ovary is pink, 1.5~ 2 centimeters in length, with the skin of the Ovary covered in white silky hair at 1mm long. Seeds are numerous, long, ovoid, black or gray in colour and packed in white cotton.
Immature fruits of Bombax Ceiba in Hong_Kong.

The fruit, which reaches an average of 13 centimeters in length, is light-green in color in immature fruits, brown in mature fruits.

Cultivation
The tree is widely planted in Malay, Indonesia, south China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. According to Chinese historical record, the king of Nam Yuet, Chiu To, gave a tree to the Emperor of Han dynasty in 2nd century BC. This tree is commonly known as Semal (Hindi: ) in India. It is widely planted in parks and on roadsides there because of its beautiful red flowers which bloom in March/April. This tree is quite common in New Delhi although it doesn't reach its full size of 60m there because of the semi arid climate. The cotton fibers of this tree can be seen floating in the wind around the time of early May. This tree shows two marked growth sprints in India- in spring and during the monsoon months. It is also widely planted Hong Kong, and is know locally as in Chinese. This tree is evenly planted across Hong Kong, with some trees flowering from late February to early May. Fruiting can start as early as March. At the peak of the Bombax ceiba flowering season in Hong Kong, elderly people could often be found picking flowers off the ground to dry, which is used to make a type of tea. The flowers are very attractive to local wildlife, with many birds like the Japanese White-eye, a type of fruit eating bird, which often draws a hole in an unopened Bombax ceiba flower bud. Honey bees, and bumble bees also attracted to the flowers to collect pollen and nectar. Because the flowers attract many insects, Crab Spiders can be occasionally found on a fully opened flower, hunting bees.

Neolamarckia cadamba, commonly called Kadam (Kannada: ), (Bengali: /),(Oriya: ) (Tamil: ) is an evergreen, tropical tree native to South and Southeast Asia. The genus name "Lamarckia" is derived from the name of French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck.

A fully mature Kadam tree can reach up to 45m in height. It is a large tree with a broad crown and straight cylindrical bole. It is quick growing, with broad spreading branches and grows rapidly in the first 6-8 years. The trunk has a diameter of 100-160 cm, but typically less than that. Leaves are 13-32 cm long. Flowering usually begins when the tree is 45 years old. Kadam flowers are sweetly fragrant, red to orange in colour, occurring in dense, globular heads of approximately 5.5 cm diameter. The fruit of N. cadamba occur in small, fleshy capsules packed closely together to form a fleshy yellow-orange infructescence containing approximately 8000 seeds. On maturing, the fruit splits apart, releasing the seeds, which are then dispersed by wind or rain.[1][2] Some botanical features are detailed below:

Leaves glossy green, opposite, simple more or less sessile to petiolate, ovate to elliptical (15-50 x 825 cm). Flowers inflorescence in clusters; terminal globose heads without bracteoles, subsessile fragrant, orange or yellow flowers; Flowers bisexual, 5-merous, calyx tube funnel-shaped, corolla gamopetalous saucer-shaped with a narrow tube, the narrow lobes imbricate in bud. Stamens 5, inserted on the corolla tube, filaments short, anthers basifixed. Ovary inferior, bilocular, sometimes 4-locular in the upper part, style exserted and a spindle-shaped stigma. Fruitlets numerous with their upper parts containing 4 hollow or solid structures. Seed trigonal or irregularly shaped.

N. lamarckia is native to the following areas:

Southern China Indian subcontinent: India (n. & w.); Bangladesh; Nepal; Sri Lanka Southeast Asia: Cambodia; Laos; Myanmar; Thailand; Vietnam, Indonesia; Malaysia; Papua New Guinea

Uses
The caterpillars of the Commander (Limenitis procris), a brush-footed butterfly, utilize this species as a foodplant. The fruit and inflorescences are reportedly edible to humans. The fresh leaves are fed to cattle. The fragrant orange flowers attract pollinators. It is sapwood white with a light yellow tinge becoming creamy yellow on exposure and is not clearly differentiated from the heartwood.
Leaves & flowers

N. lamarckia is grown as an ornamental, and for low-grade timber and paper. The timber is used for plywood, light construction, pulp and paper, boxes and crates, dug-out canoes, and furniture components. Kadamba yields a pulp of satisfactory brightness and performance as a hand sheet. The wood can be easily impregnated with synthetic resins to increase its density and compressive strength. The wood has a density of 290560 kg/cu m at 15% moisture content, a fine to medium texture; straight grain; low luster and has no characteristic odor or taste. It is easy to work with hand and machine tools, cuts cleanly, gives a very good surface and is easy to nail. The timber

air dries rapidly with little or no degrade. Kadamba wood is very easy to preserve using either open tank or pressure-vacuum systems. Kadamba is stated to be one of the most frequently planted trees in the tropics. A yellow dye is obtained from the root bark. Kadamba flowers are an important raw material in the production of attar, which is Indian perfume with sandalwood (Santalum spp.) base in which one of the essences is absorbed through hydro-distillation. The flowers exhibit slight anti-implantation activity in test animals. Kadamba extracts exhibit nematicidal effects on Meloidogyne incognita. The dried bark is used to relieve fever and as a tonic. An extract of the leaves serves as a mouth gargle. The tree is grown along avenues, roadsides and villages for shade. Kadamba are suitable for reforestation programs. It sheds large amounts of leaf and non-leaf litter which on decomposition improves some physical and chemical properties of soil under its canopy. This reflects an increase in the level of soil organic carbon, cation exchange capacity, available plant nutrients and exchangeable bases. Kadamb tree leaves are also used for treating diabetes. A drug made from this tree is patented.[3][4]