Spermatophytic Flora of Kamrup- Special Reference to Eastern Guwahati

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An investigational record on the flora of Eastern part of Guwahati city, Assam has been elaborated with vernacular names, origin and distribution, locality, description of the plant and useful properties of the plants. A total of 137 species of Angiospermic plants under 48 families. Among these, Dicotyledons comprises 104 species belongs to 37 families and Monocotyledons comprises about 31 species belongs to 11 families and the Gymnosperms comprises only 2 species under 2 families. All the recorded species are arranged according to Bentham and Hooker system of classification. This handbook on locally available local plants will be helpful for B.Sc., M.Sc. Botany students and also plant lovers for identification and reference.

Miss. Nilashree Borah, worked as a guest faculty at Guwahati College, Assam. She obtained her M.Sc. Botany (Angiosperm Taxonomy) and B.Ed. from Gauhati University. She has research publications in journal of repute in her credit in and also book chapters. Her area of interest are Plant Taxonomy and Floristic study. She is also a YOGA trainer, certified by Ministry of Ayush.

Miss. Florina Brahma, worked as a guest faculty at Dakshin Kamrup College, Mirza, Assam and Guwahati College, Assam. She has obtained her M.Sc. from Gauhati University, Assam.

Dr. Manalee Paul, worked as guest faculty at Guwahati College, Assam. She obtained her M.Sc. and PhD from Gauhati University, Assam. She has research publications in her credit in some journals of repute and worked as a JRF in a DBT, Govt. of India sponsored research project.

Dr. Mrinal Kumar Das, Associate Professor of Assam down town University and former HOD, Department of Botany, Guwahati College, Guwahati.

Assam is gifted with unique flora and fauna by the nature. Assam is also home for rich cultural heritage. Guwahati, the gate way of Assam is an important and busy city of North East India. The city is bestowed with hillocks and plains. It is also a place of attractions for many tourists' spots. Its unique natural beauty always allures tourists. Once, Guwahati was a home for rich flora and fauna. But due to rapid urbanization, the unique flora and fauna is under the verge of extinction. Felling of trees and habitat destruction for construction of roads, buildings, apartments are very common in this growing city. Umananda temple located in Umananda Island in the middle of mighty Brahmaputra was not only an attraction for the Hindu devotees but also for the Golden langur and this unique species is now extinct in this island. Thus, knowledge and documentation of the flora of an area is utmost important for ecological study, conservation of biodiversity, its management and sustainable development.

In Assam, a good number of workers have contributed in documentation of Flora. A number offields based floristic studies in district floras also worked out. The consolidated works of Kanjilal and co- workers contributed in bringing out the monumental "Flora of Assam". Chowdhury's (2005) "Assam's Flora (Present Status of Vascular Plants)" is an extended list of flora of Assam. Lateron, a checklist of Angiosperms and Gymnosperms of Assam was worked out by Barooah and Ahmed (2014) in "Plant Diversity of Assam".

However, comprehensive documentation of flora from Guwahati is not done till now. The book "Spermatophytic Flora of Kamrup (Special reference to Eastern Guwahati)" by Nilashree Borah, Florina Brahma, Manalee Paul and Mrinal Kumar Daswill serve as a handbook for identification of the flora of Eastern Guwahati. In the present study 104 Dicot species under 35 families, 31 monocot species under 11 families have been documented along with two Gymnosperm species under two families.

The work on this flora is welcomed and is a reflection of their untiring efforts. It is my pleasure to congratulate the authors of this book for bringing out this publication.

Proper identification of plants is very important to acquire knowledge of plant wealth. Taxonomic study reveals characteristic feature of a particular plant. Study of medicinal importance of plants have very important role in our daily life. Traditional knowledge of medicinal plants can be acquired through field study, which helps to cure diseases. Hence it is very important to know the correct nomenclature of plants, their vernacular name and ethno medicinal uses.

The book is intended to present the application of taxonomy for identification of plants, their importance to know about the medicinal values and important chemical substances for curing diseases. Hence an attempt has been made in this book to identify the plant species available in Eastern part of Guwahati city so that it will be beneficial to the botany student as well as people interested in plants. This will be a documentary work to acquaint with plant resources available in this area with local name, scientific name, description of plants and their chemical and medicinal properties.

In this book some errors or mistakes may be crept which may be brought to the notice of the authors for correction and incorporation for the future edition of the book. We are thankful to Dr. Pranab Sandilya, Principal Guwahati College, Ms. Sujata R. Singha, Department of English, Mr. Plabon Mithi Baidya, Department of Botany, Guwahati College and Dr. Pramod Medhi, Department of Botany, Pandu College, for encouragement and support. We express our deep sense of gratitude to Mr. J.P.Sarma of EBH Publishers (India), Guwahati for keen interest and support for publishing the book decently and timely.

We lastly extend our sincere gratitude to Dr. Nilakshee Devi, Professor, Department of Botany, Gauhati University for forwarding this book.

Spermatophytes are those plants that produce seeds. They are also known as Phanerogams and comprises of two major plant groups - Gymnosperms (Naked seeded plants) and Angiosperms (Seed enclosed within fruit). These plants are probably the most familiar to human beings, unlike Mosses, Liverworts, Horsetails, and other seedless plants which are overlooked because of their small size or appearance in general. But the Spermatophyte plants are most abundantly distributed with elaborate flowers and/ or useful seeds and fruits. So, floristic study and human plant co evolution an most important in gathering scientific knowledge about the plant wealth available on earth.

Floristic study is a work devoted to the plants of a particular area or region (George H. M. Lawrence, 1952). It covers any area from small patch of a forest to a large District, State, or Country. The study of plants of a particular area (such as Forests. Grassland etc.) provides data for food and shelter plants of animals and their ecology. as raw material and basic information for Biochemical studies and in most cases can deal with economic status of the local people.

Hundreds of plant species have been added to the knowledge of Indian plants after the publication of "Flora of British India" by J.D Hooker (1872-1892) and many more are going to be added further after thorough exploration in the Indian sub-continent. Exploration of newer areas and addition as well as revision of data to the earlier published works may provide complete and updated knowledge on the plant wealth of our Country.

With this backdrop, an attempt was made to enumerate the plant resources available in the eastern part of Guwahati city of Assam which are arranged according to Bentham and Hooker system of classification. Guwahati, formerly known as Gauhati is the capital city of Assam. It derives its name from the Assamese words Guwa meaning areca nut and Haat meaning market. It is situated between the south bank of the mighty river Brahmaputra, which is one of the major rivers of Asia and the foothills of the Shillong Plateau, with LGB International Airport to the west and the town of Narengi to the east. A tributary of the Brahmaputra namely, the Bharalu river flows right through the heart of the city. In the centre of the Brahmaputra, there lies a rocky island where the famous temple, Umananda is situated. To the south-west of the city lies Dipor Bil, a wetland under the Ramsar Convention, which has listed the lake in November 2002, as a Ramsar site for undertaking conservation measures on the basis of its biological and environmental importance. This wetland is a natural habitat of many birds. Hence, the Bird Life International has declared this beel as an Important Bird Area (IBA).

**Contents and Sample Pages**