Vascular Plants of Bastar, Madhya Pradesh

The Bastar area comes under Bastar district of the Madhya Pradesh and lies south of Raipur between 19°0'-21°0'N and 81°0'-82°0'E. The major portion of this area has more or less remained botanically unexplored so far and three exploration trips were conducted in the years 1958, 1959 and 1961, and a total number of 481 species representing 336 genera and 112 families were collected.

The vegetation at the foot and lower slopes of the hills is of the mixed deciduous type. The undergrowth in these forests is rather sparse. Evergreen forests occur in Kanger Valley, Dharba, Kutumsar and along the upper slopes of Bailadila. The hill-tops, particularly at Dharba and Narayanpur, are rich in grasses and herbs and amidst these terrestrial orchids are also noticed. Since there are a number of tanks, at the foot of these hills and in the plains which are wet and marshy during the rainy season, interesting aquatic and marshy plants are met with.