Floristic diversity of native wild ornamental plants of Aravalli Hill Range: a case study from district Rewari, Haryana, India

: Ornamental plants are important constituent of floristic diversity which beautify and glorify our surroundings. They add a positive attitude to life, intensify the feeling of happiness, and enhance the economic value of the estate. There has been a growing trend promoted by environmentalists, ecologists, and horticulturalists toward the inclusion of new wild ornamental plants (WOPs) for minimising their maintenance costs and enhancing their survival rate. The current study inventorised the floristic diversity of native WOPs of the Aravalli Hill Range of Haryana State. Researchers recorded 88 native WOPs species belonging to 40 plant families. Asteraceae and Poaceae are the most dominant families, contributing seven species each followed by Fabaceae and Malvaceae with six species each. The habit wise distribution of native WOPs from the Aravalli hill ranges depicted that herbaceous types of plants are dominant with 53.4 % followed by trees (18.2 %), climbers (14.8 %), and shrubs (11.4%). These native WOPs were found suitable for various ornamental purposes which ranges from the garden, potted, medicinal, lawn cover, avenue tree, hedge/fencing, edible, religious/ ceremonial, road dividers, cacti, succulent, and indoor foliage. The current study documented four plants, viz., Argyreia cuneata (Willd.) Ker Gawl., Boswellia serrata Roxb. ex Colebr., Pulicaria wightiana (DC.) C.B.Clarke, and Rivea hypocrateriformis (Desr.) Choisy. endemic to the Indian subcontinent. Blumea lacera (Burm.f.) DC. , Cleome viscosa L. , Saccharum spontaneum L., and Triumfetta rhomboidea Jacq. were reported to have somewhat invasive potential in this region. Further, it is also suggested to introduce some potential native WOPs into domestication by florists, horticulturists, nurserymen, and municipal authorities for the protection, conservation, and perpetuation of these plants to minimize the use of foreign floral species to control the further spread of alien plants


INTRODUCTION
Wild plants are natural gene banks containing exceptionally rich hereditary information, as well as humankind's important resources and the groundwork of present day garden plants (Dulloo & Maxted 2019;Cong & Han 2022). The constructive developments in the utilization of wild plant assets not just enhance the beauty of metropolitan greening and beautification yet additionally increase the urban biodiversity index and diminish the serious misfortunes brought about by the introduction of ornamental plants that are not appropriate for the local environment (Gong et al. 2019). Wild plants also constitute an integral part of urban green packages as part of nature based solutions for climate change adaptation mitigation strategies in rapidly growing cities (Nassary et al. 2022).
Plant species which are primarily utilized for aesthetic and decorative purposes are popularly known as ornamental plants (OPs). All plant species suitable for indoor or outdoor beautification and decorations are categorized as ornamental plants (Lecomte et al. 2016;Chowdhuri & Deka 2019). Shape & size of the plant, color, texture, line & form, lush foliage, and showy flowers are considered as important ornamental attributes of plant species (Vabrit 2002;Zucchi et al. 2020;Khaleghi & Khadivi 2022). Transportation durability, resistance to extreme of cold & hot conditions, quality & uniqueness, maintenance cost, trend in market, and other specific requirements such as medicinal, cultural, spiritual, or ritual are some of the other attributes of OPs. A large variety of herbs, shrubs, avenue plants, hedges, ground covers, cacti, succulents, bonsai, palms, bulbs, cones, hanging plants, epiphytes, decorative foliage, showy floral plants, sweet scented, and grasses fall under the category of OPs and are grown by individuals (Gajendrudu 2014).
OPs intensify and glorify our surroundings, they add positive attitude to life, intensify the feeling of happiness, and enhance economic importance of the estate (Harris 1992;Rocha et al. 2021). Owing to the beauty they bring, OPs spare an element of satisfaction, relaxation, and delight to human beings. OPs additionally play a significant role in metropolitan and rural environmental planning, fallow land improvement, afforestation, and finishing of open air & indoor spaces. Interior plants also improve worker productivity and reduce stress in a windowless environment (Lohr et al. 1996;Yeo 2021;Berger et al. 2022).
It is accepted worldwide that all plants used in ornamental and amenity horticulture and the diversity of cultivars derived through selection and breeding, originally came from wild plants or their relatives (Heywood 2001). The wild plants have owned a reviving knowledge on the link between wild nature and human wellbeing (Friedman et al. 2022). The majority of the decorative plants are obtained from wild resources. Missionaries, globetrotter, rambler, emissary, sea captains, and tourists have a significant contribution in introducing and naturalizing a large number of OPs from different continents. The transformation of these introductions of wild growing species into potential commercial cultivars was largely undertaken by highly skilled, observant, and entrepreneurial nurserymen, many of whom were very talented plant men who initiated plant improvement programmes themselves by selection and breeding. Wild ornamental plants (WOPs) are more resilient to water scarcity, extremes of temperature, and require less attention & care. WOPs are also well adapted to local soil conditions and their cultivation requires very less pesticides & fertilizers. Moreover, WOPs also provide shelter and food to native insects, birds, and other life forms. WOPs further influence the phenology of flowering plants by influencing health and number of pollinators (Stout & Dicks 2022).
There is a rich plethora of wild plants which are often used for ornamental and aesthetic purposes. WOPs are having striking feature and are easily distinguishable on the land surfaces. Some WOPs show high variability in different ornamental attributes as compared to cultivated plants. Rao et al. (2006) identified and documented 61 potential wild ornamental species of Convolvulaceae from Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh, India. Babu et al. (2017) explored and documented the 153 wild ornamental flowering plants species belonging to 112 genera and 48 families from Palakonda hills of Eastern Ghats in Andhra Pradesh, India. Haridasan & Rao (1985) conducted floristic exploration in Meghalaya they identified a number of ornamentally useful important wild species. All these researchers documented great ornamental potentialities of WOPs due to their attractive foliage and good-looking flowers. According to their findings, there are lot of opportunities for exploring the meaning of both indoor and outdoor gardening and landscape techniques.
The diversity of WOPs found in the Aravalli Hill Ranges in India are facing high rate of depletion primarily due to increase in the illegal mining, urbanization rate, industrialization, pollution, over-exploitation, and heavy infestation by alien plant species like Prosopis juliflora (Sw.) DC., Verbesina encelioides (Cav.) Benth. & Hook.f. J TT ex A. Gray, Parthenium hysterophorus L. and many other plant species (Sharma et al. 2013). Though many floristic studies have been conducted in this region but no concerted efforts have been made to explore and document the diversity of ornamental plants of this region. Therefore, it seems to be an urgent requirement to carry out methodical floristic identification and studies of ornamental plants of wild genera from this region to formulate appropriate conservation and management strategies. Efforts have been made to explore the nativity of WOPs growing in different parts of the district. Hence, the present study was done to explore the types of ornamental plants from Aravalli Hill Ranges of Rewari district of Haryana.

Study site description
The Rewari district is situated in the southern part of Haryana 80 km from New Delhi. It covers the geographical area of approximately 1,559 km 2 , and lies between 27°86'-28°28' N & 76°15'-76°51' E. It is bounded by Jhajjar district in the north, Mahendergarh district in the west, Gurugram district in the east, Mewat district in north-east directions. Alwar district of Rajasthan touches Rewari in the south-east direction (Figure 1) (https:// rewari.gov.in/about-district/location/). The temperature may be more than 45° C in summer months. The Rewari district is a part of the Indian arid zone having low rainfall of 569 mm annually. The region also receives low annual rainfall restricted to a few months of monsoon.

Collection and preservation of Plant Specimens
An intensive field survey was conducted from July 2016-September 2021 in different parts of the Rewari district. List of places visited for survey and documentation of ornamental plants are mentioned in Table 1. Coloured photographs were taken in their natural habitat before the collection of plant specimen for identification purposes. Every effort was made to collect specimens in their reproductive stages, i.e., flowering or fruiting stages. Small herbs were collected as whole plants while, reproductive twigs were collected for large plants. Voucher specimen number was given to collected specimen alongside field labels. The collected specimens were treated with 10% formaldehyde solution, kept in air-tight polythene bags, and were pressed in between the blotting/filter papers in the field press. The collected specimens were brought to the laboratory for long-term storage. In the laboratory the blotting papers of the specimens were replaced with new ones at a regular interval of 3-4 days until complete drying and were poisoned with 0.2% mercuric chloride.

Identification of plant specimens
The collected specimens were identified with the help of available standard floras published by various taxonomists (Hooker 1872(Hooker -1897Duthie 1903Duthie -1922Maheshwari 1963). Photographs of the plants were taken in their natural habit and field notes were prepared for identification. Further, online literature and search engines were used for validating botanical names of the plants under study, viz., http://www.theplantlist. org/, https://powo.science.kew.org/, and http://www. flowersofindia.net/. The voucher specimens were deposited in the herbarium of Department of Botany, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak (Haryana) India for future reference.

Data Analysis
Common names, habit, important ornamental attributes, and potential uses by the community of identified WOPs are mentioned in Table 2. The data were analysed though MS Excel package 2007.

RESULTS
In the present study, 88 plants belonging to 40 families have been documented from different parts of Rewari district, Haryana (Table 1). Out of 88 plant species, 78 dicot plant species belonging to 36 families and eight monocot plant species belonging to two families, fern & gymnosperm, viz., Actiniopteris radiata (Sw.) Link and Ephedra foliata Boiss. ex C.A. Mey. are represented by single family each. A comparison of monocots and dicots in terms of families and species is shown in Figure 2.

Dominant Families
Among the documented families, Asteraceae and Poaceae are the most dominating ( Figure 3). The In the present study, 22 families are represented by one species each. Out of these, 18 families are of dicots, one family from monocots, two families belonged to ferns, and one family belonged to gymnosperms. Some of the prominent WOPs plants from the region have been shown in Images 1,2(A-R). Families having single wild ornamental species in this region are Aizoaceae,

Habit-wise distribution
Herbaceous WOPs dominated in this region with 47 species followed by 16 species of trees, 13 species of climbers, and 10 species of shrubs ( Figure 4).

Potential use of wild ornamental plants
In the present study a total 88 native wild ornamental plants have been reported from different parts of Aravalli Hill Ranges. Out of 88 plants, majority of them are used as garden plants which tops the list with 60 plants followed by 36 medicinal, 34 potted plants, 16 avenue tree, lawn cover, and hedge/fencing with 14 species each. Nearly a dozen native WOPS are used for edible and religious/ ceremonial purposes. Eight plants are planted as road dividers, four cultivated as cacti & succulent, and two as wild ornamentals grown in indoor foliage ( Figure 5). According to the present study, one plant species, i.e., Ficus benghalensis L. is being used for five different purposes-avenue plants, road side divider, hedge/fencing, religious/ceremonial, and medicinal. It was also reported that 16 plants are found to have four multiple uses, 25 plants have three multiple uses, 28 plants two uses, and 20 plants have single use ( Figure 6).

Ethnomedicinal Uses
Some native wild ornamental plants are also used for primary health care purposes and treating their routine maladies in this region. For example, dried fruit powder of Acacia nilotica (Roxb.) Willd is helpful in curing diabetes and arthritis. Root extract of Boerhavia diffusa L. helps in curing jaundice. Capparis decidua (Forssk.) edgew fruits powder is helpful in indigestion and diabetes while root boiled with mustered oil applied externally for curing skin diseases. Fresh and dried fruits of Ficus racemosa L. cures diabetes. Salvadora persica L. fruits decoction mixed with sugar taken orally cures typhoid. Paste of fresh leaves of Withania somnifera (L.) dunal kills head louse when applied with buttermilk on scalp. Fresh leaves of Chrysopogon zizanioides (L.) roberty are refreshing and remove tiredness.

DISCUSSION
Nature has bestowed us with abundance of WOPs and they exhibit high degree of variety & variability in contrast to cultivated ornamental plants. Wild plants are having striking features in terms of floral, foliage, fragrant, and form (Shape, Size, Colour, and Life form)  The Aravalli Hill Range is among the most distinct and primeval mountain chain. These hill ranges are economically and ecologically very crucial as they check the desert extending along Indo-Gangetic plains and pose influence over regional climate (Thapar 2015). Extreme environment and exceptional ecological niches provide perfect habitat for plants which is a unique distinctiveness of the range for survival. It has a wide range of climatic and geographical diversity, including tropical evergreen, subtropical, desert, temperate (Khanna 2011). Many plant species have been imported beyond their natural ranges as a result of increased globalization, and some of them have established and sustained persistent populations without human intervention (Seebens et al. 2022). These hill ranges are rich reservoir of wild medicinal and ornamental plants (Yadav & Bhandoria 2012). These hill ranges are a unique amphitheatre of biological diversity. These WOPs species contribute to available extensive genetic resources available to for varietal improvement and genetic modification. Bansal et al. (2022a)       . Some of these may be used as soil binder, fencing, and field protectors like Caesalpinia bonduc, Capparis decidua, Clerodendrum phlomidis, Grewia tenax, Barleria prionitis, and Leptadenia pyrotechnica. These wild plants are naturally growing on the walls of the buildings, in crop fields, foot hill areas, and their flowers and appearances easily attract the interested people. These plants can easily be domesticated and maintained at a very low cost.
The appealing characteristics of WOPs reflect their high ornamental and aesthetic potential. In recent years, many such WOPs have gained a lot of importance in the exploitation of many sorts and in the generation of revenue among the poor (Olsen 1998). Many plant species have been imported and domesticated beyond their natural ranges as a result of increased globalization, and some of them have established and sustained persistent populations without human intervention. The floriculture sector is always on the lookout for new goods, technology, and market gaps to fill. In comparison, the price of domestication and maintenance of WOPs species is likewise relatively low (Negrelle et al. 2012;Maroyi 2022).
WOPs may play a significant role in environmental planning for pollution abatement, wasteland development, afforestation, social & rural forestry, and open-air & interior landscaping (Ciftcioglu et al. 2019). The attractive WOPs can be grown in pots inside house, banks, hospitals, malls, institutions, and offices. These wild ornamental plants may play a valuable role in planning of environmental issues, landscaping of urban housing, waste land development, house designing, and afforestation (Bansal et al. 2022).
WOPs are intricately intertwined with our culture, literature, socioeconomic life, romance, and poetry (Rahnema et al. 2019). Incorporating such WOPs in daily use may be a fascinating but risky endeavor. OPs have become quite popular inside houses, workplaces, banks, hospitals, guesthouses, hotels, and other buildings. Cultivation of these plants could be useful commercially as well as for the conservation of rare, vulnerable, and endangered endemic plant species. Wild plants of the Aravalli hills have potential uses like the gum resin is collection performed since ever by the tribal populace utilizing conventional tapping method (Soni 2010). The significant position of ornamentals has been studied for 'habitat formation' and 'wildlife attraction' making it potentially useful (Ciftcioglu et al. 2019). Landscape gardening and bio-aesthetic planning have been popular in recent years as a way to create environmentally Botanic Gardens are the primary site of introduction and domestication of WOPs as they effectively manage the interchange of ornamental seeds and plant materials both within and outside the country (Niazian & Nalousi 2020). Organized expeditions by individual botanists, gardeners, and connoisseurs, should help in collection of these plants which are not commercially explored and only found in wild (van Kleunen et al. 2018). These plants can be collected in the wild, introduced, acclimatized to various altitudinal zones, multiplied, made accessible to nursery men for sale, and distribution to potential marketable places. These plants will benefit greatly from research into their phenology and numerous

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potential of novel ornamentals from wild sources exists throughout the globe (Janakiram et al. 2021;Bansal et al. 2022). In spite of having a rich and diverse plant wealth in many countries, especially in India majority of the exotic plants are given due weightage in floricultural trades as compared to the indigenous wild plant species. There is a need to take-up R&D work by interlacing the fraternity of botanists, floriculturists, and agriculturists. In our country, an enormous variety of wild plants from varied habitats can be grown in the botanical gardens and used in landscaping. Such wild plant species are awaiting the attention of garden lovers, specialists, nurserymen, town planners, florists, and experts from different industries for their popularization. Further, the introduction of such plant species in botanical gardens, regional stations and nurseries is highly recommended for their conservation, propagation, and dissemination (Cong & Han 2020). WOPs wealth will be also helpful in the improvement and evolution of new ornamental cultivars and will play pivotal role in the floriculture industry. Hence, domestication and concerted breeding efforts of WOPs of Aravalli hills may provide many useful ornamental plants for posterity.