Floristic composition and plant functional types on the lateritic plateau of Panchgani Tableland, Maharashtra, India
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.9914.17.12.28048-28065Keywords:
Carnivorous plants, disturbance, endemism, geophytes, Mahabaleshwar Panchgani Eco-sensitive Zone, natural heritage site, plant diversity, therophytes, threatened speciesAbstract
The conservation zone of Panchgani Tableland lies within the Mahabaleshwar Panchgani Eco-sensitive Zone, Satara District, Maharashtra, India, in northern Western Ghats. The present paper reports 189 species across 54 families recorded throughout the year on this lateritic plateau. The most represented family is Poaceae, and it also shows the highest endemism (nine taxa). During the study, 78 endemic taxa were recorded, which makes up to 48% endemism. A total of 12 threatened taxa have been recorded during the study, of which four are ‘Endangered’ (Dipcadi ursulae var. ursulae Blatt., Curcuma caulina (J.Graham) Baker, Iphigenia stellata Blatt., and Isachne swaminathanii V.Prakash & S.K.Jain), two are ‘Vulnerable’ (Eriocaulon tuberiferum A.R.Kulkarni & Desai, Utricularia albocaerulea Dalzell) and six are ‘Near Threatened’ (Arisaema murrayi (J.Graham) Hook., Euphorbia khandallensis Blatt. & Hallb., Habenaria grandifloriformis Blatt. & McC., Pinda concanensis (Dalzell) P.K.Mukh. & Constance, Utricularia praeterita P. Taylor, and Vigna khandalensis (Santapau) Sundararagh. & Wadhwa). Though a large number of species are therophytes (73.4%), 12.5% of the taxa are geophytes, and 4.7% are carnivorous. Remaining taxa belong to other plant functional types viz. helophytes, hydrophytes, succulents, hemiparasites, and epiphytes. The study also explored the impact of anthropogenic pressures such as tourism, grazing, and soil alteration that threaten the diversity on the plateau. A comparison with floristic data by Blatter (1909) revealed the absence of 12 taxa in the existing vegetation, including the two rare species Adelocaryum malabaricum (C.B.Clarke) Brand., and Smithia purpurea Hook., and recorded another 129 species that were not recorded earlier.
References
Bechtold, U. (2018). Plant life in extreme environments: How do you improve drought tolerance? Frontiers in Plant Science 9: 543. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2018.00543
Bell, E. (2012). Life At Extremes: Environments, Organisms, And Strategies for Survival, Vol. 1. Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International, 540 pp. https://doi.org/10.1079/9781845938147.0000
Blatter, E. (1909). The flora of Panchgani. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 19: 314–332.
Deshpande, S., B. Sharma & M. Nayar (1995). Flora of Mahabaleshwar and adjoinings, Maharashtra. Botanical Survey of India (GoI), Kolkata, India, 352 pp.
Deshpande G.G. (1998). Geology of Maharashtra. Geological Society of India, Bangalore, 223 pp.
Deil, U. (2005). A review on habitats, plant traits and vegetation of ephemeral wetlands-a global perspective. Phytocoenologia 35(2/3): 533 –705. https://doi.org/10.1127/0340-269X/2005/0035-0533
ESZ Notification (2001). Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India, Mahabaleshwar Panchgani ESZ notification S.O. 52(E) dated 17 January 2001. https://beag.in/maha/#esz, accessed on 15.xi.2025.
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (2024). https://www.iucnredlist.org/en. Downloaded on 19.iii.2025.
Jacobi, C.M., F.F. do Carmo, R.C. Vincent & J.R. Stehmann (2007). Plant communities on iron stone outcrops: A diverse and endangered ecosystem. Biodiversity and Conservation 16: 2185–2200. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-007-9156-8
Jalal, J.S. & J. Jayanthi (2018). An updated checklist of orchids of Maharashtra, India. Lankesteriana 18(1): 23–62. https://doi.org/10.15517/lank.v18i1.32699
Kale, V.S. (2014). The Laterite-Capped Panchgani Tableland, Deccan Traps. In: Kale, V. (eds) Landscapes and Landforms of India. World Geomorphological Landscapes. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8029-2_23
Kluge, M. & J. Brulfert (2000). Ecophysiology of vascular plants on inselbergs, pp. 143–174. In: Porembski, S. & W. Barthlott (eds.). Inselbergs. Biotic Diversity of Isolated Rock Outcrops in Tropical and Temperate Regions. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, xxxi + 407 pp. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-59773-2_9
Kulkarni, A., R. Shetti, B.K. Shigwan, S. Vijayan & M.N. Datar (2021). What determines vegetation on rock outcrops of the Western Ghats: The macro- environment or lithotype? Folia Geobotanica 56: 149–165. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12224-021-09399-3
Lekhak, M.M. & S.R. Yadav (2012). Herbaceous vegetation of threatened high altitude lateritic plateau ecosystems of Western Ghats, southwestern Maharashtra, India. Rheedea 22(1): 39–61. https://doi.org/10.22244/rheedea.2012.22.01.12
Pandit, G.S. (2014). Lichens of the Mahabaleshwar Panchgani Ecosensitive Zone (MPESZ), Maharashtra, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 6(5): 5784–5791. https://doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o3784.5784-91
Porembski, S. & W. Barthlott (2000). Granitic and gneissic outcrop (inselbergs) as centres of diversity for dessication-tolerant vascular plants. Plant Ecology 151: 19–28. https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1026565817218
Porembski, S. (2007). Tropical inselbergs: habitat types, adaptive strategies and diversity patterns. Brazilian Journal of Botany 30: 579–586. https://doi.org/10.1590/s0100-84042007000400004
Singh, P., K. Kaliyamurthy, P. Lakshminarasimhan & S.S. Dash (2015). Endemic Vascular Plants of India. Botanical Survey of India (GoI), Kolkata, India, 339 pp.
Smrithy, V., A. Kulkarni, B.K. Shigwan, S. Porembski & M.N. Datar (2023). Desiccation-tolerant vascular plants from Western Ghats, India: review, updated checklist, future prospects and new insights. Nordic Journal of Botany 2023: e03939. https://doi.org/10.1111/njb.03939
Urban Development Department (2013). Regulation for Conservation of Heritage Building/ Precincts and Natural Features. Urban Development Department, Government of Maharashtra, India. https://beag.in/heritage-introduction-heritage-lists-and-regulations/. Accessed on 15.xi.2025.
Watve, A. & S. Thakur (2006). Ecological studies on lateritic plateau habitats in northern Western Ghats, pp. 22–28. In: Pandey, H.N. & S.K. Barik (eds.). Ecology, Diversity and Conservation of Plants and Ecosystems in India. Regency Publications, Delhi.
Watve, A. (2009). Rocky Outcrops as Special Habitats in North Western Ghats, Maharashtra, pp. 147–153. In: Rawat, G.S. (ed.). Special Habitats and Threatened Plants of India. ENVIS Bulletin: Wildlife and Protected Areas. Vol. 11. Wildlife Institute of India, Dehra Dun.
Watve, A. (2013). Status review of Rocky plateaus in the northern Western Ghats and Konkan region of Maharashtra, India with recommendations for conservation and management. Journal of Threatened Taxa 5(5): 3935–3962. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.o3372.3935-62
Widdowson, M. & K.G. Cox (1996). Uplift and erosional history of the deccan traps India: evidence from laterites and drainage patterns of the Western Ghats and Konkan coast. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 137: 57–69. https://doi.org/10.1016/0012-821x(95)00211-t
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Sarita Gosavi, Pratiksha Mestry, Swapnil Vyas, Ankur Patwardhan
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors own the copyright to the articles published in JoTT. This is indicated explicitly in each publication. The authors grant permission to the publisher Wildlife Information Liaison Development (WILD) Society to publish the article in the Journal of Threatened Taxa. The authors recognize WILD as the original publisher, and to sell hard copies of the Journal and article to any buyer. JoTT is registered under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY), which allows authors to retain copyright ownership. Under this license the authors allow anyone to download, cite, use the data, modify, reprint, copy and distribute provided the authors and source of publication are credited through appropriate citations (e.g., Son et al. (2016). Bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) of the southeastern Truong Son Mountains, Quang Ngai Province, Vietnam. Journal of Threatened Taxa 8(7): 8953–8969. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.2785.8.7.8953-8969). Users of the data do not require specific permission from the authors or the publisher.
