Flora & Fauna of Raj Bhavan

PLANTS

Barleria prionitis Linn.   Koranti

During this study it was observed that at present Thespesia populnea Soland, an introduced tree was the dominant tree in he entire area. It could be possible that to cover the barren patches, this fast growing species was planted as it does not require much after plantation and therefore, it could have spread all over the area within no time. Natural regeneration of Thespesia is supposed to be very poor. Thespesia populnea and Pongamia pinnata are very good associates of mangroves and therefore they are fairly common on the beach.

Crossandra infundibuliformis (Linn.) Nees Aboli

Trees such as Bombax ceiba (Red Silk Cotlon), Sterculia urens (Ghost tree), S. villosa, Erythrina Variegata (Indian Coral tree), Lannea coromandelica (Shemat), Borassus flabellifer (Toddy Palm), Ficus racemosa (Fig), Zizyphus mauritiana (Ber), Pterospermum acerifolium, Tectona grandis (Teak) were some of the species rare In the area; whereas trees like Trema orientalis (Charcoal tree), Morinda bracteata (Bartondi), Adenanthera pavonia (Indian Coral Wood), Ficus bengalensis (Banyan), Ficus religiosa (Peepal), Ochna obtusata, Manilkara hexandra (Rayan), Putranjiva roxburghil terminalia bellirica (Beheda), T. catappa (Desi badam), Cordia dichotoma (Gunda, Bhokar), Ixora brachiala and Tamarindus indica (Tamarind, Chinch, Imli) were present in large number.

Eranthemum roseum R. Br. Dashmuli

Salvadora persica (Pilu) and Avicennia marina were found on the beach. A patch of Opuntia elator was also found a little distance away from the seashore.

Delonix ragia (Gulmohur), Peltophorum pterocarpum (Copper Pod tree), Samanea saman (Rain tree), and Adenanthera pavonia (Indian coral wood tree) were common along the tar road from lower gate to upper gate. The tar road along the beach had Thespesia populnea and Terminalia catappa as dominant species.

Haplanthus tentaculatus Nees

Climbers such as Cocculus hirsutus and Antigonon leptopus were usually seen covering the ground as well as canopy or the trees and shrubs.

108 flowering plants representing 48 families and 5 non-flowering plants were recorded. Out of the 108 species 56 were trees among which 23 species were exotics.