In a developing country like India, floristic studies are of great national relevance. Plant resources in a tropical climate like ours contribute to the natural wealth of our country; therefore, it is very essential that we record all our plants with their correct identity and their exact distribution for their proper utilization and conservation.
The city of Madras, one of the largest in India, lacks a comprehensive modern flora for the correct determination of all the available taxa. While it should be admitted that Mayuranathan (1929) and Barnes (1938) laid foundation for the floristic work of this area, little progress had been made thereafter. Way back in 1938, Barnes pointed out, "It appears that much still remains to be done before even the flowering plants of the district are completely listed." Furthermore, the Poaceae (Gramineae), one of the economically important and dominant families, have remained neglected till date.
Mayuranathan (1929) noted, "there appears to be a certain amount of change taking place in the flora of this region." Weeds of various kinds, particularly aliens are spreading at an alarming rate across all the available open space, even in the thickly populated areas of the city. While some of these aliens compete with, and try to eliminate the native species, others become a menace to horticulturists or a hazard to the public. Biologists working on such weeds need a local flora by which they can easily determine these taxa and locate them for further study and research.
The population explosion and the consequent growth and development of the metropolis have a very damaging effect on the vegetation, especially through habitat destruction. Many native species recorded by earlier workers as common in this area have now become rare or have disappeared. It is time that we carefully recorded such rare taxa and took measures to protect them.
While the vegetation and flora of the hilly regions, particularly of the Western Ghats are systematically studied by taxonomists of various organisations, the plants of the plains continue to remain neglected. A flora of the plains, especially of a city like Madras would be directly useful to the students of biology and practical plant users in Madras City and Chengalpattu District.
Plants of a region invariably mirror the ancient evolutionary history, ecology and human use or misuse of the resources of that region. The city of Madras and its neighbourhood were once thickly covered with plants of the dry evergreen forest and the coastal areas had even mangrove plants. More than 100,000 years ago, this region had been the habitat of our stone age ancestors. And the stone tools they used for digging some roots and tubers or crushing vegetables and fruits can be collected, even today along the Kortalaiyar river terraces. That dense forests have become a thing of the past today, and hardly 0.1% of this area has vegetation cover, that too in isolated pockets of preserved forests the Madras Christian College Campus Guindy National park and Arignar Anna Zoological Park at Vandalur.
Dr. C. Livingstone and Dr. A.N. Henry's revision of the celebrated work of P.V. Mayuranathan's "The Flowering Plants of Madras City and its immediate Neighbourhood" fulfils a long felt need for an accurate description of plants of this region. Mayuranathan's book published in 1929 had described a total of 831 taxa Mr. E. Barnes, Professor of Chemistry at the Madras Christian College, added another 53 taxa as a supplement in 1938. Since then numerous researchers have studied the plants of this region and have also made collections but all these have remained as inaccessible lists and reports. From the vantage position of the thickly wooded campus of the Madras Christian College, Dr. Livingstone has since made a comprehensive study of the plants of this region after analysing the species for the past 15 years. The present revision combines his own intimate knowledge of plants with the expertise of Dr. Henry who is among the country's foremost taxonomists, who has himself made extensive study of the plants of this region. The current revision adds 155 taxa to Mayuranathan and Barnes's account species of grasses, 41 cultivated and 45 naturalised plants. It is of significance that 594 plants of the total 1039 are weeds. As a major port of entry and a metropolitan city well connected with other regions, the vegetation appears to be undergoing rapid and dynamic changes. Some 100 plants listed by Mayuranathan could not be traced at all by Livingstone and Henry. Such large scale depletion of plant resources is a matter of great concern to all of us and should therefore prompt every one of us to protect the remaining plant habitats, including the Guindy National Park and the Adayar Estuary for the benefit of the coming generations.
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