South Indian Journal of Biological Sciences

Franklin Francis ¹, Anto Puthur Varghese ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Botany, St. Thomas’ College (Autonomous), Thrissur, Kerala, IN

Abstract

Perumala Hill station of Thrissur, which we selected for the study, is peculiar for its geographic isolation from nearby areas, and no other nearby hill stations are present. These grass hills are about 103 m. of maximum elevation and 25 acre area. It is protected by worshiping old temple. We got attracted to the place also because of its classic scenic beauty of grasslands. Firing the land is an annual custom they following for years. Although the dominant grass species of the land flourish there year after year. Many rare plants like Habenaria diphilla, Habenaria marginata, Exacum tetragonum, Ophioglossum etc are seen there. To get an awareness about the dominant species of this area, we conducted quadrate studies, calculated Shannon's and Simpson's indices. From the plant list derived from the data in the decreasing order of density, grasses are found to be the major plants of this area. Taxonomic analysis of 7 major grasses was conducted from this area. Among this, Heteropogan contortus found to be having most density among them. Seasonal and climatic variations are very common in the grass species. H. contortus also shows such variation in this area. Arundinella mesophylla an endemic species reported from South India. This plant also found in this small area. The awn movements of A. Mesophylla and Eulalia trispicata are found interesting. The flourishing of grass species in this area due to fire resistance. The fire escaping mechanisms of this dominant species are the submerged rhizome, well developed seed dispersal mechanism and seasonal reappearance etc.

Keywords

Low Altitude Grassland, Perumala, Themeda, Arundinella, Aristida, Eulalia, Heteropogon, Pennisetum.

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