Botany · Ch 7 — Ecosystem
Vegetation Types of India and Tamil Nadu
Vegetation Types of India and Tamil Nadu
Indian and Tamil Nadu vegetation is classified into four broad types, each detailed with its characteristic species and distribution. Forest vegetation: Champion and Seth (1968) recognised 16 forest types across India, of which 9 occur in Tamil Nadu, grouped under six major classes — Moist Tropical Forests (tropical wet evergreen, e.g. Thirunelveli/Kanyakumari/Anamalai in Tamil Nadu; tropical semi-evergreen, e.g. Coimbatore/Thirunelveli/Kanyakumari; tropical moist deciduous, e.g. Kanyakumari/Theni/Nilgiris; and littoral & swamp forests, split into beach forests along the coast, tidal/mangrove forests near estuaries such as Pichavaram and Ramanathapuram, and fresh-water swamp forests in Kanchipuram/Kanyakumari), Dry Tropical Forests (tropical dry deciduous, the largest forest type by area nationally and present in every Tamil Nadu district at lower elevations; tropical thorn forests, e.g. Thirunelveli; and tropical dry evergreen forests along Tamil Nadu's coastal districts), Montane Sub-Tropical Forests (found in the Shervaroys, Kollimalai and Pachamalai of the Eastern Ghats), Montane Temperate Forests (in Tamil Nadu, confined to sheltered valleys above roughly 1000 m in the Anamalais, Nilgiris and Palani hills, locally called 'sholas'), Sub-Alpine Forests and Alpine Scrub (both essentially Himalayan, outside Tamil Nadu). Grassland vegetation is dominated by grasses and grass-like plants (families Poaceae, Cyperaceae, Fabaceae, Gentianaceae, Asteraceae) and is split by elevation into low-altitude grasslands (below 1000 m, scattered across Tamil Nadu's Eastern Ghats and exposed to fire and biotic pressure) and higher-altitude grasslands (above 1000 m, found in the state's higher Western Ghats, interspersed with shola forest patches in a distinctive 'rolling'/shola-grassland pattern); grasslands deliberately created and maintained by people are termed anthropogenic grasslands, and — notably — two distinct climax communities (sholas and grassland) can persist side by side under the same climatic conditions on the higher Nilgiri hilltops above roughly 7000 feet. Riparian vegetation grows along streams …
What this figure shows. An outline map of India, credited to Champion and Seth (1968), with a legend listing all sixteen numbered forest types grouped under six major classes (I. Moist Tropical Forests: 1–4; II. Dry Tropical Forests: 5–7; III. Montane Sub-Tropical Forests: 8–10; IV. Montane Temperate Forests: 11–13; V. Sub-Alpine Forests: 14; VI. Alpine Scrub: 15–16), with the map body itself shaded or marked by region to show which of these forest types occurs where across the country, from the Himalayan …
What this figure shows. A diagrammatic, not-to-scale map of Tamil Nadu, credited to Champion and Seth (1968), showing every district boundary and district name (Chennai, Kancheepuram, Vellore, Salem, Coimbatore, Nilgiris, Madurai, Tirunelveli, Kanyakumari and the rest) overlaid with a colour-coded legend for the state's nine forest types (Tropical Wet Evergreen, Tropical Semi-Evergreen, Tropical Moist Deciduous, Littoral and Swamp, Tropical Dry Evergreen, Tropical Dry Deciduous, Tropical Thorn, Montane Subtropical, and Montane Wet Temperate Forests), and additionally labelling the state's major named hill ranges (Nilgiris, Anaimalai, Palani Hills, Shervaroy Hills, Kalrayan Hills, Kollimalai, Javadhu H …
What this figure shows. A photograph of a rolling shola-grassland landscape in the higher Western Ghats uplands of Tamil Nadu (above roughly 1000 m elevation), showing open, undulating grass-covered slopes with dark, dense forest patches (sholas) filling the sheltered valleys, folds and depressions carved out by water courses between the grassy hills — illustrating the distinctive rolling-grassland/shola mosaic vegetation pattern the section describes for the s …