Aquatic and Wetland Flora of Kerala: Flowering Plants

The book describes 699 species (plus 2 as addenda) of flowering plants occurring in the wetlands of Kerala with illustrations and photographs. The nomenclatural history of each plant is dealt with in detail. The taxonomic and nomenclature notes provided for many species may impel researchers to investigate on the matter further. Detailed taxonomic and nomenclature analysis of plants held during the present study necessitated the merger of five recently established species (viz. Cryptocoryne sivadasanii Bogner, Eriocaulon kannurense Sunil et al., Fuirena ponmudiensis Ravi & Anilkumar, Rotala kasaragodensis Prasad & Raveendran and Zeylanidium crustaceum Kato) with earlier known species. Similarly, five binomials viz. Eusteralis malabarica (Heyne ex Hook. f.) Majumdar, Hydrobryopsis sessilis (Willis) Engler, lschaemum keralensis Sreekumar et al., Polygonum donii Wight and Vetiveria festucoides (Presl) Ohwi, which the earlier workers had treated as synonyms, have been reinstated as the correct names. The so far unknown uses of many plants are described. The common and local names provided for the plants will be helpful to local people involved
in environmental protection activities to recognize the plants in their nearby wetland systems. The flora also gives the origin and meanings of all scientific names (etymology) involved as an aid to young researchers, teachers and students.