FLORISTIC SURVEY OF THE INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE CAMPUS, MUMBAI,

 MAHARASHTRA STATE.

 

T. SRINIVASU AND SATISH  PARDESHI 

Department of Botany, Institute of Science, 15, Madame Cama Road, Fort, Mumbai-32.

 

            The floristic survey of the Institute of Science, Mumbai was done as a part of ‘electronic herbarium and digitaldatabase preparation of Mumbai’. It consists of 73 trees, 54 shrubs, 87 herbs, 19 climbers and 1 liana belongs to various families of Angiosperms, Gymnosperms and Pteridophytes. There are many useful plants growing under different conditions have been revealed herein.

The Institute of science is located in the fort area of south Mumbai, is one of the oldest institutions in Mumbai for science. Formerly, it was known as the Royal Institute of Science. It lies geographically between 19o L and 72o 50’ L. The Botanical garden of Institute of Science occupies 0.2 hectares of land with rich flora and some plants are the sole representatives for entire Mumbai. The campus has some Gymnosperms and Pteridophytes too. The entire flora of institute of Science Botanical garden is not reported earlier either in ‘Flora of Maharashtra’ or ‘Flora of Maharashtra state’, which was published recently. This Institute has its own herbarium house contain many holotype species and is the one of the oldest herbaria in India, dates back to 1884. A detail study of the flora of the institute was carried out from April 2003 to April 2005 for preparation of electronic herbarium and digital database of Mumbai. The National Accreditation and Assessment Committee (2002), Bangalore has declared the Institute of Science botanical garden is well maintained one. The list of plants found in the campus is given below along with its family, habit, common names, and its socio-economic uses.

The plants of the campus were surveyed in different seasons during 2003-2005.  The plants images were taken and samples were correctly identified by usual taxonomic methods and species names were tallied with plant names given in the International plant list available in the website. The data was fed in the DELTA software package and later on bio-information was retrieved from it.

The floristic survey of the Institute of Science, Mumbai reveals the information that it consists of 73 trees, 54 shrubs, 87 herbs, 19 climbers and 1 liana  belongs to various families of Angiosperms, Gymnosperms and Pteridophytes. There are many socio-economical valuable plants growing in the campus.  Those are 77 ornamental; 60 medicinal; 4 both ornamental and medicinal; 16 edible fruit yielding; 5 spice and condiments; 4 fodder yielding, 3 timber yielding 3 vegetable plants;1 leafy vegetable; 1 oil yielding;  3 cosmetic plants, 2 bamboos; 1 fire-wood yielding plant; 1 fragrant flowered; 1 camphor, 2 cotton, 1 dye yielding plant & 5 aquatic weeds.

Out of these, 2 plants are rare and 2 are endangered.

 

Botanical names

Family

Habit

Common names

Socio-economic uses

Angiosperms

 

 

 

 

Crossandra infundibuliformis (L.) Nees

Acanthaceae

H

Aboli.

Ornamental

Adhatoda vasica Nees

Acanthaceae

S

Adulsa.

Medicinal

Pseuderanthemum bicolor (Schrank) Radlk. ex Lindou.

Acanthaceae

         S

--

--

Ruellia tuberosa L

Acanthaceae

S

Minnieroot.

--

Acorus calamus L.

Acoraceae

H

Sweet flag, calamus root, Yakand, calamus.

Medicinal

Agave sisalana Perrine

Agavaceae

S

Sisal hemp.

Fiber-yielding

Dracaena fragrans (L.) Ker-Gawl.

Agavaceae

H

Fragrant dracaena.

Ornamental

Achyranthes aspera (L) var. aspera

Amaranthaceae

H

Aghara, devil's horsewhip.

Medicinal

Aerua lanata (L.) A. L. Juss. ex Schultes

Amaranthaceae

H

Madhuri, kapuri, kupuri, aerva.

Medicinal

Aerva Javanica  (Burman f.) A. L. Juss. ex Schultes

Amaranthaceae

H

Java aerva.

--

Alternanthera sessilis (L.) R. Br. x DC.

Amaranthaceae

H

Kanchri, jaljamba, sessile joyweed.

Medicinal

Amaranthus spinosus L.

Amaranthaceae

H

Fox tail, prickly, Kate math, spiny  amaranthus, Kaantili chaulai.

Medicinal

Amaranthus viridis L.

Amaranthaceae

H

Slender amaranth, wild amaranth, green pigweed, Math.

Medicinal

Anacardium occidentale L.

Anacardiaceae

T

Cashew, East Indian Almond, Kaju.

Medicinal

Mangifera indica L.

Anacardiaceae

T

Mango, Amba, Aam.

Edible fruit

Annona reticulata L.

Annonaceae

T

Bullock’s-heart, custard apple, Ramphal.

Edible fruits

Annona squamosa L

Annonaceae

T

Sweetsop, sugar apple, sitaphal.

Edible fruits

Artabotrys hexapetalous (L. f.) Bhandari

Annonaceae

S

Green champa, Hirva champa, Hara champa, climbing ilang-ilang

Cosmetic hair oil & medicinal

Polyalthia longifolia (Sonn.) Thw.

Annonaceae

T

False Asoka.

Avenue

Adenium obesum  (Forssk.) Roem. &amp. Schult.

Apocynaceae

S

Adenachakanher, Desert rose.

Ornamental

Alstonia scholaris (L.) R.Br.

Apocynaceae

T

Devil’s tree, Saptpani.

Medicinal

Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don

Apocynaceae

H

Madagascar periwinkle, sadahuli, sadapkuli.

Medicinal

Kopsia fructicosa A. DC.

Apocynaceae

S

Shrub vinca.

Ornamental

Plumeria rubra forma tricolour (R. & S.) Woodrow

Apocynaceae

T

Frangipani, deo chapa, khair champa.

Ornamental

Rauvolfia serpentina (L.) Bth. ex Kurz

Apocynaceae

S

Serpina, Sarpagandha, Hadki.

Medicinal

Rauwolfia tetraphylla L.

Apocynaceae

S

be still tree

--

Tabernaemontana citrifolia L.

Apocynaceae

S

Adam's apple, milk wood, swastika.

Ornamental

Tabernaemontana divaricata (L.) Br. ex Roemer & J.A. Schultes

Apocynaceae

S

Moonbeam, waxflower, east Indian rosebay, tagar, chandni, pinwheel flower.

Ornamental

Anthurium crystallinum Lindl. & Andre

Araceae

H

--

Ornamental

Dieffenbenbaehia pictum Scnhtt.

Araceae

H

Dumb cane.

Ornamental

Monstera deliciosa L

Araceae

C

Tarovine, Ceriman.

Ornamental

Pothos scandens L

Araceae

H

Money plant.

Ornamental

Areca catechu   L.

Arecaceae

T

Betel-nut palm, Supari.

Betel-nut

Caryota urens L.

Arecaceae

T

Fish-tail palm, Jaggery palm.

Ornamental

Cocos nucifera L.

Arecaceae

T

Coconut palm, Nariyal.

Fiber yielding

Colocasia esculenta  (L.) Schott

Arecaceae

H

Alu, coco yam, chamkara.

Edible tubers

Livistonia chinensis   (Jacq.) R. Br. ex Mart.

Arecaceae

T

Fan palm, fountain palm.

Ornamental

Oreodoxa regia H. B. & K.

Arecaceae

T

Royal palm, Bottle palm.

Ornamental

Ageratum houstonianum   P. Mill.

Asteraceae

H

Blue mink.

--

Blumea lanuginosa (Clarke) Cook. ex Almeida

Asteraceae

H

--

--

Elephantopus scaber L.

Asteraceae

H

Prickly-leaved elephanti's foot, Hastipata.

Medicinal

Guizotia abyssinica (L. f.) Cass.

Asteraceae

H

Niger, karal, kala-til.

Oil yielding crop

Synedrella  nodiflora ( L.) Gaertn.

Asteraceae

H

Node weed.

--

Tridax procumbens L.

Asteraceae

H

Tun-tuni, Dagdipala, Ekdandi, Pathri, Bhamburda, coatbuttons.

Medicinal

Vernonia cinerea (L.) Less.

Asteraceae

H

Fleabane, sahadevi, mothi sadori.

Medicinal

Wedelia chinensis (Osbeck) Merrill

Asteraceae

H

--

Ornamental

Impatiens balsamina L.

Balsaminaceae

H

Spotted snapweed

--

Basella alba L.

Basellaceae

C

Mayaki Bhaji., Ceylon spinach.

Leafy vegetable

Begonia coccinea Hook.

Begoniaceae

H

Scarlet begonia

Ornamental

*Begonia deliciosa

Begoniaceae

H

--