A catalogue of the higher plants of the Adhwani temperate forest and its fringe areas (western Himalaya, India)

The present study deals with oristic inventory of higher plants (angiosperms and gymnosperms) at a biodiversity rich temperate forest area (Adhwani forest; 30º06′1″–30º06′7″ N and 78º72′3″ –78º72′6″ E; 1700–2200 m asl) in western Himalaya, India. A total of 477 species of owering plants belonging to 105 families and 315 genera were recorded from the Adhwani forest and its fringe areas. The information on plant life form, owering & fruiting, local elevational distribution, indigenous uses and availability status are provided. An account of the invasive and alien species occurring in the area is also provided. Gentiana cephalodes Edgew. (Gentianaceae) and Buddleja crispa Benth. (Buddlejaceae) revealed as new distribution record to the ora of district Garhwal. Asteraceae (47 species and 33 genera) was the dominant family followed by Fabaceae, Poaceae, Lamiaceae, Rosaceae and Ranunculaceae. Desmodium (9 species) was dominant genus in the study area followed by Crotolaria, Cyperus and Euphorbia (6 species each). The herbs dominate the life forms of the area with 317 species (66.45%) followed by shrubs (14.46%), trees (12.99%) and climbers (6.07%). The ora of the area represents 3 IUCN index species viz. Quercus lamellosa (NT), Quercus oblongata (NT), Ulmus wallichiana (VU) and 90 invasive alien species. The presented catalogue with comprehensive information on of higher plants will be helpful to the plant scientists, planners and forest department for developing strategies and management of this biodiversity rich forest area.


Introduction
Uttarakhand, a great repository of ora and fauna, represents western Himalayan landscape of Indian Himalaya. It has unique topographic feature and wide elevational range with ca. 70% forest cover. The forest area of the state can be categorized into very dense forest (5046.76 km 2 ), moderately dense forest (12,805.24 km 2 ) and open forest (6,451.04 km 2 ) on the basis of forest canopy density 1 . The forest vegetation of the state extends from tropical dry deciduous forests in the foothills to dry temperate forests at timber line and alpine meadows up to snow line. The temperate forests of the region consists of oak forests, moist deodar forests, mixed coniferous forests, blue pine forests, r forests, Rhododendron forests, chir-pine forests, etc. The most common coniferous species of the temperate forests are silver r (Abies pindrow), blue pine (Pinus wallichiana), Himalayan cedar (Cedrus deodara), Himalayan cypress (Cupressus torulosa), spruce (Picea smithiana), Himalayan yew (Taxus wallichiana) and chir-pine (Pinus roxburghii). In Indian Himalaya, forests in the vicinity of human settlements play an important role in the life and livelihood of local people. The dependence on the forest in the vicinity for the basic needs like fodder, fuel wood, timber, medicines, etc. is part of livelihood and economy 2 . Extraction of natural resources from forests often leads to forest degradation.
Floristic survey to document the oral elements is one of the important steps towards the biodiversity assessment of any region. Thorough collection, identi cation and documentation of plants from any ecoregion is an essential step to evaluates the total biodiversity wealth at regional scale 18 .
Comprehensive and updated oristic checklist help researchers, policy makers, naturalists and forest personnel in understanding the vegetation of particular area and in carrying out management activities.
The objectives of this study was to document the owering plants (angiosperms and gymnosperms) with their local name, owering & fruiting phenology, elevational distribution, availability status and utility values in the area (Adhwani forest area).

Study area
The present study was carried out in a temperate forest (Adhwani forest) of Garhwal Himalaya, Uttarakhand, India. It lies between 30º06′1″-30º06′7″ N and 78º72′3″ -78º72′6″ E with elevation range 1700-2200 m asl. Climatic condition of the Adhwani forest is characterized by cold winter and pleasant summer with annual temperature range between 3-29˚C and annual rainfall between 100 cm to 150 cm.
The area is dominantly covered by large coniferous tree (Pinus roxburghii Sarg.) at the lower elevation and in periphery while broadleaved species (Quercus oblongata D.Don, Rhododendron arboreum Sm., etc.) are dominate towards deeper and ridge top stands. The area surrounded by many villages including Kathood, Thapli, Kaljikhal, Manjakot and Pokhri. The inhabitants of these villages are dependent on this forest for various needs especially medicine, fodder and timber resources. Motor road (Danda Nagraja motor) also pass through the forest.

Methodology
Extensive eld surveys were conducted in different localities i.e. road sides, village edges, streams sides of Adwani forest area between 2017 and 2020 to assess the oristic diversity of higher plants (gymnosperms and angiosperms). The plant specimens were collected, pressed, dried and identi ed with the help of oras 9,13 and Herbaria (GUH, DD and BSD). Information about local name, life form, fruiting & owering period, elevational distribution and availability status was gathered during the eld surveys. The availability status (i.e. common, uncommon and rare) of each species was determined on the basis of eld observation.  22 who also reported Asteraceae as the dominant family in the adjoining area.   Majority of the species 408 (85.17%) were of common occurrence while 41 (8.55%) uncommon and 30 (6.26%) rare (Fig. 2). The ndings are agreed erlier studies from the nearby areas [20][21][22][23]26

Conclusion
It is the rst checklist of the owering plants of Adwani forest of western Himalaya. Adwani forest has rich plant diversity with extremely high importance as medicine, fodder, ber, timber, wild edible, etc. The unplanned use of forest resources and habitat degradation due to anthropogenic activities is threatening diversity in this forest area. This study has provided comprehensive information on altitudinal distribution of higher plants in Adwani forest which will be helpful to the plant scientists, planners and particularly to the state forest department for developing strategies and action plans for the management of this biodiversity rich forest. Forest product: timber non-timber can further enhance the rural livelihood of the adjacent villages with the sustainable use of forests. Forest based small industries i.e. bee-keeping, furniture industry, dairy, wild fruit and owers processing centre have potential to control the migration of local villagers. Forest resources are abundantly present inside the forests which are economically viable and which have high potential for the economic development of the adjacent villages as well as the state.

Declarations
Competing interests: The authors declare the following competing interests: 1.To make a checklist of study area. 2.To collect the different local uses of plants. 3.During our eld survey we have found few new records for the local ora so we want found some more information...is there any other unknown species missing in the record of local ora .i.e. ora of Garhwal or ora of uttrakhand.