Vegetation in coastal areas

Coastal regions of Indian lie between 7o to 24o

N latitude and 70o to 94 o E longitude

Coastal areas in India

Indian coastal region is bounded by the Arabian
Sea on the west and by the Bay of Bengal on
the east.
The littoral areas of India constitute the states of
Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala,
Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and West
Bengal.
The west coast of India receives southerly winds
that drive high waves during the monsoon
(June-September), while along the east coast,
wave activity is generally prominent during the
north east monsoon.

 The coastal dune ecosystem was found to support diverse

flora with a total of 338 species, belonging to 69 families.
The west coast was found to be more diverse as compared
to the east coast.
West coast has 267 species and east coast has 163 species
of flora.

Karnataka(w) has 145 species where Tamil Nadu accounts

for 89 species.

large number of species fall in the herbaceous habit (62%)

of the vegetation, followed by shrubs (21%), while trees,
climbers and creepers contributed 17%.

4 Dominant Family
Classification
Fabaceae - pea family of
flowering plants. Egorchid
Poaceae - grass family of
monocotyledonous
flowering plant. Eg- wheat
Cyperaceae- sedge family
of monocotyledonous
flowering plants. EgAlpine Sedge
Asteraceae- garden plants
and wildflowers. Egsunflower

Climate along the Coast

The annual rainfall along the west and east coasts
varies from 1117.2 mm to 3796.9 mm and 1102.7 mm
to 3034.8 mm respectively
Temperature along west coast- 21.7C to 33.4C
Temperature along east coast- 21.7C to 32.9C
Western coast-Extensive sandy beaches and rocky
coasts.
Eastern coast- muddy.

3 Coastal Bio Zones

Zone 1 comprise of pioneer shallow rooted herbs
Zone 2 consist of a mid-shore zone of herbs and
medium-rooted shrubs.
Zone 3 represented by deep rooted species of taller
shrubs and trees.

 Sesuvium
portulacastrum
Ipomoea pescaprae
Cyperus
arenarius

Indigofera
Ixora
Pandanus
Sida
Corifolia
Vitex
Spinifex
littoreus

Anacardium
occidentale
Cocos nucifera
Ziziphus

ZONE-1
SESUVIUM
PORTULACASTRUM
Sesuvium portulacastrum
is a
sprawling perennial herb that grows in
coastal areas throughout much of the
world. It is commonly known as shoreline

purslane.

Sesuvium portulacastrum is a sprawling

perennial herb up to 30 centimetres
(12in) high, with thick, smooth stems up
to 1 metre (3.3ft) long.
It has smooth, fleshy, glossy green leaves
that are linear or lanceolate, from 1070
millimetres (0.392.76in) long and 215
millimetres (0.0790.591in) wide. Flowers
are pink or purple
Sesuvium portulacastrum grows in sandy clay,
coastal limestone and sandstone, tidal flats and salt
marshes, throughout much of the world. It is native
to Africa, Asia, Australia, North America and South
America,

IPOMOEA PES-CAPRAE
Ipomoea pes-caprae, also known as
bayhops, beach morning glory or
goat's foot, is a common pantropical
creeping vine belonging to the family
Convolvulaceae. It grows on the
upper parts of beaches and endures
salted air. It is one of the most
common and most widely distributed
salt tolerant plants and provides one
of the best known examples of
oceanic dispersal. Its seeds float and
are unaffected by salt water.
This species can be found on the sandy
shores of the tropical Atlantic, Pacific,
and Indian Oceans. Goat's Foot is
common on the sand dunes of
Australia's upper north coast of New
South Wales and can also be found
along the entire Queensland coastline.

CYPERUS ARENARIUS
It is a large genus of about 700
species of sedges, distributed
throughout all continents in both
tropical and temperate regions.
They are annual or perennial plants,
mostly aquatic and growing in still or
slow-moving water up to 0.5m deep.
The species vary greatly in size, with
small species only 5cm tall, while
others can reach 5m in height.
Common names include papyrus
sedges, flatsedges, nutsedges,
umbrella-sedges and galingales.
The stems are circular in cross-section in some,
triangular in others, usually leafless for most of their
length, with the slender grass-like leaves at the base
of the plant, and in a whorl at the apex of the
flowering stems. The flowers are greenish, and wind
pollinated; they are produced in clusters among the
apical leaves.

ZONE- 2
Indigofera
Indigoferaisalargegenusofover750
speciesoffloweringplantsbelongingtothe
familyFabaceae.
Theyarewidelydistributedthroughout
thetropicalandsubtropicalregionsofthe
world.
SpeciesofIndigoferaaremostlyshrubs,
thoughsomearesmalltreesorannualor
perennialherbs.
Mosthavepinnateleaves.Racemesof
flowersgrowintheleafaxils.
Mostspecieshaveflowersinshadesof
red,butthereareafewwhite-andyellowfloweredspecies.
Thefruitisalegumepodofvaryingsize
andshape

Ixora
Ixorais agenusofflowering plants
in theRubiaceaefamily. It consists of
tropical evergreen trees and shrubs
and holds around 500 species.
Though native to the tropical and
subtropical areas throughout the
world, its centre of diversity is
inTropical Asia.
Ixoraalso grows commonly in
subtropical climates in the United
States, such asFloridawhere it is
commonly known asWest Indian
Jasmine.
The plants possess leathery leaves,
ranging from 3 to 6inches in length,
and produce large clusters of
tinyflowersin the summer.
In tropical climates they flower year
round and are commonly used
inHinduworship, as well as

Pandanus

Often called pandanus palms, these

plants are not closely related to palm
trees.
The species vary in size from small
shrubs less than 1m (3.3ft) tall, to
medium-sized trees 20m (66ft) tall,
typically with a broad canopy, heavy
fruit, and moderate growth rate.
The top of the plant has one or more
crowns of strap-shaped leaves that may
be spiny,varying between species from
30cm (12in) to 2m (6.6ft) or longer,
and from 1.5cm (0.59in) up to 10cm
(3.9in) broad.
They aredioecious, with male and
femaleflowersproduced on different
plants. The flowers of the male tree are
23cm (0.791.18in) long and fragrant,
surrounded by narrow, whitebracts.
The flowers of female tree are 10
20cm (3.97.9in) in diameter, and
have many prism-like sections,
resembling the fruit of thepineapple.

Sida cordifolia

Sida cordifoliais a perennial

subshrub of the mallow family
Malvaceae native to India.
It has naturalized throughout the
world, and is considered an invasive
weed in many countries
The specific name,cordifolia, refers
to the heart-shaped leaf.
S. cordifoliais an erect perennial that
reaches 50 to 200cm (20 to 79in)
tall, with the entire plant covered with
soft white felt-like hair that is
responsible for one of its common
names, "flannel weed".
The stems are yellow-green, hairy,
long, and slender.
The yellow-green leaves areoblongovate, covered with hairs, and 3.5 to
7.5cm (1.4 to 3.0in) long by 2.5 to
6cm (0.98 to 2.36in) wide.
The flowers are dark yellow,
sometimes with a darker orange
center.

Vitex
Vitexhas about
250species.Common names
include"chastetree",
traditionally referring toV. agnuscastusbut often applied to other
species as well.
Vitexis a genus
ofshrubsandtrees, from 1 to 35m
tall.
Some species have whitish bark
that is characteristically furrowed.
Leaves are opposite, usually
compound.
The fruit is adrupe.

spinifex littoreus Ravan's Moustache is a perennial

grass with stolon-forming stems,

hard, stout, many-noded, rooting and
copiously branching at nodes.
Flowering shoots ascend u[ to 1-3 ft.
Leaves are very tough, inrolled,
curved, 5-20 0.2-0.3 cm, margins
rough, tip spiny.Ligule is densely
ciliate.
Male flowers are borne in 2-5
clustered round heads 5-10 6-8 cm.
Racemes are 3-6 cm, bearing 5-10
loosely imbricate spikelets. Female
inflorescences is round. 20-35 cm in
diameter.
Racemes are covered with needlelike 10-18 cm rachis. Female spikelets
are lanceolate-oblong, 1-2 cm,
pointed. Glumes are oblonglanceolate, lower glume many-veined,
upper glume 7-9-veined.

ZONE- 3
ANACARDIUM OCCIDENTALE
The cashew tree (Anacardium
occidentale) is a tropical evergreen
tree that produces the cashew seed
and the cashew apple.
It can grow as high as 14 metres
(46ft), but the dwarf cashew,
growing up to 6 metres (20ft), has
proved more profitable, with earlier
maturity and higher yields.
The shell of the cashew seed yields derivatives that can be
used in many applications from lubricants to paints, and
other parts of the tree have traditionally been used for
snake-bites and other folk remedies.
Originally native to northeastern Brazil, the tree is now
widely cultivated in Vietnam, Nigeria and India as major
production countries.

COCOS NUCIFERA

The coconut tree (Cocos nucifera) is

a member of the family Arecaceae
(palm family).
It is the only accepted species in the
genus Cocos. The term coconut can
refer to the entire coconut palm, the
seed, or the fruit, which, botanically,
is a drupe, not a nut.
Cocos nucifera is a large palm,
growing up to 30m (98ft) tall, with
pinnate leaves 46m (1320ft) long,
and pinnae 6090cm long; old leaves
break away cleanly, leaving the trunk
smooth.

ZIZIPHUS
Ziziphus is a genus of about 40
species of spiny shrubs and small
trees in the buckthorn family,
distributed in the warm-temperate
and subtropical regions throughout
the world.
The leaves are alternate, entire, with
three prominent basal veins, and 2
7cm (0.792.76in) long.
Some species are deciduous, others
evergreen. The flowers are small,
inconspicuous yellow-green.
The fruit is an oblong, 15cm (0.39
1.97in) long, often very sweet and
sugary.

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