Flora in himachal Pradesh

 FLORAL DIVERSITY

Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. The corresponding term for animal life is fauna. Flora, fauna, and other forms of life, such as fungi, are collectively referred to as biota. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms gut flora or skin flora.

Plants are grouped into floras based on region (floristic regions), period, special environment, or climate. Regions can be distinct habitats like mountain vs. flatland. Floras can mean plant life of a historic era as in fossil flora. Lastly, floras may be subdivided by special environments:

• Native flora. The native and indigenous flora of an area.
• Agricultural and horticultural flora (garden flora). The plants that are deliberately grown by humans.
• Weed flora. Traditionally this classification was applied to plants regarded as undesirable, and studied in efforts to control or eradicate them. Today the designation is less often used as a classification of plant life, since it includes three different types of plants: weedy species, invasive species (that may or may not be weedy), and native and introduced non-weedy species that are agriculturally undesirable. Many native plants previously considered weeds have been shown to be beneficial or even necessary to various ecosystems.

Floral diversity in the State is described under forest vegetation, medicinal and aromatic plants, 

diversity in agricultural crops including unexploited and lesser known cereal crops, wild fruits and 

wild ornamental plants. Out of the total 47,000 plant species found in the country as many as 3,256

species are reported from Himachal Pradesh. 

The vegetation is a blend of Ban oak Forest, Moist Temperate Deciduous Forest, Himalayan 

Alpine Pastures and Rhododendron Scrub Forest. Coniferous forest dominate the mid and high 

hills with Oaks in depressions. In the foothills, forests are dry deciduous with sal as the 

predominant species. In dry localities chir pine occur as the dominant species. These rich forests 

and the diversity of the bioresearches available in the State support the Livelihood of the 

inhabitants. Himachal Pradesh is a reservoir of medicinal plants. The State is rich in medicinal 

herbal plant wealth and people in the villages in same pockets are dependent on the medicinal 

herbal plant wealth for their livelihood. 

Flora of Himachal Pradesh

Plant Groups Number of species 

1⃣  Angiosperms 3120

2⃣Gymnosperms (Conifers) 12

3⃣Pteridophytes (Ferns) 124

Total 3256

Source: Jairajpuri (1991) – Himachal Pradesh Forest Sector Review, 2000

Some plants in himachal Pradesh