INVENTORYING FLORAL DIVERSITY, COMPOSITIONS, AND RESOURCE UTILIZATION CAPACITY BY LOCAL PEOPLE IN ‘KHAN GARDEN’ OF HOOGHLY DISTRICT, WEST BENGAL, INDIA

An assessment of floral diversity was carried out in historic ‘Khan Garden’ of Mankundu, Hooghly district in state of West Bengal, India during 2014-15 with aims to assess (i) floral composition and (ii) resource utilization capacity by local inhabitants. All together, 100 square quadrats with minimum of 30 × 30 cm2 and maximum of 180 × 180 cm2 sizes were laid down within the garden area, and 81 plant species were documented. Out of these 81 plant species, 72 taxa were angiosperm and 9 were ferns, distributed in 43 families. Family Asteraceae dominated with highest number (7 taxa) of plant species, and was followed by Fabaceae with six taxa. Family Poaceae dominated among monocot with 7 taxa. Frequency, density and abundance varied greatly among the taxa, while many species were not evenly abundant in the study area. Study revealed invasion intensity of three members of Asteraceae, and one member each from Verbenaceae and Fabaceae. Ageratum conyzoides of Asteraceae was detected as worst invasive. Importance Value Index, calculated from relative frequency, relative density and relative dominance, varied significantly among 81 taxa and the higher values were recorded for tree species followed by invasive taxa. A total of 28 plants were used as herbal medicinal by local village folks, residing within the Garden area. Besides medicine, plant resources were utilized as source of vegetables and also for forage, low quality cabinet making, manure, fishing, and religious purposes which indicates diversity of plant resources and economic dependence of locals on them and therefore, these resources need urgent conservation.