Wildlife Institute of India report records 304 plants species on IIT Roorkee campus

Typhonium inopinatum, a herbaceous plant belonging to the family Araceae (Arum), found at the IIT Roorkee, is the first record for the state of Uttarakhand.  

Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, today released a biodiversity report of the flora and fauna of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee). The study was sponsored by IIT Roorkee and is the first such documentation of the biodiversity of the campus.  

WII was entrusted with the task of carrying out the 175 years old campus biodiversity inventory where an important discovery for the IIT Roorkee campus is the finding of Typhonium inopinatum, a herbaceous plant belonging to the family Araceae (Arum). This is the first record for the state of Uttarakhand.  

5-month floristic survey 

The five-month long floristic survey revealed a diverse assemblage of plants belonging to trees, shrubs, herbs as well as woody and herbaceous climbers. A total of 304 species belonging to 237 genera and 87 different plant families were recorded within the campus.  

Of these, majority are represented by flowering plants or the angiosperms – 291 species, while gymnosperms, i.e. cone-bearing plants were represented by nine species. Pteridophytes which include ferns and their kin were represented by mere four species. Amongst the floral types, trees were the most dominant with 140 species, followed by herbs -- 91 species, shrubs -- 45 species, and 28 species of climbing plants.  

IIT Roorkee Director Prof Ajit Kumar Chaturvedi, said, “Human influence is accelerating climate change, thus raising serious environmental concerns globally. Thus, it was time to look back to nature to adopt more sustainable ways of living, keeping in mind the future of our planet.” 
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