Welcome to eflora of Pune Hills
Pune is a beautiful city covering an area of 430 km2. It is the second largest city in Maharashtra after Mumbai. It is located between 18.42°N to 18.62°N latitudes & 73.75°E to 73.96°E longitudes on the eastern slopes of Sahyadri ranges in Pune district. The topography of the city is unique as it is surrounded by hills. The type of vegetation in these hills is mainly dry, deciduous forest and rocky grasslands. The hills are the characteristic features of the city and exhibit the considerably larger patches of natural vegetation. These patches of vegetation play vital role in maintaining micro-climatic conditions. The city has total 10 hills namely Baner Hill, Bavdhan Hill, Hanumaan Hill, Katraj Hill, Lohegaon Hill, Nandoshi Hill, Pashan Hill, Ram Hill, Sutarwadi Hill and Taljai Hill. The hills serve as the source of carbon sinks thus providing clean and fresh air to city dwellers. Natural vegetation in the city has been an important factor in maintaining clean air.
Pune is a prestigious centre of education and diverse industries with the climatic conditions being more pleasant thus attracting many people from all walks of life and has resulted in increase in population. Increase in population has resulted in decreasing forest cover of the city and this may have resulted in increase in air temperature.
The plants documented in the Flora of Pune hills included five selected hills namely Hanuman, Chaturshrungi,Vetal, Katraj (Jambulvadi) and Taljai. The website presents 306 number of plant species belonging to 70 plant family. There are 193 trees, 85 shrubs and others 28. This includes 22 different bamboo species mostly exotic and few native.
The plant information provided is simple and easy to understand even by common man. Photographs are added for better understanding of plants. Photographs include flower, inflorescence, leaf dorsal and ventral view, fruit, seed, trunk, habit of the plant. In addition to these digital herbarium is available for some plant species.
The main objective of this site is to create an interest and love for plants among individuals, to foster conservation of biodiversity, to bring public awareness about the diversity of plants in hills and to understand their role in maintaining the ecosystem and their threat and thus their need for conservation as there are only few green spaces available. This study can be of significance to students, researchers, botanists, ecologists, nature lovers and to every Indian citizens interested in seeing the progress and development of the nation.
Abbreviations: HN – Hanuman, CH – Chaturshrungi, JM – Jambulwadi, VT – Vetal, TL – Taljai, N – Native, E – Exotic, T – Tree, S – Shrub, C – Climber, H – Herb, Su – Succulent