Floral survey of wet coastal and associated ecosystems of Maharashtra

Abstract

Maharashtra coast is 720 km long stretch interrupted with about 45 estuaries. There is formation of different types of habitat on this coastline. Each one is ecologically unique and inhabits some specific floral components. Present paper reports occurrence of different plant species in the habitat like sandy beach, sand dune, encroached mangrove land, areas along the mangroves and mangrove swamps. Mangrove species are well documented and therefore excluded. There are 33 trees, 118 herbs, shrubs, climbers and 12 species with restricted distribution on the coast of Maharashtra.