Books on Indian Flora (Alphabatically arranged)

Flowering Trees by M.S. Randhawa– Nation Book Trust- Rs. 65/- (208 pages)- explains 56 species with the help of plates & figures along with details about which species to be planted in Gardens, villages, Towns, Cities, Avenues, Highways etc.

Flowers of the Western Himalayas by Rupin Dang.

Shrikant Ingalhalikar’s Flowers of Sahyadri, 2001, Corolla Publications, Pune, (Ph. 020- 24351388) printed by Pragati Offset, Hyderabad. The flowers are restricted to the Western Ghats, specifically to Maharashtra. It can also be carried in your daypack.

Concluding Part of Shrikant Ingalhalikar’s Further Flowers of Sahyadri, 2007– Field guide to additional 1200 flowers of North- Western Ghats of India, Price- Rs. 800. Though the field guide is titled as Flowers of Sahyadri, it is useful for most plants of all the regions. Besides it also covers trees found in urban habitats. May be it is the first ever such publication. It has breath- taking photographs! Every species described has beautiful photograph. The design, description, photos and the layout are par excellence!

Focus on sacred groves and ethnobotany- Prof.V.D.Vartak– this book deals with conservation of trees in older days.

Forest Flora of the Bombay Presidency and Sind/ W.A. Talbot. Reprint. First published: Poona, Government of Bombay, 1909. 1984, 2 v., 508, 574 p., 541 figs., $63. Reprint of The Flora Of The Presidency Of Bombay 1903-1908 2 Vols. Set by T. Cooke-Publisher: Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh, 1983 (Reprint), Dehradun. Flora of Presidency of Bombay – T. cooke, reprint 2006, has two volumes. Vol I is Ranunculaceae to Rubiaceae and Vol II-Compositae to Gramineae. Dr. Almeida ‘s Flora of Mah. volumes have added the missing plants in these volumes and also the new and changed names.

Forest Flora of the Chakrata, Dehra Dun and Saharanpur Forest Divisions, United Provinces; Upendranath Kanjilal & Basant Lal Gupta; Government of India Publications 1928 (Reprinted 200?, Natraj Publishers, Dehradun). Another classic, this is somewhat technical, but excellent for the field identification of plants in Northern India, and especially in the Terai region. Natraj Publishers have recently reprinted the book with some sparse illustrations. There is another book, which is in the same genre as Upendranath Kanjilal’s book, but on the trees of Southern India. As a very limited number of copies (1000) were printed, it may be difficult to find (I believe I have one of the last copies to be sold.). It is profusely illustrated and an excellent field guide. I hope that there are plans to produce more copies in the near
future.

Forest Flora of Srinagar and Plant of Neighbourhood-Gurcharan Singh & P. Kachroo. Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh, Dehra Dun and Periodical Expert Book Agency, Delhi.

Forest Trees of South India; S. G. Neginhal, IFS (Retd.), Navbharath Press, Bangalore. 2004.

Freaks and marvels of plants life- M.C.Cook– antic book.

Hydrophytes and Marsh Plants of Mysore City- V.Bhaskar and B.A. Razi (1973). Publisher: Prasaranga, University of Mysore, Mysore pp. 102 Price: Rs. 8=00

Hortus Malabaricus and Socio-cultural Heritage of India– by Prof. Manilal by The Hon. Vice Chancellor of Calicut Prof. Abdul Salam on 17th February 2012 at a function held at Botany Department, Calicut University.
The book is published by IAAT and is now available for sale.p.328. Hard Bound. INR 700.00. ISBN: 81-901637-3-6

Indian Trees- Dietrich Brandis-1978- antic reference book.

Know your Grass Genera Through Hand Lens by Prof. SR Yadav Published by Shivaji University Kolhapur. Dr.S R Yadav edited this book and it is priced at Rs.500 per copy. (Balkar Arya & Muthu Karthick- 26.10.10)

Kolhapur flora, Corbett flora, Tadoba flora, Khandala flora by Botanical Survey of india.

Maharashtra flora- 4 volumes- Dr. M.R. Almeida-Good reference book to get species account. It is not a field guide.

Medicinal Plants: A Holistic Approaches by Dr. Sayed Nudrat Zawar.

Manual of Field Botany: This manual contains improved images of plant morphology with common examples, revised glossary, and well concise information about ecology and lower group of plants and good number of field photographs. The book is authored by Dr. Vinaya Ghate, Dr. Hema Sane and Mandar Datar.

North East Indian Orchids- Mohan Pradhan– very good book.

Other antic Marathi books (Vanashree Sristi) also have very good information on trees and their properties, uses etc.

Our tree neighbors- Chakravarti. S. Venkatesh– National Council of Educational research and training- OK book with some useful tips.

Perennials by Prof. Marshall Craigmyle: Today i got a very informative book from One of my friend Book Seller Mr
Arora, Informatic Books Delhi. Title: Perennials. Author: Prof. Marshall Craigmyle. Publisher:Colin Gower Enterprises, UK. Price 1050.00 Only. Pages 352 all Glossy colored. Covering about 2700 COMMON ANNUALS AND PERENNIALS GARDEN PLANTS with very nice photographs I found this book excellent (Dr. Balkar Singh)

Photo guide to selected medicinal plants of Karnataka is just one of the wide range of publications of FRLHT (Foundation for Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions, located at Bangalore, Karnataka) on medicinal plants. This particular booklet describes 100 commonly available important medicinal plants of Karnataka (may apply to many other states too). This is prepared mainly for the students, teachers, foresters, and general public to know the useful plants in their surroundings better, appreciate their importance in human health and livelihood, use sustainably and help in their conservation. This photo guide is copiously illustrated with over 400 pictures to enable the readers to recognize/identify the enumerated plants without any difficult. It is reasonably priced (Rs. 170.00) to make it affordable to common man. Please visit our website to know more: http://www.frlht.org.in/publicatons.htm#photo (and click on the photo guide button). (Dr. Vijayasankar Raman- 31.12.09)

Place that plant by Frances Welland. Paragon published in1998 with 256 pages every page with 3+ very high quality images. Especially good for Garden plants. Good information about garden plant hybrids. Price not mentioned on Book. I bought it from book fair held at Kurukshetra in only 500 Rs. (Dr Balkar Singh- 8.9.10)

Plant Myths and traditions in india by Ms Shakti Sinha– Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, P.O.Box 5715, 54 Rani Jhansi Road, New Delhi. 110 055. It is an interesting collection of mythology and tribal folklore associated with so many trees. Kalpavriksha has been variously associated with several trees according to various puranas, and mythological stories. (Anand Kumar Bhatt- 4.10.08)

Plants of Coromondel Coast by William Roxburgh

There is an interesting book called the Plants of Bastar, Chattisgarh by Madhu Ramnath Its contents are relevant for the entire central India. It is an IUCN supported book that has been privately published.

“Plant Systematics” by Gurcharan Singh international edition published by Science publishers, USA in 1999 (enlarged international edition “Plant Systematics, an integrated approach” in 2004; Revised 2009 edition; For Indian Undergraduate and Postgraduate students there is Indian edition “Plant Systematics, Theory and Practice” by Gurcharan Singh published by Oxford & IBH Co., the two editions having come in 1999 and 2004.

Plants of the Indian Botanic Garden By HJ Chowdhery and DS Pandey (2007) published by Botanical survey of India priced at 1880.00. 771 pages all pages are very fine quality and glossy. This book have more than 2000 color very good quality images. Interesting to know that this book not mentioned in catalog of BSI. This Book available with Bishen Singh Mahender Pal Singh Dehradoon. The supplied this book to me by post at a discount of 10%. (Dr Balkar Singh- 8.9.10)

Sen’trees’ of Mumbai, a new coffee table book, rather oddly titled, brought out on the occasion of the sesquicentennial year of Mumbai University and supported by Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC).The full frame photographs do justice to the size and shape of the trees depicted and I am happy that there is fair amount of written information. Price Rs. 2000/- but discounted at Rs.1500 at Strand Book Shop.

Some beautiful Indian climbers and shrubs- N.L. Bor and Raizada– Many exotics are included in this book.

Some beautiful Indian trees- E. Blatter and Walter Millard– for beginners.

Supplement to the Botany of Bihar and Orissa by H.F.Mooney

Supplement to the flora of Upper Gangetic Plains by M.B.Raizada.

Supplement to the flowers of the himalaya by Polunin and Adam

Taxanomy of vascular plants- George H.M. Lawrence– Oxford and IBH- Scientific information.

Text Book of Fungi & Their Allies by Dr.Inderjeet Kaur Sethi & Surinder Kaur Walia– Published by Macmillan Publishers India. The present textbook is intended for students pursuing graduation and post graduation in Botany, students of the faculty of Life sciences, Agriculture, Forestry, Microbiology, Environmental Sciences and Biotechnology. The main purpose of this book is to introduce inquisitive students with a blend of traditional and modern concepts about fungi. This book has 754 pages, 416 figures and about 121 colour photographs of fungi and the diseases caused by them. The coloured plate section is given at the end of the book. There are several Interesting Readings boxes given at specific places in the text. These readings deal with controversies and new developments in the fungal world in order to expand the scope of the field of mycology. The book also includes Mini Glossary at the end of each chapter and a comprehensive Glossary in the appendix. We earnestly hope that the book will certainly prove to be useful in furnishing comprehensive up-to-date information in quite interesting manner for our esteemed readers. This book being a text book has been kept at price of Rs. 395/. (Dr. I K. Sethi- 4.9.10)

The book of Indian Trees by K.C. Sahni– Oxford publication (Rs.275)- Explains 153 Indian species in quite technical way. A difficult read for the beginners, though good for advance readers. It explains species with the help of 70 drawings & 20 colours photographs of about 90 species. It is produced by the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) in Mumbai.

A BEAUTIFUL HANDY BOOK ON THE PLATEAU OF FLOWERS OF SOUTH INDIA. KAAS , NEAR SATARA WRITTEN BY DR.SANDEEP SHROTRI. HIGHLIGHTS OF THE BOOK—> 92 PAGES, FULL ART PAPER, MORE THAN 300 COLOUR PHOTOGRAPHS, DETAIL MAP AND GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION, DETAIL INFORMATION OF FLORA OF KAAS IN MARATHI, LIST OF 250 SPECIES OF FLOWERING PLANTS, LIST OF 38 ENDANGERED SPECIES INCLUDED IN RED DATA LIST, CONSERVATION EFFORTS STEPS TO BE TAKEN AT KAAS, INFORMATION WITH PHOTOS OF 30 PICNIC SPOTS AND TREKS NEAR THIS AREA. PRINT PRICE RS.150/- ONLY. (Yuvraj)

The Flora of British India (7 volumes) by Sir, J.D.Hooker

The Flora of Upper Gangetic plains and that of Shivaliks and adjoining himalayan tracts by J.F.Duthie.

The private life of plant- David Attenborough– Good to have in collection. Informative.

The secret life of plants- Peter Tomkins and Christopher Bird– Informative. Good to have.

The Secret life of Trees by Colin Tudge, Penguin Books, 2006. It is very interesting and absorbing- more so since the author visited India too.

Trees of Delhi – A field guide by Pradip Krishen (Rs.799)- Dorling Kindersley publication- A very good book for identifying trees all over India (though much more relevant to the members from Delhi) as it gives account of 252 species with 1100 good quality photographs. Kudos to the author- an excellent publication! It is definitely worth having it on your bookshelf.

Trees of India, 1999 by Dr Subhadra Menon & Pallava Bagla. A large book published by Timeless Books, New Delhi. Contains photo descriptions of approx. 80 trees.

‘Trees of Mumbai’ by Almeida and Chaturvedi which has been published by BNHS in 2006.

The BNHS has published Trees of Mumbai, 2006. Price Rs. 465/-. Sadly, it is not even half as good as Trees of Delhi. Incidentally I have got a copy of the book, and I was really distressed to see the quality of the photos. Some rank amateur with a cheap camera has taken the photographs. The camera it seems was purchased by BNHS for this purpose only. BNHS will be well advised to change the plates in the next edition if at all there is one. They should hire the services of a professional. However the work would be for the entire year, so better that they do it now. The bok is no patch on some other books like Pradeep Krishan’s book on Delhi trees and Shrikant’s on Pune trees.

Trees of Pune by Sharvari Barve & Shrikant Ingahalikar– My new book ‘Trees of Pune’ on which I was working for last 3 years was launched in Pune on 19th September. Brief information on the contents of the book was posted earlier but can also be seen on a page at www.idsahyadri.com The interactive map on this site provides viewing of locations for 250 species of rare, heritage and avenues trees of Pune on Google map. I would like to know if every tree species in any city has been documented before. The navigation for identification is based on features of leaves. A sample page image is also provided. I am sure that ITP members will enjoy navigating through this field guide. The book though titled as ‘Trees of Pune’ is useful for every city because most of the 482 trees would be found in every city. The book is priced at Rs. 600 and as indicated earlier a discount of Rs. 100 is the privilege of ITP members. (Shrikant Ingalhalikar- 29.8.10)

TREES OF VIDARBHA (A field guide to Flowering Trees)– This useful and decent book recently published by Paygun Publication. This Field Guide cum Handbook list 170 common and some rare trees belonging to 51 families, along with their scientific and common names and their distribution. This excellent field guide explain everything in short about tree in simple language and also provide photographs of different parts of trees like bark, flowers, fruits, leaves and whole tree. Authors has however manage to collect 650 colourful photographs. This book such is as much a hand book/Field guide for the keen Naturalists, Horticulturists, Foresters, City Planners, botany students, Researchers and Teachers, as it is an aid for the amateur nature enthusiast looking to educate himself. TREES OF VIDARBHA (A field guide to FloweringTrees) Author’s : Prof. Dr. M. M. Dhore, P.S. Lachure, P.D.Gawande Edition: 2011 ISBN: 978 81 89839-44-4 (Details by Dr. Jayant wadatkar- 26/4/11)

Tropical garden plants by Bose, Choudhary and Sharma. Certain names may have changed since but it has 1661 plates of trees, shrubs, climbers, house plants, cacti and succulents. Worth every bit of about Rs 2000/-. It’s one of the best books for the layman, and horticulturist.

Our Trees by R.P.N. Sinha– Publications Division- Rs.40/- (88 pages).Give account of most common 51 Indian Trees with lot of emphasis on their association with Indian Mythology.

Waterlilies in India:Taxonomy and Cultivation of the Genus Nymphaea L. (Nymphaeaceae) Author: R Ansari & G Jeeja: The first comprehensive book on the Genus Nymphaea L., complete with nomenclature, descriptions, illustrations, colour photographs, key for identification and phylogeny along with detailed notes on cultivation, distribution, ecology, etymology, etc. for each taxon. 88 pages, 130 GSM art paper, 220 GSM art card binding. Published: September 2009 Price: Rs. 300/- $20 (Institutions and Life Members will get 20% discount). For copies contact: Managing Director, Malabar Botanical Garden, Kozhikode – 673014, Kerala, India (Email: dransa …@yahoo.co.in). Payment: In advance in the form of Demand Draft drawn in favour of the Managing Director, Malabar Botanical Garden payable at Kozhikode. Details also at: http://www.iaat.org.in/iaatbooks.html (Dr. M.K.Jana)

Wild flowers of Kodagu by Dr. T. Ananda Rao, brought out by Coorg Wildlife Society, Madkieri (1999). It has colour photographs (Shivaprakash Adavanne). Price: Rs 160, 48 pages. 106 plants briefly described along with colour photo, common name in English (if any) and local name (if any) Of the 106 plants, 44 are orchids. Putting the resort contact details: (getting in touch may need lot of patience !!) Contact Person: Vikas Syal (General Manager) Address: Club Mahindra Kodagu Valley Galibeedu Road Kalakeri Nidugane Village Madikeri, Dist. Coorg Karnataka 571204 Tel : 91–8272-221114
Mobile : 9686662213 Fax : 91-8272-221882 Email : Vikas.S…@mahindraholidays.com (Dinesh Valke)

Some books on Orchids with reference to India and adjoining countries:

1. Orchids of Northwest Himalaya by Som Deva and H.B. Naithani’s

2. Orchids of Bhutan by N.C. Pearce and P.J.Cribb

3. Orchids of Sikkim Himalaya by S.Z.Lucksom

4. Orchids of Northern Western Ghats by Satish Pande, Niranjan Sant, Vivek Vishwasrao and Mandar Datar.

5. Catalogue of Indian Orchids by C. Sathish Kumar and K.S. Manilal

6. Orchids of India: A Glimpse by Sarat Misra

7. Orchids of Sikkim Himalaya by King and R. Pantling.

8. A century of Indian Orchids by Sir. J.D.Hooker

Re: arvind gupta :

Thanks for your blog – books on Indian Trees. The website links which you have given are all defunct.

I am sending you new links for a few more books. Kindly update. Your blog has helped many.