Angiosperms, Climbing plants in tropical forests of southern Eastern Ghats, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract

We provide a check list of angiosperm climbing plant species, along with their climbing modes, enumerated from atotal of one hundred and fifty grids in tropical forests of southern Eastern Ghats, peninsular India. The Eastern Ghatsconstitute an important biodiversity area in India and have been studied earlier mainly for the floristics, and that tooconfined to a few prioritized sites. Lianas, the woody vines contribute substantially to the diversity and structure ofmost tropical forests. Yet, little is known about the importance of habitat specialization in maintaining tropical lianadiversity. A total of 175 climbing plant species that belong to 100 genera and 40 families are included in thisenumeration.