Glimpse of Herbaceous and Woody Climbers of Hassan District, Karnataka

Abstract

The study was carried out to document the species of herbaceous and woody climbers in the Western Ghats region of the Hassan district. A total of 170 species of climbers were documented belonging to 126 genera under 46 families. The dominant climber families are Leguminosae (26 spp.), Convolvulaceae (18 spp.), followed by Cucurbitaceae (17 spp.). Of the total climbers documented, 76 species belongs to herbaceous climbers and 94 species belongs to woody climbers. Of the six climbing mechanisms, twiners (54 %) are most predominant, followed by tendril climbers (21 %), stragglers-armed (13 %), stragglers-unarmed (8 %), root climbers (3 %), and hook climbers (1 %). Distribution among the vegetation revealed that a maximum number of species inhabit tropical dry deciduous forest (52 spp.), scrub forest (39 spp.), and wasteland (33 spp.) have the most species, followed by home garden (28 spp.), tropical semi-evergreen forest, (21 spp.), tropical moist deciduous forest (16 spp.), and other vegetation types. The study also documented the various uses of climbers for human consumption (42 spp.), medicinal purpose (98 spp.), ornamental purpose (26 spp.), and other uses (4 spp.).