Plants of Indian Himalayan Region. An Annotated Checklist & Pictorial Guide. 2 volumes. 2019. 358 col. photogr. plates. 863 p. gr8vo. Hardcover. - In Box.

PREFACE
The Himalayas, literally meaning as 'abode of snow', is a 2500 km long arc-shaped mountain range which is not only jewelled with snow-clad peaks and glaciers, but also wide extended lush-green forests harbouring one of the most biodiversity rich regions on the earth.The entire Himalaya hasalso been included amongst 35 Global biodiversity Hotspots. The diverse ecosystems of Himalaya are not only not only present beautiful landscapes, but also play important role in global atmospheric circulation, the hydrological cycle, and water resources availability, and provide a wide range of ecosystem services to the local inhabitants. A comprehensive information on the plant diversity particularly on taxonomy, correct identiy and distribution is need of the hour.

In the present endeavour, which was part of the project under National Mission on Himalayan Studies (NMHS), implemented by Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (M0EF & CC), Government of India, we have documented the angiosperm diversity that were reported from Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) with updated nomenclature and detailed distribution. The inventory includes 11,157 taxa, belonging to 2359 genera and 241 angiosperm families, which are reported for the first time in this book on a comprehensive manner. The book also provides a detailed introduction on the geography, ecology, vegetation pattern and forest types of Indian Himalayas. The dicotyledons and monocotyledons share 77.03% and 22.97% of the himalayan plant resources.

The information is provided in two parts. All the families are arranged alphabetically. The part 1 deals from family Acanthaceae to Nymphaeaceae while the part 2 deals from family Nyssaceae to Zingiberaceae. The valid names are given in bold while the basionyms of synonyms were given in italics.The checklist divided into dicotyledons and monocotyleds, families within groups, genera within families and species and infra-specific taxa within genera are arranged alphabetically under each genus for the sake of convenience; in the end of the text a index to the family names is also included. All the taxa were provided with their distribution in the Indian Himalayan Region. Over 2000 digital images of the plants are given in 358 photo plates.

We hope, the book will be useful to all stakeholders including the national and international botanical fraternity, particularly those who are interested in plant wealth of Himalayasand policy makers to formulate effective conservation, management and sustainable development measures.

The box is slightly damaged.