This document summarizes the plant wealth and biodiversity of Solapur district in Maharashtra, India. It finds that the district contains 1441 plant species across 694 genera and 143 families, with 1046 dicot and 339 monocot species. The most common plant families are Poaceae, Fabaceae, Asteraceae, Euphorbiaceae, and Cyperaceae. Many species are cultivated for food, fodder, oils, vegetables, fruits, and medicine. The native vegetation includes tropical dry deciduous forests and thorny forests, as well as grasslands. The ratio of woody to herbaceous plants and monocots to dicots indicates drier climatic conditions.

1. PLANT WEALTH OF SOLAPUR
DISTRICT
DR. S. P. GAIKWD
Department of Botany,
Walchand College of Arts and Science, Solapur- 413 006 (MS) India.

2. INTRODUCTION
 Biodiversity is crucial for the functioning of all
ecosystems which provide us with products and services
without which we could not live.
 The food, fodder, freshwater, fertile soil, pure air, shelter
and recreation all have their source in nature and healthy
ecosystems.
 In spite of that species extinction and the degradation of
ecosystems are proceeding rapidly and their rate is
accelerating. Biodiversity is declining rapidly throughout
the World.

3. Statistical Account
A total of 1441 species including infraspecific
taxa belonging to 694 genera and 143 families of
flowering plants occur in Solapur district.
Out of these, 1046 species and 45 infraspecific
taxa are dicotyledonous belonging to 503 genera
and 115 families.
while 339 species and 11 infraspecific taxa are
monocotyledonous belonging to 191 genera and 28
families.

4. Table 3: Showing ten dominant families in the order of dominance.
Sl. No. Families Number
of taxa
Sl. No. Families Number
of taxa
1. Poaceae 157 6. Mimosaceae 40
2. Fabaceae 126 7. Acanthaceae 38
3. Asteraceae 85 8. Convolvulaceae 37
4. Euphorbiaceae 61 9. Malvaceae 35
5. Cyperaceae 46 10. Solanaceae 32

5. Table 5: List of top twenty genera represented by higher number of species
in the flora of Solapur district.
Sl. No. Genus Number of taxa Sl. No. Genus Number of taxa
1. Acacia 25 11. Hibiscus 10
2. Euphorbia 23 12. Vigna 10
3. Cyperus 22 13. Leucas 09
4. Crotalaria 19 14. Corchorus 08
5. Ipomoea 19 15. Blumea 08
6. Cassia 18 16. Phyllanthus 08
7. Alysicarpus 14 17. Commelina 08
8. Indigofera 13 18. Desmodium 07
9. Ficus 13 19. Jasminum 07
10. Fimbristylis 12 20. Heliotropium 07

6.  The ratio of indigenous woody (341 taxa) to herbaceous (637 taxa) components
is 1:1.87 and that of monocots (244 indigenous taxa) to dicots (733 indigenous
taxa) is 1:3.004. The floristic spectrum of the district shows very low
percentage of phanerophytes and a very high percentage of therophytes. It
clearly reveals the drier climatic conditions together with other biological
influence (Figure 2).
Life form Number of species Percentage (%)
Herbs 637 65.13
Shrubs 115 11.75
Twiners & Climbers 101 10.32
Trees 125 12.78
Table 6: Showing analysis of life forms of indigenous taxa.

7. VEGETATION
The climate of the region, supports the vegetation that can be conveniently
divided into
1. Tropical dry deciduous forests.
2. Thorny forests
3. Vast tracts of grasslands.

8. Economic important plants
A variety of plants are cultivated in this district for multifarious uses such
as food, fodder, condiments, spices, oil seeds, fruits, vegetables, timber
etc.
 Cereals: The important cereal crops that are grown in the district include
Oryza sativa (Bhat, Rice), Panicum miliaceum (Ran wari), Sorghum spp.
(Jowar), Triticum aestivum (Gahu) and Zea maize (Maka).
 Pluses: Arachis hypogaea (Bhui moog), Cajanus cajan (Tur), Cicer
arietinum (Harbhara), Glycine max (Soya bean), Pisum sativum var.
arvense (Watana), Pisum sativum var. sativum (Matar), Psophocarpus
tetragonolobus (Chaudhari), Vigna aconitifolia (Math), Vigna dalzeniana
(Moog), Vigna mungo (Udid), Vigna radiata (Udid), and Vigna vexillata
(Chawali) are the chief pulses that are grown in Solapur district.

9.  Oil seeds: A few crops are grown for seeds which yield non-essential,
edible or non-edible oils. They include Arachis hypogaea (Bhui
moog), Azadirachta indica (Neem), Brassica campestris (Mohari),
Brassica juncea (Mohari), Brassica nigra (Mohari), Carthamus
tinctorius (Kardi) and others.
 Vegetables: A large number of plant species are grown as vegetables.
Some of these include Abelmoschus esculentus (Bhendi), Hibiscus
sabdariffa (Lal bhendi), Canavalia gladiata (Phatadi), Cyamopsis
tetragonolobus (Gawar), Lablab purpureus (Wal, Papdi), Phaseolus
vulgaris (Shrawan ghewda), Benincasa hispida (Kohola), Citrullus
fistulosus (Kharbuj), Citrullus lanatus (Kalingad) and others.
 Fruits: Annona reticulata (Sitaphal), Citrus aurantifolia (Limbu),
Ziziphus mauritiana (Bor), Vitis vinifera (Draksha), Mangifera indica
(Amba), Psidium guayava (Peru), Punica granatum (Dalimb), Musa
paradisiaca (Keli) are commonly planted for their fruits.

10. Medicinal plants
About 264 plant species of medicinal values have been
recorded from the district. Some of them are Abrus
precatorius, Acacia chundra, Aloe vera, Anogeissus
latifolia, Aristolochia indica, Asparagus racemosus
var. javanica, Hygrophila longifolia, Bacopa
monnieri, Barleria prionitis, Hemidesmus indicus,
Ipomoea turpethum, Tinospora cordifolia, Tylophora
indica, Vetiveria zizanioides and many others.

11.  In the present floristic work, the commonly cultivated species are also
included in addition to indigenous ones. The proportion of indigenous taxa
(978) to the cultivated ones (460) is 1.35: 0.5. This high proportion of
cultivated species cannot be neglected as it forms the major component of
urban flora in particular.
Figure 4. Proportion of indigenous to cultivated taxa.
68%
32%
Indigenous
Cultivated

12. Miliusa tomentosa Argemone ochroleuca

13. Cadaba linearifolia Capparis divaricata

14. Abutilon hirtum var. hirtum Hibiscus sabdariffa

15. Helicteres isora Kavalama urens

16. Grewia tenax Fagonia indica

17. Celastrus paniculatus Mansonia senegalensis

18. Erythrina variegata Mucuna pruriens

19. Corallocarpus epigaeus Cucumis prophetarumCtenolepis garcinii Kedrostis foetidissima
Momordica cymbalaria Momordica dioica Solena amplexicaulis Trichosanthes cucumerina

20. Acacia farnesiana Acacia eburnea
Acacia senegal Acacia polycantha

21. GRASSES