Conspectus of Aquatic Macrophytic Flora of Jammu and Kashmir State, India

Abstract

Keeping in view importance of macrophytic in aquatic ecosystems, we focused on the diversity of macrophytes in Jammu and Kashmir State, the part western Himalaya. A total of 234 macrophytic species were reported from all three regions of state after taken into consideration both primary and secondary sources. The emergent macrophytes had the highest diversity, followed by rooted floating leaftype, submerged and free floating. The maximum numbers of macrophytic species were recorded in the Kashmir valley while as minimum of 41 species from the Ladakh region. The lakes which have been submitted to an increasing eutrophication for the past several years is overgrown mainly by the aggressive interlopers like Typha sp., Phragmites australis, Sparganium ramosum and Scirpus sp and some free floating species.