EXTENSION IN DISTRIBUTION RANGE OF RARE GENUS IPHIGENIA IN PEER PANJAL RANGE OF JAMMU & KASHMIR, HIMALAYA
MUSHTAQ AHMED
Department of Botany, KLDAV PG College, Roorkee 247667 Haridwar, affiliated with HNB Garhwal University, Srinagar Uttarakhand, India.
PREM SINGH CHAUHAN
Department of Botany, VSKC, Govt. PG, College Dakpathar Dehradun Uttarakhand, India.
SAFEER AHMED
Department of Botany, Punjabi University Patiala, India.
MANJUL DHIMAN *
Department of Botany, KLDAV PG College, Roorkee 247667 Haridwar, affiliated with HNB Garhwal University, Srinagar Uttarakhand, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
In present study Iphigenia indica (L.) Kunth commonly called as “Indian grass Lilly” belongs to family Colchicaceae, as a new distribution record to the Peer Panjal range of Jammu and Kashmir Himalaya. The Genus Iphigenia was not documented earlier from this region of Himalaya; this is also for the first time the genus with species I. indica was recorded from the temperate region from oak forests and grasslands. The chief threats faced by the taxa are overgrazing, expansion of agricultural lands and early cutting of grasses hampering it from propagating its progeny and dispersal of seeds and hence delimiting its population.
Keywords: Iphigenia indica, chambitrar, grassland, taxonomy, distribution, threats