Flora in Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary

The Keoladeo Ghana National Park has a high density of vegetation, hence the term ‘Ghana’ or thick forest. Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary contains a wide variety of flora representing 64 families, 181 genera, and 227 subspecies. Flora in Bharatpur consists of different vegetation types. The principal vegetation types are tropical dry deciduous forests dominated by Acacia nilotica intermixed with dry grassland. Besides the artificially managed marshes, much of the area is covered by medium-sized trees and shrubs.

The forests are dominated by kadam (Mitragyna parvifolia), babul (Acacia nilotica) and jamun (Syzygium cuminii). The open woodland is mostly babul, with a small amount of kandi (Prosopis spicigera) and ber (Ziziphus mauritiana).

The scrublands are dominated by ber and kair (Capparis decidua). Khus grass (Vetiveria zizanioides) is the ruling gramineae of the reserve.

Aquatic vegetation consists of water lilies (Nymphaea nouchali), N.stellata and N.cristata, the lotus (Nelumbium sp.), duckweeds (Lemna sp.), and water fern (Azolla sp.). Sedges (Cyperus sp.), reedmace (Typha angustata), and (Ipomoea sp.) dominate in some areas. Submerged plants include Vallisneria sp., Hydrilla sp., Naga sp., and Chara sp. Paspalum distichum, a perennial amphibious grass, constitutes a major portion of the biomass.

The ‘Kadam’ trees, the most commonly seen flora in Keoladeo National Park Bharatpur, indicate that this region was once part of extensive floodplains and that this was the site of the confluence of the Rivers Gambhir and Banganga.