Effects of Abiotic components on Plant growth

Light	Of the 7 visible spectrum colors, Red and Blue are effective in photosynthesis Plants grown in Red results in elongation of cells while plants grown in blue are small Plants grown in UV and violet are dwarf Extremely high intensity light favors root growth than shoot growth Low intensity light retards growth, flowering, fruiting
Frost	Frost freezes soil moisture and roots unable to supply moisture to leaves which transpire in day light. Hence young plant dies Death of plants due to damage of cells as water in intercellular spaces gets frozen Leads to formation of canker (sores)
Snow	Causes mechanical bending of trees Acts like a blanket which prevents further drop in temperature and protects seedlings from excessive cold and frost Snow shortens the period of vegetative growth
Temperature	Excessive high temp results in death of plants due to coagulation of protoplasmic proteins Also results in desiccation of plant tissues and depletion of moisture

Insectivorous plants

Family	Name	Trap	Habitat	Medicinal value
Droseraceae	Drosera or Sundew	Tentacles secrete a sticky fluid that shines like dew drops in the sun. Insects attracted to it and get stuck in the fluid, absorbed, digested	Wet infertile soils or marshes	Curdling milk, dyeing silk
	Aldrovanda	Two halves of the leaf blade close along midrib when insect comes into contact with leaf	Free floating aquatic(Sunderban marshes)
Nepenthaceae	Nepenthes	Pitcher leaves. Insects falls down due to slipperiness on the walls. Proteolytic enzyme	Meghalaya Hills	Treat Cholera, eye drops, urinary troubles
Lantibulariaceae	Utricularia or Bladderworts	Insects when come in contact with hairs in the bladders, bladder closes with some water	Fresh water wetlands, water logged areas	Cough, dressing wounds, urinary problems
	Pinguincula or Butterwort	Entire leaf works as trap. Insects stuck in sticky exudate and leaf margins roll up	Alpine heights of Himalayas from Kashmir to Sikkim

Drosera Sun dew
Bladderwort
Aldrovanda
Butterwort
Pitcher lauMNepenthes
Gall forming insects

Invasive Flora of India

Name	Native	In India	Remarks
Needle Bush	Trop. South America	Throughout	shrub or small tree, often creates close thickets
Black Wattle	South East Australia	Western Ghats	Introduced for afforestation, Regenerates rapidly after fire and forms dense thickets
Goat weed	Trop. America	Throughout	Aggressive colonizer. Troublesome weed in gardens, cultivated fields and forests
Alternanthera paronychioides	Trop. America	Throughout	Occasional weed along edges of tanks, ditches and in marshy lands
Prickly Poppy	Trop. Central & South America	Throughout	Aggressive colonizer. Common winter season weed in cultivated fields, scrub lands and fringes of forests
Blumea eriantha	Trop. America	Throughout	Aggressive colonizer. Abundant along railway tracks, road sides, degraded forest lands
Palmyra, Toddy Palm	Trop. Africa	Throughout	Aggressive colonizer
Calotropis / Madar, Swallo Wort	Trop. Africa	Throughout	Aggressive colonizer
Datura, Mad Plant, Thorn Apple	Trop. America	Throughout	Aggressive colonizer
Water Hyacinth	Trop. America	Throughout	Aggressive colonizer. Common along streams of moist forests and occasionally along railway tracks; also runs wild in gardens. Terror of Bengal Loktak lake polluted
Ipomoea / the pink morning glory	Trop. America	Throughout	Aggressive colonizer. Common weed of marhsy lands and along the edges of tanks and ditches.
Lantana camara / Lantana, Wild Sage	Trop. America	Throughout	Aggressive colonizer. Common weed of forests, plantations, habitation, waste lands and scrub lands
Black Mimosa	Trop. North America	Himalaya, Western Ghats	Aggressive colonizer. It invades water courses and seasonally flooded wetlands
Touch Me Not, Sleeping Grass	Brazil	Throughout	Aggressive colonizer. Common weed of cultivated fields, scrub lands and degraded forests
4 'o' clock plant	Peru	Throughout	Aggressive colonizer. Runs wild in gardens and near habitation
Parthenium / Carrot grass	Trop. North America	Throughout	Aggressive colonizer. Common weed
Paspalum distichum/knot grass			Keoladeo National Park polluted
Prosopis juliflora / Mesquite	Mexico	Throughout	Aggressive colonizer. Common weed
Townsend grass	Trop. W. Asia	Throughout	Very common along streams and banks of rivers
Seemai Karuvelam	West Africa	Tamilnadu	Brought to India for fuelwood, disrupts local ecosystem by soaking up ground water
Papaya Mealy Bug			massively affected papaya crop in Assam, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu
Cotton Mealy Bug			threat to cotton crops in Deccan
Primrose Willow	Central and South America		Aquatic plant
Acacia	Shola grasslands	Western ghats

Medicinal Plants

Name	Distribution	Uses
Blue Vanda/Autumn Ladies Tresses Orchid	Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur,	For producing interspecific and intergeneric hybrids
Red Vanda	Manipur, Assam, Andhra Pradesh	For Europe, North America, Asian markets
Sarpagandha	Punjab, Nepal, Sikkim, Assam, Eastern and Western Ghats, parts of central India and Andaman	Depressant to central nervous system, intestinal disorders, Cholera, Colic, Fever, Opacity of Cornea, hypertension, myosis, ptosis, tremors
Ladies Slipper Orchid		Insomnia, as plaster for muscular pain relief
Kuth/Kustha/Pooshkarmoola/Uplet	Kashmir and HP	Anti-inflammatory drug. Saussurine-Medically important alkaloid
Beddomes Cyad/Perita/Kondaitha	Eastern Peninsular India	Muscle pains and arthiritis
Ceropogia Species	Lantern Flower, Parasol Flower, Parachute Flower, Bushman's pipe	Ornamental plants
Emodi/Indian Podophyllum	Lower elevation of Himalayas	Dried Rhizone medicinal value
Tree Ferns	Lower elevation of Himalayas	Good source of starch
Cycads	Western Ghats, Eastern Ghats, North East India and Andaman and Nicobar	Source of starch
Elephants foot	North Western Himalayas	Commercial Source of Diosgenin

Plant Biodiversity of India