Journal of Global Resources

Volume 2January 2016
Page 90-95
ISSN: 2395-3160 (Print), 2455-2445 (Online)

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ASSESSMENT OF FLORISTIC DIVERSITY IN MIYAR VALLEY OF LAHAUL AND SPITI
DISTRICT, HIMACHAL PRADESH, INDIA
Deshmukh P. and Jain S.
Department of Botany,
Govt. Vidarbha Institute of Science and Humanities, Amravati (M.S.), India
Email: pravird@gmail.com
Abstract: The floristic diversity assessment study was conducted in Miyar Valley, Lahaul &Spiti District, Himachal Pradesh in the year 2010, to understand the variation in floristic
diversity along the altitudinal gradient. This assessment will provide baseline information,
which will help in planning and implementation of conservation measures for valuable floristicwealth. The taxonomic diversity of the valley was represented by 117 plant species in which
11 are trees, 12 shrubs and 94 herbs. The dominant families are Asteraceae, Fabaceae,Lamiaceae and Polygonaceae. The Species Diversity Index in the valley was ranging between
1.68 to 2.08 for trees, 1.64 to 2.27 for shrubs and 3.19 to 3.85 for herbs. The 28 medicinally
important plants are also recorded from the valley of which 23 are herbs and 5 are shrubs. TheAllium stracheyi, Saussureacostus, Dactylorhizahatagirea, Eremurushimalaicus, Podophyllum
hexandrum, etc. are the herbs having high conservation value recorded from the Miyar Valley.
Keywords: Floristic Diversity, Miyar Valley, Himachal Pradesh
Introduction
The Himalayan region is blessed with diverse climate which support different habitats andecosystems with equally diverse life forms.Miyar forms the North-Western part of Lahaul valleyin Lahaul & Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh. This remote, fascinating valley of Lahaul ishidden behind the lofty Udaipur ranges and remains snow bound for over half the year and isamongst the most inaccessible areas in the region. Scanty rainfall, massive snowfall, highwind velocity, extreme temperature conditions from low to high, UV radiations, intense solarradiation and extreme xeric conditions are the common features of the area similarly as colddesert. The taxonomic studies of the valley were extensively studiedby Aswal and Mehrotra(1994), Murthi (2001), Kapoor and Jishtu (2008). The quantitative studies on vegetation
structure of area was studied by Singh and Samant (2010) and Rawat et.al. (2010). The
medicinal plant wealth of the area was extensively studied by Singh and Chauhan(2005),Singh and Brij Lal (2008), Singh et.al. (2009) and Sharma et. al. (2011). The species ofhigh conservation importance was recorded by Badola and Pal (2000, 2003) and Shrivastava(2010) from the valley.During the short summer months, the alpine passes, mountain slopes,
meadows and moraines blossoms with vegetation.The Miyar Valley possesses the influence ofovergrazing by migratory livestock, removal of medicinal plant species, which results in loss ofnatural floristic diversity.If the naturally occurring floristic diversity will not timely conserved,
then they may soon become extinct. In cold desert this genetic erosion coupled with soil
erosion may retard the prospects of future economic development and welfare of the people.
The systematic assessment of floristic wealth in the valley may provide a key for conservation.
Keeping these aspects in view, a study was undertaken to document the altitudinal variation infloristic diversity of Miyar valley.

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Study Area
Miyar Valley lies between 76° 40' 8.55" and 77° 01' 20.30"N lat and 33° 15' 17.13" and 32° 44'
23.38"E long with altitudinal range, 2800 to 5500 m.The location map of the valley is presented
in figure 1.The climate varies from dry temperate to alpine type. The area remains snow
covered almost for six months and receives average snowfall 120 to 400 cm/year and average
rainfall 10 to 300 mm/year. The temperature ranges between -190 to 300 C. The valley issparsely inhabited by the villages and the population are customarily depending on theagriculture and biodiversity for their livelihood.
Figure 1: Location map of Miyar Valley

Methodology
To understand the altitudinal variation in floristic diversity the valley is divided intothree altitude
zones, i.e.lower zone (2800 – 3300m), lower alpine zone (3300 – 3800m) andalpine zone(>3800m) for conducting vegetation sampling for trees, shrubs and herbs. The quadrat method
was followed to understand community structure. The random quadrat of sizes 10m x 10m, 5m
x 5m and 1m x 1m for trees, shrubs and herbs respectively(Dhar et al., 1997) was laid. Therelative values of density, frequency and dominance were summed to get Importance ValueIndex (IVI) of individual species (Curtis & McIntosh, 1950). The abundance to frequency ration(A/F) of different species was determined for eliciting the distribution pattern. This ration
indicates regular (<0.025), random (0.025 – 0.050) and contiguous (>0.05) distribution (Curtisand Cottam, 1956). The specimens of the species were collected from each quadrates andidentified with the help of floras.The species diversity was calculated by using ShannonWeaver diversity index (H)(Shannon and Weaver, 1963) and Evenness index (E) (Hills, 1973).
Results and Discussion
Floristic Diversity
The taxonomic diversity of Miyar valley was represented by 117 species, of which 11 trees, 12shrubs and 94 herbs. The species recordedfrom the valley is lower than recorded species inflora of Lahaul & Spiti Dist. (Aswal and Mehrotra, 1994) and flora of Himachal Pradesh(Chowdhery and Wadhwa, 1984). The four dominant families in the Miyar valley
areAsteraceae, Fabaceae, Lamiaceae and Polygonaceae where as Aswal and Mehrotra(1994) reported Asteraceae, Poacese, Brassicaceae and Fabaceae as dominant families for91

Lahaul and Spiti Dist. and Rau (1975) in his work on West Himalay recorded Poaceae,Asteraceae, Leguminosae and Cyperace as the dominant families.
Altitudinal Variation
The tree layer shows variation in species composition and density as the elevationincreases in
the Miyar Valley. The maximum density of the trees was recorded on the lower zone (580 perha) and minimum at lower alpine zone (475 per ha) (Table 1). At lower zone the tree
community was represented by mix type of forest mainly composed ofCedrus deodara (IVI –84.36) and Pinus wallichana (IVI – 55.87), whereas at lower alpine zonethe tree community
was dominated by Juniperus recurva (IVI – 108.53) (Table 2). Species richness in shrub layer
is highest (12 species) at lower zone with mixed type of community represented by Rosawebbiana (IVI – 60.55), Lonicera quinquelocularis (IVI – 49.31), Sorbaria tomentosa (IVI –32.64) and Juniperus communis (IVI – 31.06). Where as in lower alpine zone species richness
was 6 and dominated by Lonicera quinquelocularis (IVI – 94.91) and followed by Juniperus
communis (IVI – 65.98) (Table 3). The herb layer in lower elevation was represented by 54
species and dominated by species like Artemisia nilagirica, Dactylorhiza hatagirea, Polygonum
affine, Trifolium pratense, etc. The lower alpine zone showsa higher number of herb species(59), mainly composed of Artemisia wallichiana, Bromus japonicus, Polygonum affine,Potentilla atrosanguinea, Ranunculus munroanus and Veronica persica. The alpine zone wasdominated by perennialherbs like Androsace muscoidea, Biebersteinia odora, Draba oreades,Draba setosa, Potentilla atrosanguinea, Sibbaldia purpurea, etc. In similar studies from Jhalma
Nala by Rawat et. al. (2010) recorded Salix fragilis, Populus nigra and Juniperus recurva as adominant trees and Hippophae rhamnoides and Rosa webbiana as the dominant shrubs.
Kumar et. al. (2013) in their studies fromthe Pangi Valley recorded Cedrus deodara, Pinus
wallichiana, Corylus jacquemontii, Celtis australis, Pinus gerardiana, etc. as the dominanttrees.
Distribution PatternThe abundance and frequency ratio (A/F) recorded from the Miyar valley for all trees, shrubs
and herbs show the contagious species distribution, except Juniperus communis has random
distribution, because of cluster formation habit.The contiguous distribution recorded in thevalley is the common feature in the natural habitat (Verma and Kapoor, 2011).
Table 1: Altitudinal variation in density (per hectare)
Elevation (m)Alpine zone (> 3800)
Lower alpine zone
(3300 – 3800)

Lower zone
(2800 – 3300)

Plant category
Herbs

Density (per hectare)
168182

Trees

475

Shrubs

1580

Herbs

206400

Trees580

Shrubs2286

Herbs20954592

Table 2: Tree layer variation in Miyar Valley
Trees#Species

Lower alpine zone
(3300 - 3800m)

Lower zone (2800 - 3300m)
D(ha)

F (%)

A

A/FIVI

D(ha)
150

F (%)

A

A/F

IVI

1 Betulautilis
25.00 6.0 0.24
60.79
2 Cedrusdeodara
120 40.00 3.0 0.08 84.36
3 Fraxinusxanthoxyloides
50 30.00 1.7 0.06 23.10
4 Juglansregia
40 20.00 2.0 0.10 22.93
5 Juniperusrecurva
100 40.00 2.5 0.06 43.51 117 25.00 4.7 0.19 108.53
6 Piceasmithiana
50 20.00 2.5 0.13 19.73
33 16.67 2.0 0.12
24.97
7 Pinuswallichiana
100 40.00 2.5 0.06 55.87 100 25.00 4.0 0.16
58.80
8 Populuscaspica
50 20.00 2.5 0.13 19.78
178.33 2.0 0.24
12.20
9 Robinia pseudo-acacia
50 20.00 2.5 0.13 18.60
10 Salix alba
20 20.00 1.0 0.05 12.12
33 16.67 2.0 0.12
21.38
11 Salix fragilis
258.33 3.0 0.36
13.35
Note: D (ha): Density (per ha), F(%): Frequency, A: Abundance, A/F: Abundance/ Frequency, IVI:Importance Value Index

Table 3: Shrub layer variation in Miyar Valley
Lower zone (2800 - 3300m)

Lower alpine zone
(3300 - 3800m)

DDF (%) A
A/FIVIF (%) A
A/FIVI(ha)(ha)
1
Berberisjaeschkeana
143 14.29 2.5 0.18 15.34 240 25.00 2.4 0.10 47.11
2
Berberispanchyacantha
8614.29 1.5 0.11 12.25
3
Cotoneaster duthieanus
57
7.14 2.0 0.28 6.64
4
Ephedra intermedia
57
7.14 2.0 0.28 5.56
5Juniperuscommunis
229 42.86 1.3 0.03 31.06 480 25.00 4.8 0.19 65.98
6
Juniperusindica
114 21.43 1.3 0.06 20.50 80 10.00 2.0 0.20 18.05
7Loniceraquinquelocularis 514 28.57 4.5 0.16 49.31 420 30.00 3.5 0.12 94.91
8
Ribeshimalense
143 21.43 1.7 0.08 16.92
9
Ribiesorientale
229 28.57 2.0 0.07 29.57
10
Rosa webbiana
314 28.57 2.8 0.10 60.55 200 30.00 1.7 0.06 42.91
11
Salix lindleyana
86
14.29 1.5 0.11 19.65 160 15.00 2.7 0.18 31.03
12
Sorbariatomentosa
314 35.71 2.2 0.06 32.64
Note: D (ha): Density (per ha), F(%): Frequency, A: Abundance, A/F: Abundance/ Frequency, IVI:Importance Value Index#Species

Diversity
Along the latitudinal gradient the highest species diversity index for trees, shrubs and herbs
was recorded at lower elevation (2.08, 2.27 and 3.85 respectively) and as the elevation
increase than there was a decline in the species diversity index.The reduction in the species
diversity index was due to the low soil content, moisture and due to the heavy grazingpressure along with the continuous extraction of medicinal plants. The evenness index for tree,
shrubs and herbs wereranging between 0.86 to 0.97.

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Table 4: Species diversity and Eveness index variation in Miyar ValleyElevation (m)Alpine zone (> 3800)
Lower alpine zone
(3300 – 3800)
Lower zone
(2800 – 3300)

Plant category
Herbs
Trees
Shrubs
Herbs
Trees
Shrubs
Herbs

Shannon-Wiener
Diversity Index (H)
3.19
1.68
1.64
3.85
2.08
2.27
3.85

Evenness
Index (E)
0.93
0.86
0.92
0.94
0.95
0.91
0.97

Important Plants
During the floristic diversity survey 28 medicinally important plants recorded from the valley
from which 23 are herbs and 5 are shrubs. The herbs having medicinal value are Allium
stracheyi, Aster flaccidus, Bunium persicum, Colchicum luteum, Cousinia thomsonii,
Dactylorhiza hatagirea, Eremurus himalaicus, Hyoscyamus niger, Iris kemaonensis,
Meconopsis aculeata, Medicago falcate, Nepeta longibracteata, Nepeta nervosa, Pedicularis
pectinata ssp. pectinata, Phlomis bracteosa, Plantago major, Pleurospermum govanianum,
Podophyllum hexandrum, Polygonum affine, Silene edgeworthii, Taraxacum officinale, Thimus
linearis and Trigonella emodi.Singh and Lal (2008) recorded 58 species and Sharma et. al.
(2011) in their studies on Lahaul Valley recorded 354 plant species having medicinal andaromatic importance. Devi and Thakur (2011) and Rani et. al. (2013) studied 25 and 50species, respectively from Pangi Valley having ethno-medicinal importance.Berberis
jaeschkeana, Berberis panchyacantha, Juniperus communis, Rosa webbiana and Saussurea
costusare the important shrubs having medicinal importance.Saussurea costus andDactylorhiza hatagirea are important species under cultivation in the valley for its roots having
high value in the market.
Conclusion
The major threats to floristic diversity in the valley are expansion of agricultural, overgrazing by
domestic animals, uncontrolled and unscientific extraction important medicinal plant species
from their habitats and development of roads and hydropower projects.To minimize theimpacts on the floristic diversity, there is an urgent need for the conservation of important
habitats in valley by implementing scientific conservation measures, such as cultivation ofimportant medicinal plants, timber, fuel wood plants, and minimisation of dependence of locals
on the forest area. The regulation or rotational grazing in higher riches (alpine pastures) of thevalley, willsupport in regeneration and multiplication of herbaceous species. Support to local
people for skill based training and other livelihood options. Implementation of the abovemeasure, in time bound manner will help in mitigation of impacts on the floristic diversity ofMiyar valley.
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