Himalayan Vegetation
The Himalayas rise from tropical heat region to the heights of arctic cold region. The vegetation in the Himalayas varies widely along the vertical plant.
Vegetation in the Eastern Himalayas
Alpine vegetation belt extends between 4,000 m and 5,300 m. Rhododendrons, willows, primroses and junipers grow here. Alpine meadows with herbaceous vegetation and short duration flowers are found at higher region.
Coniferous Forest Belt spreads between 2,700 m and 4,000 m. The trees are silver fir, blue pine, spruce and deodar.
Evergreen Oak Forest Belt occurs between 1,330 m and 2,700 m. Oaks, poplar, elms, laurel, maples, birches, alders, magnolia, etc. thrive.
Tarai Forest Belt rises up to evergreen forest belt i.e., up to 1,330 m. Here grow both the evergreen forests and deciduous forests. Deciduous trees like sal, sissoo and toon grow in abundance. Bamboos, tall grasses, orchids, balsams grow.
Vegetation in the Western Himalayas
Trees are found at an altitude of 3,330 m. The Alpine meadows lie between 3,300 m and 5,000 m. This belt grows beautiful flowering plants, rhododendrons, sweet grasses, shrubs with cushioned leaves.
Coniferous Forest Belt exists between 2,000 m and 3,300 in. Conifers like deodar, poplar, spruce, cedar, fir, maple, walnut, etc. are found here.
Chirpine Belt lays at an altitude between 1,000 m and 2,000 m.
Scrub Jungles and Dry Forest Belt extends up to 1,000m.
Mangrove Vegetation Types
Mangrove trees are found in the Sundarbans (Ganga deltas), the Mahanadi deltas, the Godavari deltas, the Krishna deltas, the Kaveri deltas coastal, Kachchh and Kathiawar and along the coasts of the Andaman Islands.
Environment: Mangrove forests are dominated by salt tolerant inters tidal halophytic plants of diverse structure. The trunks of the trees are supported by a number of stilts like roots. Roots get submerged under water at high tide. At that time entire forests appears to be a flooded forest. At low tide, the roots supporting the trunk of the trees above appear emerging out of the soft mud.
Important Trees: The trees that grow here are Sundri, locally called Sundari (after the name of sundri) keora, amur, bhara, agar, goran, bani, dhondal, gewa, etc.