The Western Ghats, also known as the Sahyadri mountain range, is a mountain range that covers an area of 160,000 km2 (62,000 sq mi) in a stretch of 1,600 km (990 mi) parallel to the western coast of the Indian peninsula, traversing the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is one of the 36 biodiversity hotspots in the world. It is sometimes called the Great Escarpment of India. It contains a very large proportion of the country's flora and fauna, many of which are endemic to this region. The Western Ghats are older than the Himalayas. They influence Indian monsoon weather patterns by intercepting the rain-laden monsoon winds that sweep in from the south-west during late summer. The range runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain called the Western Coastal Plains along the Arabian Sea. A total of 39 areas in the Western Ghats, including national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and reserve forests, were designated as world heritage sites in 2012 – twenty in Kerala, ten in Karnataka, six in Tamil Nadu and four in Maharashtra.
The Malabar gray hornbill is a hornbill endemic to the Western Ghats and associated hills of southern India. They have a large beak but lack the casque that is prominent in some other hornbill species. They are found mainly in dense forest and around rubber, arecanut or coffee plantations. They move around in pairs or small groups, feeding on figs and other forest fruits. Their loud cackling and laughing call makes them familiar to people living in the region.
The Nilgiri wood pigeon is large pigeon found in the moist deciduous forests and sholas of the Western Ghats in southwestern India. They are mainly frugivorous and forage in the canopy of dense hill forests. They are best identified in the field by their large size, dark colours and the distinctive checkerboard pattern on their nape.
Cycas is a genus of cycad, and the only genus in the family Cycadaceae. About 113 species are accepted, which are native to the Indo-Pacific, East Africa and Madagascar. Cycas circinalis, a species endemic to India, was the first cycad species to be described in western literature, and is the type species of the genus. The best-known Cycas species is Cycas revoluta.
The rufous babbler is an endemic species of bird found in the Western Ghats of southern India of the family Leiothrichidae It is dark brown and long tailed, and is usually seen foraging in noisy groups along open hillsides with a mixture of grass, bracken and forest.
Bentinckia is a genus of palms in the family Arecaceae. The genus is named after William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck a colonial governor general of British India. There are two species of palms in this genus. namely Bentinckia condapanna and Bentinckia nicobarica.
Bentinckia nicobarica is a species of flowering plant in the family Arecaceae found to occur in the Nicobar group of islands in the Bay of Bengal. It is an endemic palm occurring in Great Nicobar, Katchal, Nancowry and Car Nicobar Islands.
Gaussia gomez-pompae is a palm which is endemic to Mexico. The species grows on steep rocky limestone slopes in Oaxaca, Tabasco and Veracruz states in Mexico.
Loxococcus rupicola is a species of palm tree, and the only species in the genus Loxococcus. It is endemic to Sri Lanka. It is threatened by habitat loss.
Orania sylvicola is a species of flowering plant in the family Arecaceae. It is found in southern Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore.
Rhopaloblaste augusta is a species of flowering plant in the family Arecaceae. It is found on the Nicobar Islands in the Indian Ocean, part of India. It is also found in Peninsular Malaysia & Singapore, the Moluccas, New Guinea & the Solomon Islands. In lowland rain forest. It is threatened by habitat loss.
Satakentia liukiuensis, is a species of palm tree. They are endemic to Ishigaki Island and Iriomote Island in the Yaeyama Islands, the south-westernmost of the Ryukyu Islands, Japan. It is the only species in the genus Satakentia.
Wallichia triandra is a species of flowering plant in the family Arecaceae that is native to South Tibet in China and also to the neighboring Arunachal Pradesh region of India.
The jungle palm squirrel, jungle striped squirrel, or Western Ghats squirrel is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae which is endemic to India.
Vateria indica, the white dammar, is a species of tree in the family Dipterocarpaceae. It is endemic to the Western Ghats mountains in India. It is threatened by habitat loss. It is a large canopy or emergent tree frequent in tropical wet evergreen forests of the low and mid-elevations.
Coccothrinax pauciramosa, the yuraguana or yuraguana vestida, is a palm which is endemic to Cuba. Like other members of the genus, C. pauciramosa is a fan palm. Trees are single-stemmed, between 2 and 5 metres tall with stems 4 to 8 centimetres in diameter. The fruit is purple-black, 0.7–1.2 cm in diameter.
Gaussia attenuata is a palm which is native to Puerto Rico. The species grows on steep-sided limestone hills in Puerto Rico.
Cycas pectinata was the fourth species of Cycas to be named; it was described in 1826 by Scottish surgeon and botanist Francis Buchanan-Hamilton from Kamrup, Assam in northeast India. The species is one of the most widespread cycads. It is found in the northeastern part of India, Nepal, Bhutan, northern Burma, southern China (Yunnan), Bangladesh, Burma, Malaysia, Cambodia, northern Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam. Cycas pectinata usually grow at elevation 300 m to 1200 m and in difficult terrains. In China, it grows in dry, open thickets in limestone mountains, red soil in sparse monsoon forests. Cycas pectinata grows up to 40 feet (12 m) tall and has very large, ovoid male cones. The tallest Cycas pectinata is a female plant in North Kamrup, Assam which measures 52.8 feet (16.1 m). The tree is the world's tallest Cycas plant. In Northeast India, the species is under severe threat due to clearing of forest and overcollection of male cones for preparation of traditional medicines. The species is listed in CITES Appendix II and IUCN Redlist.
Cycas rumphii, commonly known as queen sago or the queen sago palm, is a dioecious gymnosperm, a species of cycad in the genus Cycas native to Indonesia, New Guinea and Christmas Island. Although palm-like in appearance, it is not a palm.
Bhesa indica is a flowering plant tree species in the Centroplacaceae family. It is distributed along the tropical wet evergreen forests of the Western Ghats of India. It is considered synonymous with Bhesa paniculata by some authors.
