The Western Ghats is a mountain range that covers an area of 160,000 square kilometres (62,000 sq mi) in a stretch of 1,600 kilometres (990 mi) parallel to the western coast of the Indian peninsula, traversing the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is one of the eight hot-spots of biological diversity 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 only found in India and nowhere else in the world. According to UNESCO, 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 Konkan, along the Arabian Sea. A total of thirty-nine 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.
Cercis canadensis, the eastern redbud, is a large deciduous shrub or small tree, native to eastern North America from southern Michigan south to central Mexico, east to New Jersey. Species thrive as far west as California and as far north as southern Ontario, roughly corresponding to USDA hardiness zone 6b. It is the state tree of Oklahoma.
Aesculus pavia, known as red buckeye or firecracker plant, is a species of deciduous flowering plant. The small tree or shrub is native to the southern and eastern parts of the United States, found from Illinois to Virginia in the north and from Texas to Florida in the south. It is hardy far to the north of its native range, with successful cultivation poleward to Arboretum Mustila in Finland.
Pterocarpus marsupium, also known as Malabar kino, Indian kino tree, or vijayasar, is a medium to large, deciduous tree that can grow up to 30 m (98 ft) tall. It is native to India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.
The Eastern Highlands moist deciduous forests, or East Deccan moist deciduous forests, is a tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests ecoregion in east-central India. The ecoregion covers an area of 341,100 square kilometers (131,700 sq mi), extending across portions of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Telangana states.
Uperodon montanus, also known as Jerdon's narrow-mouthed frog, Jerdon's ramanella, mountain dot frog, mountain globular frog, or Malabar Hill frog, is a species of narrow-mouthed frog endemic to the Western Ghats of India.
Adansonia madagascariensis or Madagascar baobab is a small to large deciduous tree in the family Malvaceae. It is one of six species of baobab endemic to Madagascar, where it occurs in the Madagascar dry deciduous forests.
The Elvira rat is a critically endangered species of rodent in the family Muridae. The species was first described by Sir John Ellerman in 1946. It is found only in the Eastern Ghats of Tamil Nadu, India.
Hildegardia cubensis is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae. The species is endemic to Cuba, and is threatened by habitat loss.
Hildegardia is a genus of trees in the family Malvaceae. In older systems of classification, it was placed in Sterculiaceae, but all members of that family are now in an expanded Malvaceae. The genus is named for Saint Hildegard of Bingen due to her contributions to herbal medicine. There are 13 species with a pantropical distribution.
Hildegardia gillettii is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae. It is found only in Somalia, and is threatened by habitat loss.
Pseudobombax millei, the beldaco, is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae. It is found only in Ecuador. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests and subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is threatened by habitat loss.
Anacolosa densiflora is a species of plant in the Olacaceae family. Currently, it is an endangered species that is endemic to India.
Paulownia kawakamii, commonly known as the sapphire dragon tree, is a tree species in the Paulowniaceae family.
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.
Tropical Evergreen forests of India are found in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, as
Western Ghats, which fringe the Arabian Sea, the coastline of peninsular India, and the greater Assam region in the north-east. Small remnants of evergreen forest are found in Odisha state. Semi-evergreen forest is more extensive than the evergreen formation partly because evergreen forests tend to degrade to semi-evergreen with human interference. There are substantial differences between the three major evergreen forest regions.
Alangium salviifolium, commonly known as sage-leaved alangium, is a flowering plant in the Cornaceae family. It is also commonly known as Ankolam in Malayalam, Ankola in Kannada, Akola or Ankol in Hindi and Alanji in Tamil. In India, Its mostly found in dry regions in plains and low hills and also found on roadsides.
Cullenia exarillata is a flowering plant evergreen tree species in the family Malvaceae endemic to the rainforests of the southern Western Ghats in India. It is one of the characteristic trees of the mid-elevation tropical wet evergreen rainforests and an important food plant for the endemic primate, the lion-tailed macaque.
Hildegardia migeodii is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae. The dioecious and deciduous shrub or smallish tree is an uncommon to rare endemic to the coastal forests region of eastern Africa.
Pakkamalai is a mountain and forest reserve in Villupuram district of Tamil Nadu, located 45 km southwest of Gingee.
