The Andaman Islands is an archipelago in the northeastern Indian Ocean about 130 km (81 mi) southwest off the coasts of Myanmar's Ayeyarwady Region. Together with the Nicobar Islands to their south, the Andamans serve as a maritime boundary between the Bay of Bengal to the west and the Andaman Sea to the east. Most of the islands are part of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a Union Territory of India, while the Coco Islands and Preparis Island in the archipelago's north belong to Myanmar.
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a union territory of India, are a group of 836 objects, with 572 of them islands, of which 38 are inhabited at the juncture of the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea.
Rattan is the name for roughly 600 species of old world climbing palms belonging to subfamily Calamoideae. Rattan is also known as manila, or malacca, named after the ports of shipment Manila and Malacca City, and as manau. The climbing habit is associated with the characteristics of its flexible woody stem, derived typically from a secondary growth, makes rattan a liana rather than a true wood.
Mount Harriet National Park is a national park located in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands union territory of India. The park, established in 1969, covers about 4.62 km2 (18.00 mi2). Mount Harriet, which is part of the park, is the third-highest peak in the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago next to Saddle Peak in North Andaman and Mount Thullier in Great Nicobar.
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.
The northern palm squirrel also called the five-striped palm squirrel is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae. Some authorities recognise two subspecies, F. p. pennantii and F. p. argentescens. It is a semi-arboreal species found in tropical and subtropical dry deciduous forest and many other rural and urban habitats. It is a common species with a wide range and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated its conservation status as being of "least concern".
Phoenix andamanensis is a wild relative of date palm endemic to the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal southwest of Myanmar. It is rather a newly described taxon by Sasha C. Barrow in 1998 based on old herbarium collections. This taxon was known only from a few herbarium collections and a few insignificant citations by Kurz in 1870, Brandis in 1906 and Parkinson in 1923. The Herbarium collections were made mostly during the British regime in 1903, 1904 and 1911 by Rogers and Osmaton. Later, Ellis from the Botanical Survey of India in 1990 collected one specimen from the Saddle Peak. The specimens were remained unidentified at herbaria until its circumscription as new taxon by Barrow in 1998.
The Andaman horseshoe bat is a species of bat in the family Rhinolophidae. It is endemic to the Andaman Islands. During the day, it roosts in caves, but may also choose tree hollows.
Korthalsia is a clustering genus of flowering plant in the palm family spread throughout Southeast Asia. It is a highly specialized rattan with some species known to have an intimate relationship with ants, hence the common name ant rattan. High-climbing and armed with spines, the genus is named for the Dutch botanist P. W. Korthals who first collected them from Indonesia.
Pinanga andamanensis is one of the critically endangered species of endemic palms reported from the Andaman Islands.
Pteroceras muriculatum is an endemic endangered orchid reported from the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal. This insular orchid was first described by Reichenbach in 1881 as Thrixspermum muriculatum Rchb. f. based on a few specimens procured during the latter part of 19th century by Mr W. Bull. This taxon has not been reported until 2005 after the type collection. During the floristic survey of South Andaman Islands carried out by Sam Mathew for the 'Flora India Project' of the Botanical Survey of India, this taxon was relocated in 1993 from the semievergreen forests at Chidiyatappu region. Pteroceras muriculatum P. F. Hunt is a beautiful small epiphytic orchid having creamy white flowers with distinct transverse purple bands on petals. A living specimen collected from South Andaman Island is conserving at the Field Gene Bank of Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute, Trivandrum, India.
Vanilla andamanica is an endangered wild relative of commercial vanilla, Vanilla planifolia, the source of Vanilla essence. It grows in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India in the Bay of Bengal., and classified as a Vulnerable species (VU) by the IUCN Red List.
Mimusops andamanensis is a species of plant in the family Sapotaceae. It is native to Sri Lanka and the Andaman Islands.
Piper ribesioides, also known as Lao chili wood, mai sakhaan, sankhaan, sankharn, sankahn or sakahn is a species of black pepper plant. The woody vine or stem of the plant has a hot, peppery and chili flavour, with a lingering aftertaste and slightly numbing sensation to the tongue. It is commonly used in Lao cuisine both in Laos and the predominately Lao ethnic region of Northeastern Thailand. It is the most important ingredient in Laos' famous Or lam. Its berries are sometimes pressed for an oil that is also used in cooking.
Jasminum andamanicum is an endangered endemic wild ornamental species described in 1981 from the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal from two old collections by Dr King's Collector in 1894 and another one by C. E. Parkinson in 1914 deposited at CAL and PBL. This species has not been recorded from the islands until 1991 by Mathew and Abraham from Shoal Bay. This species is an evergreen component of the lowland evergreen forests of Andaman Islands. It found to grow alonge the forest edges with ample sunlight.
Rotala andamanensis is a lesser-known endemic wetland plant species of the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal belonging to the family Lythraceae. The type locality of this species is Wright Myo, the southern slope of the Mount Harriet Hill ranges. This is a rather rare species found to occur along the wetland area of the region. The specimens were originally collected by Balakrishnan of the Botanical Survey of India and described by Sam Mathew and Lakshminarashimhan of the same institution in 1992.
A large, very high liana, or climbing tree in the Arecaceae palm family, Korthalsia laciniosa occurs in the closed forests of Java, Sumatra, the Philippines, Malay Peninsula, Vietnam, Cambodia and elsewhere in Indochina, and the Nicobar and Andaman Islands. The palm usually grows in lowland forests, often close to the coast, however on the Malay peninsula it has been observed growing in hill Dipeterocarp forests up to 1000m elevation. It occurs in clumps of 4 to 20 individual stems, up to 7.2m high, in the tropical and subtropical monsoon rain evergreen forests of Bạch Mã National Park in Thừa Thiên-Huế Province, central Vietnam. It is described as a common species in the Andaman Islands, growing in the moist semi-evergreen and deciduous forests belt. Senthilkumar et al. however found it abundant in South Andaman, less common in Middle and North Andaman, and not common in the Nicobar Islands.
