Karnataka, one of the southern states of India is the abode of a wide variety of vegetation formations, ranging from coastal land plants to montane flora of the Western Ghats, four-storied tropical evergreen monsoon forests to arid thorn and scrub. A large chunk of the vegetation of the state is embedded in the sprawling Western Ghats that is also the home to an overwhelming number of plant species with immeasurable biological diversity and a wealth of intricate adaptations. Indeed, a majority of plant species of the Indian subcontinent are represented in the forests of the Western Ghats and account for probably 75% of the state’s plant wealth.
Information on the vegetation of Karnataka was documented in several important floras, the Flora of the Presidency of Madras by G.S.Gamble and the Flora of Bombay by T.Cooke being the earliest works. Subsequent floristic work at the district level was carried out by several botanists: Flora of Hassan district - Saldanha, C. J. and Dan Nicolson, Flora of Bangalore district - Razi and Ramaswamy, Flora of Kolar district - S. R. Ramesh, A synoptic flora of the Mysore district - R. R. Rao, and Flora of Coorg – K. R. Keshava Murthy & S.N.Yoganarasimhan, Flora of Udupi - Gopalakrishna Bhat, The botany of South Kanara district- R.K. Arora, B.M. Wadhwa and M.B. Raizada, Flora of Gulbarga district-Y.N. Seetharam, K. Kotresha and S.B. Uplaonkar, Flora of Eastern Karnataka, N.P.Singh, Asclepiadaceae and Periplocaceae of Karnataka, T.M.Ramakrishna
Vast amounts of recent information on the state-level plant wealth of Karnataka is available from the floristic expeditions of Dr. C.J.Saldanha and his group. The data is documented and vouchered in the Herbarium JCB. The information has been published in the Flora of Karnataka Vols. I & II.- 1984, 1996 (Publication inconclusive).
The database of native and naturalized vascular plants of Karnataka State (The database and information initiative presented here is an attempt to collate information on the plant wealth of Karnataka including that is available in the Herbarium JCB to maximize the usefulness of data to the users.)