Sacred Grove of Punyagiri Hill, Vizianagaram District, AP, India: Ecological And Sociological Study

Authors

  • D. Srinivasa Rao Department of Botany, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam
  • G.M. Narasimha Rao Department of Botany, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3126/ije.v4i1.12176

Keywords:

Sacred groves, Vizianagaram, ecological and Sociological study

Abstract

 Sacred groves are important repositories of rare endangered endemic plants and floral diversity that have been conserved by the local people or communities in a sustainable manner. Sri Umakotilingeswara Swami Temple is a famous Siva Kshetra located in Vizianagaram district of the Andhra Pradesh, India. This holy shrine is situated in the Punyagiri hills, 4 kms away from the Srungavarapu Kota and 62 kms away from the Visakhapatnam (a coastal city of Andhra Pradesh). Two study sites were selected, one was in the sacred grove region another was in forest region. Line transects were used for collection of data on species richness and diversity of the flora. Density and basal area were more in the sacred grove region than the nearby forest region. Some important medicinal and valuable plants were reported in this region, plants such as Saraca asoca (Roxb.), Diospyros peregryna (L.), Sterculia urens (Roxb.), Cleistanthus collinus (Roxb.), Ficus relisiosa (L.), Strublus aspera (L.), Chloroxylon swietenia (L.), Firmiana colorata (Roxb.), Albizia odoratissima (L.), Dalbergia paniculata (Roxb.), Dalbergia sisso (Roxb.), Azadiricta indica A. Juss., Diospyros chloroxylon (L.), Holoptelea integrifolia (Roxb.), Mangifera indica (L.), Eucalyptus globulesv(Labelle), Bombax ceieba (L.), Aegle marmelos, Ailanthus excelsa and some important pteridophytes and Bryophytes were reported in the sacred forest of the Punyagiri hills. Extension of the temple buildings and other developmental activities may be threat to the sacred groves. Invasion by the exotic weeds may further degrade the structure and composition of the sacred forests as a whole.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ije.v4i1.12176

 International Journal of Environment

Volume-4, Issue-1, Dec-Feb 2014/15, page: 30-47


Downloads

Download data is not yet available.
Abstract
1498
PDF
712

Downloads

Published

2015-02-22

How to Cite

Rao, D. S., & Rao, G. N. (2015). Sacred Grove of Punyagiri Hill, Vizianagaram District, AP, India: Ecological And Sociological Study. International Journal of Environment, 4(1), 30–47. https://doi.org/10.3126/ije.v4i1.12176

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 1 (2015)

Section

Research Papers

License

The author(s) acknowledge that the manuscript submitted is his/her/their own original work; all authors participated in the work in a substantive way and are prepared to take public responsibility for the work; all authors have seen and approved the manuscript as submitted;  the manuscript has not been published and is not being submitted or considered for publication elsewhere; the text, illustrations, and any other materials included in the manuscript do not infringe(plagiarism) upon any existing copyright or other rights of anyone.

Notwithstanding the above, the Contributor(s) or, if applicable the Contributor’s Employer, retain(s) all proprietary rights other than copyright, such as Patent rights; to use, free of charge, all parts of this article for the author’s future works in books, lectures, classroom teaching or oral presentations; the right to reproduce the article for their own purposes provided the copies are not offered for sale.

The copyright to the contribution identified is transferred to IJE.