General Information

Welcome to Auroville’s TDEF. This site has been designed to allow you to search for relevant information about some species of the Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest of South India and their distribution in the area around Auroville. The information included on this website has been drawn from field surveys undertaken by a team of botanists based in the International Township of Auroville. All of the woody and perennial species have been included as well as the annual climbers.

There are four main functions that this site performs

Information on TDEF

Get further information on the TDEF, about the ecology of the forest, the animals associated with it, other references to it.

Site Distribution

You can view information on the distribution of the location of remnants of the TDEF, and the distribution of individual species within these locations. Thank you to icons8.com for the icon used on the map.

Browse

You can search for information about each of the plant species that have been found in the remnant forest in the study area. If you know the botanical name of the plant or one of its common synonyms then all you will need to do is select and click on the species in the browse list and you will have access to photographs and relevant information about that species.

Local Names

It is possible to search through the local Tamil names and then access the information.

Search

With an unidentified specimen from the field you can utilize a multi access key to identify the plant.

Botanical Considerations

Herbarium accessions of all species included in the database are stored at the Auroville herbarium and are open to inspection by prior arrangement. The species were identified with: Flora of the Tamilnadu Carnatic, Matthew; Flora of the Palni Hills, Matthew; Flora of the Presidency of Madras, Gamble; Flora of Ceylon, Dassanayake et al. The main reference works used: Flora of Tamilnadu, Vol I, Nair & Henry; Vol II, III, Henry et al.; World Checklist of Seed Plants, Govaerts.

The distribution data of the following species should be treated with caution, as there was confusion with their identification that came to light after many surveys had been completed.

• The 3 varieties of Jasminum angustifolium were initially treated as a single species J. angustifolium.
• The species Grewia rhamnifolia, and Grewia bracteata were in early surveys thought to be a single species and were lumped together as G. rhamnifolia.
• In some surveys there was confusion in identification of the vegetative parts Cocculus hirsuta and Pachygone ovata.

Not included in the database were:

• Mangrove and aquatic species.
• Fencing plants, eg Jatropha tanjorensis, Cereus pterogonus.
• Obviously planted ornamentals such as Delonix sp., Peltophorum sp.
• Crops such as banana, papaya, coconut.
• Plantation species such as Eucalyptus sp., Tectona grandis, Hardwickia binata.
• Species planted under Tamil Nadu Afforestation Program (TAP) such as Holoptelea integrifolia and Phyllanthus emblica.
• In reserved forests there was some doubt as to which species had been planted in previous social forestry programs. If there was a doubt they were included.

Work supported and funded by European Commission under budget line B7-6200/TF/2001/0483
"Restoration of the Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest, Coromandel Coast, South India"