Odisha, one of the 28 states of India,
has two basic kinds of forest: in the northeast region of the state the forest is classified as the tropical-moist-deciduous type, blanketing hills, plateaus and other high-altitude isolated areas; in the southwest the tropical-dry-deciduous variety dominate.
Odisha's forests are vast. Out of the total geographical area of 155,707 km2, the State records 52,472 km2 (~33%) as some version of forest. The actual forest cover may be less, according to the Forest Survey of India, rosewood, sal, piasal, teak and haldi. The forest's naturally vigorous growth accounts for a tremendous wealth of biodiversity, filling many catalogues of the wild plant and animal species dwelling within.
The state has declared large parcels of land as protected areas with the purpose being to allow animals and plants who are sensitive to cohabitation with humans places of relative freedom from interference and habitat loss. These protected areas constitute 10.37% of the total forest area and 4.1% of the total geographical area of the state.
The state is home to 3000 plant species including 120 orchid species and 63 varieties of mangrove trees which make the state second largest mangrove ecosystem in India.
A vast variety of other plants are also found in the state, as in the following:
Acorous calamus
Aegiceras corniculatus
Alpinia galanga - greater galingal
Androgaphis paniculata
Asparagus racemosus - shatavari
Cathraranthus roseus
Celastrus paniculatus
Centella asiatica
Cissus quadranggularis
Clerodendrum ssp.
Colchicum autumnale - autumn crocus
Commiphora wightii - Mukul myrrh
Croton roxburghjii
Curcuma angustifolia
Digitalis purpurea - common foxglove
Diogenin
Emetin
Ephedra ssp.
Erythroxylon coca - coca
Excoecaria agallochi
Gloriosa superba
Gugulipid
Hemidesmus indicus
Ocimum basilicum
Plumbago zeylanica
Pongamia pinnata
Rauvolfia serpentina - Indian snakeroot
Salvadora persica
seagrass
Taxus brevifolia - Pacific yew
Toddalia asiatica
Vinblastim areteminsinine
Whighina somenifera
The IUCN Red List has recorded a total of 473 species of birds and 86 species of mammals, 19 species of amphibians and 110 species of reptiles including three crocodilian species.
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.