How does natural vegetation in India depend upon annual distribution of rainfall? Illustrate your answer with examples.

1. The Tropical Evergreen and Semi Evergreen Forests : These forests are found on the western slopes of Western Ghats, Assam, Meghalaya along with other adjoining states of north-east India. They thrive in areas with more .than 200 cm rainfall. A large varieties of trees reaching upto a height of 60 m are found here. Trees such as Mahogany, Camphor, Rosewood etc. are grown.

2. The Tropical Deciduous Forests or Monsoon Forests : These forests are the most dominant or widespread vegetation type in India. Such forests are found on the foothills of Himalayas and many parts of the peninsular plateau. During the dry season the trees in these forests shed their leaves. These forests have teak, shisham, sal, rosewood as well as thick undergrowth of shrubs and bamboos. These forests are also economically very significant for India.

3. The Thorn or Desert Forests : These forests occur in areas which have less than 75 cm rainfall annually. They are found in the interior parts of the Deccan Plateau, in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka as well as in Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Gujarat. The commonly found trees in these forests are short, stunted and scattered. Besides Acacia (Babul) and cactus trees, different shrubs and grasses are commonly grown in between these trees.

4. The Tidal Forests : In the tidal areas along the deltas especially the Sundarbans in Bengal, a special type of tropical tree known as ‘Sundari’ or mangroves grows up. The Sundarbans are the home to Bengal tigers.

5. The Himalayan Vegetation : In the Himalayan region the elevation of the hills play the main role in affecting the vegetation and as such they differ accordingly. In the foothills of the Himalayas, tropical deciduous forests occur. Above the tropical deciduous forest zone, there is the zone of mid-latitude and up to 3,500 metres where occurs coniferous forests consisting of pine, fir and other such trees. In fact, the altitudinal limits of different types of forests in the Himalayas widely differ depending upon the exposure of slopes, to winds and the sun.

Fig. 5.4