Vegetos

Abstract

A study on the macrophyte communities from nine marshy wetlands of southern Assam has been carried out. Macrophytes belonging to the types viz., rooted floating leaved, submerged, free floating, swampy and emergent types were encountered. A total of fifty nine different macrophytes representing thirty different families were identified. Of these, thirteen macrophytes viz.; Ceratophyllum demersum, Colocasia esculenta, Cyperus sp., Eichhornia crassipes, Ipomea fistulosa, Leucas aspera, Lindernia sp., Ludwigia adscendens, Marselia minuta, Monochoria sp., Nymphoides macrosperma, Polygonum barbatum and Utricularia aurea were found common to most of the study sites. The swampy and free floating varieties were dominant in all the sites. The family Cyperaceae is represented by highest number of species. The emergent, submerged and other groups of macrophytes were found occurring as heterogeneous assemblage. Few economically important species like Euryale ferox, Trapa natans and Nelumbo nucifera were found to be reducing owing to the growth of invasive aquatic weeds Eichhornia crassipes and Leersia hexandra. Economic and medicinal importance of several of these species have been highlighted.