Status of Exotic Flora in Kashmir Valley

The Kashmir Himalaya, known for its indigenous and endemic flora, also provides home to a large number of exotic plants, which exhibit a wide taxonomical and distributional stretch. Although, some preliminary studies have been carried out in the region on some aspects of its exotic flora, the inventorization and documentation of its exotic have received a little or negligible attention. There is a lot of scope of these exotic plant species in Kashmir valley, but lack of authentic identification has been as a big hurdle in their scientific management. It is in this backdrop that the present floristic study was carried out to identify, inventorize, document and characterize the exotic plant species grown in the Valley. The present study has revealed that Kashmir Valley grows 317 exotic plant species, which belong to 209 genera in 85 families. Dicotyledons are the largest group, represented by 252 species in 163 genera and 67 families. Monocotyledons comprise 52 species in 37 genera and 13 families. Gymnosperms are the smallest group, with 13 species distributed in 9 genera and 5 families. Asteraceae is the largest family containing 33 exotic species.