Indian Pandanaceae - an overview
Indian Screwpine family Pandanaceae represents the single genus Pandanus with five subgenera that are distributed in two hotspots of India – Western Ghats and North East Himalayan region. For the first time, Indian Pandanaceae has been assessed for its taxonomic status and phylogenetic relationship. The extensive survey by the authors led to the discovery of three new Pandanus species (‘two from Western Ghats and one from North East Himalaya), The present taxonomic revision confirmed total number of Pandanus species to 16 that are distributed in the Southern India (10 species) and North East Himalayan region (5 species) with one species common to both regions. A detailed species identification key is given along with conservation status of each species following IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria (2001). The study revealed that out of 16 species, six species are under threatened categories. In recent years, chloroplast DNA based molecular phylogenetic approach is followed to understand the evolutionary relationship among the plant species. The interrelationship among the 16 Pandanus species at infrageneric level has been worked out using this approach that has led to the addition of new subgenus Rykiopsis and rearrangement of some species to the subgenera than those proposed by Stone (1974). Moreover, the interrelationship of Indian Pandanus genus in global context is given. The book also describes the economic importance of each Pandanus species.
