A floristic checklist of wetland and aquatic vascular plants of Telangana, India

The present study was carried out to explore the wetland and aquatic vascular plant diversity in Telangana State, India during 2015 to 2024. The field-based study notifies 352 plant taxa pertaining to 198 genera and 76 families of vascular wetland and aquatic plants. Among these, Cyperaceae family tops the list with 80 species followed by Poaceae with 45 species, Asteraceae (21 spp.), Fabaceae (15) and Lythraceae, Rubiaceae and Scrophulariaceae (11 spp. each). The most frequent genera are Cyperus, Eichhornia, Typha, Ipomoea, Pistia and Alternanthera in wetlands of Telangana. The genus Cyperus dominates the diversity by having 23 species, where Fimbristylis and Schoenoplectus possess 10 species each, Eriocaulon and Rotala have 8 species, Eleocharis with 7, Pycreus with 6 taxa and Commelina, Scleria and Utricularia consist of 5 spp. each and 137 plant genera holds a single species each. The present study reveals that wetland and aquatic plant diversity in Telangana is extremely uneven with high diversity seen in northern Telangana region while less diversity found in southern Telangana and most of the aquatic and wetlands were found highly polluted in Greater Hyderabad compared to other districts due to industrial effluents, urbanization and habitat fragmentation. The current research study is the first catalogue to encounter 352 wetland and aquatic plant taxa and provides insights to understand the aquatic plant diversity and measures to protect the aquatic ecosystems from anthropogenic pressure and calls for prioritizing conservation activities and to know the impact of aquatic invasive species on native plant diversity.