Flora of Maharashtra, Vol. I. Ranunculaceae to Connaraceae

Contents: Preface. Foreword. I. Introduction. 1. The State of Maharashtra. 2. Climatic Zones of Maharashtra. 3. Major divisions of Maharashtra. II. Flora of Maharashtra. 4. Early History of Botany of Maharashtra. 5. Noteworthy botanical works in Bombay and Maharashtra. 6. State of art of the flora and forests of Maharashtra. III. Vegetation of Maharashtra. 7. Vegetation of Konkan. 8. Vegetation of Western Maharashtra. 9. Vegetation of Khandesh. 9. Vegetation of Vidarbha. 10. Vegetation of Marathwada. IV. Families of flowering plants according to Bentham and Hooker’s classification. V. Bibliography. VI. Index to Botanical names. VII. Index to Common names. VIII. Appendix.

"This book is the first out of the five volumes proposed to be published by the author on the floristic wealth of Maharashtra. The book is based on Bentham and Hooker’s system of classification of flowering plants, which is used in all major herbaria in India for housing the herbarium specimens.

The book comprises 600 pages and accounts for 614 species and intraspecific taxa belonging to 62 Natural Orders or families – from Ranunculaceae to Connaraceae. Within the families information such as (a) key to species, (b) original reference and earlier citations of each species and intraspecific taxa, (c) known synonymy, (d) descriptions of species and lower taxa, (e) flowering phenology, (f) ecological notes, (g) distribution in Maharashtra and (h) nomenclatural notes (wherever necessary) are given. It contains 143 plates of illustrations of which 30 have coloured photographes.

Introduction to the volume comprising nearly 100 pages deals at length with the past botanical history and the vegetation of Maharashtra.

The nomenclature in the book is brought up-to-date in accordance with International Code of Botanical Nomenclature. A number of new names have been proposed in fulfillment of International Botanical Rules.

A bibliography of commonly cited references and indices to botanical and common names are given separately at the end of the book.

The book is very  useful for botanists, foresters, horticulturists, bio-chemists, ayurvedic practitioners, college and university teachers and students as well as common people, alike."