Endemic species are plants and animals that exist only in one geographic region. Species can be endemic to large or small areas of the earth. Some are endemic to a particular continent, some to a part of a continent and others to a single island. Any species found restricted to a specified geographical area is referred to as ENDEMIC.. It may be due to various reasons such as isolation, interspecific interactions, seeds dispersal problems, site specificity and many other environmental and ecological problems.
Endemic Plants
There are 3 Megacentres of endemism and 27 microendemic centres in India. Approximately one third of Indian flora have been identified as endemic and found restricted and distributed in three major phytogeographical regions of india, that is Indian Himalayas, Peninsular India and Andaman nicobar islands. Peninsular India, especially Western Ghats has high concentration of endemic plants. Hardwickia binata and Bentinckia condapanna are good examples for endemic plants. A large percentage of Endemic species are herbs and belong to families such as Poaceae. Apiaceae, Asteraceae and Orchidaceae.
Majority of endemic species are threatened due to their narrow specific habitat, reduced seed production, low dispersal rate, less viable nature and human intereferences.. Serious efforts need to be undertaken for their conservation, otherwise these species may become globally extinct.
