Floristic studies in Bhadrak District

Abstract

Bhadrak is one of the coastal districts of Orissa lies in between 86° 61 to 87° 01 E longitudes and 29° 341 to 21° 131 N latitudes. It is bounded by the Balasore district in north, Jajapur in south, Keonjar in the west and Bay of Bengal in east. The total geographical areas is about 2505 sq.km, out of which , forest coverage is about 100 sq. kms . The major rivers viz. Salandi, Baitarni and Matei flow through the district and mix with Bay of Bengal. The population is about 13.34 lakhs. The district accounts for 1.61 percent of the states territory and shares 3.62 percent of the states population(Anonymous,2007). The district has seven blocks, six tahsils and one subdivision. From tourism point of view the district is not so far behind as compared to other districts of the state. The famous goddess temple of Bhadrakali is situated in the Salandi river bank. Apart from this, the famous Akhandalmani temple of Lord Shiva is another centre of attraction for the visitors. Dhamra port is also situated in Bhadrak district where testing of missiles was carried out. Due to Dhamra port the mangrove forests were devasted. The historic island Wheeler is also comes under this district. The district is dominated by bhuddhist and Jain temples. The district is rich in floristic element in general and mangrove near Dhamra and Chandabali areas in particular. Besides mangroves, herbaceous flora and scrub jungles are predominant in this district