About

 Grasses (Family Poaceae) are an economic and ecological success story. Grasses dominate the landscape in vast parts of the world, where they have adapted morphologically and physiologically, diversifying to form ~12,000 species. In India, grasses are represented by ~ 1,500 species, comprising around 12 % of the world species diversity with many endemic taxa. Nevertheless, only a few species are used by humans. Having an abundant economical and ecological value, and incredible diversity, in India the studies on grasses in terms of Taxonomy, Phylogeny, Biogeography, and Ecology are lacking. The challenge lies in their complex and microscopic floral and extra-floral character, makes it difficult to identify and study them. This blog is all about this amazing Plant group.

About me: 

I have over 13 years of experience working on Plant taxonomy. For Ph.D., I have worked on the Grass diversity of Odisha State, India. This work includes herbarium and field study, which reports 271 species and 104 genera, including two new species and recollection of many endemic species. This work is now published as the book “Grasses of Odisha”. For my post-doctoral research project, I have revised four genera: Iseilema, Parahyparrhenia, Pseudanthistiria, and Themeda for India. I have contributed to the Checklist of Indian grasses by Kellogg et al. (2020) and BSI (2020). I have also contributed to the book “Flora of India Volume 31 & 32 (Family Poaceae)” (by Botanical Survey of India). I have written around 28 research articles on various aspects of plant taxonomy.

Since 2018 I am working in the regional Museum of the National Museum of Natural History (New Delhi). Here I am working on accessioning of natural history specimens, and outreach programmes. I am also doing the collections and identification of grasses from the Semi-arid and Desert region of Western India to prepare a comprehensive account of the diversity and distribution of the grasses along with ecological information.