Volume 59, Issue 326, February 2023

Aquatic vascular flora at Sadar Upazila of Chapai Nawabganj district, Bangladesh

Md Haiule Basar, AHM Mahbubur Rahman^♦

Plant Taxonomy Laboratory, Department of Botany, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi-6205, Bangladesh

^♦Corresponding author
Plant Taxonomy Laboratory, Department of Botany, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi-6205, Bangladesh

ABSTRACT

The current study concentrated on the aquatic plants and their conservation status in both naturally occurring and artificially created wetlands across Chapai Nawabganj Sadar Upazila. The research was done from October 2021 to September 2022. In the current study, a total of 35 species of aquatic plants were discovered in Chapai Nawabganj Sadar Upazila. These belong to 28 families and 32 genera. Scientific names, local names, families, divisions, habits, habitats, uses and status are all given for each species. Aquatic ecological habitat analysis reveals variances. Among them 34.78% of the species prefer to grow close to the edge of the water, followed by 8.70% that grow underwater, 10.87% that emerge, 13.04% that float freely and 32.61% that grow rooted in the water. When it comes to submerged species, they bloom on the water's surface. Fruits are submerged in water until they reach maturity after pollination. Of these, 50% of the species are used as fodder, 23.91% are used medicinally, 2.17% are used in aquariums, 6.52% are used as vegetables, 6.52% are edible and 10.87% are used as fish food in the study area. Varied aquatic plant species have different densities in their habitats. According to analysis, there were 10.87% species that were abundant, 43.48% common and 45.65% rare aquatic plant species in the research region. From the research region, the investigation identified several rare aquatic plant species was recorded. These are Ottelia alismoides (Panikola), Enhydra fluctuans (Titidata), Centrostachys aquatica, Trapa bispinosa (Singara), Nelumbo nucifera (Paddo), Nymphaea pubescens (Sadashapla), Oenanthe javanica (Panidhone) and Nymphaea rubra (Lal shapla). Due to local demand for use, there are relatively few of these species left in the wild. Conservation efforts must be made to protect these species. If not, the species will eventually disappear entirely from the wild. A preliminary survey conducted in Chapai Nawabganj Sadar Upazila revealed that making informed judgments about the state of aquatic plants is exceedingly challenging. The findings of the current study demonstrated that Chapai Nawabganj Sadar Upazila's water habitats are floristically abundant in terms of area and that the district is also the home to numerous endangered aquatic plant species in Bangladesh. Further long-term study is required to create a comprehensive inventory of the aquatic flora in Chapai Nawabganj Sadar Upazila.

Keywords: Species diversity, vascular aquatic flora, Chapai Nawabganj district, Bangladesh

Discovery, 2023, 59, e17d1019

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Published: February 2023