Floristic structure and ecological function of homegardens in humid tropics of West Bengal, India

Abstract

Homegardens are traditional agroforestry systems which support diverse species and have complex structure. These are common land use systems in humid tropics of world. The need is to study their structure and diversity which varies with type of owner and their place of occurrence. It was with this pursuit that diversity and structure of homegardens of humid tropics of West Bengal was studied. Three sites: urban area, village near road and interior village were selected for survey. It was found that diversity and species richness was least in homegardens of urban area and was highest in remote village. Timber species are least preferred in homegardens of urban areas but in villages they represent 5 - 7 per cent. Ornamentals and medicinal plants were more in urban area as compared to homegardens of rural areas. It was interesting to note that mid sized homegardens were more diverse in villages whereas, in urban areas small sized homegardens had more species.