Potential indigenous ornamentals of hillocks of Kerala

Abstract

Hillocks which are a common sight in the midlands of Kerala, are vanishing day-by-day. They provide a beautiful landscape, with plenty of vegetation and most of the hillocks hold the dry grassland ecosystem. Ecologically, hillocks are critical to the region, as they are the main repositories of water resources keeping the millions of wells enriched providing drinking water to the people. As far as the floral wealth is concerned, hillocks are rich abodes of wide variety of flowering plants including grasses, herbaceous perennials, shrubs and trees. This article looks into the variety of indigenous ornamentals and their potential uses.