Pachamalai hills

Pachamalai is an under-studied area, comparatively less disturbed than other hill complexes, and spread across Salem, Tiruchirappalli, and Perambalur districts of Tamil Nadu. It lies between 11° 10' 74.3"–11° 34' 18.6" N Lat. and 78° 32' 92.0"–78° 45' 94.1" E Long. and covers an area of 469 km with elevation ranges from 180–870 meters. According to the classification of Champion and Seth (1968), vegetation in the Eastern Ghats can be broadly classified into (1) Evergreen forests. (2) Tropical semi-evergreen forests. (3) Tropical moist deciduous forests. (4) Southern tropical dry deciduous forests. (5) Northern mixed dry deciduous forests. (6) Dry Savannah forests. (7) Scrub forests (8) Tropical dry evergreen forests and (9) Tropical dry evergreen Scrub. Pachamalai contains 59.5 percent forest area and 40.5 percent cultivation land with human settlement(Vivekraj et al 2015). Pachamalai including all the major hill ranges in the eastern clusters of eastern ghats generalizes a mosaic pattern of denuded inner valleys and the existence of forests in the riparian tracts, hilltops, and outer slopes. The valleys have been mostly taken over for human habitation and cultivation.(David et al. 2017). due to invaluable services from Pachamalai is making it an important region for conservation.

These hills are abundant in dense scrub forest, evergreen, and mixed deciduous type (Kolar et al.2013, TNAU).

Images of Pachaimalai from google earth

References:

Champion, H. G. and Seth, S. K. (1968). A Revised Survey of Forest Types of India, Govt. of India Press, New Delhi, p. 404.

David, J., Daniels, R., & Balasubramanian, V. (2017). A reassessment of the avian species diversity in the Eastern Ghats of Tamil Nadu, after the Vernary Survey. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 9(8), 10538-10550.

Kolar, B. A. & Basha, G.M. (2013).survey of medicinal plants and in vitro studies in gloriosa superba l an endangered medicinal plant of Pachamalai hills Tamil Nadu (Doctoral dissertation). Bharathidasan University, Tamil Nadu.

Kolar, B. A. & Basha, G.M. (2013). Survey of medicinal plants of Pachamalai hills, a part of Eastern Ghats, Tamil Nadu. International Journal of Current ResearchVol. 5, Issue, 12, pp.3923-3929.

Vivekraj, P. & Anandgideon, V. (2015). Medico-ethno botany: A survey of Topsengattupatti Pachamalai Hills of Eastern Ghats in Tamil Nadu, South India. Advances in Applied Science Research, 2015, 6(12):59-63