Documentation of invasive alien plant species in Anaikatty Hills, Coimbatore, Western Ghats

In this paper presented a comprehensive inventory of the non-native vascular flora of Anaikatty hills. The survey was undertaken to document the invasive alien plant species in different ecosystems during September 2017 to October 2019 in Anaikatty hills, Coimbatore forest division, Western Ghats. A total of 98 invasive alien species under 81 genera and 40 families were recorded. Asteraceae is the most dominant family with 16 species followed by Amaranthaceae and Solanaceae (6 species each). Cassia and Ipomoea are the dominant genera (4 species each) followed by Indigofera and Solanum (3 species each). The life form analysis of the invasive alien flora showed that herbaceous species constitute the major life form (73.47%) followed by shrubs (9.18%), climbers (8.16%), trees (5.10%) and grasses (4.08%). Phytogeographical regions analysis revealed that tropical American elements (57.14%) are the most dominant. It is an immense need to control the infestations of such alien and naturalised weeds in the natural ecosystem. This can be eliminated by better planning, periodic monitoring and adopt suitable controlling measures.