DISTRIBUTIONAL RESUME OF COASTAL FLORISTIC ELEMENTS IN THE ANDAMAN AND THE NICOBAR ISLANDS

The geomorphology and soils of the coastal biotopes of the Andaman and the Nicobar Islands have been briefly discussed as a background to the nature and alliance of their floras. The coastal biotopes are very impoverished in species of flowering plants and have no endemic genera. The existing floristic species have revealed that they are mostly very widely ranging strand/mangrove species. Further, the recorded floristic elements: Pan-tropical, Indo-Pacific, Indo-Malesian, Indo-Burmese, Western Indian Ocean and Caribbean are described along with examples. The coastal flora as a whole is composed of widely dispersed littoral plants. However, there are significant differences between the strand flora of the Andaman and the Nicobar groups of Islands. These are caused by differences in habitat, orography, salinity and man-made disturbances.