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A total 08 hierarchical clusters have been classified by dendrogram. In group I, a total

of 23 grass species possess more similarity from each other; in group II, III, V and VII, each
group possess 02 grass species; group IV possess 03 grass species, whereas, group VI and

VIII show only 01 grass species.
Key words: Diversity, Richness, IVI, Correlation, Hierarchical clusters

INTRODUCTION
Grasses have important role in our lives. Grasses are the on which can be occurs

anywhere with more abundantly. Poaceae (Grass family) is the fifth largest family of
Angiosperms comprise about 700-800 genera and 11000-13000 species distributed

worldwide (Clayton and Renvoize, 1986; Watson and Dallwitz, 1999). Grasses are major

source as of food material, fodder, oil, medicine and other raw material such as paper,
thatching, matting, ropes and broom (Bor, 1960). A floristic study in this area was initiated in
th
early 20 century (Hole, 1904) followed by the flora of Jabalpur including was study of
grasses by Oommachand and Shrivastva, 1996. Kunhikannan (2014), 67 genera and 121

species of grasses were enumerated. The temperature varies from 9 C to 43 C. with an
average annual rainfall over the area is 1358mm (Totey and Gupta, 1993).

The grasses produce types of cereal viz. kutki (Panicum miliaceum), Kodo (Paspalum

notatum), Miaz (Zea maize) and Sama (Echinochloa colona), which is rainy season crop
except Kitki (Panicum miliaceum). Cereal gain is used in the human diet. Annual grasses are

dead after fruiting and complete their life cycle; whereas, perennial grasses live as rhizome
and runner culm (underground stem) for more than one year. It has been observed that mostly

dry season grass species were perennial. However, annual species also occurred in study
sites.

METHOD AND MATERIALS

Study site
The study was conducted in southern area of Jabalpur district known as Mahakoshal

Region of Madhya Pradesh. The study area lies in the south part of the Jabalpur district.

South part of Jabalpur district, bordering Mandla, Seoni and Narsinghpur districts spans
between latitude 23°10'N and longitude 79°56'E. Average rainfalls of the area is 1279.50

mm. Maximum temperature reaches up to 47°C in the summer and minimum temperature in
the months of December-January touches 8°C. Soil is mostly black cotton soil and sandy

loamy in some place. An average elevation of the area is 411 meters.

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