IJSRST184594 | Received : 10 March 2018 | Accepted : 19 March 2018 | March-April-2018 [ (4) 5 : 603-609] © 2018 IJSRST | Volume 4 | Issue 5 | Print ISSN: 2395-6011 | Online ISSN: 2395-602X Themed Section: Science and Technology 603 Floristic Diversity of Family Malvaceae Found in Kankariya Zoo Campus, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India Patel R.S., Kadia Riya, Patel Neha K. K. Shah Jarodwala Maninagar Science College, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India ABSTRACT Ahmedabad city is located in the centre of Gujarat. It is located at 23.03 0 north and 12.58 0 east spanning on area of 205km 2 . The Kamala Nehru zoological garden is situated near the nocturnal zoological garden at Kankaria in Ahmedabad. In Kamala Nehru zoological garden there are many type of the species like plants, trees and shrubs in zoological garden. They maintain best temperature and oxygen level to animals. Kankariya Kamala Nehru zoological garden was established by Ruben Devi in 1915 which is spreaded over 21 acres. There are many type of species like Malvaceae, Moraceae, Araceae, Aspargaceae, Convolvulaceae, Oleaceae in this zoological garden. Plant species like Abution indicum (Link) sweet (KHAPAT DABALTGAR), Abelmoschus esculentus L. (BHINDO ), Althea rosea (L.)Cav ( GULKHER ) ,Gossypium herbaceum L. var. aceritolium (KHAPAS) , Hibiscus rosa sinensis L. ( JASOD ) , Hibiscus schizopethalus (Dyer) Hook f.(CHIKNT BHINDI) , Malvaviscus pendulifloras DC.(SLEEPING HJBISCUS), Sida alba L. (KANTALOBALA) , Sida cordata Burm f.(BHOYABALA) , Sida cordifolila (MAHABALA) , Sida ovate Forsk (BHOYBALA) , Thespesia populnea (L.) Soland (PARAS PIPALO) are described in the present paper. Keywords : Malvaceae, Zoo, Floristic I. INTRODUCTION Malvaceae is a family of flowering plants estimated to contain 244 genera with 4225 known species. Well- known members of this family include okra, cotton, cacao and durian. The largest genera in terms of number of species include Hibiscus ,Sterculia ,Dombeya ,Pavonia and Sida. A number of species are pests in agriculture, including Abutilon theophrasti and Modiola caroliniana, and others that are garden escapes. Cotton (four species of Gossypium), kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus), cacao (Theobroma cacao), kola nut (Cola spp.), and okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) are important agricultural crops. A number of species, including Hibiscus syriacus, Hibiscus rosa-sinensis and Alcea rosea are garden plants. Most species are herbs or shrubs, but some are trees and lianas. II. METHODOLOGY The methodology and approaches for this floristic species at kankaria Kamla Nehru zoological garden was followed as and suggested by Dr. R.S.Patel sir and an intensive field work was undertaken with help of Gardner Bherosinh. In Zoological garden there are many types of species and many types of section and also variety of plants. Plants were collected, photographs are taken in field and identified by the flora of Hooker (1872- 97). Oommachan (1977) Verma pant & Hanfi(1984), Khanna and Kumar (2001), Shukla (1988), Bor and Raizayda (1954), Alverson and Nyffeler (1998), Bayer(1999). Plants so collected are pressed and herbarium was prepared following techniques of Jain and Rao(1977).