_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ *Corresponding author: Email: smyageri111@gmail.com; Original Research Article Asian Journal of Plant and Soil Sciences 6(1): 18-22, 2021 FLORISTIC ENUMERATION OF BALLARI FORT KARNATAKA M. SIDDESHWARI 1* 1 Department of Botany, Vijayanagara Sri Krishnadevaraya University Ballari, Karnataka-585305, India. AUTHOR’S CONTRIBUTION The sole author designed, analyzed, interpreted and prepared the manuscript. Received: 05 May 2021 Accepted: 10 July 2021 Published: 16 July 2021 __________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT The Ballari fort is a rich Historical heritage site with rich plant diversity. A survey on the flora of Ballari fort was carried out from January 2020 to June 2021. Ballari fort lies between 15.15°N latitude 76.933°E longitude. And it is situated at 602 MSL. The forts have scrubby Vegetation which includes Herbs, Shrubs, Trees, and Climbers. In the present study, 115 plant species belonging to 98 genera and 39 families of Angiosperms were collected and recorded in which Herbs are the largest species widely distributed in and around the fort of Ballari. Keywords: Fort; floristic; Ballari; Karnataka. 1. INTRODUCTION India is one of the mega bio diverse countries of the world. It has diverse biogeography and consists of about 18,000 plant species, which is almost 11% of the total species in the world [1]. One of the global biodiversity hotspots, the Western Ghats consists of more than 7,400 plant species of which 1,270 are endemic [2]. Ballari district is located in the north eastern part of Karnataka state and is bounded by Koppal district on the west, Chitradurga and Davanagere districts on the south, and Anantapur and Kurnool districts of Andhra Pradesh on the east. The Tungabhadra River forms the eastern and northern boundary of the district. It has seven taluks. The geographical area is about 8,461 sq km (Fig. 1.) with coordinates 15° 30' and 15°50' N and longitudes of 75° 40' and 77° 11' E. The average elevation of the district is 493.71m amsl. Temperature ranges from 48 o C (Max) and 11 o C (Min), Average humidity 88(Max) & 40 (Min), Average annual rainfall 606 mm. The major soil types are reddish. The important minerals found in the district are iron and building stones. Gandhe and Mungikar [2007] have mapped the vegetation of prabalgad Fort in Pune [3]. Shrikanth et al, (2006) have documented the floristic composition of the Hampi ruins from Hospet taluk of Bellary district in Karnataka state [4]. H C Shrishail et al. (2020) have reported 158 plant species belonging to 39 families of Angiosperms, 04 species of Pteridophytes, 03 species of Bryophyte, 04 species of Algae were collected and recorded from the rocks and fort walls and ponds of Raichur fort [5]. However, it is interesting to report from our study that the Herbs were dominant followed by shrubs, trees, and climbers. 2. METHODOLOGY 2.1 Study Area The fort is located around two prominent and large rocky granite hills: the Ballari Gudda with the fort