The first user-friendly pictorial field guide to the Trees of Arunachal Pradesh

Biologists from the Nature Conservation Foundation and the Wildlife Institute of India have published the
first ever pictorial field guide to the Trees of Arunachal Pradesh, a region famed for its biological
diversity.
Authored by three seasoned field biologists – Dr. Navendu Page of the Wildlife Institute of India, Dr.
Aparajita Datta and Bibidishananda Basu of the Nature Conservation Foundation, this book builds on
their collective experience of over two decades of field botany and forest ecology of North-east India to
present an authoritative guide to the trees.
Trees of Arunachal Pradesh features more than 1500 photos of 241 species of trees, shrubs and a few
climbers. ‘Keys’ help the reader navigate through the pages and to identify each species. Author Navendu
Page points out that “These ‘keys’ are based on easily observable characters such as leaves, flowers, and
fruits. These provide pointers to compare similar-looking species, helping get past the lookalikes and
identify the plant of interest quickly and accurately.”
The species pages which form the bulk of the book, give an account of the species’ ecology and utility,
with images of the plant parts. One of the highlights of the book are the descriptions of the ecology of the
species. Author Aparajita Datta said that “We have given the flowering and fruiting times, who eats the
fruits or how seeds are dispersed from our field observations or literature.”
People of Arunachal Pradesh and other North-eastern states where these species occur, or visitors from
other regions accompanied by local people familiar with the trees and their regional names, can use the
exhaustive index of names in several local languages, to determine the species identity.
Dr. Bivash Pandav, Director of the Bombay Natural History Society says “An absolute delight not only
for biologists but also for anyone remotely interested in exploring plant life in the land of the rising sun!
Moving forward from the conventional plant taxonomy literature, this book is a breath of fresh air and
will surely generate huge interest among the readers to understand the plant diversity of Arunachal
Pradesh. Elegant illustrations and appropriate descriptions along with actual photographs of the flora,
make this field guide easy to use for both professionals as well as nature enthusiasts. This field guide is an
outcome of years of hard work put in by the authors and demonstrates their thorough understanding of the
region. A must have while planning for a trip to India’s North East.”
The user-friendly and aesthetic features of this book make it an attractive resource for botany students,
naturalists, plant explorers, and tree watchers as well as teachers, researchers, Forest Department staff,
and the people of Arunachal Pradesh.
The book can be bought online through Nature Conservation Foundation’s website:
https://www.instamojo.com/NCF/trees-of-arunachal-a-field-guide/
Trees of Arunachal Pradesh: A Field Guide is published by the Nature Conservation Foundation in
January 2022, and is priced at Rs. 1000 (shipping cost Rs. 190 additional).
Contacts: Dr. Navendu Page ([email protected]), Ph: 9611053510; Dr. Aparajita Datta
([email protected]).