Abstract:
The floristic richness of isolated forests in wet zone of Sri Lanka is of great ecological
importance. Exploration of Salgala forest, an isolated forest patch in the wet zone,
helped to disclose the phytosociological information and phytogeographycal
distribution of the reserve. The reserve encompassing an area of 127.8 ha is located in
Galapotamada, Kegalle district. The main objective of the investigation was to explore
the floristic richness and its spatial distribution of Salgala forest reserve. Vegetation
sampling was carried out in three transects and nineteen plots, each having an area of
10 X 10 m. Trees with girth of over 10 cm at breast height were enumerated. All data
collected on species, endemic species, and families were analyzed using principal
component method and the results were interpreted with the help of Geographical
Information System. Results revealed that 886 individuals belong to 53 species (out of
which 23 were endemic species) and 29 families could be identified. Two main zones
could also be identified in the forest. The zone identified towards the north of the forest
(named zone-I) has 48 species where as in the zone towards the south (named zone-II)
has 38 species. The number of endemic species confined only to zone-I were 6 and that
of zone-II was only 1. Therefore the Zone-I stood higher in a position when it comes to
floristic richness compared to that of zone-II.
