Introduced plants
These are plants that are intentionally or unintentionally introduced to new areas by human activities. About 25 % of our flora consists of exotic plants. In the past earth’s oceans, mountains, and deserts acted as natural barriers for the isolation of plants and animals by restricting the movement across the world. But with early human migrations the world’s first plant introductions were initiated. The introduced plant to a new area is called an alien/exotic plant. But with time it becomes a part of natural landscape over large areas and become naturalised. Of our exotic plant species about 32% has been naturalized while 68% is under cultivation. Sometime an exotic or an introduced plant could be invasive if it triggers changes in natural or human induced habitats. These are called invasive alien plants (or we identify them as weeds if these are associated with man made habitats).
(Eichhornia crassipes)
