Biologists from the Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF) and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) have published the first-ever pictorial field guide dedicated to the tree diversity of Arunachal Pradesh.

Authored by three seasoned field biologists—Dr Navendu Page of the WII, Dr Aparajita Datta and Bibidishananda Basu of the NCF, Trees of Arunachal Pradesh: A Field Guide 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.

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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, says author Navendu Page. “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 says, “We have given the flowering and fruiting times, who eats the fruits or how seeds are dispersed from our field observations or literature.”

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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 (BNHS) 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."

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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 purchased online through the Nature Conservation Foundation website.

Trees of Arunachal Pradesh: A Field Guide is published by the Nature Conservation Foundation in January 2022, and is priced at ₹1000 (shipping cost ₹190 additional).