Myristica swamp

Myristica swamps are a type of freshwater swamp forest predominantly composed of species of Myristica. These are found in two localities in India. Myristica swamps have adapted to inundation by way of stilt roots and knee roots. Myristica swamps are found in the Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka State and in the southern parts of Kerala State.

Myristica swamps were described as a separate evergreen forest type by Krishnamurthy in 1960. These received attention in 1988 when Rodgers and Panwar described it as the most endangered forest ecosystem in India. The swamps in Karnataka has been studied in detail by Chandran, MDS and his colleagues in 1999.

Nair, PV and his team has conducted a detailed study on the flora and fauna of the Myristica swamps of southern Kerala in 2007. In Kerala, the Myristica swamps are found predominantly in Kulathupuzha , Anchal and Shendurney regions of Kollam district. Nair PVand Pandalai carried out successful re-introduction of one of the swamp tree species in 2012.

The swamps occur on either side of first order streams. The swamp boundary can be seen distinctly in the field due to the stilt roots. Chandran and his colleagues were able to locate 51 swamps in Uttara Kannada. They were able to show them on maps, and describe location, but exact boundary mapping was not attempted. Mapping by Nairpv and colleagues in 2007 was more detailed and they mapped 60 swamps using GPS technology. The swamps ranged in area from about 0.25 to 10 hectares. The swamps are distributed in two river systems spread over two districts. Boundary mapping has revealed that the total area of Myristica swamps in Kerala is about 1.5 km2 which hardly make up 0.004% of the total land area of Kerala (38,864 km2) and 0.014% of the total forest area of Kerala (11,126 km2). The swamps in Karnataka are located at about 300m altitude, the swamps in Kerala are at an altitude of 200m.

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