THE CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS - IFEAT

subcontinent is not just a large land mass (stretching 3,500 km North – South and 3,000 km East –West) but also very diverse in its geography possessing almost every agroclimatic zone within itsboundaries. This diversity and corresponding richness in both flora and fauna has encouraged some ofthe earliest farmers to domesticate and cultivate many crops. Nearly half the land mass of the Indiansubcontinent is arable and this helps support the huge population more than half of which is involvedin agriculture and related activities.FLOWERS - CULTIVATION AND TRADEThe geographic diversity has made India one of the hotspots of biodiversity. Even though it is believedthat only about 70% of India’s flora has been mapped, already more than 15,000 species of floweringplants have been identified with about a third of them being endemic to the Indian subcontinent.Indians have tapped into this resource pool for many needs. Flowers (Fig. 2) have been used asingredients for wide ranging purposes including culinary (e.g. neem), flavouring (e.g. saffron),colouring / dyeing (e.g. marigold), fragrance (climbing ylang), medicinal (e.g. periwinkle), cosmetic(e.g. hibiscus), etc.ChrysanthemumClimbing YlangHibiscusSaffronFig. 2: Examples of flowers used in India52