Species Composition of a Degraded Watershed in Amawbia, Anambra State, Nigeria

This work was carried out in a period that spans the rainy and dry seasons of 2010 – 2011. In times past, Anambra State was rich in chains of productive watershed, saturated with luxuriant plant species. This however is now history owing to steadily increasing, degradatory anthropogenic influences. Ignorance and crass indifference on the indispensability of plant resources to man’s survival in tropical Africa has also resulted in very poor biodiversity of our watersheds. Amawbia watershed is not an exception. With the assistance of a field taxonomist and relevant texts, tree, climber, shrub, grass and forb species were firstly identified and recorded for sampled sites (sites A – E). Unlike productive watersheds, the dominant species encountered in this watershed were grasses and forbs. Dominant individual plants include: Heivea brasiliensis, Senna siamea, Napoleana imperialis, Dactyledenia barteri, Pentaclethra macrophyla, (Trees); Gongronema latifolium, Dioscorea dumentorum, Telfeiria occidentalis, Smilax anceps, Cissus aralioides (Climbers); Olax viridis, Mimosa invisa, Bambusa vulgaris, Vernonia amygdalina, Sarcocephalum laxiflora (Shrubs); Zea mays, Panicum maxima, Imperata cylindrica, Sporobolus pyramidalis, Andropogon tectorum (Grass); Amaranthus viridis, Ageratum conyzoides, Sida acuta, Gomphrena celosoides, Ocimum basilicum (Forbs). Most of these species are not very important in terms of economic relevance