Weeds are the plants with generally undesirable properties. They spread rapidly and competitively. When it grows in garden it reduces air flow in garden, keeping plants wetter and more prone to pathogens. Rourkela, in the north-eastern part of Odisha state is one of the major steel industrial centres of India and regarded as the industrial capital of Odisha. The present study focuses on the weed diversity of non forest and crop fields of Rourkela and adjoining areas in the district of Sundargarh of Odisha state. A total of 180 weed species under 140 genera belonging to 11 monocot families, 42 dicot families and one pteridophytic family are reported in this investigation. Out of 54 families, the pre-dominance of weeds is shown by Poaceae with 22 species while Asteraceae showed second highest with 21 species, followed by Amaranthaceae, Fabaceae and Acanthaceae and Euphorbiaceae each having 8 and 9 species respectively. Cynodon dactylon, Chromolaena odoratrum, Achyranthes aspera, Parthe

Rourkela Steel City, Sundargarh, Weeds, Phytodiversity, Sundargarh

This study is based on the open fields, wastelands, croplands as well as in the non forest lands where diversity of seasonal weeds are grown. Due to better development of the area, increase in population and rapid industrization, many useful species may become endangered in future. So they should be recorded and identified along with their usefulness, ethnobotanical uses before their extinction. As the total flora of the Rourkela city as well as Sundargarh district have not been fully explored about the flora the present study will provide the baseline information on the total flora of Rourkela of Sundargarh district. It will be helpful in preparation of district flora of Sundargarh as well as weed management of the area.

Mallick, S.N., Das, P.K. Kumar, S., and Acharya, B.C. (2019). A Preliminary Survey of Phytodiversity of Weeds from Rourkela Steel City, Sundargarh, Odisha, India. Biological Forum - An International Journal, 11(2): 157-164.