**Acknowledgements**

The authors are thankful to Walter Gastmans, curator of AURO herbarium and Dr. Raphael Mathevet, Head of Ecology, French Institute of Pondicherry for their constant support and encouragement; financial support for the survey from 1994 to 2000 by Danish Government through Foundation for Revitalization of Local Health Traditions, Bengaluru; 2001-2004 by European Commission; 2005-2010 by Auroville Coastal Development Centre; WCT-Small Grant 2018-2019 Phase I; Head of Head of Forest Force, Chennai and District Forest Officer, Villupuram, Tamil Nadu granted permission to do the botanical survey in RFs; Mr. Paul Blanch Flower and Mr. Jaap Hollander accompanied all the times during the survey and provided photos of some species.
