Kaas Plateau
India · Asia
About
The Kas Plateau Reserved Forest, also known as the Kas Pathar, is a plateau situated 25 kilometres west of Satara city in Maharashtra, India. It falls under the Sahyadri Sub Cluster of the Western Ghats. It became a part of a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site in 2012.
It is a biodiversity hotspot known for various types of seasonal wildflowers that bloom and numerous species of endemic butterflies annually in the months of August and September. The plateau is situated at an altitude of 1200 metres and is approximately 10 square kilometers in area. These include orchids, shrubs such as the Karvy, and carnivorous plants such as Drosera indica.
Kas Pathar is a plateau made from volcanic rocks in the Satara district of Maharashtra, and comes under the biosphere of the Western Ghats.
The flora of Kas, i.e., the entire flowering plants and their related plants are typically restricted to that particular locality only. This is because the plateau is largely formed of basalt, which is directly exposed to atmosphere. The basalt is almost covered entirely by a thin cover of soil formed due to erosion and has accumulated a layer of not more than 25 mm or so.
Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)。Photography via Wikimedia Commons.