The Mysore region is an unofficial region that is part of Karnataka

Karnataka

Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...

 state in southern India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. It forms approximately the southern half of the non-coastal areas of that state. The area corresponds almost exactly to that of the erstwhile princely state

Princely state

A Princely State was a nominally sovereign entitity of British rule in India that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule such as suzerainty or paramountcy.-British relationship with the Princely States:India under the British Raj ...

 of Mysore

Kingdom of Mysore

The Kingdom of Mysore was a kingdom of southern India, traditionally believed to have been founded in 1399 in the vicinity of the modern city of Mysore. The kingdom, which was ruled by the Wodeyar family, initially served as a vassal state of the Vijayanagara Empire...

. Almost all of that principality, with the exception of a few areas that now lie in neighbouring states, is comprehended by this term.

The region lies on the Deccan plateau, east of the hilly Malenadu region, which includes the eastern foothills of the Western Ghats

Western Ghats

The Western Ghats, Western Ghauts or the Sahyādri is a mountain range along the western side of India. It runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain along the Arabian Sea. The Western Ghats block rainfall to the Deccan...

 range. It consists of gently rolling plains, punctuated by several of the large rivers that rise in the Western Ghats and flow eastward to empty into the Bay of Bengal

Bay of Bengal

The Bay of Bengal , the largest bay in the world, forms the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. It resembles a triangle in shape, and is bordered mostly by the Eastern Coast of India, southern coast of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to the west and Burma and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to the...

.

Mysore region, also known as the Southern Karnataka Plateau, is made up of the low rolling granite hills from 600 to 900 meters elevation. It is bounded on the west by the Western Ghats and on the south and east by ranges of hills, and on the north it drops to the lower-elevation northern Maidan. It includes Bangalore

Bangalore

Bengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...

, Bangalore Rural

Bangalore Rural

Bangalore Rural District is one of the 30 districts in Karnataka. It was formed in 1986, when Bangalore district was divided into Bangalore Rural and Bangalore . Presently in Bangalore Rural district, there are 2 divisions, 4 Talukas, 35 Hoblis , 1,713 inhabited and 177 uninhabited villages, 9...

, Chamrajnagar, Hassan

Hassan district

Hassan is a district in Karnataka state, India. The district headquarters are Hassan.Hassan district was the seat of the Hoysala Empire which at its peak ruled large parts of south India from Belur as its early capital and Halebidu as its later capital during the period 1000 - 1334 CE...

, Kolar

Kolar

Kolara is a city in the South Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of Kolar District. It is known for being one of the gold mining sites in India....

, Mandya

Mandya

Mandya is a city in the state of Karnataka, India. It is the headquarters of Mandya district and is located 40 km from Mysore and 100 km from Bangalore.-Etymology:...

, Mysore, Ramanagara, chitradurga

Chitradurga

Chitradurga is a town in the southern part of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is also the headquarters of Chitradurga district. Chitradurga was also known by the names Chitradurg, Chitrakaladurga, Chittaldurg. Chittaldrug was the name officially used by the British Govt.-Geography:Chitradurga is...

, davangere and Tumkur

Tumkur

Tumkur is one of the busiest industrial towns located in the state of Karnataka. Since 28 August 2010, Tumkur has been accorded the status of a Corporation city. It is situated at a distance of 70 kilometers north west of the city of Bangalore along National Highway 4...

 districts. Most of the region is covered by the South Deccan Plateau dry deciduous forests

South Deccan Plateau dry deciduous forests

The South Deccan Plateau dry deciduous forests is a dry broadleaf forest ecoregion of southern India. The ecoregion lies in the southern Deccan Plateau, within the Western Ghats' rain shadow. It receives of rain annually, much less than the North Western Ghats moist deciduous forests and South...

 ecoregion, which extends south into eastern Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...

.

Some of the larger cities and towns of the Maidan include Bangalore, Mysore, Tumkur, Chitradurga, Bellary and Davangere. Agriculture and animal husbandry are the mainstays of the region, and the main crops include cotton

Cotton

Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....

, sorghum

Sorghum

Sorghum is a genus of numerous species of grasses, one of which is raised for grain and many of which are used as fodder plants either cultivated or as part of pasture. The plants are cultivated in warmer climates worldwide. Species are native to tropical and subtropical regions of all continents...

, millet

Millet

The millets are a group of small-seeded species of cereal crops or grains, widely grown around the world for food and fodder. They do not form a taxonomic group, but rather a functional or agronomic one. Their essential similarities are that they are small-seeded grasses grown in difficult...

, and peanut

Peanut

The peanut, or groundnut , is a species in the legume or "bean" family , so it is not a nut. The peanut was probably first cultivated in the valleys of Peru. It is an annual herbaceous plant growing tall...

s.

The region lies in the rain shadow of the Western Ghats

Western Ghats

The Western Ghats, Western Ghauts or the Sahyādri is a mountain range along the western side of India. It runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain along the Arabian Sea. The Western Ghats block rainfall to the Deccan...

, and is generally much drier than coastal Karnataka and the Western Ghats. It was originally covered by extensive, open-canopied Tropical dry deciduous forests

Tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests

The tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest biome, also known as tropical dry forest, is located at tropical and subtropical latitudes. Though these forests occur in climates that are warm year-round, and may receive several hundred centimeters of rain per year, they have long dry seasons...

, characterized by the trees Acacia

Acacia

Acacia is a genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae, first described in Africa by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1773. Many non-Australian species tend to be thorny, whereas the majority of Australian acacias are not...

, Albizia

Albizia

Albizia is a genus of about 150 species of mostly fast-growing subtropical and tropical trees and shrubs in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the legume family, Fabaceae. The genus is pantropical, occurring in Asia, Africa, Madagascar, Central, South, and southern North America and Australia, but mostly...

and Hardwickia

Hardwickia

Hardwickia is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae. It belongs to the sub family Caesalpinioideae....

, but much of the original forest has been cleared for agriculture, timber, grazing and firewood. Overexploitation

Overexploitation

Overexploitation, also called overharvesting, refers to harvesting a renewable resource to the point of diminishing returns. Sustained overexploitation can lead to the destruction of the resource...

 of the forests for fuelwood and fodder has resulted in much of the original forest being degraded into thickets and scrublands. Canthium

Canthium

Canthium is a genus of flowering plants in the Rubiaceae family. They are shrubs and small trees. The leaves are deciduous and the stems are usually thorny.-Distribution:They are native to India, Sri Lanka, and tropical East Africa.-Taxonomy:...

 parriflorum, Cassia auriculata, Dodonea viscosa, Erythroxylum

Erythroxylum

Erythroxylum is a genus of tropical flowering plants in the family Erythroxylaceae. Many species contain the drug cocaine; Erythroxylum coca, a native of South America, is the main commercial source of cocaine and of the mild stimulant coca tea...

 monogynum, Pterolobium

Pterolobium

Pterolobium is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae. It belongs to the subfamily Caesalpinioideae....

 hexapetalum and Euphorbia antiquorum are species typical of the thicket and scrubland vegetation.