Wooden cuttings of huge trees showing their annual rings, seeds of wild trees and plants and wooden planks of various trees of the Western Ghats are an added attraction at the Dr. Shivaram Karanth Pilikula Nisargadhama now.
The botanical museum at the nisargadhama has wooden cuttings of 35 species of trees, wooden planks of 25 species and seeds of 60 species collected over the past four years under a project sponsored by the Karnataka Biodiversity Board, according to Ramakrishna Marati, Scientific Officer at the nisargadhama.
Threatened species
The five-year project with a funding of Rs. 5 crore will end in 2015-16, he said.
All of them have been neatly arranged at the museum in the administrative building of the nisargadhama.
One can see the wooden cuttings of the threatened species of Hebbalasu, Ganapathi Kai which is also called Kai Dhoopa and Holehonne and also their wooden planks.
In addition, among the collections of cuttings include kiral bogi, bare mara and vaate huli also called Chandu huli (Artocarpus gomezianus), which are endemic to the Western Ghats, he told The Hindu .
Seeds of Ramapatre, Palasha, Kadu Rudrakshi, Betta (cane) and Baine are some of the rare ones.
Preservation methods
With annual chemical treatment and polishing the cuttings and planks could be stored up to 50 years.
In addition, the museum has displayed photographs of rare shrubs, herbs, trees and plants.
Its objective is to introduce the species to students, teachers, researchers and other nature lovers for the purpose of study and prompt people to conserve them.
The museum has come up under the guidance and supervision of H. Soorya Prakash Shenoy, principal scientist and Head of Botany at the nisargadhama.
