The country’s oldest and biggest botanic garden has a surprise new-year gift for its visitors.
A mobile application providing details of over 14,000 trees spread over the 273-acre grounds of the Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden (AJCBIBG) in Howrah near here will soon be available.
“There are about of 1,400 species of trees and plants in the garden. Despite there being separate markings for some of these plants and trees, it is still difficult for visitors and nature lovers to distinguish one from the other,” Arabinda Pramanik, head of office of the AJCBIBG told
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Two scientists C.M. Sabapathy and Basant Kumar Singh who are working on the GIS-based phytogeographical mapping of the garden for the past two years, said that the application will work on the basis of unique numbers assigned to every tree.
“The mobile application will have layered information depending on how much the visitor or user wants to access. From providing common names to the trees the application will open doors about phenology (flowering pattern and other life cycle related events), its distribution and even the history of the plant’s introduction in the garden,” Mr. Singh said.
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Set up in 1787, by Colonel Robert Kyd, the garden was the place where the British for the first time introduced a number of economically important plants like tea, coffee, cinchona, rubber and mahogany, he added.
“There are many visitors who come looking for a particular tree or plant such as the baobab or Kalpataru tree ( Adansonia digitata ) very rare in India and is believed to have powers of granting wishes. The application will locate the tree for the visitor,” Mr. Singh added.
Similarly, other unique species such Krishavat ( Ficus krishnae ) and Giant Water lily ( Victoria cruziana ) can be found easily.