‘Planting palm trees along roads kills them’

CHANDIGARH: After an inadvertent gap of a few weeks,

Chandigarh Tree Lovers

(CTL), a city-based volunteer group of nature lovers, a TOI initiative held its debut monsoon walk at the Palm Garden in Sector 42 here on Sunday.


The Palm Garden that was inaugurated for public in 2015, has a collection a diverse range of palm tree species, with a unique architectural design. The park is spread around seven to eight acres of land, adjoining the ‘New Lake’ opposite to Bent Singh Memorial on one side.

As many as 20 members of the volunteer group assembled at the entrance of the park by 7am and the walk commenced soon after.

The walkers were accompanied by Dr Harjit Singh Dhillon, former employee at the department of

horticulture

, tree and plant expert and a CTL member along with Prof Rajnish Wattas, president, Chandigarh Tree Lovers, guiding and explaining them about various palm sightings and their characteristics.

Breaking the myth shrouding palm, Dr Harjit Singh confirmed that ‘palm’ by definition is not a tree as various palms can be found in their plant form which never grow out to be trees. “The work on this garden had gained momentum by 2008 and the intention behind the project was to bring southern sectors into the limelight which are often neglected,” he added. The park contains 20 to 25 species of palms. The group began with Phoenix Palm or Phoenix Canariensis which is a native of the Canary Island.

The members were then told about the Royal Palm or Roystinea Regia which is the most common species among palm and is also called as ‘Bottle Palm’, due to its trunk resembling the shape of a bottle.

These can be planted both at home and along roadsides. Prof Rajnish Wattas said, “If you drive towards Mullanpur, you will notice that these palm trees are planted on both sides along the road which now resembles streets in Arabia. But these trees have no shade and 80% of them die due to poor upkeep. Hence, planting a palm along the road is almost like a criminal offence, because they serve no purpose.”

Furthermore Sugar Palm, or

Borassus

Flabeliffer, a native to the Indian sub-continent or South-East Asia, was also talked about. This species is among the oldest palm species, with its origin dated 10,000 years back. The Foxtail Palm species or Wodyetia Bifurcata was the next one which also dominates the general palm tree population in the garden. More species like Fish Tail Palm or Caryota Palm was discussed which mainly grows in Kolkata and parts of Maharashtra.

More species namely Fan Palms or Washingtonia Robusta, an

evergreen

hedge called Dwarf Chandni or Tabernaemontana Divaricata, a native Indian shrub with tiny white flowers, Bismarckia Nobilis Palm, which is native to northern and western Madagascar, Chinese Palm or Livistonia Chinesis, a sub-tropical species from East Asia, Nolina Palm or Beaucarnia Recurvata, Cycas Palm or

Cycas Revoluta

, a native of Japan and Ryuku Islands and several other species were discussed. The walk concluded by 8.15am.


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