Researchers find endangered forest trees growing in city

Indore: Many wild trees, which are critically endangered, have been discovered in the middle of the city by local researchers and professors of botany.These professors have found many trees, which are primarily seen in jungle, growing well within the city limits. Prof Kishore Panwar of Holkar Science College along with Prof Bholeshwar Dubey of Mata Jija Bai Girls PG College and OP Joshi, former principal of PMB Guajarati Science College, have discovered these trees while writing a book, ‘Trees of Indore’, over the last three years. Speaking to TOI, Panwar said, "While researching for book on trees we found some forest elements which are only found in forests of Khandwa, Khargone and Barwani. Species from Kabeet (Limonia acidica) family, Bel Patra (Eagle Marmelose), Arjuna (Terminalia Belirica), Behda (T Belirica) and few other such endangered trees were found in the city.” He added that many of these trees are declared endangered by the forest department.According to them, many such trees are used in medicines for heart diseases. “If we talk about Arjuna tree, its bark is good for heart patients. It is also known as ‘Arjuna Ridhh’ which is used in various medicines,” explained Panwar. These trees can be found in Annuapurna and near Tower crossing. “Also Anjana trees (Hardvikia), which is normally useful in making ‘Chavanprash’, are on the decline in forest, but they are growing well in the middle of the city which is good,” told Panwar.Prof Dubey said that finding such forest elements proves that earlier the city was a dense forest and it gradually turned into a concrete jungle. “Within three years we have found tree like Semal (Bombex cieba), Chirol (Holoptelia), Gondi (Cordial Mixa), Shishak (Dalbergia), Kadam (Mitrangyna) and few more such endangered trees,” he said. He added that all these trees are even flowering and fruiting in summer, whereas normally these trees die if grown in forests. “We want to create awareness among people that such endangered trees are growing well within the city and they should make sure that these are not chopped off for development purpose,” he said.