Pune: Botanist’s study spots 42 new tree species in 10 years

PUNE: Walking along the streets of Warje, amateur botanist Shrikant Ingalhalikar found the ambarella tree (spondias dulcis), a native of Sri Lanka.
He also spotted a Burma padaiuk tree (Pterocarpus macrocarpus) standing proudly on the median of Abhimanshri Society in Pashan and was thrilled to bits to see a rare species of padal or snake tree (stereospermum angustifolium) off Paud Road.
His study has spotted 42 new tree species in the last 10 years from the 482 species recorded in 2010. The city also lost 20 species during the decade. Ingalhalikar has documented the city’s tree cover in his book ‘Trees of Pune’ published in 2010. The book has been out of print for years. “I could not reprint as there were several additions and deletions. I lost the print files in a computer crash, and photographing the trees again was impossible due to security permissions involved in entering institutions,” he said.
But his passion draws him to the lanes and bylanes where he finds rare trees. “Identifying them is challenging and interesting,” Ingalhalikar said.
“Pune’s tree diversity is richest among Indian cities. This richness is because of the city’s proximity to the biodiversity hotspot of Western Ghats. Metros like Bengaluru, Delhi and Hyderabad have not published any account of their tree diversity, but from books published so far their species may not exceed 300,” Ingalhalikar said.
His study took him two years and was inspired by ‘Trees of Delhi’, a book by Pradip Krishen. “It included each wild and exotic species found in the civic limits. The number is high because wild habitats have been included in urban areas. Of the 482 species, I listed 200 rare species and marked their locations on an interactive Google Map,”
Most missing species have been removed while some perished on their own. Ironically, mortality is more in botanical gardens, he said. Ingalhalikar’s discovery of new species of plants is being looked into by scientific journals.