Catalogue of trees of Lalbagh

 
 
Catalogue of trees of Lalbagh : 20 posts by 6 authors.
I was able to find a 1891 catlague of the trees of Lalbagh from Wiki. This is the lInk.
Does any one know Whether a later one is available, or has even been compiled?
Is the Marigowda Library open to the public?
…, an active volunteer at Hasiru Usiru, has unearthed this treasure… can someone answer the questions?

The Marigowda library is open to public and is supposedly one of the richest collections of Botanical references in the country.
When I asked in the library a few months ago if there had been a tree census or inventory of sorts, post 1891, I drew a blank. Would appreciate
any information in this regard.

I happened to see a chart called Arboretum  at National Gallery for Modern Art [http://ngmaindia.gov.in/ngma_bangaluru.asp] (my lunch place).
Arboretum means “collection of trees”.
This chart had map of ngma campus and also the names of  trees (in several  languages) found in the campus. This is an awesome chart.
As anyone else seen similar chart for any other campus ? I wish we had similar one for lalbagh too.

I did try to find out if they had a road maps of where/which tree is found in lalbagh. But my search did not yield me any results.
I had seen an excellent map of about various trees in NGMA (i think … helped them to make this). Below is the email that i had sent last year on a similar topic.

There is a book called Heritage trees in and around Bangalore by Vijay Thiruvady. This book is published by Bangalore Environment Trust. This book has a map of Lalbagh with location of approx 100 odd heritage trees of Lalbagh.

There was a book published during the centenary celebrations of Lalbagh

(http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lalbagh-Botanical-Gardens-Bangalore-India/dp/B0018WQ2J2)
which had detailed maps of all the gardens within Lalbagh and the locations of every tree within the garden. This book is no longer available in the Marigowda Library, nor in the Central Library in Cubbon Park. I have had
only a very quick look through a copy that belonged to someone. As far as I am concerned, it is worth its weight in gold!

A lot of persons have compiled data about Lalbagh Flora, independently.
A lot of mails in eflora of India are about the same.
One Mr Srinivas has a checklist of flora and fauna too, of Lalbagh.
Mr Thiruvady’s book contains a lot of information.
Last week our group, HU added 2 species to the Lalbagh collection viz. Harpulia arborea and Dimocarpus longan. 
We need to pool data and make a flora map of Lalbagh.

I had a printed book on the flora of Lalbagh (I donot know rather remember the title) – very old publication, when I was in Chennai. I got it from one of my friends, who presented me. I will check in my collection of books whether it survived the ordeal during the transportation from Chennai to Mysore. I do not know whether it is the same catalogue of trees by John Cameron ( http://archive.org/stream/cu31924000622252#page/n4/mode/1up ). I am aware of this link and referred earlier many times.

I would definitely like to contribute to it.
This is link to my collection:
Most of the 460 trees from my collection are in Lalbagh.
I really want to collect the latlong (latitude and longitude of the trees) to get a geographical map.

You can download the PDF of the book at  this link:
http://ia700303.us.archive.org/0/items/cu31924000622252/cu31924000622252.pdf

I personally have no knowledge of the Botanical names of any plant. I am just a little conversant with the common names and folk lore. But I am willing to extend whatever help I can to a systematic, dedicated and urgently needed mapping and cataloguing. As … says, we could begin with the pooling together of all info. and knowledge, now scattered among the public, and not wait for the actual project to take off.

Agree,…. lets pool up observations and studies before we can start a detailed project.

Can you tell where exactly I can find these two, you mentioned in your mail? Harpulia arborea and Dimocarpus longan

Saplings of these 2 species, Dimocarpus longan and Harpulia arborea were presented by us to … in the Director’s office inside Lalbagh when we went for the Tree walk.

We also gave him Xylia xylocarpa but he said there is one already.

You can call him on 080 2657 1925, 080 2657 8184.
There are also 2 old botanists, both retired horticulture officers, who can be of utmost help to document Lalbagh Flora.
They know every square foot of Lalbagh, the old Masters of the place.

I think it is time to have a meeting or a symposium on the subject limited to like minded interested persons (botanists and non botanists), so that we can discuss and chalk out a time bound strategy to consolidate the data and publish a book. E flora is an excellent platform to bring all the members who are genuinely interested. I am ready to participate and do my best, though I am stationed in Mysore. Hope somebody from Bangalore would take initiative and organise the meeting for a day or two. I am positive that the suggestion would be taken positively by the members of the Bangalore group interested in trees.

We could all meet for a day at Lalbagh, have a meet at one of the Horticulture buildings.
Depending on response from our group members, we can propose a day’s meet.

Yes, I am ready to participate. I have prior commitments on 20th and 21st July. Any other day O.K. It is better to inform  one week in advance.

I can also participate on saturday or sunday

I am in the US at present. I can participate only in August on a Sunday.

This is a very good thing hear from you. Plan the date and inform me. I will accompany you. As all said this is the time to do some thing. It is true, we have to start now. Concern to Lalbagh, I have flora of lalbagh with my Institute library. As for as my knowledge one more paper published regarding addition to lalbagh flora. Some of the labeling were also placed  wrongly. We all together can work for the good cause with special interest in research and development.

What can be the agenda for the meet ?

Compilation of available data etc.
I think we need one or two volunteer botanists working on this project, which may take about a month of field study, photography and parallel compilation of data.
Can we take this up as a project for MSc or BSc botany students ?

With so many experts willing and wanting to extend their help, this is a good time to begin on this project.

I am not a botanist or academician, I reiterate, but here are some suggestions:

1. First open a mail account into which people can begin to contribute information. Different headings can be given, under which to file in the info. eg. History, folklore, geology, biogeography, ethnobotany, etc.etc.

2. Meanwhile, a detailed land map of the garden must be obtained or drawn.

3. The whole area must be marked out in a fine grid pattern, with numbers given to the grid squares.

4. When the fine Grid is super-imposed on the detailed land map, it will be very clear just which area of the park falls under which grid. Make large numbers of copies of this land map with the grid imposition.

5. Next, mark out each grid or few adjacent grids separately, enlarge each one of them, and again mark out into small numbered grids about 1 or 2 or 3 sq. ft to a grid. Print copies of these.

6. On a set of days stretching over a week or as required, call for volunteers with cameras, pen, pencil, ruler, etc. Each group of volunteers, not more than 3 to a group, will be given both the maps.

7. The group will make its way to the grid alloted to it and begin work.

8. From one end the members  begin to  work their way through the grid, taking photos of every ground- creeper, fungus, lichen, grass, plant, shrub, bush and tree. Mark each photo with the number of the grid sub-sect in which it is found. Maybe two or three photos of each can be taken for ease of identification. Submit the photos and maps to the organisers.

9. Now comes the work of the botanists and horticulturists. They look at the photo, identify the plant, do a field check to ascertain that the plant is present in the place mentioned. Seasonal plants will come and go and have to be accomodated.

10. The cataloguing begins, in full earnest, by the experts.

This whole process will take more than a year, I think. But the recording should be done and over by the end of the rains, if possible.
Seshadri’s idea to rope in botany, environmnt students is very good. Cartography students too can be asked to help. Photography hobbyists can pitch in, 

If any help regarding identification and comparison herbarium sheets I will provide. My Institute is a total of 40,000 herbarium sheets with acronym of RRCBI (Regional Research Centre Bangalore India). 
Fix the date and inform all.

Yours is an excellent idea, to go about documenting in a comprehensive way !
Its a good idea to start before the end of rains because we may miss out rainy season mushrooms, ground orchids like Habenaria roxburghii, or seasonal herbs like Gloriosa superba etc.
The sighted  mosses, aquatic plants too may be considered, along the lake.
Students, Naturalists, Birders, Entomologists, Wildlifers, Botanists, Ecologists, common man et al. are essential for the periodic surveys, documentation.
To record History, Geology, Biogeography, Botany, Ethnobotany, Interdependence(flora/fauna) of all species recorded.
Basically we can start with a Botany checklist of species, fixing dates like second saturday etc… or convenient dates for the mapping visits.
During other times we can compile relevant data to associate with field work.