Pune: Soon there will be a botanical garden in the city showcasing rare and endangered plants

Pune, August 27, 2024: The Botanical Survey of India’s (BSI) western regional center in Pune will soon open a botanical garden in Mundhwa on 44 acres of land comprising endemic species of the state.

The botanical garden will be named as ‘Mundhwa Botanical Garden’ spread across 44 acres of land owned by BSI.

The garden will showcase over indigenous 400 plants species from India, out of which 50 are native to Maharashtra.

Researchers at BSI said that 1750 species out of 4,900 plant species are endemic to the Western Ghats located in the state, Shiv Suman flower, being one one of them. It is an endangered species connected to the state’s history.

“As years passed in our surveys, we observed that the plants we saw on each of our trips wouldn’t be present the next time. We concluded that this happened due to the increase in human interference in the surrounding habitats, threatening the local endemic species,” said A. Benniamin, scientist F. and head of office, BSI, western regional center.

The garden will also showcase plants from Karnataka such as the endangered nutmeg (Myristica magnifica Bedd.), blistering varnish tree (Holigarna grahamii (Wight) Kurz), blackboard tree (Alestonia venenata R. Br.) which is native to south India, wild nutmeg (Kmema attenuata Warb.) which is endemic to India and Syzygium stockssi (Duthie) Gamble, which is native to southern and western India.

This project started in 2023 and involved researchers from BSI surveying the landscape of Western Ghats in Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Goa. Following this, seeds of endemic plants from these regions were collected, cultured and sprouted in lab to become a sapling. Once the saplings become stable, they would then be transferred to the garden landscape for further growth.

“This project will help us conserve all the species of plants that would have probably been extinct if human intervention persists,” said Benniamin.