The Indian Express            03.12.2013

VMC may plant rare trees in Kamatibaug

If everything goes as planned, Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) will consider planting some rare species of trees, which were once gifted to the city by Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III, as part of the iconic Kamatibaug Garden. Some of these trees have been lost to the ravages of time. The VMC has approached the Botany department of the Maharaja Sayajirao University and the Anand Agricultural University to help identify these rare trees in the garden, and classify them into categories according to their chances of survival, so that similar trees can be planted again.

The experts are also helping VMC classify the trees and prepare a meticulous nomenclature for all the species available in the garden. According to a documented book on Sayajibaug, a total of 76 species of trees were found at Kamatibaug.

These include the Cuban Royal Palm, Sand Paper Plant, Devil's Tree, Egyptian Doum Palm, Flame of the Forest, Red Silk Cotton tree, Mast tree, Sandalwood tree, White Silk cotton tree, Flamboyant Flame tree, Torch tree, Persian lilac, Australian Bottle Brush, Travellers' Palm tree, Wild Almond, Screw Pine.

VMC Commissioner Manish Bharadwaj said, "These experts are helping us identify and classify rare trees at Kamatibaug garden. Students of the university have taken samples of the fruits of trees to make a correct estimation of what kind of species exist in Kamatibaug and which can survive the climatic changes. There may have been many more trees that were originally planted in the garden, but not all have survived the climatic conditions."