BISTENDU

                                   Bistendu - Diospyros cordifolia, Tomal . Mountain persimmon.

                      Bistendu Diospyros cordifolia, Tomal . Mountain persimmon.

                                                  Bistendu Diospyros cordifolia, Tomal (Bombay Ebony Trees)

Bistendu is a small deciduous tree with spiny trunk and its leaves are elliptic lance shaped. The Bistendu tree at Vijay chowk, however topiarized and smaller in size. These were a part of original plantation in 1921. The 12 Bistendu tree stand  out on Vijay chowk Delhi making a clear square and compasses pattern, recreating a famed  logo of freemasonry or the Freemasons, the fraternal and low profile organization. The two architects of the original Central vista, Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker were both free-masons.

The trees were planted in the sacred of the freemasons the square and compasses. The square symbolizes virtue and the compass represents wisdom. This symbol  is found in all the buildings, literature and monuments associated with  the fraternal organization, across the world.

Bistendu : This tree in Aravalli holds key to groundwater issues in Gurugram. It can help in recharging the water table. The tree is a small evergreen tree with a thorny trunk that is found in valleys where there is more depth in the soil and heavy water runoff from the hills. It is found abundantly in Mangar Bani.

The Alluvial Ridge

One micro habitat for trees can perhaps  be added to the list, though it is only a sliver and lies at the edge of Delhi. This is a part of the southern ridge near Jaunapur and Mandi village, close to the border with Faridabad district. Instead of thin , rocky soil, here the sandy alluvium is piled so high that erosion has created ravines 8 m deep in places. The tract forms a unique micro eco-system by virtue of its deep soil. The ravines supports plants and some trees-Jhand, Kareel, kumttha, Bistendu and babool- that you you expect to see in the sandy desert of western Rajasthan. A few other trees like  the Shisham- native to Alluvial soil in the sub-Himalayan tract find themselves perfectly at home here and have neutralized like a native.

Delhi

The 12 Bistendu trees lined in the free masonic symbol

https://natureloversindia123.blogspot.com/2022/07/bistendu.html

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