Trees
TREES
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| TREES - Life giving oxygen |
The trees have moved from road, ship and air. They have arrived here as ornamental, gifts investments and invasions. Earth's earliest plant was formed was a microscopic red algae found across tropical latitudes. It evolved in areas around the world 1.6 billion years ago., and fossils have been found in present day Madhya Pradesh Dudhwa fossil park. From the Algae involved vascular plants ( with stem leaves and roots). From there gymnosperms (seed producing plants like conifers) and ferns ( which produces through spores). These forms world's earliest forest.
“Trees are poems the earth writes upon the sky..."
Trees take little and give a lot.
They are the heart, the limbs, the veins and the lungs of the ecosystem.
They are also responsible for making every scene and scape beautiful.
We are nothing without trees around us.
They spurt the most beautiful and colorful flowers.
RED MICROSCOPIC ALGAE Tropical latitude
VASCULAR PLANT (with stem, leaves and roots)
GYMNOSPERMS (seed producing plants like Conifers)
FERNS ((have neither seed nor flowers, reproduces by spores)
Introduction
Today the world has about three trillion trees, spread across over 58,000 species. India is home of over 2,600 native species, out of these 650 are endemic.
India is also home to hundreds of species of exotic or alien trees, many of them brought over by traders, travelers and later colonial rulers. These include friendly foreigners that have integrated with the local landscape and don't threatened native species such as Tamarind (originally from Africa) the magnificent rain tree and the curious baobab.
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| Baobab |
These also include the aggressive invasive such as Lantana. Brought over by the British as an ornamental shrub 200 years ago. It spreads across forest floors and climb all the way up to canopies, crowding out other plant species.
The problem with many exotic species is that they don't serve the function of a forest, or natural system that has developed over thousands of years. But the threat of invasive species is much greater, because they just don't take up space, they seek to colonies it.
Some change the chemical composition of soil, while others have effect on interactions with vital elements such as pollinators.
INDIAN TREES
Original trees of India : Jackfruit, Coconut, Grapes. There fossils came from India. Banana, Mango and morning glory were here from start.
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What on Earth ?
So which trees are our trees, and how do we know?
The oldest still surviving tree genus in India is the Cyrus circinalis (also called the queen sago). It is endemic to southern India and can trace its lineage to a plant group that grew in the region when it was still a part of Gondwanaland. A fossil from this genus recovered in present day Orissa was dated back to 150 million years ago. The Cyrus circinalis has an unbranched cylindrical trunk topped with a crown of thorny leaves. It can grow up to 12 meters in height and now is found across peninsular India and north-east.
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| Gondwana breakup |
About 120 million ago things started to change drastically. The Indian plate broke away from Gondwanaland changed hemispheres and crossed the equators. "these position corelate with a changing intensity of sun rays which has a direct effect on vegetation." For about 60 million years while India covered, 9,000 km at sea before it rammed into Asia. It was a floating laboratory where species evolved.
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| India slammed into Eurasia |
Then 66 millions years ago, the chicxulub impactor hit earth, wiped out most of the dinosaurs and kicked of a series of explosions across the planet. Volcanoes erupted across what are now part of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujrat.
In the fossils they preserved have been found the earliest known evidence of grape, jackfruit and coconut in the world. Banana, Mango, fig, mangrove palms, Indian bay leaf and morning glory have also been found.
New evidence suggest that the floating Indian Subcontinent also picked up plants species along the way. "When it established land connections with Asia, it started receiving Southeast Asian taxa".
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| Formation of Himalaya |
The the Indian Plate Crashed into the Eurasian plate at the astonishing rate of over 18 cm a year. As the Himalayan formed the climate on the Indian plate changed. "As the Himalayas gained height this lead to the modernization of the Indian monsoon." This is also owing to the upliftment of the Iranian plateau and East African topography both of which were taking shape simultaneously, "Rainfall patterns birthed the tropical rain forests of the western ghats and Indo Burma Biodiversity Hotspot. The rest of the land settled into patterns of tropical deciduous forest, (tree with broad leaves that shed every year), thorny scrub forest of spiny trees with short trunks and low branching crowns, and the Alpine forest of the Eastern and Western Himalayas.
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| Monsoon in India |
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| Tropical rain forest of western ghats in India |
Fossils found in India and dated to the times of the dinosaurs, 66 million years ago include those of
Yam, vines, morning glory and coconut
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| Tropical decidual forest |
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| Thorny scrub forest of spiny trees |
IMPORTED TREES
From Foreign shores
All this while , only natural systems were at play. Then a few thousand years ago, human began exploring the world, leading to an exchange of goods and ideas, flora and fauna. One of the earlier exotics, likely brought over by Ethiopian traders was the Tamarind. It has been in India for over 2,000 years.
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The Tamarind tree has integrated into the Indian ecosystem so well, it's easy to forget it was only brought here from Africa about 2,000 years ago. We are closely linked to Africa and Asia. Any species that comes from these part is not able to dominate to the same extend as those that come from Latin America. The Americas are more alien and most of our invasive comes from here. Central and South America are the largest sources of invasive species in the world. Some of the most high impact alien include Australian Acacia and Eucalyptus which were once promoted as cheap firewood but act as such severe drains on the water table that they have been banned in some regions.
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| Australian Acacia. National flower of Australia. Drains the water table. |
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Australian Acacia. National flower of Australia |
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| Elephant Yam |
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| Yam tree that forms edible tuber. Starchy tubers in many temperate and tropical regions, especially in West Africa, South America and the Caribbean, Asia, |
Invasive species are hard to cull, much less eradicate for three reasons.
- The natural pollination by birds and bees is hard to prevent.
- They often don't have natural predators and competitors that have evolved alongside them.
- But there is also a near total lack of awareness among humans- India's urban planners pay scant attention to fauna and flora tends to be a distant second.
WHAT WE'AR GETTING WRONG
Who goes there ?
- 'Plant a tree is a carelessly worded slogan, botanist will tell you. and yet it's an approach that persists. Across India most afforestation programmes designed and promoted by governments continue to randomly plant and transplant saplings in area where they have a negligible chance of surviving or contributing to the biosphere.
- New developments - housing. infrastructure projects, roads, settlements -- that cut across primary forests "make up for it". by planting trees elsewhere.
- "Unfortunately there is lack of foresight when it comes to figuring out what need to be done for these programmer's to work."
Carbon accounting of global land use change.
Perhaps the most common mistake such as programmes make is growing the wrong tree in the wrong place. The other big one is not tending to saplings in the crucial first years.
We shouldn't be looking at trees as generic and forests as swathes (to wrap or cover ) of any kind of mix. Rather than afforestation which is far too generic, we should be calling it Ecological restoration which involves not only getting forest back to places where they used to exist but restoring other natural other ecosystems such as scrublands (Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs , often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes, Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity. ) and grasslands and other such elements.
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| Beautiful Grassland |
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| Scrubland |
The Mysuru based natural conservation foundation (NCP) for instance, has been working to restore degraded fragments in the Valparai plateau of the Annamalai Hills since 2001 Across about 100 hectares of degraded forest, the foundation has planted more than 70,000 saplings from across more than170 native rainforest tree species.
These patches are regularly monitored, surveyed and studied. When a rainforest sapling that is typically shade-tolerant is planted in a degraded site it may not survive. So based on our understanding of each of these species requirement, they are selecting the right microhabitat within the sites. Regular monitoring helps improve the chances of sapling survival.
The crux of the matter is that a well designed programme can restore ecological system. . What one has to get right is the ecological foundation to restoration practice.
Elsewhere in the country individuals are "rewilding" by buying up tracts of farmland near reserves, weeding out invasive and monocultures. (In forestry, monoculture refers to the planting of one species of tree. Monoculture plantings provide greater yields and more efficient harvesting than natural stands of trees. And than just stepping back and letting nature do the rest.
Over 23 years a couple has bought a 50 acres of land in Bhadlav, abutting (building) the Ranthambore tiger reserve in Rajasthan. Aside from eliminating invasive, they encourage natural restoration by building check dams where ever water naturally accumulates.
First the toughest plants resurface the grasses and thorny bushes. "The small bushes gave way to bigger bushes, then the tougher plants like Amaltas, Which create an environment for the Anogeissus pendulata, (Anogeissus Pendula is a small tree or shrub that is found in abundance in the Aravalli hills around Jaipur. It is a hardy tree that can survive even in the extreme conditions which explain its presence across Aravalli hills in Rajasthan) which is a climate specie here. Once that comes up , the plot is beaded towards becoming an Anogeissus forest.
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| Grasses |
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| Thorny Bushes |
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| Amaltas |
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| Anogeissus pendulata Dhok or Dhonk, Dhonkda (in Rajasthan), Dhok, Dhauk, Kardhai, Dhonk, Dhau, and Dhoy found in Aravalli hills in Jaipur.. |
Know your roots
See how the Indian plate travelled, and see how its plant life evolved over more than 255 million years ago.
4.6 BN YEARS
Before present :
The earth is a mixture of dust and gas . It will be a billion years before the first life forms evolve, and a couple billion more before the first plants.
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| Earth a mixture of dust and gas |
1.6 billion years
Before present :
The earth is a barren orb of rocky land and rolling water. But the first known plant life is emerging around the world. Fossils of this plant form, a microscopic red Algae have been found in Chitrakoot Madhya Pradesh.
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| The earth is a barren orb of rocky land and rolling water. |
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| Microscopic Red Algae |
400 million years
Before present
The Devonian period sees the birth of a vascular plants (those with true stems, leaves and roots). A key class is the Trimerophytopsida, believed to be the ancestor from which both gymnosperms (Seed producing plants like Conifers and Ferns {which reproduce through spores). and have neither seeds nor flowers) evolved. The Devonian marks the beginning of extensive land, colonization by plants, which through the effect of temperature and atmosphere brought about significant climatic change.
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| Conifers (Vascular plants stem, leaves and roots) |
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| Conifer Picea family (seed producing plants) |
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| Ferns (Spores reproducing plants) Have neither seeds nor flowers. |
383 to 323 million years
Before Present
Archaeopteris one of the earliest tree species, begins to grow on supercontinents of Laurasia and Gondwanaland. Archaeopteris populates the world's tree forest, dense and swampy swathes where gymnosperms and ferns flourishes. They are called carboniferous. forests. after the geographical period of the time. (Archaeopteris is an extinct genus of progymnosperm tree with fern-like leaves. A useful index fossil, this tree is found in strata dating from the Upper Devonian to Lower Carboniferous (383 to 323 million years ago), the oldest fossils being 385 million years old, and had global distribution).
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| Archaeopteris (earliest tree species) |
250 million years
Before present
The first flower Angiosperm a more complex plant form that produces, seed bearing fruit born of flowers, begin to dot landscapes. They do not flourish . In fact they remain insignificant in number for more than 100 million years. Its important to note here that vegetation is largely uniform across tropical land masses at this point. Valvoloculus pleristaminis is a fossil of an angiosperm found in 99 million year old amber in Myanmar.
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| Valvoloculus pleristaminis fossil |
150 million years
Before present
One of India's oldest surviving plant groups , The Cycads, trace their lineage to this time . The earliest known Cycad fossils date to about 150 million years ago. These are trees with a short woody trunk and a crown of large , stiff leaves. One species The Cycas circinalis or Queen Sago is endemic to Southern India and still grows here. Fossil evidence suggest this genus of gymnosperm has been growing here since before India broke away from Gondwana land.
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| Cyrus circinalis. Queen Sago |
120 million years
Before present
The land mass of present day India starts to break away from Gondwanaland. Temperature and climate have started to vary across the tropics. The sub-continent is hot, humid lush and swampy ( Swampy land is soft and very wet).
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| Swampy Land |
Before present
By this point the Indian Sub-continent has drifted to just South of the equator. It is wet, humid and seasonal. with most of the land may recieve less rain, four months dry weather. Then the Chicxulub impactor hit earth. It wipes out most of the dinosaurs, also set up series of eruptions around the world. including in present day Nagpur and Shahpur in Maharashtra. Based on the fossils preserved from the time, it is estimated that the floating subcontinent held all the major plant groups from the marine and the estuarine (Estuaries and their surrounding wetlands are bodies of water usually found where rivers meet the sea. Estuaries are home to unique plant and animal communities that have adapted to brackish water—a mixture of fresh water draining from the land and salty seawater. ) to fresh water, marshy and terrestrial species.
In the fossils from this time have been found the earliest known evidence of Grape, Jackfruit and Coconut in the world. Banana, Mango, fig,, Mangrove palms, Indian Bay leaves and Morning glory have also been found,
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| Grapes |
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| Jackfruit |
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| Coconut Tree |
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| Banana Tree |
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| Mango Tree |
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| Fig Tree |
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| Fig healthy to eat |
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| Mangrove Palms. Sundarbans West Bengal |
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| Indian Bay Leaves Tree, Cinnamon. Gala in the Kitchen |
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| Bay Leaves |
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| Morning Glory |
47 millon years
Before present
The birth of Himalayas. As the Indian plate collides with the Eurasian plate, at the astonishing rate of over 18 cm a year the worlds highest peaks are formed.
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| The Himalayan Mountain |
23 million years
Before present
The Himalayas after landscapes and the flow of weather and water across the land mass. Acidity levels rise. Most of the land goes from being tropical wet forests to tropical dry forests, with larger dry periods and a seasonal monsoon. Rainfall pattern birth the tropical Rainforests. The Western Ghats and the Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspot are now considered indications of what large parts of India were like then.
2, 000 years
Before present
As man has begin to explore travel and trade new species are introduced to the sub-continent, this time not by nature, but by man. Among these species Tamarind, A friendly alien from Africa that will integrate well with landscapes and cuisines.
500 years
Before present
The colonizers arrive, and not just man. The British, perhaps more than any others, introduced ornamental shrubs and cash crops that will invade or alter landscapes. Vast tracks of grasslands are destroyed. Parts of the western Ghats are raised for Coffee and tea plantation. In the cities ornamental plants like the Lantana and water Hyacinth begin to crowd out other species.
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| Ornamental Shrubs |
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| Cotton . Highly profitable cash crops |
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| Coffee plantation Coorg |
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| Luwak eating Coffee beans to produce Luwak Coffee |
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| Tea plantation Munnar, Kerala India. |
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| Lantana (An invasive plant) |
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| Water Hyacinth Eichhornia crassipes (A weed). Invade and choke the city's water bodies. |
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Water Hyacinth Eichhornia crassipes (A weed).jpg) An Invasive plant |
OUTSIDE INFLUENCE
IMPORTS FLOWERING ON INDIAN SOIL
Some of India's oldest cities _ Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai - bear the marks of the love that he rulers of medieval and early modern India had for manicured gardens and ornamental greenery. Even today some of these imported plants and trees threaten native species, ecosystem and biospheres.
In some cities, efforts have been underway to weed invasive species out. But they are hard to eradicate. for three reasons ;
- They are evolved to attract local birds and bees and the resulting natural pollination is hard to prevent
- . Many of these species don't have natural predators or competitors that evolved alongside them
- And there is a lack of awareness among humans, including urban planners, who continue to plant these because they see pretty or familiar.
So when you look up at the tree canopy in your city, what are you seeing : native friendly alien or invasive ? Take a look.
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| Mogul Garden. Rastrapati Bhawan. Manicured garden |
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| Ornamental Greenery |
DELHI
The fact that New Delhi is known for its avenues for its ever green is proof that there may be a problem. Delhi's natural ecology is dry deciduous. The natural vegetation here would be seasonal trees that shed at the end of growing season. The Jamun, Neem and Peepal are native that are still widely seen. But from the time of the Moguls through British rule, and among present day administrators, ornamental invasive have continued to find favor amid a push to keep the capital looking lush through the year.
In the early 1900, this lead to the introduction of the Prosopis juliflora also locally as Vilaiti Keekar. In Delhi government has been trying to rid the city and the neighboring Yamuna Biodiversity Park of this invasive species for about 20 years. Another aggressive invasive that Delhi is fighting off is the Subabul a species from South America that was promoted world wide. In the last century, as a hardy source of fuel and fodder.
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| NEEM Azadirachta indica. Margosa. Indian lilac,, Nimb. The free tree of India. नीम |
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| JAMUN . Syzygium cumini tree |
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PEEPAL. Ficus religiosa. Bo tree. Sacred Fig. Pipal. Peepli |
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| VILAITI KEEKAR Prosopis juliflora, Mesquite, Algarroba, South west thorn, /Babool Angreji /Kabuli Keekar (misleading), Keekar. An invasive tree. |
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| Subabul . Acacia Trees. |
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| Leucaena leucocephala. jumbay, white leadtree, river tamarind, ipil-ipil,tan tan, and white popinac. |
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| Subabul. Leucaena leucocephala. One tree could be the answer to India's fodder. (Aggressive invasive) |
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| Subabul. Leucaena leucocephala. One tree could be the answer to India's fodder. (Aggressive invasive) |
MUMBAI
They look beautiful and flowers across the commercial capital. But some of the Mumbai's favorite trees are not natives, and they threaten the few unique ecosystems left within the metropolis. The Gulmohur was a British era import from Madagascar. The copper pod or Peltophorum, with its familiar yellow flowers was bought here from South East Asia. Rows of Rosy Trumpet trees from central America line streets in the eastern suburb they're the once that look a bit like a cherry blossoms when they bloom.
Because they are all now attractive to local pollinators such as birds and bees. They have a potential to threaten the ecological balance of the few wild pockets left in Mumbai. Mumbai such as those within the Sanjay Gandhi National Park.
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| Gulmohar. Delonix regia, Fame tree, Flamboyant. Royal Poinciana, Gold mohr, Fire Tree. From Madagascar. |
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| Peltophorum Pterocarpum, Ferrugineum Copper pod tree. From South East Asia. |
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| Copper pod trees |
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| Pink Rosy Trumpet Trees. From Central America. |
CHENNAI
Chennai is a collection of wet, marshy patches of land. Or it was before its flattening and concretization. Now the city is water scarce, smoldering, (burn slowly with smoke but no flames) and covered in many species that don't belong. There are the usual suspects : Lantana, (They are native to tropical regions of the Americas and Africa) acacia, and Prosopis juliflora. And a few rarer ones. : Senna spectabilis (Senna spectabilis is a plant species of the legume family (Fabaceae) in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae native to South and Central America. They are often grown as an ornamental in front yards, parks, gardens, buildings etc. due to their bright yellow flowers that bloom during the summer months. They are also known as golden wonder tree, American cassia, popcorn tree, Cassia excelsa, golden shower tree or Archibald's cassia.) is a south American culprit and the Opuntia or Prickly Pear (Opuntia, commonly called prickly pear or pear cactus, is a genus of flowering plants in the cactus family Cactaceae. Prickly pears are also known as tuna (fruit),) is a variety of Cactus native to the America.
Between them these woody trees and fast proliferative invasive threaten what is left of the city's crucial wetlands, which needs to be protected and revived for the delicate eco systems they host, the carbon they absorb and for there role as storm-surge buffers.
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| Lantana Ornamental shrub. (aggressive invasive) |
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| Senna spectabilis |
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| Opuntia or Prickly Pear |
BANGLURU
Every winter , Bengaluru burst into stunning shades of purple, yellow and pink. The tabebuia and Jacaranda trees. However, are a long way from home. Banguluru is the home to over 200 non-invasive species of trees and shrubs.
The British introduce many of these in the 19th and 20th centuries but subsequent governments have carried forward the legacy in greening drives. Mean while the pollen of the Parthenium, a flowering weed from South America activates Bangalureans' Pollen Allergies, and the pretty but aggressive water Hyacinth (Eichhornia) also from Tropical America continues to invade and choke the city's water bodies.
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| Pink Tabebuia Trumpet Tree |
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| Jacaranda mimosofolia The jacaranda tree has an invasive growth habit in the tropical zones of Hawaii, Queensland, Australia, Chile’s Juan Fernandez Islands, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, and Zambia. It is deep-rooted, competes with other plant life, and few plants can grow beneath it. It can form thickets of seedlings and decrease biodiversity in an area. |
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| Wild flora of Dwarka. Parthenium hysterophorus . Congress grass. 'Bangalureans' Pollen Allergies |
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| Parthenium hysterophorus . Congress grass, A flowering weed |
Native friendly alien or invasive , Ecological threat
Vilaiti Keekar. Prosopis juliflora also locally as Vilaiti Keekar. (severe drain on water table).
Australian Acacia. (severe drain on water table).
Eucalyptus (severe drain on water table).
Subabul An Acacia tree. (Aggressive invasive weed ) South America. (severe drain on water table).
Ornamental invasive
Lantana (an invasive plant) From America and Africa
Water Hyacinth. A weed. (choke the city's water bodies.)
Parthenium hysterophorus . Congress grass. 'Bangalureans Allergies' caused by Pollen of Parthenium .
Opuntia or Prickly Pear (fast proliferative invasive)
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