Jurassic era plant perishes in C’garh, activists raise concern
A 10 ft-long tree fern, believed to be feed of the now-extinct dinosaurs, in Bacheli forest range under Chhattisgarh’s south Bastar district of Dantewada has perished raising concern over conservation of the plant species in the area. The plant, believed to be 1,000 years old, was found uprooted a couple of days ago.
The local forest officer retrieved the trunk of the tree and kept it in the Bacheli range forest office for the purpose of research on the plant species.
“The tree fern was washed away in the floods in Galli nullah in the downhill area of Bailadila. We have restored the trunk of the tree and preserved it to conduct research on the species,” local divisional forest officer (DFO) Sandeep Belga told this newspaper on Wednesday.
The samples are being sent to the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, and state forest research institute for study, Mr Belga said.
The tree ferns, which usually grow four cm to five cm a year, are found in around 100 hectares in three patches in Bailadila uphill and downhill regions. One patch of forest where tree ferns are found is located in the Bailadila downhill area.
The patch has been declared a protected area in 2016 for conservation of the species, according to the local sub divisional officer (SDO) (forest) Ashok Sonwani.
A proposal for conservation of the plants has been sent to the Chhattisgarh biodiversity board.
The latest enumeration of the plant species in the particular patch has identified 459 tree ferns.
Researcher H.K. Gajendra says the plant may be linked to evolution of plant species on the earth and was considered a feed of dinosaurs.
“I have spotted no less than 15 different species of tree fern in the region in 1970s”, Dr Gajendra who was then a faculty of zoology department of the local Kirandul government college, said.
The tree ferns are found in the forests lying between iron ore deposits five and eleven in Bailadila region.
THE TREE ferns, which usually grow four cm to five cm a year, are found in around 100 hectares in three patches in Bailadila uphill and downhill regions