Plants with medicinal value, once endemic to the city, face extinction

“Amorphophallus sylvaticus (Kattu Karunai) was once reported from Vandalur and Potheri, but in five years the plant has not been spotted in the area,” said botany professor D Narasimhan, an expert in plant taxonomy.

The retired professor of Madras Christian College who is now assisting the state forest department in its maiden tree census programme is also worried that another plant Tacca pinnatifida earlier reported from Vandalur too can no longer be spotted. “Sightings of Pinnatifida has not been recorded in the recent past except for one sporadic sighting in Ponmar reserve forest in Kancheepuram and there is an immediate threat for at least half a dozen tree and plant species facing local extinction in Chennai,” Narasimhan said.

Chennai and its surroundings have lost several plant species with medicinal values and there are several others whose population have dipped to dangerously low levels. The city experiences a severe pressure because of human activity resulting in loss of habitat,” said the botanist. “For instance, the popular Purasawalkam located in Central Chennai had a large number of Butea Moosperma (Purasu, Murukka Maram) but this species had been wiped out from the region and is now facing extinction in Chennai. Similarly, Garcinia Spicata (Kadal Punnai), a characteristic coastal tree of tropical dry evergreen forests of Coromandel coast is now reduced to few double-digit individuals. Kadal Punnai was once common in Sholinganallur and in parts of Old Mahabalipuram road.

“Another tree which was once common in Chennai is Gardenia Latifolia (Kambi Maram) scattered across hillocks and forest patches in Chennai, but is now a refuge in Vandalur zoo,” added Narasimhan.

An avid bird watcher and naturalist based in Tambaram, N Balaji, said, “Even as Chennai is the only city in the country blessed with a national park and a beach, the coastal city according to botanists and foresters had been losing its plant biodiversity adversely and there is no much care coming from government authorities.”