Thanks, Bimal ji. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Bimal Sar kar <[email protected]> Date: 27 April 2015 at 19:30 Subject: Re: [efloraofindia:115694] The Tamala - Garcinia xanthochymus To: "J.M. Garg" <[email protected]>
Thank you Gargji.I saw TAMAL in my childhood in East Pakistan( Now Bangladesh ).I started searching for the scientific name of the tree in1993 when I was in Lucknow. The Useful Plants of India ( CSIR publication ) has all the names of TAMAL as mentioned by Mr Subrata Mahapatra. In 1994 I attended a WWF work shop at Ashoka Hotel in Delhi,where some people from Brindaban brought a sapling of Tamal. Immediately my mind reeled back to my childhood memory, as the sapling resembles my TAMAL. Unfortunately the delegate members from Brindaban could not tell the scientific name.There are two trees at this place ( Cooch Behar) .One big tree is in the famous Madn-Mohan temple compound.Everybody knows it as TAMAL.There is another tree at Tufangunj in the compound of a temple.These trees are definitely Garcinia.I know many Garcinia species which I have seen at Assam.TAMAL of ancient and modern literature is definitely Diospyros montana( according to The Useful Plants of India this tree in Sanskrit is TUMALA .). Regards, Bimal On 27 April 2015 at 13:31, J.M. Garg <[email protected]> wrote: > Forwarding as requested. > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Subrata Mahapatra <[email protected]> > Date: 6 May 2012 at 12:07 > Subject: [efloraofindia:115694] The Tamala - Garcinia xanthochymus > To: [email protected] > > > > 1. The long search for the Tamala - the most famous but the least > known tree - has ended. Famous because it is glorified by celebrated poets > of sixth century, Kalidasa, down to twentieth century poet Tagore. For > devotees of Krishna this is sacred as it epitomizes the divine personality. > Such a famous tree is not known to anybody whom i come across. > > Recently i have seen this tree in the Indian Botanic Garden, Howrah, quite > comfortably thanks to the courtesy of the Director, Dr. Debnath. I am > attaching a few photos of the tree and its parts provided by Basant K. > Singh. > I am adding a synopsis of the long investigation extended to five years. > If any one is interested he or she may read the following :- > It all started in a get-together. A friend was reading the Gospels of Sri > Ramakrishna (Kathamrita). Tamala was mentioned in the text. I asked my > friends-' do you know Tamala'. Nobody knows. The hostess took out a > dictionary and found the name - 'it is a tree similar to Gaab' [Eng.Gaub > persimon - Diospyros peregrina] The search for Tamala began. In a > reciprocal request i urged Garg ji to help me. He put a notice. Information > poured in from many, in particular from Dr Pankaj Oudhia.All these boil > down to Cinnamomum tamala. Its leaf called Tejpata is daily used in > culinary preparation. Interestingly in Gujrati it is called 'tamal patra'. > This tree grows wild in tropical and subtropical Himalayas, Khasi and > Jaintia hills. > Ayurvedacharya Shibkali Bhattacharya is an authority on plants. He > specified Tamala is Garcinia xanthochymus(syn. G. tinctoria). Sometime back > i brought this to the notice of our group members. Its Sanskrit, Hindi, and > Bengali name is Tamala, Eng.name Sour mangosteen,false mangosteen, Gambose. > Sanskrit , Hindi or Bengali namesake may also refer to other species or > genus viz. G. morella, Cinnamomum tamala, Diospyros montana. > The sacred Tamala of Vrindavan is yet to be conclusively identified. > George Harrison and Srila Prabhupada wrote some fifty pages on Tamal and > Vrindavan. They say 'Radaharani in separation was embracing the Tamala > tree. - - And they say that in Vrindavan only there are four trees left.' > It is possible. Since the time of Sri Chaitanya pilgrims from different > parts took a plant on their return.One Swami of Belur Math brought a plant > from vrindavan some thirty years back.I took a twig and put it before the > members. Experts say it belongs to Diospyros montana. Interestingly its > Sanskrit name is Tamala. Since the fruit or flower of this particular tree > not seen a conclusion could not be arrived at. > > > > -- > With regards, > J.M.Garg > > 'Creating awareness of Indian Flora & Fauna' > <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jmgarg1> > The whole world uses my Image Resource > <http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:J.M.Garg> of more than a > thousand species & eight thousand images of Birds, Butterflies, Plants etc. > (arranged alphabetically & place-wise). You can also use them for free as > per Creative Commons license attached with each image. > > For identification, learning, discussion & documentation of Indian Flora, > please visit/ join our Efloraofindia Google e-group > <https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/indiantreepix> (largest in the > world- more than 2400 members & 2,00,000 messages on 9.9.14) or Efloraofindia > website <https://sites.google.com/site/efloraofindia/> (with a species > database of more than 10,000 species & 2,00,000 images). Winner of > Wipro-NFS Sparrow Awards 2014 for efloraofindia > <https://sites.google.com/site/efloraofindia/award-for-efloraofindia>. > > Also author of 'A Photoguide to the Birds of Kolkata & Common Birds of > India'. > -- With regards, J.M.Garg 'Creating awareness of Indian Flora & Fauna' <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jmgarg1> The whole world uses my Image Resource <http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:J.M.Garg> of more than a thousand species & eight thousand images of Birds, Butterflies, Plants etc. (arranged alphabetically & place-wise). You can also use them for free as per Creative Commons license attached with each image. For identification, learning, discussion & documentation of Indian Flora, please visit/ join our Efloraofindia Google e-group <https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/indiantreepix> (largest in the world- more than 2400 members & 2,00,000 messages on 9.9.14) or Efloraofindia website <https://sites.google.com/site/efloraofindia/> (with a species database of more than 10,000 species & 2,00,000 images). Winner of Wipro-NFS Sparrow Awards 2014 for efloraofindia <https://sites.google.com/site/efloraofindia/award-for-efloraofindia>. Also author of 'A Photoguide to the Birds of Kolkata & Common Birds of India'. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "efloraofindia" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/indiantreepix. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
