Interesting information Sir Thanks for Sharing On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 7:59 PM, Mahadeswara <[email protected]> wrote: > Thanks Srikant ji for sharing the interesting and useful info on Tara > tree. Can we see this tree in any part of Southern India. > > On Dec 5, 2:05 pm, "Shrikant Ingalhalikar" <[email protected]> > wrote: >> The fog harvester tree >> >> A few years back, on the occasion of World Environment Day Alan Garcia, the >> president of Peru announced (to fight the global climate change) a national >> reforestation campaign to plant 180 million trees in Peru. To promote this >> campaign, the agricultural ministry of Peru announced a novel event of >> breaking the world record of tree-planting on the World Environment Day >> itself. The appeal encouraged volunteers from segments like students, army, >> police and citizens to participate in this mega event. >> In Tuman district on the north coast of Peru, thousands of pits were made in >> the degraded area. Crates of tree-saplings were kept ready near the pits. >> The event was flagged off at 10.15 am on June 5, 2010 and 8,000 participants >> took up the race of tree-planting simultaneously. The spirited teams broke >> the previous record of planting 26,422 trees in an hour set up by Ireland in >> 2009. Peruvians finished with 27,166 trees and in just 5 minutes and 20 >> seconds. Interestingly other previous records were in Mexico (242 >> trees/min.) in 2008 and in India (176 trees/min.) in 2005. This is how >> people of Peru triumphed against the global climate change, what an effort! >> The jubilant plantation will serve as an education center for students and >> industries. >> The tree species used for this record plantation was the Tara tree >> (Caesalpinia spinosa), the fond native of Peru. It is a small deciduous tree >> with yellow, attractive looking fragrant flowers. It does not have spines as >> the name suggests. The pods and the seeds are also colourful. Tara tree >> grows in the valleys of Andes. Surprisingly forest surrounding Pune has >> about 50 Tara trees. >> Lima district in Peru is in the high mountains yet is devoid of water. >> It receives barely 1.5 cm of rain annually. The Andean glaciers which used >> to be the perennial source of water for Lima are drying out fast. The hardy >> residents of Lima traditionally know of an innovative source of little water >> to quench their thirst. A lot of fog rolls up the mountains in Lima from the >> South Pacific Ocean year round. The Tara tree of Peru not only survives in >> the arid habitats of Lima but is known to absorb water from the fog. >> Droplets of water are formed on the Tara leaves and the water drips down to >> the ground. In some fog harvesting farms large funnels are placed below Tara >> trees to replenish the ground water. Amazingly it provides a source of >> drinking water in the periods of scarcity. The fog harvesting forests of >> Tara trees can suffice the water requirements of the denizens of Lima in >> future. Well, fog harvesting is only the most vital use of Tara trees. They >> have several economic uses. An extract produced from the pods of Tara is >> known as ‘Tara Powder’. It is used in leather tanning, food products, >> medicines, breweries and cosmetics. >> ID credit to Dr. Vijaysankar Raman.Shrikant Ingalhalikar12 Varshanand >> SocietyAnandnagar Sinhagad RoadPune 411 051.www.idsahyadri.comTel91 20 2435 >> 0765.Fax 91 20 2438 9190. >> >> Tara_Flowers.jpg >> 199KViewDownload >> >> Tara_Pods.jpg >> 403KViewDownload >> >> Tara_tree.jpg >> 614KViewDownload
-- Regards Dr Balkar Singh Head, Deptt. of Botany and Biotechnology Arya P G College, Panipat Haryana-132103 09416262964
