Why in news?
- The Gujarat govt has banned the planting of ornamental Conocarpus trees in forest or non-forest areas, citing their adverse impacts on environment and human health.
- Earlier, Telangana too had banned the plant species.
What’s in today’s article?
- Conocarpus plants
- News Summary
Conocarpus plants
- About
- Conocarpus is a genus of two species of flowering plants in the Combretaceae family.
- One species is a widespread mangrove, and the other is restricted to a small area around the southern Red Sea coasts.
- They are native to tropical regions of the world.
- Two types
- Conocarpus erectus, also known as buttonwood or button mangrove,
- It is a mangrove shrub that grows on shorelines in tropical and subtropical regions around the world.
- It is widely used in gardens, parks, and indoors.
- It is a fast-growing plant that does not shed its leaves much. If pruned with skill, it can make a natural green wall.
- Conocarpus lancifolius
- It is a tree that is native to coastal and riverine areas of Somalia, Djibouti, and Yemen.
- It is found throughout the Horn of Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and South Asia.
News Summary: Gujarat bans Conocarpus plants
- The Gujarat government has banned the planting of ornamental Conocarpus trees in forest or non-forest areas. Conocarpus, a fast-growing exotic mangrove species, had been a popular choice for increasing the green cover in Gujarat in recent years.
Why Gujarat govt has banned the planting of ornamental Conocarpus trees?
- Research reports have highlighted adverse impacts/ disadvantages of this species on environment and human health.
- Trees of this species, flower in winter and spread pollen in nearby areas. It is learnt that this is causing diseases like cold, cough, asthma, allergy etc.
- Roots of this species go deep inside the soil and develop extensively, damaging telecommunication lines, drainage lines and freshwater systems.
- Also, the leaves of Conocarpus are unpalatable to plant-eating animals.
Other examples of plant species that have fallen out of favour after widespread use
- Vilayati Kikar in Delhi
- In 2018, the Delhi government agreed to clear the capital’s green lungs, the Central Ridge, of the Vilayati Kikar.
- The Vilayati Kikar is not native to Delhi, and was brought to the city in the 1930s by the British.
- As the tree grows fast even in arid conditions, it can quickly increase the green cover of an area, and be used as firewood.
- However, it also kills off competition.
- Thus, within a decade, it had taken over the Ridge, killing the native trees like acacia, dhak, kadamb, amaltas, flame-of-the-forest, etc.
- Along with the trees disappeared the fauna — birds, butterflies, leopards, porcupines and jackals.
- The tree also depletes the water table of the area it is planted in.
- Eucalyptus in Kerala
- In Kerala’s case too, it was the British who introduced the Eucalyptus tree to Munnar, so its wood could be used as fuel in tea plantation boilers.
- The state forest department stopped the cultivation of acacia and eucalyptus in forest tracts in 2018.
- A study had found that foreign invasive plants had reduced the availability of fodder in forests, forcing animals to foray into settlements and farmlands.
- The quality of forest habitats had been lost due to the cultivation of alien plants such as acacia, mangium and eucalyptus in forest tracts for commercial purposes.
