Cubbon Park to have four times more bamboo trees

Improve air quality, greenery

The horticulture department will plant four times the number of bamboo trees it removed in Cubbon Park, as the trees would improve the air quality and restore greenery in the Central Business District.

The department is removing 200 bamboo stems and are replacing them with 400 trees in the first phase and has plans to plant 400 more saplings in phase 2. It hopes that the trees will be tall enough to give a greener look to the park by January.

“Of over 300 species of bamboo, 12 that are suitable for Bengaluru will be planted at Cubbon Park. The entire plantation process would cost just Rs 1 lakh,” said Mahantesh Murgod, deputy director, horticulture department (Cubbon Park).

Among the tree species chosen are those growing in the Western Ghats, Kerala and Assam.

They include Bambusa bamboo, Indocalamus bamboo, Tulda bamboo, Dendrocala bamboo, Ochlandra bamboo and Myanmar (Burma) bamboo.

Though the department had plans to plant other native trees, it finally settled on bamboo since city residents have fond memories of the tree. Besides, bamboo also grows faster and looks pleasing to the eyes.

The department has also planned to create a system to grow bamboo and also educate people on several varieties of bamboo trees.

Extensive survey

Officials from the department and experts scoured several nurseries and institutes across the nation for the right kind of species that would suit Bengaluru’s conditions.

While the saplings planted in the park are one to three metres tall, they would rapidly grow to 12 feet in a month’s time.

Noted environmentalist and member of the horticulture department’s expert committee A N Yellappa Reddy said bamboo has been chosen over other kind of trees since it grows faster and uses little water.

Bamboos have monocot roots, which, unlike the tap roots in the other trees, grow only up to a metre deep inside the earth and are ideal to be grown in the city centre.

Reddy said the area needs bamboo since water evaporation from its trees are less compared to other tree varieties, while they also release a large amount of oxygen, which is much needed in the CBD area.

Murgod said tree data will be collected in Cubbon Park after the exercise to digitise flora in the Lalbagh Botanical Garden ends.

All trees, including the bamboo clusters, will be digitised. A tree census has already been completed in Cubbon Park and digitisation will be the next step.