[Commentary] The return of the weeds
Amidst the chaos of the pandemic, a new revolution is on across world scenarios. Rebel botanists ‘chalked’ up street graffiti to highlight the flora growing in the cracks of paths…
Captivating carnivores: Saving India’s only pitcher plant
High up in the majestic hills of India’s northeastern state of Meghalaya lies an elusive and unusual carnivore: a pitcher plant. The species is known popularly as ‘monkey cups’ because…
Discoveries and rediscoveries: Stoneflowers in northeast India
To anyone else, the dried herb pressed neatly into crisp white paper would have been just another herbarium specimen. But for scientists at the Indian Institute for Science Education and…
Greens grown in urban kitchen gardens beat the lockdown blues
“I have a lawn in my house and developing a kitchen garden was always on the back burner. But due to one or the other reason I was never able…
Mapping the ability of tea gardens to sequester carbon dioxide
Can tea agroforestry mosaics in Assam, the world’s largest, contiguous tea-growing area in the world pitch in, in the fight against climate change? Researchers working on sprawling tea estates to…
[Video] The barefoot ecologist who brought forests to life
For half a century, Tulasi Gowda’s life revolved around the saplings that she nurtured with much care and love at the Agasur nursery of the forest department as part of…
Forests that heal: Medicinal plants as an ecosystem service
Five trillion US dollars. That's how much the overall international trade in medicinal plants and their products alone is expected to amount to by the year 2050. Estimates, as far…
Faith and healing in the sacred groves of Madhya Pradesh
At least twice, the staid kalam tree (Mitragyna parvifolia), standing tall on a mound surrounded by farms in a nondescript village in the hilly areas of western Madhya Pradesh has…
Why the ancient Myristica swamps need more protection
The low-lying valleys of the evergreen tropical forests of the Western Ghats harbour a rare, ancient ecosystem: the Myristica swamps. Comprised mainly of evergreen trees of the Myristicaceae family—one of…
New species remain hidden in the myristica swamps of the Western Ghats
It was a bright afternoon after two days of heavy rain in Kerala and Professor P. Manimohan’s two Ph.D. students K. P. Deepna Latha and K. N. Anil Raj were…
