India opens its first cryptogamic garden in Dehradun
The garden, located at Deoban in Chakrata, is about 9000 ft high and has grown about 50 species so far, reveals Chief Conservator of Forest Sanjiv Chaturvedi.
Indian social activist, Anoop Nautiyal, inaugurated India's first cryptogamic garden which houses 50 species including lichens, fungi, and ferns on Sunday in Uttarakhand's Dehradun district.
The garden, located at Deoban in Chakrata, is about 9000 ft high and has grown about 50 species so far, reveals Chief Conservator of Forest Sanjiv Chaturvedi, reports The Indian Express.
"We chose to locate the garden, which is spread over three acres, at Deoban because of its low pollution levels and moist conditions which are conducive for the growth of these species," he said.
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Deoban is known for having some of the most majestic forests of Deodar and Oak which allows cryptogamic species to grows, he revealed.
Chaturvedi further explained that Cryptogamae means "hidden reproduction" referring to the fact that no seed, no flowers are produced. Thus, cryptogams represent the non-seed-bearing plants.
Algae, bryophytes (moss, liverworts), lichens, ferns, and fungi are the best-known groups of cryptogams that require moist conditions to survive. Expatiating on the cryptogamic groups present in the garden, Chaturvedi said algae comprises the most primitive organisms which are predominantly aquatic, both in marine as well as freshwater habitats.
Bryophytes are the simplest and primitive land plants that occupy an intermediate position between algae and pteridophytes. Lichens are a complex life form that is a symbiotic partnership of two separate organisms, a fungus, and an algae.
Ferns are the largest living group of primitive vascular plants while fungi is a kingdom of usually multicellular eukaryotic organisms that are heterotrophs, he said.
