Spurred by the recent tree cutting incident in the vicinity of the neighbourhood, a tree walk was organised on the morning of April 23rd by the BM Residents Welfare Association in Indira Nagar 1st Stage, to introduce the residents to the trees around their area. Many residents with their children were eagerly waiting for Raman Arunachalam, an avid tree watcher who was to lead the walk.
A view of a lovely canopy. Pic: IChangeIndiranagar
First, the brilliant red color flowers of the Gulmohar caught our attention, the Tabebuias digitate leaves and their different colors were discussed. As we moved along the path in the park, looking at an Avacado tree with fruits, a hornet wasp was busy building its nest. A tailed palm fly flitted around the palm trees. Many species Akash Mallige, Sampige, Drumstick tree, Lagerstromia, Cassia, Java Fig were introduced.
How could we leave out fig wasps when we were discussing figs?! The interconnection between the figs and the fig wasp, and the interesting life cycle of the wasp was discussed.
One common Mormon butterfly was sitting on a plant long enough for everyone to have a closer look at. A Castor butterfly was busy nectaring on the fire bush plant. Bees and wasps of different sizes buzzed around a fresh Palm flower. Sneha spotted a Pond Heron that walked in the lawn foraging the leaf litter. The mynas and the parakeets chattered along every now and then.
The list of trees that were spotted during the tree walk:
| African Tulip | Lagerstromia |
| Avacado tree | Mango |
| Badminton ball tree | Millingtonia Hortensis |
| Bahunia | Nile Tulip |
| Bottle brush | Octopus tree |
| Bottle palm | Plumeria |
| Cassia species | Pongamia |
| Copper pod | Rain tree |
| Drumstick tree | Royal palm |
| Guava | Sampige |
| Gulmohar | Sapota |
| Jack fruit | Star fruit |
| Jamun tree | Tabebuia species |
| Java Fig |
Raman Arunachalam addresses the participants, probably about how tall a particular tree grows. Pic: IChangeIndiranagar
As we came out of the park, Ms. Veena invited us to her Bonsai garden where we did see many species in the miniature form. Many orchids and a huge stag horn fern caught our attention. One child whispered “Thatha, even I can identify trees, look there is a Guava tree and a Mango tree“. Earlier that night he had delegated his grandfather to collect leaves of different shapes to show it to us.
A few kids were asked to play around with seeds and observe them. They were thrilled to discover that the seeds came down like a helicopter. When they were questioned as to why the seeds had to spiral down, many intelligent answers popped up.
The residents had interesting conversations around rearing butterflies, the importance of bees, climate change, Bengaluru’s weather, trees being cut illegally, fragrance of the Sampige flower etc… Though these are diverse topics, we hope that citizens realise that all these topics are connected.