Medicinal Forest Close to the House

Today I’m at Pullukulangara in Alappuzha district to introduce Sri K. G. Ramesh to you. He was a teacher at a parallel college that he managed, and was actively involved in politics too. From a very early age, he was interested in planting trees. This is his garden plot that covers nearly one-and-a-quarter acres. It has sandy soil, totally unlike the laterite soil we see in other places. Here he has planted roughly 1,500 varieties of trees. You can hear the sound of birds all around. He has succeeded in creating a forest-like atmosphere here. The reason for showing you this video is to answer repeated queries as to whether trees planted close to the house will attract snakes, and whether the roots will go under the structure and damage the building. Sri Ramesh has proven that such fears are unwarranted. Let us find out more about him, how he came into afforestation, what trees he has nurtured and so on.

Sir, we encourage the practice of crowd foresting. But you don’t need our encouragement because you’ve already done a lot of good work, and received the Vanamitra Award for your efforts at afforestation. Were there so many trees in the beginning?
No.  There were a lot of trees but we had to cut them down.

In every ancestral garden plot we invariably had wild jack, jack fruit and mango trees.
Yes.  We had to remove them for a certain purpose but we had a lot of coconut trees. All this area belongs to us. My younger brother lives there. The entire plot covers more than a hectare. It contained four ponds, and a small sacred grove that we call ‘bhootakkavu’. We had tailpot palms too here.

Tailpot palms have become very rare now. We have grown 50 of its saplings at Thodupuzha, and they are ready for planting. There were two of this species in my garden plot some time back. Recently we saw one at Thirur or Palakkad. The Indian mynah builds its nest at the base of its leaves.
Here we had tailpot palms close to the pond. We cut down the trees in order to build houses for my brother and myself. For woodwork, we did not have to buy timber from outside. But for every tree we chopped, we planted two or three saplings. Plants have been my weakness from very early childhood. It goes beyond mere interest.

Can you tell us how you came to acquire 1,500 types of plants?
It began very casually. For instance, when you start reading, you move from a passing fancy to deeper involvement. Similarly, tree planting became an overwhelming interest in course of time. And so, wherever I went, I began to look for new species, and to find out how I could procure and plant them.
And the plants, that you bought, grew well here.
Yes. That’s because after planting, I take meticulous care of the saplings.

Which plant is this?
This was sent in the form of seeds by a friend of mine from Chhattisgarh. It is a Coromandel ebony used to make beedis. Earlier, this tree used to be seen in profusion. Many people made a living out of it, and was part of a cottage industry.

This is mahua, isn’t it?
No. I have forgotten its name. But mahua is another plant.
Mahua is used in fermentation. Someone has offered to bring me a mahua sapling from Chhattisgarh.
I got ten seeds of this, and three of them germinated. This is three years old now but the growth is very slow. Its leaves are cut and curled to make beedis.

So what you see here are trees collected from various places. The speciality of your collection is that for most of the plants, you’ve put up labels carrying their exact botanical names. Did you specialize in Botany?
No. I studied Political Science. My involvement with Botany stayed on only until I completed my pre-degree course. I had opted for the second group then. Truth to say, finding the botanical names is an extremely difficult task. I’ve got the names of most of them. But many of them are wrong. I’m correcting them now.

Do you face water scarcity here?
No, not in this area. I have a pond and two wells here.

Isn’t this sweet potato?
Yes.

The dry leaves that fall on the ground are left to lie there.
We do not sweep them away because we want to simulate a natural forest. These will lie here and disintegrate.

Do you set fire to them?
No. I don’t burn dry leaves. In the fifteen years that I’ve grown these plants and trees, I have burnt only a few banana plants. That was because of a pest attack, and there was no alternative. During this entire period, I’ve not used chemical fertilizers or pesticides.

Even in this summer, the grass here stands one-and-a-half feet tall. So, naturally, there are chances that snakes will take shelter here.
There are rat snakes and a lot of mongooses too. Also, a variety of small creatures like chameleon, skink and several others. On the sides of this pond, you’ll see a type of large frog that our children have actually not seen.  It used to be exported to foreign countries.
The one that people of Kuttanad usually catch.
As soon as the frogs see us, they jump into the water.

Are tortoises found here?
Yes. We don’t kill any creature.
I recall a story that my maternal grandfather used to tell us. After he returned from work he usually went to the pond in our garden plot to take a bath at dusk. There would be tortoises roaming around in the vicinity. Grandfather would fix lighted candles on their back, and as they never went too far, he would get ample light!

The tortoises lay eggs in the sand. Sometimes, we spot the eggs when we till the land to plant saplings. But we leave them alone. In course of time the eggs hatch, and the young ones amble away. Here we see two types of tortoises – one is white, and the other, black.

During the rains, this would be a luxuriant forest, wouldn’t it?
These days, the rains are very sudden and heavy. Earlier, we never had water-logging in these parts. During the last couple of times, the flood waters remained stagnant for days. It made life difficult.

The same phenomenon is witnessed all over the globe. Japan received two metres of rain in two days!
In the last rains, I lost a couple of rare plant varieties. One was Aanakombi [Canthium pergracile], which features in the Red List. I had procured its sapling three years back and tended it with great care as our climate is not very favourable for its growth.

Where is it from?
Our Western Ghats.
Does it grow at great heights?
No. They are not very tall.
My query was - is it found at great heights?
No. I’m told it’s found in the plains of the Western Ghats. No one has been able to give me much information about this plant. There was a man here who used to sell plants. He was fond of me, and he gave me the aanakombi sapling. I nurtured it for three years and now it’s gone. It belongs to a highly endangered species.

When Mathew Dan sir visited my plot he spotted a white-coloured orchid there. I noticed it here as well. He says that for the last thirty years he has not seen it grow naturally in garden plots. But as my plot is left untilled, this orchid appears in stone ridges at regular intervals. During the summer, it dries up but sprouts unfailingly during the rains.
There are five or six types of lilies here that have sprouted naturally.

Here’s an Indian rosewood tree. Are there more of this?
Yes, on that side.
This is tree jasmine, isn’t it?
Yes. It’s also called Indian cork tree.
Cork is made out of it?
Yes, that’s what I’m told.
My wife and I have spent a lot of time under this tree at the ASRC campus in Hyderabad. I’ve seen it on the way to the Golf Club in Thiruvananthapuram too. And in the Arts College campus as well. If one of this grows into a tree, there will be a cluster around it in course of time.
It’s called pathiri [yellow snake tree] in this area.
But this is tree jasmine.
The yellow snake tree stands there.

What is this?
It’s called Buddha coconut tree because its bark is very thick (aanathondi in Malayalam, meaning “elephant-skinned”).
The leaves look as though they belong to the Indian tragacanth but the leaves are dark.

Let’s go closer to the trees, sir?  Isn’t this firebush?
Yes. In the past, its flowers were used to ferment Ayurvedic concoctions. The flowers increased the potency of the medicine too, and acted as a preservative. This plant is becoming rare in Kerala.

Isn’t this cork-leaved bayur?
Yes. It grows into a huge tree. And its medicinal properties are tremendous. The other day, a physician told me that it takes up to 40 days for a broken bone to mend when it is put in plaster. But by using this, the bone will fuse in 21 days.

What is done with this tree?
He told me that the bark of the tree is crushed, and tied around the broken bone.
That is how it got its Malayalam name “Eloottipacha” (bone-mending green). What about this?
This is called Punyava [Aglaia elongoidae]. I came to know about it when a man telephoned from Kottarakkara to say his daughter was doing research on this plant. He wanted to know whether it was available here. I had only read about it in Dr R. Hailey’s book. So I went in search of it, and finally got a sapling from the Botanical Garden at Palode.

Isn’t this Indian madder?
Yes. It can be found at several places in this plot.
But the leaves of the same variety in my place do not have such a deep colour. This is dark green.
It could possibly be because of the manure.

Is this chestnut?
No, cotton.
But don’t we have haystack around the cotton tree?
Of course! In my childhood, when we used to do paddy cultivation, we had haystacks around the cotton tree.

Sometime back, we had it around a jack tree. And a man told us that we should use the cotton tree for the purpose. That was when I remembered the practice I had seen in my childhood. But I don’t know the reason for it. If you plant a cotton stem, it sprouts easily.
Yes. There’s another huge cotton tree.
It’s full of ripe pods. When it bursts, the seeds will fall all over the place. It’s seen as a nuisance. What’s this?
Kusum. It’s a host plant for a couple of species of butterflies and lac insects. These eat up all the leaves.
In Karnataka, there is a practice of growing the small host plant of lac insects as an intercrop.
I didn’t know that.
I thought that lac was a resin produced by a tree. It was only some time back that I came to know it is secreted by an insect.
The new leaves of the plant are very attractive.
Indeed. I noticed it because of its beauty. This is Malabar nut [Adhatoda vasica], isn’t it?
No, it is another kind of Malabar nut [Adhatoda beddomei]. It has greater medicinal properties. Each leaf has seven to nine veins, and its roots are lumpy. It’s said that the outer skin of the roots is the most beneficial part. This is bark cloth tree.

Somebody gave me a bark cloth tree sapling but I can’t remember where I’ve planted it in my forest. Meeting you has inspired me to space the plants and trees in my plot, and put up name boards against each. I have planted saplings of at least a hundred varieties in tiny, three-cent plots. But I have no idea what they are.

This is stinkwood tree. It has another name too – poothiyunarthi.
That, I think, is another tree. Is it used to treat small children?
No.
But I remember my mother mentioning that it is used as medicine. The flowers have a terrible stink.
I’m told it is also called peenaari. This is thingam.
Its wood is really good. Is this star apple?
No, it’s worm killer. But there is a debate going on as to whether it is a creeper or a tree.

This is large-flowered bay tree.
Two of Miyawaki’s students who are Associate Professors had come here. And they recommended that we have more of it in evergreen forests because its leaves bring a splash of green to the area. They suggest that we also have chironjie, strychnine tree, wild nutmeg and others.
But I don’t think the wild nutmeg is so green.
The leaves are very large.

This is snake jasmine. Its flowers are very beautiful and resemble flying swans. This is Malabar mahogany.
The species is slowly disappearing.
It belongs to the pine family. This one is four years old.

I had a lychee at home.
Here too there’s one but it hasn’t produced fruits yet.
In fact, I haven’t seen lychee tree laden with fruits anywhere. Wonder whether our climate is unsuitable.
Or, whether it has male and female varieties. This is camphor tree, isn’t it? It’s a huge tree in Japan.
That’s because it’s not an indigenous tree here.

Opinions differ regarding that even there. When it matures, its bark will undergo a change. I have seen it pruned and shaped like an umbrella there.
I like to see plants and tree growing into their natural shapes. This is peacock chaste tree. It grows really tall.
I remember the name from the shape of its leaves.
It resembles the leaves of bitter ash. Its bark is used to make medicine. The problem is that many holes form on its trunk. That makes it difficult to get a straight trunk. Like the wild jack, if it grows straight, you’ll be lucky to have it.

This is Indian mulberry which used to be found in large numbers near our country canals.
Isn’t it a Malaysian plant?
No, it was a common sight near our canals. Some say that it has edible and nonedible varieties.

The other day, a person told me that he had put some of its fruits in his car, and after some time the stink inside was horrible. It can be eaten after being preserved in an earthen jar for five days.
You needn’t wait that long, sir. When it becomes ripe, pluck it and crush it well so that all the pulp comes out. Strain the juice, then add lemon juice and two spoons of honey. Mix the drink well and it can be consumed.
I didn’t know that, and I chopped the tree because I couldn’t tolerate the smell. What’s this?
India blue bell.

Is this a flower in bloom or a bud?
It looks like a bell and is very attractive.
It belongs to the Stobilanthes family.
This one is called fevicol tree. I’ve asked many people about its peculiarity but no one knows. I haven’t got its botanical name yet.

Is the name Fevicol an original name? Or one created by the manufacturing company?
I heard someone say that the tree can be tapped like the rubber tree to extract resin.
So, some random person named it, after all.
I know only this much. This is its growth after five years. It’s very slow.

Is this Malabar tamarind?
No, it is kokam.
How do you distinguish between kokam and Malabar tamarind?
The kokam fruits appear like chickoo fruits. Its tender leaves are red in colour.
This is white rosary pea.
Won’t you give me its sapling?
Certainly! It’s about to fruit. Saplings are made from them. It is very rarely found these days. This is the variety used for making medicines.
I have the other with me, red-and-black rosary pea.

This is the Barbados nut tree that is endangered in our area.
On my way home, I’ve seen a tree. It’s usually found close to water bodies.
There were plenty of them earlier but now, they are rare. This is frangipani vine.
What is it used for?
The roots are used for post-partum treatment. This is ackee apple plant, and its fruits are edible. It is the national fruit of Jamaica.

What is this? Wight’s twisted Arum?
Yes, that is used as anti-dote to snake venom.
On the other side, there is analivegam [Pittosporum neilgherrens]. Is it analivegam or poison devil tree?
I don’t know. There’s a dispute regarding it.
Maybe it is analivegam because the leaves of poison devil tree are not so dark.

I have a poison devil tree on the other side.
Its leaves are lighter green. This is child life tree.
Yes, it used to aid procreation. I think this plant triggered a big debate in the parliament. This is black myrobalan.
I’ve never seen black myrobalan become so big.
It hasn’t put out fruits yet. This is Pala indigo plant.
Does it grow so big?
It’s nearly 20 years old. This is cissus vine climbing over Indian rosewood. When it rains, the vine is covered over by leaves.

Haven’t you heard about oonjaal valli [Cissus pallida]?
This vine too can be used to make swings. Earlier when limestone was used for building purposes, this was added to the mixture to increase the adhesive property.
I have it in my plot too. But it has not grown like this.
Maybe because we don’t prune it, the vine has grown so much.
But oonjaal valli is another kind, sir. It germinates and grows fast. A long while back, I planted a stalk and in no time the creeper spread so much that we could not distinguish the plants it had grown over.

Now here, you can see the fresh leaves.
If there are so many leaves of the Pala indigo plant, it can be used to make the medicinal oil to treat psoriasis.
Many people come here to pluck its leaves, not only to treat psoriasis but dandruff and other skin problems as well.

What they do is they put one kilo of this leaf in one kilo of coconut oil and let it get heated under the sun.
It is at its best during the flowering season when even the leaves make way for the blooms.
Won’t you call me then? I haven’t seen the sight. Is this the flower?
Yes. Soon the plant will be full of flowers. This is luck plant. Not salparni.
I have this variety. This is green.
Yes. Those are dry leaves. This is used to make medicinal bed.

This is velvet leaf, isn’t it? It has the male and female varieties. It puts out small heart-shaped seeds.
This is Salacia reticulata. This is red creeper, a medicinal plant. This is snap ginger, used for making rasnadi powder. This is a foreigner – Gmelina philippensis – otherwise known as parrot’s beak, that is used in China and the Philippines as folk medicine. Its flower has a peculiarity. It looks like a parrot’s beak.

Along with Sri Ramesh, his wife has to be introduced to you because she too has played a role in planting and nurturing all these trees. She is Rema, a teacher who retired on 31 March this year as headmistress of a school. Hereafter she will be spending all her free time for the upkeep of this collection. Both of them have striven hard to maintain all this. But I see the wife’s support in another light. Generally speaking, when trees are planted so close to the house, people make a lot of fuss about the fallen dry leaves and the prospect of snakes appearing in the compound. Without her support, this would have been impossible to achieve. We have spent nearly half an hour looking at the plants and trees here but we have covered only fifteen percent of the entire forest. It will require at least three full days to record all the varieties planted here. But we shouldn’t bother him further. Those of you who are interested may come here and see for yourself. We have shown you only a small portion of this garden plot. Interested parties may contact Sri Ramesh. He is forever ready to welcome you and give you whatever saplings he can spare.