Almost five decades after the flora and fauna of Mutha river were washed away by the 1961 Panshet flood, 30 saplings of the Indian willow trees produced from the stumps of willow trees by amateur botanist Shrikant Ingalhalikar and nature lover Abhijit Gandhi will be planted along the banks on September 2. This event can encourage citizens to participate in the process of restoring rare plants in the city.
The Indian willow tree (Salix tetrasperma) is native to peninsular India. It is the kind of the ‘Weeping Willow’ of England. It grows naturally on the banks of rivers where the flow is turbulent. It is a large, erect, deciduous tree, 10-20 meters tall. The roots spread horizontally towards the river bottom. The bark is dark in colour, rough and with deep vertical fissures. The leaves are long, pointed and silky when young. Yellow flowers appear in long slender spikes known as ‘catkins’. The roots of this tree hold the soil together and help the tree to withstand seasonal floods. It thus prevents the erosion of the river bank, particularly where the river flows through the cultivated areas of a good soil depth.
Ingalhalikar said, “Walunj or Indian Willow trees once lined the Mutha river banks with their shining foliage and abundant flowering. A lone Walunj survived the Panshet floods, and still stands, albeit in a poor condition, on the Mutha bank near Baba Bhide bridge. The stumps were brought from willow trees growing along the Krishna river near Bhuinj in Satara district. Gandhi then produced saplings from these stumps or cuttings. I grew about a 100 willow trees from these saplings on my factory premises. We are now assisting the civic body by providing them with more such saplings,” Ingalhalikar and Gandhi will produce more saplings in their nurseries for further plantation along the Mutha.
The Indian willow tree (Salix tetrasperma) is native to peninsular India. It is the kind of the ‘Weeping Willow’ of England. It grows naturally on the banks of rivers where the flow is turbulent. It is a large, erect, deciduous tree, 10-20 meters tall. The roots spread horizontally towards the river bottom. The bark is dark in colour, rough and with deep vertical fissures. The leaves are long, pointed and silky when young. Yellow flowers appear in long slender spikes known as ‘catkins’. The roots of this tree hold the soil together and help the tree to withstand seasonal floods. It thus prevents the erosion of the river bank, particularly where the river flows through the cultivated areas of a good soil depth.
Ingalhalikar said, “Walunj or Indian Willow trees once lined the Mutha river banks with their shining foliage and abundant flowering. A lone Walunj survived the Panshet floods, and still stands, albeit in a poor condition, on the Mutha bank near Baba Bhide bridge. The stumps were brought from willow trees growing along the Krishna river near Bhuinj in Satara district. Gandhi then produced saplings from these stumps or cuttings. I grew about a 100 willow trees from these saplings on my factory premises. We are now assisting the civic body by providing them with more such saplings,” Ingalhalikar and Gandhi will produce more saplings in their nurseries for further plantation along the Mutha.
