Trees of Delhi (A Field Guide)

$64
FREE Delivery
Quantity
Delivery Ships in 1-3 days
Item Code: NAG634
Author: Pradip Krishen
Publisher: Dorling Kindersley India Pvt. Ltd.
Language: English
Edition: 2006
ISBN: 9780144000708
Pages: 360 (Throughout Color Illustrations)
Cover: Paperback
Other Details 8.5 inch X 6 inch
Weight 780 gm
Fully insured
Fully insured
Shipped to 153 countries
Shipped to 153 countries
More than 1M+ customers worldwide
More than 1M+ customers worldwide
100% Made in India
100% Made in India
23 years in business
23 years in business
Book Description
<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"> <head> <meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=windows-1252"> <meta name=ProgId content=Word.Document> <meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 12"> <meta name=Originator content="Microsoft Word 12"> <link rel=File-List href="Trees of Delhi_files/filelist.xml"> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> admin Normal admin 4 1 2014-05-28T11:38:00Z 2014-05-29T12:33:00Z 1 773 4410 Microsoft 36 10 5173 12.00 </xml><![endif]--> <link rel=themeData href="Trees of Delhi_files/themedata.thmx"> <link rel=colorSchemeMapping href="Trees of Delhi_files/colorschememapping.xml"> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> 132 Clean Clean false false false false EN-IN X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> </xml><![endif]--> <style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073786111 1 0 415 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} p.Style, li.Style, div.Style {mso-style-name:Style; mso-style-unhide:no; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; text-autospace:none; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;} span.SpellE {mso-style-name:""; mso-spl-e:yes;} span.GramE {mso-style-name:""; mso-gram-e:yes;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-size:10.0pt; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;} @page WordSection1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt; mso-header-margin:35.4pt; mso-footer-margin:35.4pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} --> </style> <!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> </xml><![endif]--> </head> <body lang=EN-IN style='tab-interval:36.0pt'>

Preface

 

I’ve been walking on the Ridge near Sardar Patel Marg for nearly forty years now. For most of this time, I knew very little about the trees and shrubs that I saw there. The neem was probably the only tree I could recognize at a glance. I learned to tell the flame of the forest in bloom, but would have struggled to recognize it outside the flowering season. To my untrained eye, the Ridge was just a wild-looking place in the middle of the city, with lots of thorny trees and bushes.

 

Then something happened. It was late winter in 1995 - 16 February, to be precise. I know because I wrote it down. It is a time of year when most shrubs and trees on the Ridge have been bare for many weeks. On this particular day, I noticed that every dry twig had sprouted a tiny, pale green affirmation that it was still alive - little, glinting points of life, especially noticeable when a bush was backlit by the sun. It was like a hidden trigger had been pulled to produce the magic of a fresh shoot, not just on one plant, but everywhere I looked. I felt specially privileged, as though the forest had allowed me in on a secret event in its biological calendar.

 

Looking back, I am sure this was the exact moment when my interest in plants began. My earliest photographs of Delhi trees were taken in the rainy season of 1997. It must have been sometime just before then that I decided to learn as much as I could about Delhi’s trees and begin the research that led to this book. As I learned more, I began to lead walks on Sunday mornings, exploring gardens and semi-wild places with groups of tree-spotters. And that is how this book slowly gathered unstoppable momentum.

 

I had no idea, at first, how hard it might be to track down the identity of every tree in Delhi. Native trees and those from other parts of India are not usually a problem. Unlike a natural forest, cities accumulate many ornamental trees from other parts of the world with a compatible climate. Over time, some exotic trees - like the bottlebrush and silky oak - prove their adaptability and ornamental value and become like cliches of the cultivated landscape. No problem identifying those trees.

 

Others fail to do well or reach full potential and are then discarded. It is these unsuccessful, forgotten exotics that can pose a challenge. I came across a small tree in Sundar Nursery (Nizamuddin) that had me puzzled for years. It had feather-compound leaves with crowded, leathery leaflets and I never found it in flower. I felt certain it wasn’t an Indian tree. But where do you begin to look up the identity of an exotic tree? Without flowers, how do you assign it to a botanical family? Even if you figure out what family it belongs to, which Flora do you consult?

 

I came upon the same tree accidentally in the Sydney Botanic Garden three years later. The Sydney tree was tall and wide-spreading and bore little resemblance to the runt in Sundar Nursery, but something about its blunt, crowded leaflets was familiar. I brought back a leaf with me to make sure, and it was only then that I knew for certain that the Sundar Nursery specimen was a carrotwood tree from south-eastern coastal Australia.

 

How did it get there? Was it one of the trees that Percy-Lancaster, Delhi’s Superintendent of Horticulture, planted in the 1940s? Possibly. But it wasn’t the only one. In Sundar Nursery too I found a lone, forgotten specimen of a coca tree from the Peruvian Andes. I found 2 delicate-leaved Brazilian ironwood trees with wonderfully mottled bark; a magnificent khaya or Senegal mahogany; a broadleaved bottle .tree, also from Australia. Each one had to be tracked down and identified.

 

So here it is, then - the result of a lot of detective work plus some straightforward persistence and foot-slogging. 252 trees in all, plus-minus a few subspecies. Many common ones, a few that are the only representatives of their kind in the city, and a whole lot of trees neither common nor rare. Could I possibly have accounted for every single species of tree there is in Delhi? Probably not. It is more than likely I have missed a few trees skulking in private gardens or out-of-the-way places, and I hope readers will write in and tell me if they know of missing trees that belong in this book.

 

Contents

 

INTRODUCTION

Preface

4

What is a tree?

6

Tree Names

7

The parts of a tree

8

How to use this book

10

The leaf scheme

12

Delhi as a habitat for trees

16

Delhi’s Natural ecology

17

Delhi’s micro-habitats

19

Where exactly is the ridge?

22

Native trees or the Delhi ridge

24

19th-century Delhi

26

Avenue trees in the New capital

32

The afforestation of the central ridge:

Post-1911

37

Delhi today

39

Where to go tree spotting in Delhi

41

TREE GUIDE

Jamun-like leaves

44

Peepal-like leaves

93

Frangipani-like leaves

127

Chinar-like leaves

153

Pine-like leaves

160

Kachnar - or bael-like leaves

186

Semal-like leaves

206

Imli-like leaves

218

Gulmohur-like leaves

264

Palm-like leaves

306

Back of the book

Relating to the character, uses or distribution of trees

321

Relating to the identity, taxonomy or name of a tree

328

Family names

342

List of species

343

Index

348

 

</body> </html>
Sample Pages

















Frequently Asked Questions
  • Q. What locations do you deliver to ?
    A. Exotic India delivers orders to all countries having diplomatic relations with India.
  • Q. Do you offer free shipping ?
    A. Exotic India offers free shipping on all orders of value of $30 USD or more.
  • Q. Can I return the book?
    A. All returns must be postmarked within seven (7) days of the delivery date. All returned items must be in new and unused condition, with all original tags and labels attached. To know more please view our return policy
  • Q. Do you offer express shipping ?
    A. Yes, we do have a chargeable express shipping facility available. You can select express shipping while checking out on the website.
  • Q. I accidentally entered wrong delivery address, can I change the address ?
    A. Delivery addresses can only be changed only incase the order has not been shipped yet. Incase of an address change, you can reach us at help@exoticindia.com
  • Q. How do I track my order ?
    A. You can track your orders simply entering your order number through here or through your past orders if you are signed in on the website.
  • Q. How can I cancel an order ?
    A. An order can only be cancelled if it has not been shipped. To cancel an order, kindly reach out to us through help@exoticindia.com.
Add a review
Have A Question

For privacy concerns, please view our Privacy Policy

Book Categories