THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: You need not visit a remote faraway forest to revel in untamed nature’s gifts. A forty-kilometre drive from the capital via Nedumangad will take you to the scenic beauty of a man-made forest and expose you to the world of botany. Palode Tropical Botanical Garden situated on the campus of Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute can be the best escape for all flora lovers.
The Palode Tropical Botanical Garden maintains a 300-acre conservatory garden for the endemic wild tropical plant resources of the country. It was found in 1979 to undertake research programmes for the sustainable utilisation of the horticultural species and conduct studies on conservation biology, plant taxonomy, microbiology and biotechnology.
An entire day can be spent strolling through the botanical garden that has a collection of over 50,000 plants belonging to about 5,000 species. One of the many star attractions in the garden is Victoria Cruziana, a type of water lily whose leaves are one of the biggest among the aquatic plant species. The garden also houses a wide array of orchirds including the tiger orchid that is considered as the queen of this flowering variety and only blooms every other year.
You might have only heard about carnivorous plants that catch and digest animals. The garden has a collection of 30 species of such meat-eating plants. The 20-hectare Arboretum that holds over 35,000 trees and woody plants belonging to 750 species mainly from the Western Ghats, the ginger germplasm collection including 74 species, 1800 varieties of anthuriums, largest and the finest living collection of orchids in South Asia with over 650 species, 150 hybrids and 13000 varieties of medicinal plants will leave you speechless.
The view of Chittar lake flowing through the forest adds beauty to the landscape of the herbal garden dedicated to the memory of Itty Achudan Vaidyan, an eminent Ayurvedic physician from the 17th century. The visitors will get to test the knowledge they gained on their expedition inside the forest by trying to write the names of the trees they have encountered at the Itty Achuthan Vaidyan garden.
The best season to visit the garden is from February to May. Visitors can buy plants and seeds from the garden. The entry pass will be issued from 9 am to 3 pm on all the days of the week including Saturdays and Sundays except on public holidays.
Indians: `25
Foreigners: `300
No fee for children up to the age of five.
While the entry fee for Indian students is `15, it is `150 for students from outside India.