India's largest open air fernery developed in Uttarakhand's Ranikhet
RAIPUR: One of India’s biggest ferneries was inaugurated on Sunday in Ranikhet in Uttarakhand’s Almora district. It has been developed by the research wing of the Uttarakhand Forest Department over a period of three years, under the Central government’s Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management scheme.
Sanjiv Chaturvedi, a 2002-batch Indian Forest Services officer who heads the research wing of the state forest department told The New Indian Express, “The fernery is to showcase the fern species and to spread awareness about this category of plants. Ferns are of huge importance to our ecosystem and they need to be studied and understood.”
The fernery, spread over four acres, was inaugurated by Dr Nilambar Kunetha, a well-known pteridophyte. It has one of India’s largest collection fern species with 120 different types of fern. Only Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanical Garden and Research Institute (TBGRI), Almora district in, has a larger number of fern species. However, unlike the fernery in the Kerala capital, the one in Uttarakhand has been developed as an open-air fernery.
The fernery is home to a mix of species from regions in western and eastern Himalayas as well as Western Ghats. It houses many rare species, prominent among which is Tree Fern (Cyathea spinulosa), which has been declared as a threatened species by the State Biodiversity Board of Uttarakhand. The fernery also displays a few of prominent edible species of fern like Lingura (Diplazium esculentum) which is a popular food item in the hills of Uttarakhand and is considered very nutritious.