DEHRADUN: An aromatic garden, with over 140 fragrant plant species from all over India, like Chandan, Tulsi, Parijat, etc., planted across 3 acres of land, was opened in Lalkuan, Nainital on Sunday. The garden is the country’s biggest such facility, forest officials claimed. The project has been developed by the research wing of Uttarakhand forest department with Centre's compensatory afforestation (CAMPA) funds.
The idea is to conserve, promote research of and create awareness around various aromatic species, officials said. “The aroma industry has huge scope. Villagers can look forward to a promising livelihood from nurturing these plants. Also, it will prevent these species from dying out. In the coming years, the garden will be spread to 113 acres,” said Veena Rao, aroma plant consultant from Maharashtra, who inaugurated the garden on Sunday.
Work on the garden started in 2018, forest officials involved in the project said. They added that aromatic species from all over the country were brought to Nainital and conserved here, like Chandan from South India, Agarwood from North East, Kewada from coastal regions and Parijat from Terai zone.
The garden has a total of eight sections. One is just for plants with aromatic leaves, like Rosemary, Mint, Lemon Balm, etc. Another has species with aromatic barks like Chandan, Prijat and Nagalingam. There is an aromatic rhizome (underground stem) section with aama haldi and kali haldi plants and an aromatic seeds section with Timur, Kasturi Bhindi (Ambrette) and Black cardamom.
The aromatic grass section has Java, Khas and Lemon plants while the aromatic bulbs section has Red Ginger (also called Pink Cone Ginger) and sand ginger plants. The aromatic roots section has Patharchur and Vach plants.
A Tusli Vatika inside the garden has around 20 different species – including Rama Tulsi, Shyama Tulsi, Kapoor Tusli as well as variants that grow in Africa, Thailand and Italy.
