বাংলায় পড়ুন
Among all the iconic places in West Bengal, the Indian Botanical Garden is one of them. The Garden was established by the British East India Company in the 18th century by Colonel Kyd. The garden contains varieties of flora and is the oldest botanical garden of the country. You will be surprised to know that the tea grown in Assam and Darjeeling was first developed here in this Botanical Garden.
It was renamed as ‘The Royal Botanical Garden, Calcutta’, in the early 1860s. the name of the Indian Botanical Garden has changed again in 2009 to Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden. But the Garden’s main star is its 250-years-old banyan tree. The Great Banyan tree resembles a forest from afar. It is reckoned to be the largest tree in the world. The tree covers about 14,500 square meters of land. Its aerial roots have grown into individual roots and there are about 3,600 of them. The authorities have the path around the tree so that visitors can tour around the tree in a car to witness its massive structure.
The tree was hit by two cyclones that led to fungal decay, as a result, the main trunk of the tree was removed. In spite of that, the tree survived, thanks to its ‘clonal colony’. The Garden remains open for visitors from sunrise to sunset and is a popular tourist spot.
The Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Botanic Garden in Shibpur Howrah houses a collection of exotic plants from five continents. The ambiance and the surroundings offer great peace of mind for the city dwellers and the Great Banyan Tree is always worth a visit.
