Garden city of Bengaluru faces threat from the Green Beauty – an invasive plant called Paper Mulberry

FATAL ATTRACTION

Alluring and attractive beauty appears desirable always, but there are times when a thing of beauty may be associated with a dash of danger.

Bengaluru, the garden city, today faces a threat to its flora from a Green Beauty growing all over the city and draping its surroundings with an attractive green cover that presents a pretty picture. But, the ground reality in terms of the threat it poses is something that looks worrisome.

Widely spread in the open spaces of Bengaluru’s Indian Institute of Science (IISc) campus, Bengaluru University Campus, University of Agricultural Science, Palace Ground, Sankey Tank, and Bannerghatta National Park containing lakes and in other parts of the city, attracts the people because of the greenery it spreads. The plant is called Paper Mulberry — botanical name Broussonetial Papyrifera — and it is an invasive and a high allergic plant, about which most people are unaware of and more so, totally oblivious of the ill effects it poses. People are captivated by this Green Beauty that is seen more like an ornamental tree.

Native to East Asia, the plant originated in China, Japan, Mongolia, and was cultivated for making good-quality cloth and paper. It came to India in the 1880s as part of horticulture and urban forestry. For the last 25 years, the plant has been invading the garden city of ‘Bengaluru’. It initially grew in the core zones of the city and is now spreading to the periphery of the city. In Bengaluru, 30% of the greenery is of Paper Mulberry trees.

Ph.D. holder in Forest Botany from FRI Dehradun Dr. NM Ganesh Babu, Associate Professor, Transdisciplinary University, (the University was earlier remained a trust by the name of the Foundation for Revitalization of Local Health Traditions-FRLHT) in an exclusive interview with Dr. Anubha Jain said that there are male and female Paper Mulberry trees. “Male trees produce an enormous amount of pollen and female trees produce fruits. Both the trees are vigorous,” said Dr Ganesh. “People’s mindset should change and they need to be more aware of the consequences of this root sucker plant that can kill native flora within no time,” Dr Ganesh warns.

The tree fruits twice a year with the pollen from its large inflorescences is classified as highly allergic in many countries like Taiwan, Pakistan, and the US. Owing to this it was termed a “Major aeroallergen” and showed increased symptoms of asthma. Besides health impacts, such plants including Lantana Camara spread broadly due to urbanization and change of natural habitat due to human intervention.

PEOPLE UNWARE OF ITS ILL EFFECTS

. Ganesh lamented that government departments too are not taking much interest in this direction as the officials are not aware of the ill effects of this tree.

He added that people in the fondness for greenery show their rage if anyone cuts this tree. As a side effect, cutting the tree is also harmful as it produces a great amount of milky latex, so it becomes creepy to cut the tree and the sticky juice is also not good for the eyes and skin as well.

Dr. Ganesh said, “For the last 30 years, our organization has been revitalizing local medicinal native plants. Ayurvedic medicines are based on native medicinal flora.” He said, “For over 20 years local flora has been vanishing. And in the near future, as resources are getting depleted due to exploitation and illegal/informal trade, we won’t get native flora for Ayurved practice.”

“Realizing the potential danger the plant poses,  we need to take precautions, but it may be a tad too harsh if we declare it as a red-listed plant as demanded by the Indian Union for Conservation of Nature, a tree specialist group,” Dr Ganesh said.  If the plant is spread across 17 million Sq Kms, how can the plant be tagged as red-listed he questioned.

But what is clear is that research has shown that Paper Mulberry is the biggest invasive plant threatening the flora. The one solution, Dr Ganesh says, is to uproot the plants and plant native saplings. “Corrective actions must be taken, or else the city will face a bigger threat from this plant,” Dr Ganesh warns.