UNUSUAL PLANTS

Let me narrate a story of five ‘unusual’ plants in our garden. Unusual in the sense, I have not seen people growing them deliberately, unless they have been planted by the government/NGO or have grown on their own.

I call this the story of a ‘tree with one leaf left’, ‘tree with two leaves’, a ‘tree with all leaves’, a ‘tree with sprouting leaves’ and a ‘tree without any leaves.’

Tree with one leaf reminds me of a story called the 'Last Leaf’ is a ‘Peepal’. It can grow anywhere, especially in cracks in walls, rather wherever birds which feed on its fruit do their droppings. If it grows Junglee, it is fine but the myth says that growing peepal deliberately is “Ashubh” or inauspicious. Why? No one has been able to give me a convincing answer. For us, a tree is a tree is a tree. Period.

There are stories of ‘bhoot-paraits’ and haunting spirits affiliated with this tree. Some say, under its shadow nothing else grows. Though, peepal is worshipped at different occasions. The main reason for not growing them is maybe its roots get embedded deeply inside cracks which can break walls, buildings and flooring.

During fall, a full-grown peepal’s leaves create a mess, which could be another possible reason. However, once this tree sprouts, people are reluctant to uproot or have it removed. It is a bad omen, they say.

I picked up a branch from the roadside which had fallen during a storm, chopped it, and grew it like a cutting. With passage of time, it developed roots and now forms part of our garden.

The plant with two leaves has a similar story. A branch was chopped from its tree and the procedure of growing it was exactly like the peepal cutting. Myths like ‘wandering spirits’ staying on a banyan tree are quite common. Also called ‘bargad’ under whose shade villagers used to sit. Old banyan trees have aerial roots. We used to make them into swings during our childhood, just the way Tarzan used them to travel in the jungle from tree to tree.

Plant with many leaves is a Fig tree (Gular). This one I found growing in a crack in a wall. Probably, its seed would have got stuck there. Such plants grow once they have passed through the digestive system of a bird or an animal. Something like the “Ker & Sangri tree which grows only when it has passed through a camel’s system. The fruit of a fig tree is a treat for many birds in our colony. This one also forms part of our collection.

‘Chinch or Tamarind’ trees grow wild in Maharashtra. Me and my cousin in NDA would buy buns from the gole market. On Sunday afternoons, we would go into the jungles beyond the second battalion playgrounds used to be. There the trees were massive. In summers, ripe fruit pods used to fall on the ground. We would crack open their shells, extract the seeds and stuff the buns with the gooey fruit. To help gulp it down, we would carry our water bottles.

One of our maids offered a sapling of this plant from her home. The idea was to grow this tree in our backyard in Alibaug. I changed my mind and decided to convert it into a bonsai. After fall, the leaves are sprouting. In a couple of days, it will be back to its original form with lush green leaves.

The fifth tree is also a tamarind one. This one I grew from a seed. We had once been invited to dinner at a farm house. In their salad section, they had displayed Thai tamarind fruit. It was almost ‘beetroot colour’ unlike the dark brown Indian varieties. It was very sweet with hardly any trace of tanginess like a usual tamarind is supposed to be. I brought the seeds and grew them in a pot.

Today, out of about ten of them, only one survives and is giving me the jitters as it appears to have gone completely dry. To cross check whether it lives, I scratched its trunk. It was green. Which means that within a week, new leaves should sprout bringing it back into shape.

The bigger tamarind has been in our collection for eight years and this one without any leaves for about three years. I am desperately waiting for them to fruit. We also have two ‘Falsa’ plants growing in pots. They are not bonsai but my heart was overjoyed when I saw flower buds sprouting on them this morning.

These ‘trees’ are now part of our ‘Bonsai’ collection. I am waiting for these miniature trees to fruit. When will they bear fruit? I wonder!!!!!!!

JAI HIND