By IANS
Kozhikode (Kerala) : Kerala’s second botanical garden, the Malabar Botanical Garden, was inaugurated here Saturday. The 38-acre garden with rare species of plants will specialise in research on aquatic plants.
“We have a rare collection of aquatic plants that are facing extinction. A large number of research scholars are now visiting the garden to conduct studies on the plants,” R. Ansari, managing director of the botanical garden, told IANS.
The botanical garden is located in the Kolathara suburb of Kozhikode, about 450 km north from state capital Thiruvananthapuram.
One of the specialties of the garden is its collection of water lilies, considered the largest in the country.
While inaugurating the garden, Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan said: “The government will soon enact a law to protect paddy fields and marshy lands in the state.”
Due to urbanization and real estate boom, builders are rampantly reclaiming the low-lying marshy areas in Kerala.
The Tropical Botanical Garden and Research Institute (TBGRI) in Thiruvananthapuram was the first botanical garden to have come up in the state.