Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada

A green canopy in the making

Photo: V. Raju

Botanists’ delight: A visit to the herbal garden on the sprawling campus of Andhra Loyola College in Vijayawada is a refreshing experience.—

VIJAYAWADA: Standing amid verdant surroundings in the rambling 98-acre campus of Andhra Loyola College (ALC), you cannot help but open your heart and allow yourself to be overwhelmed by the delightful rendezvous with nature.

The rich flora on the campus, include a garden of ornamental plants, an herbal garden and an exclusive botanical garden, which is in a nascent stage and is being developed on a two-acre stretch.

A sumptuous feast to the eye, the foliaged canopy is an additional feather in the institution cap. The trees, shrubs, herbs, climbers and other plants are a huge collection of rare species brought in from different parts by the faculty of the department of botany.

The main objective of the botanical garden is to impart knowledge to students in plant taxonomy with the help of living plant materials. “In the next couple of years, our botanical garden will be at its full bloom and attract a good number of nature-lovers to the place,” says the college principal S. Emmanuel, who is also from botany department.

A nature-aficionado himself, the principal is eager to add more features to the rich flora on the campus. The herbal garden, a hub of medicinal plants is an inspiration for a pharmaceutical research. Located at the centre of the college, this 35-cent patch comprises selected and rare medicinal herbs, shrubs, grasses, creepers and trees. Each plant has a board perched against it, indicating its botanical and local names.

Presenting a fine example of a rich bio-diversity, the ALC, under its ‘Flora of Andhra Loyola College’ project, has collected over 400 species of plants and preserved them in the herbarium. An identification drive taken up by taxonomists established the collection of 125 important herbs with medicinal value and 120 shrubs of commercial value. Besides, there are timber yielding and fruit-yielding trees, pteridophytes and gymnosperms and other rare and unique plants.

The college rightly bagged the ‘Best Eco-Friendly College’ award last year and is in the race for this year’s honour too. Blessed bountifully by nature, the campus serves as a haven for people yearning to reconnect with their inner self.

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