When a PhD research scholar went looking for some tree species to work on, little did he know that he’d end up discovering a new one hereto unknown in India.
Dilip Patel, an associate professor with the BKM Science College, Valsad, found the ‘Salmalia Rubra Hiteshi’ while doing research on plant diversity and forest degradation in Dharampur and Kaprada range of Valsad district. “While working on plant diversity, I stumbled upon a Simdo (Salmalia Rubra) tree in Nanivahiyal village in Dharampur taluka. It had yellow flowers, which was unique. Untill now we knew about the Simdo trees with red flowers only,” said Patel.
Hitesh Solanki, Patel’s guide for the thesis and professor at the Department of Botany, Bioinformatics & Climate Change in the University School of Sciences, said they immediately began a research for its references if any. “We searched through a lot of journals for three months to see if such species were ever reported. However, we couldn’t find any reference to the Simdo tree that had yellow flowers in India,” said Solanki.
Patel decided to name the ‘new species’ in honour of his guide Hitesh Solanki and hence the name.
The tree that was found had a girth of 4 ft and had a height of 50 ft. On whether the villagers knew that they had a unique species in their midst, Patel said they knew it as ‘Simdo’ but weren’t aware that it was unique.
They found three such trees in Nanivahiyal in Valsad and Gamdevi in Ambheta Village in Navsari His findings that were published in Forest Research: Open Access said that the tree is popularly known as Red Silk Cotton tree and is well distributed in temperate and tropical Asia, Africa and Australia.
The Simdo tree is believed to be sacred and is useful for its fodder and fuel. In some tribal communities, it is also known for its medicinal properties.
SACRED & USEFUL
Simdo tree is believed to be sacred and is useful for its fodder and fuel. In some tribal communities, it is also known for its medicinal properties.
