Rare trees lost in botanical gardens

BOGOR (JP): A large number of rare trees planted in botanical gardens here and in Bali have fallen following days of torrential rain over the past week.

Director of the Bogor Botanical Gardens Dedy Darnaedi, who also heads the state gardens in the neighboring district of Cibodas, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday that the number of fallen trees was close to 100 in the two places alone, while the number of trees downed in Bedugul park in Bali was still being counted.

The uprooted trees in the Cibodas park included those belonging to the cactace, agatis, araucaria and casuarina families aged between 80 and 100 years old, Dedy said.

Only four trees were felled in the Bogor park, all of which were canary and rubber trees aged over 40 years old.

"Of course, the losses are financially immeasurable because the trees are some of our rarest," Dedy stressed.

He said some of the cactace trees, which are of American origin, could be salvaged by replanting their roots.

It was not the first time that trees belonging to the botanical gardens had fallen victim to storms and torrential rains, Dedy said. In fact, it was quite common as most of them were planted, instead of having grown naturally. As a result, the trees did not root firmly to the ground.

He dismissed speculation that the trees were diseased before tumbling.

"We routinely examine the trees. Whenever we find fungus or other sources of disease on the plants, we quickly take care of it," Dedy said.

Apart from plants, buildings in the gardens were also damaged by the storms, according to Dedy.

Damage was found in a guest house, a library and a laboratory in the Cibodas gardens, and four greenhouses, four ethnobotanical buildings and an exhibition room were damaged in the Bali garden. (21)