Palms are one of the most exciting group of plants that attract attention of botanists because of the characteristics they manifest amongst the Monocot group of plants.
The distribution of the family Palmae (Arecacae) is mostly pan tropical, although there are some genera and species which have limited distribution in the subtropical to temperate regions of the world. Most of the genera and species of Palms prefer moist and humid conditions, both in soil and atmosphere-although there are some genera and species with natural distributions in the arid regions and oasis of sandy deserts and in savannahs.
Due to obvious ornamental nature of Palms, from bushy to tall, single stemmed to
cluster forming, feather-like leaves to circular, glossy, fan-like leaves,
flowering and fruiting habit, Palms are preferred by the horticulturists and
landscapers, as potent landscape materials for use as avenue plants, grove
plants or using a large ornamental Palm as a focal point in a large landscape
garden. Palms are also very hardy, and remain in juvenile form for several years
if grown in pots and most of them do not require any special type of soil as
most of them remain healthy in soil with neutral PH. Now there is a great demand
for potted ornamental plants as house plants for home decoration. As Palms are
hardy plants and thrive best among all other house plants, their usefulness now
being realized is many-fold, although they are little expensive initially.
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Since culture of Palms is slightly different from other
ornamental plants, a little bit of knowledge on the identity,
morphology, ecology and planting and growing technique is most
essential for growing and maintaining Palms outdoors or
indoors in pots.
There are not many books published from India dealing with
horticultural aspects of Palms, such as their selection and
basic identification of Palms of ornamental value, describing
their shape, size and leaf form, their cultivation needs like
soil, humidity parameters, irrigation needs, light
requirements etc., and at the same time such Palms species
that are suitable for landscape horticulture and use as house
plants. This hand Book of ‘Palms for India’ published by Mr.
Dinesh Rawat is at present the only book of its kind available
to Horticulturists, and Palm lovers of India, where all
necessary parameters have been elaborated with wonderful
colour pictures of each Palm species. I hope this hand Book of
‘Palms for India’ will be well taken in India and abroad. |
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Dr. Shyamal K. Basu (Ph. D)
Member : Species Survival Commission (Palm Group),
I.U.C.N
Former, Curator, Indian Botanic Garden, Howrah,
India
Council member : The Agri-Horticultural Society of India, 1, Alipore Road, Kolkata 700027, India |
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