A recent study on the plant diversity conducted at Singanallur lake, an urban lake in Coimbatore, has found the presence of 453 species of plants in and around the water body, of which 328 (72 %) are medicinal plants.
The study titled “Survey and Documentation of Phytodiversity in and around Singanallur lake” is the first of its kind conducted on the plant diversity of an urban lake in the State.
Apart from the survey, the team led by C. Kunhikannan, scientist 'G' of Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding (IFGTB) in Coimbatore, also prepared a herbarium of specimens of the species of plants except the planted ones that were not in flowering or fruiting????.
Dr. Kunhikannan said it was noteworthy that an urban lake had such diverse specified of plants. “It took nearly a year to complete the study and create a herbarium of plants” he said.
Declared as an Urban Biodiversity Conservation Zone by Coimbatore Municipal Corporation in 2017, Singanallur lake is currently protected by the Centre for Urban Biodiversity Conservation and Education (CUBE).
V. Sathish of CUBE said that efforts were required to protect the plant variety. “Meetings will be held with authorities to discuss efforts to protect and document the flora and fauna around the lake” he said.
Though a freshwater lake is expected to have several hydrophytes (aquatic plants) as its vegetation, these were absent in Singanallur lake probably due to poor quality of water, the study found. There were a few aquatic species that preferred polluted water.
The study also found the presence of some climbers that disturb the vegetation, and certain weeds including prosopis juliflora (karuvelam tree) and parthenium. It suggested the removal of these species gradually without affecting overall functioning of lake shore vegetation.