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Hello *|MMERGE5|*,
The entire SeasonWatch team would like to wish all of you a very Happy and Prosperous New Year. 2015 came and went leaving us with both positive and negative changes. In terms of natural calamities, there were earthquakes, drought, floods etc, which left many people stranded, helpless and homeless. We might think that it is out of our control to prevent natural calamities but our actions have some impact and there are simple measures we can take to help slow down climate change.
We all know that the quick increase in the earth’s temperature is causing lots of problems for plants, animals, humans and the environment. So this year let’s all make resolutions that will have a positive impact on our planet. Here are some suggestions to start with:
- Plant more trees in and around your locality. Not only do trees and plants help to absorb the carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere, they also provide homes to many living creatures.
- Ask your family to start driving your car less. There are many ways to get around that don’t involve driving! Walk, ride your bike or take the bus to where you need to go. Carpooling is also a great way to get around and gives you extra time to spend with your friends and family.
- Another way we can help is get our bills emailed to us rather than coming in the mail on paper. Let’s keep as many trees as possible standing to soak up the carbon dioxide!
Stay tuned for more tips on how we as individuals can have a positive impact on our planet.
Ashish Shah and the rest of Team SeasonWatch
Web: www.seasonwatch.in
Email: sw@seasonwatch.in
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SeasonWatch Quiz
How well do you know your trees? Here's a chance for you to find out. Send us your answer to the following question along with your address to sw@seasonwatch.in Winners will receive a postcard which can be addressed to a friend or family member and we will post it out accordingly.
Q. The flowers of the Jackfruit tree
a. Look like tiny leaves
b. Look like small fruit
c. Resemble red insects
d. Jackfruit does not flower
We will give you the correct answer to this quiz in our next newsletter. So stay tuned!
Previous tree quiz answer:
Q. What color are the flowers of the amla tree?
Ans. (d) Greenish white.
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(Photo credit: Navendu Page)
Featured Tree of the Month
Dhak (Butea monosperma)
The Dhak or Palash tree is popularly known as the flame of the forest because of its fiery orange blossoms, which are hard to miss against the leafless branches in month of March. The Dhak is mostly found in the countryside and not in dense forests. In fact, this tree is the first species to regenerate where there are open spaces or areas where forests have been cleared mainly because of its ability to withstand heat, frost, water logging, drought and poor soils including heavy clay and salinity. Dhak is sometimes planted to reclaim saline lands where little else will grow.
 (Photo credit: Navendu Page)
Back to the main attraction of the tree: its flowers, which are mostly found in clusters on top of the tree. The buds of the flower have velvet-like texture which look black but are actually a deep bronze colour. The flower consists of two types of petals, a standard petal which dominates the narrower wing petal on either side (as seen in the picture above). Two or more petals join together to form a claw-like keel, where the stamens lie hidden inside a boat like enclosure formed by the keel petals. The petals are fiery orange and smooth on the inside and are covered with fine, silky hairs outside. Because of the colour of the flowers, it is used to make an orange dye which is used at the Indian festival, ‘Holi’. A rare but beautiful natural golden form of the flower is known as the ‘aurea’ variety. The flower buds appear in January but do not open till early to mid March where it continues to flower till April.
The leaves on the other hand, start shedding in February-March and the tree remain leafless till the end of April. The leaves are compound in nature with three large leaflets at the end of a long common stalk. The middle leaflet which grows from the longer stalk, widens gradually, becoming as broad as it is long, whereas, the side leaflets widen asymmetrically from their bases. The leaves are initially pale green and densely grey-silk on their under-surface which eventually become darker and rougher, losing their silk like texture, over a period of time. Young leaves are eaten by buffaloes and elephants but not by goats.
The fruit of the tree forms very quickly after flowering, ripening just before the rains into an unusually large flat pod, which covers only a single seed. The pod is pale greyish green, velvety and marked with nerves at first, growing to about 20 cm, they gradually turn straw-coloured and papery making it easy for them to be dispersed and scattered by summer breezes.
The bark of the tree is pale or light brown, rough and has shallow cracks. When the bark is cut or bruised, a ruby-red latex oozes from the trunk and hardens into gum. This gum is called ‘Bengal kino’ and along with the seed oil and flowers, has medicinal uses. The inner part of the bark is used to make rope.
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Recap December 2015 & January 2016
A hearty welcome to new SeasonWatchers from December 2015 & January 2016!
Individuals: Vivekanand, Deepak Mittal, Deviderjit, Ritu Yadav & Arya S.A
Schools: GHS CHIRAKKARA, Govt Mod Sen Sec School, GMSSS, NSSHSS, Chathanoor & P.U.M.SCHOOL, KRISHNAMPUDUR.
Total trees observed in December & January: 723
Total observations in the SW database as of January 2016: 91480
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DID YOU KNOW?
Those who find satisfaction in the crunch of a hard apple have reason to be worried about climate change: a 40-year study of Japanese apple orchards has found that global warming is producing softer — but sweeter — apples. To know more details about this study, click here.
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Stories from the SeasonWatch Team
We are happy to announce that our 1st SeasonWatch Alumni meet was conducted on 20th December 2015 which was attended 12 alumni students. The meeting commenced at 10:45 am, under the Jackfruit tree in the campus of C.M.G.H.S School, Kuttur, Kerala. This tree was selected in 2010 and has been observed ever since. The alumni students were from the 2011 batch that passed out from school in 2014. A sense of nostalgia overcame the students when they sat sitting under their old SeasonWatch trees, discussing campus related SEED and SeasonWatch activities. They all agreed that these activities helped shaped them into green minded people which influenced them to join various nature clubs in college and actively participate in NSS club works.
They even offered to help us with SeasonWatch and want to conduct workshops for the NSS group in their respective colleges; by adding their own trees and introducing the activity to their friends and family. While some of them had a sense of hopelessness because of their friends attitude towards SeasonWatch, they still are confident about spreading awareness. All in all, the meeting turned out to be very fruitful and we look forward to more updates from the Alumni team.
Regards,
Nizar
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On 14th December 2015, I left for Salem from Bangalore, eager and excited to conduct our very first SeasonWatch workshop in Tamil Nadu. After a satisfying meal and two bus journeys, my colleague Nizar and I finally arrived at Sengunthar Mahajana higher secondary school in Tharamangalam, Salem district. We were warmly greeted by Mr. K Rajendra Cholan, a science teacher who helped us with introducing SeasonWatch to the bright students of Sengunthar Mahajana. I cannot express how happy I was to see the number of trees planted in the schools’ campus. Apart from the usual Tamarind and Neem trees found all over Salem, we were happy to spot some Purple Bauhinia trees as well. We were later told that the man who is responsible for the greenery in the campus is the head of the agricultural department and his interest has motivated the students to help with planting these trees. Owing to their lush green campus and their awareness about trees, it was a real delight to introduce SeasonWatch to the students of Sengunthar Mahajana Higher secondary school.
The next day, Nizar and I caught our third bus to conduct our second workshop in Thiru Chinnasamy Ayya Aided middle school, Attur, Salem district. Although the campus wasn’t as big as the previous school, we were delighted to see the interest taken by the school towards outdoor science-related activities. In fact one of the students was awarded the young scientist award by the late President, Dr A.P.J Abdul Kalam. We feasted on freshly picked gooseberries during our outdoor session and due to the abundance of fruits fallen from the tree, the students very sweetly gave me some to take back to Bangalore. Looking back now, I cannot wait to visit many more lush green campuses filled with young eager potential SeasonWatchers and nature detectives.
Regards,
Nayantara
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News & Events
We are happy to tell you that the first version of our new Android application is to be released soon and is designed to make it easier for SeasonWatchers to upload weekly observations through a smartphone. The 'add observation' feature will allow you to simply choose the tree phenology data using the soft swipe/touch and save it. You can add observations offline if you wish, and when you connect to the internet later, your observations will automatically get updated onto your SeasonWatch account.
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