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The
Foreword - Expert's Say on The Book |
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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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