Talipalm will 'live on'
The saplings of Talipalm or Corypha Taliera Roxburgh, grown in nursery, are to be planted on the Dhaka University campus today. Inset, is the mother tree that once stood on the campus with risk of dying out soon as it was the last member of its species alive in the world.Photo: STAR
Dhaka University authorities will plant saplings of the world's last naturally grown Talipalm tree, Corypha Taliera Roxburgh, on the campus today. Dr Hasan Mahmud, state minister for environment and forest, is to formally inaugurate the plantation programme on the premise of DU vice-chancellor's bungalow around 11:00am. The arboriculture department of the university has grown some 500 saplings of the tree that is dying out on the premise of DU pro-vice chancellor's residence. ''We collected seeds from the tree in January this year and started growing its new plants in nursery. Now, we have got nearly 500 saplings aged over three months,'' said Dr Syed Hadiuzzaman, director of the arboriculture department. Moreover, nearly 1,000 saplings have been grown naturally under the mother Talipalm, he added. Dr Hadiuzzaman told The Daily Star that some plants would be distributed among forest and arboriculture department of the government and other institutions. Meanwhile, the faculty of pharmacy is running laboratory tests on some matured seeds of Talipalm to explore if the seeds have any medicinal properties. The Faculty Dean Dr Abdur Rashid said, ''After primary test, we can say that the seeds' essence can be used in curing diseases like typhoid and diarrhoea.'' The seeds could also be used for producing anti-aging medicine, said the dean adding that these assumptions, however, were not proved as the test was still in progress. The mother Talipalm tree is dying out as the species produce seeds once in life and become dead afterward.
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