Pink flowers that adorn the avenues and parks of Bengaluru in the first quarter of the year have started shedding early because of hot weather.
People fondly call them ‘Bengaluru’s own cherry blossoms’, and enthusiastically post pictures of them on social media, which has been visibly less this season.
H T Balakrishna, deputy director of the horticulture department (Cubbon Park), notes, “The light pink flower variety is Tabebuia Pallida, and the deep pink variety is Tabebuia Avellanedae. They flower from December till March-end or the beginning of summer. But because of the hot weather and water deficit, the flowers started falling 15 days ago. The summer usually starts after Ugadi but the temperature has been high since the first week of February.”
Even the pink tabebuias in Lalbagh Botanical Garden are withering away, says horticulture deputy director Kusuma G. “On the other hand, yellow tabebuias have arrived earlier than their time. Maybe due to heat,” she remarks.
Year after year, these trees are advancing their flowering phenology (biological calendar), possibly due to changing climate and temperature, suspects K Sankara Rao, a former professor from IISc’s Centre for Ecological Sciences.
These ornamental flowering trees are a colonial import.
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