Indian Botanical Garden in Kolkata renamed

The one of its kind garden at Shibpur in neighbouring Howrah district was named after legendary Indian scientist Jagadish Chandra Bose by Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh.

Apart from his other scientific breakthroughs, Bose is known for his work in measuring plant response to various stimuli and for scientifically proving the parallelism between animal and plant tissue.

"We have to see that this garden is well maintained and becomes more beautiful. It is our prime focus to protect the nature and Botanical Gardens play an important role in this aspect," Ramesh told reporters Wednesday here.

The largest and oldest botanical garden of South East Asia, the Indian Botanical Garden has been a premier institution for botanical and horticultural research in India.
Founded in 1787 by Colonel Robert Kyd, an army officer of the British East India Company, the Indian Botanical Garden now has over 12,000 trees and shrubs belonging to 1,400 species together with thousands of herbaceous plants.

The best-known landmark of the garden is The Great Banyan tree with a trunk having a circumference of more than 330 metres.