GUWAHATI, May 8 – While scientists grapple with complex equations to explain climate change, the layperson could gaze at plants and trees to know the changing weather. Across Assam, some of them are blossoming in times of the year, which for them were not the norm.
The ubiquitous Kopou, one of the flowers synonymous with the culture of the State, is in blossom in some parts of the State, even though their flowering usually is most abundant near mid-April.
According to HK Bhuyan of Suhagpur, the dandrobium at his place has started to bud in recent days. “In previous years the blossoms came out much earlier,” he said.
Some other orchids, which normally flower in high summer, have already started to show off their delicate shades.
Not just smaller plants, trees like Palas and Madar also have flowered ahead of time in certain areas of the State. “The Taal tree has produced fruits throughout the year, even though earlier it was seasonal,” said Ranjit Das of Guwahati Nursery, the oldest nursery of the city.
He added that this year there has been a rapid growth of insects and some of the plants have not grown well.
Narayan Mahanta, the DFO of Guwahati Zoo, viewed the recent phenomenon with caution, and said, “there could be a variety of reasons for early or late flowering, because plants are affected by light and temperature changes.”
He believed that the ‘unusual’ propagation of plants could be the subject of an ambitious research project. Ambitious, because it would involve studying a lot of data on temperature, insolation, rainfall and several other factors. Such an exercise could eventually reveal if changing weather is indeed responsible for the early or late flowering of plants and trees.
