In Pursuit of Giant Water Lilly to Kadappa

At the suggestion of Dr. Hameed from Botanical Survey of India, we reached Yogi Vemana University, Kadappa on 24th November 2023. The team consisted of Green Ahalia members Sri. Sabik and Sri Shaibu along with consultant Dr. K. Haridasan. There we called on Prof. Madhusoodana Reddy and had a preparatory meeting with a briefing about our works and introduction to the lead botanic Garden of the university headed by Prof. Reddy. The garden established during 2015 and got recognised as MoEF, Lead Garden status 2018 offered us an amazing exposure to the RET and endemic plants like Cycas beddomei, Syzygium alternifolium, Pterocarpus santalinus etc. The main attraction however is the giant water lilly Victoria amazonica and few very attractive water lillies amid the semi-arid landscape. They have a focus on conservation plots of Cycas, Pterocarpus and Miyawaki plantation. On completing the field visit Prof. Madhusudan Reddy took us to the Vice Chancellor and had a brief interaction with him. We presented an introduction to Green Ahalia and our publications. We also visited their Herbarium and seed Museum on the next day and got seeds of few species for our seed museum. We could bring in over 80 plants of around 30 species for introduction to Green Ahalia gardens. The visit was a great learning experience, and we are now rich with several interesting conservation important species.