About BSI,Eastern Regional Centre,Shillong

BOTANICAL SURVEY OF INDIA, EASTERN REGIONAL CENTRE

The Eastern Regional Centre, BSI  was established on 1^st April 1956, initially with the transfer of ca. 45,000 herbarium specimens kept in the then Assam Forest Herbarium. This centre is concerned with exploration and inventorization of the flora of North-East INDIA comprising the States of Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura (also Arunachal Pradesh till JULY, 1977).

At present, the centre has a jurisdiction of six states spreading in a total area of 1,71,330 sq. km of North-East India which is one of the 34 recognized Hotspot of the world and also a part of falling in Indo-Myanmar Biodiversity Centre. Approximately 6.32% of the total area is under protected areas with 3 biosphere reserves, 12 national park and 36 wildlife sanctuaries and 04 tiger reserves. Besides, three (03) Ramsar sites are also recognized under its jurisdiction for preserving/conserving the wetland ecosystem. The altitude ranges from almost sea level to c. 3840 m (Mount Saramati, Nagaland). All the representative forest type such as moist tropical, tropical evergreen and semi-evergreen, dry deciduous forests, subtropical broad leaved forests; sub tropical pine forests, temperate forests and sub alpine forests are represented in this region.

The main functional units of Eastern Regional Centre of BSI includes one Herbarium, two Experimental Gardens, one National Orchidarium, one well equipped  Tissue Culture Laboratory, one Museum and a up-dated Library. All these units of the centre caters to the different scientific and academic needs of various sections of researchers, foresters, students of this region. Besides, the regional centre is recognized centre for carrying out research work in Plant Taxonomy, Ethnobotany, Tissue Culture, etc. leading to the award of Ph.D. degree by various universities.

Objectives 

• Exploration, inventorisation and documentation of Phytodiversity with more emphasis on protected areas, hotspots, fragile ecosystems and sacred grooves of North-east India.

• Publication of floras; identification of Red list species and species rich areas needing conservation; ex-situ conservation of critically threatened taxa in botanical Gardens; Survey and documentation of traditional knowledge (Ethanobotany) associated with plants.

• Develop database of Indian plants, including herbarium specimens, live specimens, botanical paintings, illustrations etc.

The secondary objectives are: reversionary/ monographic studies on selected plant groups; qualitative analysis of nutritive value of ethno-food plants and other economically useful species; develop and maintain Botanical Gardens, Musea and Herbaria, EIA of areas assigned to BSI for study.

HERBARIUM

The Herbarium of Eastern Regional Centre of BSI (acronym: ASSAM) is largest Herbarium in North-east India, holding ca 2,71,000 herbarium specimens (incl. 11,000 specimens of Cryptogams). This herbarium holds ca 500 type specimens of angiosperms and cryptogams of about more than hundred species, representing the floristic diversity of the North-east India. The herbarium also contains many valued historical collections of C.E.C. Fischer, N.E. Perry, Kingdon Ward, N.L. Bor, U.C. Kanjilal from neighboring countries namely Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar.

LIBRARY

The Library of Eastern Regional Centre has 6824 accessioned books and journals on various fields of botanical science, especially taxonomy, floristics, ethno-botany, phytogeography and environmental sciences. Besides, many important publications like Index Kewensis, Genera Plantaram, Species Plantaram, Icon Plantaram, Wealth of India, Taxonomic literature, Flora Malesiana, The Orchids of Sikkim Himalaya, Orchids of Madagascar, The Ferns of British India, Species Filicum, etc are also available in the library. Many national journals viz., Current Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Phytotaxonomy, Journal of Indian Botanical Society, Journal of Economic & Taxonomic Botany, Rheedia, Indian Forester, Indian Journal of Forestry, Annals of Forestry, Journal of the Orchid Society of India, Indian Fern Journal, Nelumbo and international journals like Blumea, Bryologists, Cryptogamie Bryologie, Kew Bulletin, Nordic Journal of Botany,  Australian Orchid Review, Taxon, Economic Botany, Novon, Annals of  Missouri Botanic Garden etc., are currently subscribed at the centre. The library is also holding a collection of 200 books published in Hindi and subscribing the CSIR magazine Vaiganik evam Audyogik Anusandhan Patrika and Vanausadhi. 

MUSEUM

More than 100 preserved specimens on different groups of plants viz., Algae, Fungi, Bryophytes, Pteridophytes, Gymnosperms and Angiosperms have been displayed in the museum. Some interesting collections include the insectivorous plants, root parasites, poisonous plants, medicinal and other economic plants. Apart from this, the botanical richness and plant diversity of North East India have been depicted through colour and black & white photographs, charts and maps, etc. in the museum.

 EXPERIMENTAL BOTANIC GARDEN

The Experimental garden of this centre is located about 22 km away from Shillong near Umiam Lake at Barapani with an area ca 25 acres, at an altitude of ca 1000 m. About 756 species of vascular plants, 13 Gymnosperms, 49 Pteridophytes and 53 Bryophytes of N.E. India are conserved here many of them are rare, endemic and economically important plant species of this region. For the better management, the garden is divided into different sections viz. Nursery, Orchidarium, Bamboosetum, Gingiber section, Piper, Musa, Tree fern, Insectivores plant etc.,  Arboretum and a well-designed pond for ex-situ conservation of water lilies and other aquatic plants. The garden has rich collections of Musa, Bamboos, Zingibers, Pipers, Citrus, Orchids, Tree ferns, Insectivorous plants and primitive and important timber yielding tree species of North east India. The important endemic and rare plant species like Nepenthes khasiana, Citrus indica, Aquilaria malacensis, Aesculus assamica, Brainea insignis, Magnolia hodgsonii, Cycas pectinata, Ilex khasiana, Musa velutina etc. are surviving well in this garden. Among the Zingibers, species like Amomum sericeum, Amomum subulatum, Alpinia nigra, Caulokaempferia secunda, Curcuma aurantiaca, Curcuma amada, Globba spathulata, Kaempferia rotunda, Kaempferia galanga, Zingiber rubens, Zingiber roseum, Zingiber meghalayense and Costus lacerus are the important species growing here. Besides, several interesting and curious plant species Gnetum gnemon, Gymnocladus assamicus and Panax assamicus, Bambusa pallida, Bambusa cacharensis, Bambusa vulgaris, Coptis teeta, Alsophila gigantea, Mangifera sylvatica, Mesua ferrea, Albizia arunachalensis and Ginkgo biloba are getting ex-situ conservation in this garden. Another Garden is located in premise of this centre at Shillong, conserving many epiphytic orchids and other species.

NATIONAL ORCHIDARIUM

National Orchidarium of BSI, ERC, Shillong was established in 1959 to act as germplasm bank  of  Orchid a biologically interesting and horticulturally valuable group of plants. Since inception, a large number of orchids collected from different part of North-east India belonging to nearly 300 species are in cultivation in the Orchidarium and its associated garden. 
 



TISSUE CULTURE  LABORATORY
  
It was established in 1984 with financial assistance from North Eastern Council, Shillong for the rapid mass propagation of Rare, Endangered, Threatened and Endemic species of North East India. The Tissue Culture Laboratory has successfully propagated several species of Orchids especially Ladies slipper and Cymbidium, Palms, Panax, Nepanthes khasiana, Taxus, Gaultheria and Rhododendron. At present the Laboratory is carrying out a project on Mmultiplication and ex-situ conservation of Threatened plants of N.E. India, funded by DBT, New Delhi.  

PLANT MOLECULAR TAXONOMY LABORATORY

The Regional Centre has established a full fledged plant molecular taxonomy laboratory.