About Project:

S.S. Bir Botanic Gardens attached to Department of Botany is well laid and spread over an area of 12 hectares of land. Major plantations in the garden are on the basis of Bentham and Hooker's Natural System of Classification of plant. About half of the area of garden is under 'Arboretum' where broad-leaved indigenous and exotic trees, high altitudinal conifers and flowering trees of aesthetic and recreational values along with timber trees occupy a place of prominence. Plant wealth of the garden includes 750 species of trees, shrubs and climbers from various regions of Himalayas and other parts of the country. Each plant is provided with a name plate, giving information about the botanical name, family and country of origin. Cactus house, glass house, tropical plant house, rosarium, bougainville garden and aquatic garden are of special interests The visitors are provided with a guided tour to the different sections of the garden and are made well acquitted with the various sections of the garden. To make the visit of the various visitors more interactive the department proposes a project entitled "TAG OUR PLANTS" In this project all the plants will be labelled with quick-response (QR) codes and Near field communication (NFC) tags. Botanical photo gallery is a unique feature of the department of Botany. It is housed on the top floor of the Herbarium & Museum building of the department. It has been divided into ten sections which include Agriculture, Indian forests, Plants and Human Welfare, Poisonous plants, Ornamental plants, Sacred plants, Ferns, Fungal Diversity, Rare and Endangered plants and Horticulture. More than 300 photographs have been displayed in these sections. The photographs have been collected from various [parts of Eastern and Western Himalayas, Punjab and adjoining states, Okha Port, Rameshwaram, Kodai Kanal, Ooty, Palghat, Pachmarhi, Mysore, Calicut, etc In the gallery there is a separate section for the display of portraits of eminent scientists. The paintings showcasing the history of vegetation in various geological eras add an extra grace to this photo gallery. The department conducts photography competitions every year in which the best photographs of botanical interest and winning entries are put on display in the gallery after framing. Department of Botany proposes to upgrade the infrastructure available in the photo gallery. The spot lights are to replaced with LED spot lights and the building needs air-conditioning. Many of the photographs have faded over the period of time and need to be restored/upgraded The department also is planning to add new photographs from the alumni which will of botanical interest.