When fans of the fig came together

When a young botanist and two veterans team up, something unique is bound to happen. And so it was with the trio of Dr JV Sudhakar, his guide Dr GVS Murthy and Dr N Chandra Mohan Reddy, who came together to bring out the only book on Indian figs after Independence.

In the pursuit of this goal, the three of them, who had between them a combined experience of 70 years in Indian flora, faced daunting challenges — travel, photographing, editing, and assembling material for publication on the “Figs of Eastern Ghats, India”, and all this while they held their regular jobs. It took seven years before their glossy handbook emerged, with the financial support of the National Biodiversity Authority. The book has been designed for foresters, researchers, faculties, students, gardeners, landscape architects and even naturalists.

But to know how their paths met and they took up research into figs, we need to go back a bit to the past.

‘Medical leader’

Sudhakar grew up in the tiny remote village of Mori, 90 km from Kakinada. While at school, which was surrounded by jungles, he was often made ‘Medical leader’ to distribute medicines to students and also gather seeds for sowing in the school campus. That was how his interest in Botany was kindled.

The golden yellow fig fruits of a Ficus plant look like berries but actually are inflorescence — a cluster of flowers.

After stints as part-time lecturer with private colleges, Sudhakar chanced upon an advertisement by the Staff Selection Commission. He applied for and got the job of Junior Scientific Assistant in the Botanical Survey of India (BSI). He joined the BSI in Coimbatore in 2006.

It was during his tenure at BSI that Sudhakar picked up the challenge of focusing on the “Ficus in India” as research topic for his PhD. His guide was GVS Murthy, then Additional Director of BSI, who motivated him to pursue his passion.

Sudhakar started digging data on all relevant Ficus literature from 1753 and also extensively explored tricky terrains like the Eastern Ghats and Andaman islands with the support of his colleagues. He was awarded his PhD in 2014. In the intervening period he had another opportunity in 2010 to apply for a higher post in BSI and was directly recruited as Assistant Botanist.

Sudhakar’s insights into figs led him to discover new species for Peninsular India, like Ficus anamalayana from Tamil Nadu and Ficus amplissima from Karnataka. He deciphered existing taxonomic challenges relating to Ficus benghalensis (Banyan tree) and Ficus krishnae (Krishna’s Butter Cup) and published 20 noteworthy findings in scientific journals.

Room for more Sudhakar and his PhD guide measuring the hollow space inside the massive trunk of a fig tree in the rainforests N Shiva Kumar

Fortuitously, just when Sudhakar began wishing he could go beyond paper work and earning degrees came the call from N Chandra Mohan Reddy — out of the blue.

Chandra Mohan Reddy, IFS (Indian Forest Service) and Managing Director, AP Urban Greening and Beautification Corporation Limited (APUGBCL) in Hyderabad, also happened to be a fan of the fig and he proposed a collaborative publication on figs. The rest, as they say, is history.

Today, Sudhakar is a happy man on two accounts; he is close to his home town, returning after 12 years to help his ageing parents who had provided him unconditional support during his early education. The second is, his love for figs has resulted in a book with 150 pages packed with information on Ficus plants that is getting rave reviews.

Sudhakar, who is today stationed at Yanam as Assistant Professor in the department of Botany at SRK Government College, says his future plans are to publish a comprehensive hardback on Indian Ficus with aspects that will remain as permanent reference. Also, he plans to develop a ‘Ficus India Group (FIG)’ with Ficus enthusiasts to exchange ideas and to develop practical applications with figs of India to benefit all of humanity.

British legacy

Interestingly, a profusion of botanical surveys and innumerable specimen collections took place during the British era in India, new discoveries were made and several botanical gardens were founded to study the natural history of the plants. The most famous is Kolkata’s 100-hectare Botanical Gardens created in 1786 and even now home to more than 12,000 species.

The writer is a wildlife enthusiast and photographer based in Noida