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Botanical Note Friday, 23 September 2016
Gundattu Shola / Gundar Valley - Part I
Robert Stewart and Danish Khan
Figure 1 Fig. Shola regeneration under Eucalyptus
I began this note on the 5th September with these words. For the last 9 months I but Tanya in particular have been supervising a project focussed on the surviving grasslands of the Palani plateau above 2000m.
I ended there as we went for our regular morning drive through the old plantation landscapes, seeking out new life, shola trees, animals and birds.
During the early hours of 6th I found her dead, downstairs bedded in her sleeping bag after a night of bringing her water and electrolytes. On this occasion for the first time in a situation like this she asked for anti-biotics. I urged her to go to the hospital. She replied, “How can I go to hospital in this state?” I replied only half-jokingly, “so, you need to get well before going.” Perhaps my last words to her and so, it is with great sadness I write this note today. It is complicated by my photos and other material in her computer being taken away by close friends for safe keeping. A mistake in some instances as communicating photos with people in distant places is clumsy given my computer illiteracy.
A few days ago Danish (INTACH) more or less repeated what Tanya and I had been doing, taking photos but this time with gps points for which we hope we can cobble together in the next three days. They demonstrate the advance of shola from its core to the road side and towards Moir Point not noted on Danish’s original map.
The Road and its environs
Our short journey really begins at the junction of the road to Moir Point (Kodai) and the road to Poombarai where a relatively rare and old Eucalyptus Elatus plantation sits.
Figure 2 Shola regeneration near junction of the road to Moir point and Poombarai
We then proceeded further down the road where shola regeneration and dying wattle can be seen looking towards Moir Point.
Figure 3 Shola regeneration and dying wattle looking towards Moir Point.
A sure sign that this regeneration of shola has spread from Gundattu shola is the presence of a Casearia Thwaitesii sapling beside the road, a species noted in the shola some 100 yrs ago by the Bournes (1914).
All this section of the road is dominated by shola regeneration which was dense wattle plantation just 30 yrs ago.
Figure 5 Mix formation of pine, shola and some wattle regeneration.
We then came to a Pine plantation on the left with plenty of shola regeneration but notable for its large swathes of grasses on the plantation floor. The grasses in these open “woodlands” are curious because although native, they commonly belong neither to dense shola or open grasslands preferring some light shade. They are Isachne kunthiana, Variety kunthiana, Oplismenas compositos and most importantly Digitaria wallachiana which forms dense carpets on the forest floor. The notion if then correct, that Tanya and myself held (poster presentation 2003), that bison prefer kodai to the plantations, no longer applies as there is plenty of forage in the aging plantations.
Figure 6 Grass under pine plantation
Further down the road we found that young Eucalyptus Elata saplings have proliferated where old wattle trees have been clear felled and along with some new wattle regeneration.
Figure 7 Eucalyptus coming up in clearing sites
After crossing the Gundar stream and proceeding uphill we come to a fairly young Pine plantation, which has never been managed. It is distant from any old sholas, and having lifted its canopy last year weeds (eupotorium etc.) are seen to dominate the plantation floor. V.C.T thinks this should remain unmanaged as a permanent plot for long term study and here our journey comes to an end.
Figure 8 Young pine plantation for permanent plot
P.S: Robin add your note on others voluntary contribution in this note.
Maps to follow! Thanks