Dr Abu Naim teaches in the pathology department of Cumilla Medical College and currently works in the RT-PCR laboratory testing for coronavirus. His home is at Gunanandi in Adarsha Sadar upazila of Cumilla. Most doctors in this country see patients in private chambers in their spare time alongside their medical college jobs, but Dr Naim is different: he is absorbed in trees.

His house is called Aranyak. The two-storey building and nearly all its surroundings are covered in green, with rows of shade plants in the front garden. Dr Naim's garden holds more than a lakh plants of several thousand species, and he raises saplings from their seeds and cuttings. He founded a Facebook page called Cumilla Gardeners Society, through which he has so far given away more than 50,000 saplings free of charge.

His home has aglaonema, ferns, begonia, calathea, dieffenbachia, snake plant, rhoeo, cast iron plant and many kinds of peperomia and anthurium. It is the largest private collection of anthurium and other shade plants in Cumilla.

Across an old mango tree, many native species of orchid, hoya and epiphytic plants are carefully tended. Notable among them are rhynchostylis, Vanda ampullacea, bulbophyllum, Dendrobium parishii, aerides, Dendrobium formosum, blue vanda, pierardii and cymbidium.

Among foreign orchids are several species of vanda, mokara, dendrobium and phalaenopsis, and many kinds of hoya and ant plant orchids further enrich the collection. One roof holds 40 rose plants, allamanda, native jasmine, honeysuckle, five species of allamanda and the Siam tulip from China, among others.

The house also has a collection of plants that live in the air without soil, with about 12 species of air plants.

On another roof there are rows of pots, more than a thousand of them, large and small.

Fruit trees include malta, berries and Egyptian fig. Spice plants include ekangi, curry leaf and Indian ginger. Allspice, whose single leaf carries the aroma of seven warm spices, makes a delicious spiced tea, and there is scope to grow the tree commercially in this country.

There is a separate place on the roof for champa trees, including four kinds of native and foreign dolon champa, him champa, swarna champa, bhui champa, saraswati champa, magnolia, brindaban champa, gulach champa, kusum champa and golap bhui champa.

The garden can also be called a fine collection of ground orchids, with about 20 native and foreign species, including the single-leaved native ground orchid nervilia.

There are about 21 species of hibiscus, along with adenium, lily, swarna chameli, hangshalata, karabi, kurchi, blue and white monilata, monkey flower, flame vine, tecoma, red kadam, rudraksha, bat lily, dhala badur and passion flower, some thousand native and foreign flowering plants in all.

Aquatic plants add to the garden's splendour too: lotus, native white, blue and red water lilies, water rose, white water hyacinth, pontederia, jasmine arrowhead, aquatic heliconia, water mimosa, water chestnut, water poppy, chandmala and several kinds of Thai water lily.

Dr Abu Naim said: "I have put a lot of effort into the garden since childhood. Because of my government job I have worked in many places, and as a student I was under a lot of pressure from studies. Even so, I could not give up my passion for gardening." He said: "There are many opportunities to earn from private practice, and now there is also a chance to earn by selling plants. Still, I will not go into that. I love the garden, and I want to stay with my garden."

Cumilla divisional forest officer Kazi Md Nurul Karim said: "Abu Naim is a doctor, yet he is doing exceptional work. This is praiseworthy. Others should come forward like Dr Naim to conserve biodiversity."

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.