A cactus beside the guest house of the National Botanical Garden in Mirpur, Dhaka, has grown taller than the two-storey building next to it. The garden authorities put its height at 25 feet; six iron bands hold it upright.
The authorities identify it as a Cereus cactus, Cereus hexagonus. According to GRIN-Global, the plant database of the United States Department of Agriculture, the species is native to northern South America and the Caribbean, and grows wild in the Brazilian states of Para and Roraima. Its English names include blue cereus and tall columnar cactus.
Staff and gardeners say the cactus came seven or eight years ago from a house in Mohammadpur. The owner's mother had cared for it; after her death, and about to move abroad, he gave his mother's plant to the garden. Gardener Abdul Alim, who has worked there for 35 years, told Prothom Alo the story. The garden kept no record of the donor's name.
The garden has a separate Cactus House with 72 species, among them melocactus, mammillaria, notocactus, gymnocalycium, ferocactus, golden barrel, old man, disco cactus and cleistocactus. The oldest is a golden barrel, about 30 years old.
Officials say the cactus house was set up in 1992, with most plants brought from Nepal, India and Thailand. Cacti are not all alike: some are small and round, some flat, some rise straight up like pillars. Many store water in their stems, which helps them survive dry conditions.
Cacti have become popular in Bangladesh in recent years, grown on roofs, windowsills and balconies, and some people now earn money selling them. The Cactus House draws visitors every day, as well as researchers and university students on field trips. The report is by Abdullah Al Mamun of Prothom Alo.
Photo: Cereus hexagonus at the Adelaide Botanic Garden, Peripitus / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Source: Prothom Alo
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