Trees of Calcutta(Alipur) Zoo

Calcutta zoo is a very good place for tree spotting. One of the interesting ones is standing tall just beside (left) the main entrance/exit gate.

It is called axlewood or the buttontree (Anogeisus acuminata). This species, though a native species of eastern India (and Myanmar, Vietnam etc.) is quite rare in Kolkata (only other place I have seen this so far is a single specimen in Dhakuria Lake). Small simple leaf and drooping branches and dark brown fissured barks are characteristics of this tree. 

In all likelihood this particular specimen is one of the specimen mentioned by A. P. BENTHALL in his “TREES OF CALCUTTA AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD” published in 1946. He wrote “…it may be considered one of the most handsome of garden trees owing to its stately and graceful habit of growth. A fine specimen grows in the south-east corner of Dalhousie Square, and others near the main gate of the Zoological Gardens”. 

The other axlewood tree is also near the main gate, some 30-40 yards from it. If you if you walk straight from the main exit gate it will be on your left side (22.53600N, 88.33325E).  In my estimation this tree is at least 30 meter tall.

(update 2024) This tree has died, most probably in Amphan cyclone (2020). During my 2024 visit to the zoo I did not find any trace of this tree and when I asked the security they told the tree had fallen some 4 years back. But there are are a couple of huge such trees still alive within some 50-60 meters of the main gate.

Baobab 

Adansonia digitata

GPS: 22.53417, 88.33161 (opposite spotted deer enclosure, next to a rest area with hexagonal shed); An iconic and curious tree from sub Saharan Africa with extremely fat trunk tapering into very thin branchlets and semul like digitately compound leaves 

Baobab lives for centuries so when Benthal writes is 1946 "two good specimens of considerable age may be seen in the Calcutta Zoo", I love to believe this may be one of them though this does not look that old.

Jamaican Fiddlewood Tree 

Citharexylum spinosum

Next to Manipuri  Deer enclosure. A small to mid-size tree from Tropical Americas (West Indies). The wood apparently used for making musical instruments. Flowers have fragrance.

Easter Tree  (Kurchi in Bengali)

Holarrhena pubescens

Opposite Swarnamoyee house enclosures (GPS: 22.54313,88.33467) there are a few kurchi trees. This small to medium sized tree is a native of India and flowers profusely in April, also some later flushes around September. Flowers are highly scented very similar to Jasmine. More