CUDDALORE:
The Centre for Advanced Study in Marine Biology of Annamalai University has successfully restored two species of vegetations on Silver Beach at Thevanampattinam here.
Vice-Chancellor of Annamalai University M.Ramanathan has released handouts to create awareness among the coastal community about the importance of these vegetations. Director of the Centre T.Balasubramanian told The Hindu that the project, funded by the University Grants Commission and taken up in the post-tsunami period, had been successfully implemented on the beach.
Earlier, the vegetations were found sparsely on sand dunes along the coast at Thevanampattinam. After the restoration efforts were undertaken, the area under the vegetation had increased and moreover there was a lush growth of these species. The species were named ipomea pescaprae (popularly known as “ adachan kodi” in Tamil) with leaves in the shape of horses' hoof and violet flowers, and spinifex littoreus (popularly known as Ravana's moustache) because of the spiny nature of its leaves.
Professor M.Srinivasan of the Faculty of Marine Sciences said that the coastal vegetation could be classified into three categories:
those occurring close to the water front, those growing in the sandy places and the mangroves on the estuaries and backwaters. Mr. Srinivasan said that the propagation could be possible by plucking the portions of creepers and planting them in pits dug to the depth of half to one foot. The ideal season for the propagation was from October to December as rain water would nurture the vegetation. He further said that these vegetations served as binding agents to form sand dunes which in turn acted as shelter for the marine animals during breeding season. The sea turtles used to lay eggs in such sand dunes. Moreover, the sand dunes also acted a controlling factor for waves, or in other words they lessened the force of the oncoming waves.
Mr. Srinivasan also said that these species had medicinal properties too: particularly the ipomea pescaprae could be used as a pain killer. The coastal community used to crush the leaves and apply the juice to relieve of body ache. The natural occurrence of these vegetations, however, had suffered a setback owing to the construction of roads, formation of groynes and converting the coast into a tourist destination.
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