By Abinash Chaudhary
Dhangadhi, Apr. 12: There are 869 species of plants in Kailali which has relatively more forest and wetland area.
According to the Botanical Research Centre, Kailali, 869 species of plants have been found in the district with 812 species of flowering plants and 57 fern species.
On the occasion of the 23rd Plant Resources Day to be marked on Tuesday, the Centre organised an interaction with journalists on Sunday and made public the statistics of the plant resources found in the area.

The centre has informed that the locals have been using 502 species of plants based on traditional knowledge and skills.
"Traditional knowledge and skills are very good and must not be lost," said Ganga Datta Bhatta, head of the Botanical Research Centre, Kailali. He in-formed that plant resources are being conserved in two botanical gardens in Kailali.

Various species of plants have been conserved in the Devahariya Botanical Garden in Dhangadhi Sub-metropolis-7. The 149.5-hectare park is under the conservation of various medicinal trees like Vijaysar (Pterocarpus mar-supium), Khayar (Senegalia catechu), Sunakhari (Orchid) and Lauth Salla (Taxus mairei), said Bhatta.
“If it is properly kept, Devahariya Botanical Garden will be the main beauty spot of Dhangadhi in the future,” he said. However, there is a need for con-servation, study, research and reproduction in botanical gardens, Bhatta added.

Similarly, the Centre has been conserving plants in Godavari of Kailali by constructing Godavari Conservation Area on 10.6 hectares of land.
Madan Raj Bhatta, Scientific Officer at the Botanical Research Centre, Kailali, said that there would be many benefits if the plants were found in the area. “However, very few herbs are being exported from our country as raw material,” he said. “Even though there are many herbs, we have not been able to benefit from them,” he added.

So far, 1,123 species of fungi and 2,467 species of mushrooms have been found in Nepal. Out of these, 1,291 species of mushrooms are eatable in Nepal, said Bhatta. Some 100 species of mushrooms are said to be inedible and poisonous.
“Mushrooms, especially those eaten by ants or insects, are considered edi-ble,” he said.

Similarly, 998 species of laau, 582 species of neuro (fiddlehead fern) and unyu (ferns), 28 angular plants, 32 rhododendron and 5,309 flowering plants are found in Nepal. The centre has informed that 312 species of flow-ers are found only in Nepal.

The earliest known plant in Nepal is Magar Kanche (Begonia picta). On Ju-ly 21, 1802, Magar Kanche was collected by a foreigner named Dr. Fran-cis Buchanan-Hamilton in the vicinity of Narayanhiti, Kathmandu. In 1805, James Edward Smith named Magar Kanche with scientific confirmation.