PLANT WONDERS AND EVOLUTION

                     PLANT WONDERS AND EVOLUTION


  Students will get rare opportunity to experience and learn the wonders of plant Kigdom. A student outreach programme titled"Plant wonders and Evolution" to be organised by the Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute (TBGRI) on its campus at palode near Thiruvananthapuram from September 26. The Exhibition will conclude 30th September,2011. It will expose the children to little known aspects of the plant world. One of the highlights of the programme is an interaction with unusual and strange plants, including carnivorous ones. the session will take the students in to the bizare world of insect eating plants, their mechanisms, and chemistry of trapping prey.
  The five hour programme targeting higher secondary students will cover the biographical saga of Charles Darwin, his trip to Galapagos islands, the theory of evolution and its impact.  One of the Carnivorous pants to be exhibited at the session is Rafflesia Pricei,one of the largest flowers(up to 80cm diameter) known in the plant kigdom. Native to North Norneo,it weights 7 kg, smells of carrion and is a paracite. It is named after Sir stamford Raffles, the explorer who discovered singapore. Also to be displayed is the Nepenthes kinbaluensis an other carnivorous plant found on it ,Kinabalu, Sabah,Malaysia modified leaves resembling big pitchers catch insects and rodents. The programme will have lectures, live demonstration and screening of lims. Entry is free but Limited to maximum of 60 students with five teachers a day. Course material, food, and other logistics will be provided free of charge. Details can be had from the   phone 0472 2866926

                                                                             Prof. John Kurakar