TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - One of the oldest tree species to have recently died in the Bogor Botanical Garden is the 194-year-old lychee tree Litchi Chinensis Sonn. It was discovered to be uprooted on Wednesday, October 4.
The Bogor Botanical Garden is currently investigating the cause of the tree’s death. Based on initial visual observations, there are indications of it to be caused by the build-up of termites.
According to Rosiniati Apriani Risna, Head of cooperation and information sub-section for the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), the lychee tree was one of 600 oldest tree collections the botanical garden had.
“The [tree] was well known and was a phenomenon considering its age,” said Risna today on Monday, October 9. The tree was first planted back in 1823 has been featured on the cover of the botanical garden’s catalog book for the past seven years.
Risna continued to remind us how praiseworthy the role of the tree was for us. “Imagine the large amounts of carbon it absorbed For 194 years. Its contribution to the environment is priceless,” she said.
As one of the largest botanical garden in Southeast Asia, it currently features a collection of 12,469 specimens that consists of 3,240 types and 9,685 orchid species consisting of 583 variants. Around 600 of the tree specimens are above 100 years of age while 3,000 of them are around 50 years of age.
ANTARA