India’s first Moss Garden developed at Rumtek

GANGTOK, 18 March: India’s first Moss Garden has been developed at the Jawaharlal Nehru Botanical Garden at Rumtek by the Forest, Environment and Wildlife Management Department.
PCCF-cum-Secretary, ST Lachungpa, and Additional PCCF-cum-Project Director [Japanese International Co-operation Agency], Anil Mainra, along with a JICA team visited the garden and inspected the moss garden recently. The Jawaharlal Nehru Botanical Garden was inaugurated in 1987.
A press release of the Forest Department informs that the DFO [Environment and Pollution Control Division], Abhay Bhaskar, with the help of Robert Phompey from the United Kingdom, developed this special section at the garden.

Mr. Phompey is a specialist in Bryophytes [Moss] and is working on the project on a voluntary basis.
Moss is abundantly found in the region but is least studied. The new garden should change that.
The DFO, with the help of Mr. Phompey, has created a special section to study and document the moss diversity of Sikkim by collecting different species of mosses at one location - Moss Garden, it is informed.
As per Mr. Phompey, the moss garden will be in its full glory once the monsoon commences.
The department is making continuous efforts to increase the plant species and improve the area by collecting plants from Sikkim and North-East India.
The release highlights that moss is an interesting group of plants; they are soil producers, soil binders, moisture holder, organic matter producers and pollution indicators and they also monitor the health of ecosystem.