Jesuit priest
Pratap Naik sj, director of the TSKK currently, has been building a collection of over 328 trees and plants, all in the yard of a research institution studying the local
Konknni language. Naik argues that the culture of a place is reflected "not only" in its language, but also in its flora—apart from its fauna, architecture, food habits and dress. He has been quoted saying that he wants to grow one of every fruit-bearing tree that grows in
Goa which is rich in plant diversity. This richness is thanks in significant part to plant exchanges by the former rulers who centuries back controlled international seaways and had an empire straddling the continents. Many months of hard work has seen Naik piece together a well-maintained and neatly labelled botanical garden. Visible are the local names in Konknni, the botanical names, their
English names. Elsewhere, he keeps a list of the original native countries of these
Goa-adopted plants. Among the collection are the
ainno madd (the Fan Palm in
English, or
Livistona rotundifolia as it's known by its botanical name). It comes from tropical
America. There's the
ambaddo, dismissively perhaps called the
hog-plum that traces its origins to
India itself. The
ambor (
mulberry, or
Morus alba) has
Chinese origins.
Kalljirem (black cumin,
Nigella sativa) is again of
Indian origin.
Kiraitem (
canscora in English, or
Canscora decussata) is from
India, but the
zaifoll (
nutmeg,
Mystica fragans) comes from the
Moluccas, the so-called
Spice Islands of past centuries, in the
Far East.
Gozgo (the
fever nut or
Caesalpinia bonduc) is, again, of
Indian origin. Naik says he has already found the names of 325 species from among the 329 he planted. "Some don't have names in Konknni (the local language)," he is quoted as saying, obviously because of their exotic origins. ==See also==