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Delhi Ridge, the northern end of the Aravallis, lies fragmented in several patches in the city, from Jahanpanah city forest and Sanjay Van in the south to Kamla Nehru Ridge in the north. The largest of these fragments, however, is the Central Ridge, also known as the New Delhi Ridge, which stretches over 864 hectares. In a move that will undeniably decimate this fragment is the creation of four more ‘van’ (forests) to join Sanjay Van in Delhi, as announced with the release of a tender by the Delhi Forest Department.

The tender, titled “Development of Special Vans – Tirthankar Van, Ritu Van, Rashi Van & Panchvati Van in Central Ridge under West Forest Division”, is set to come up in the Central Ridge area. Quite unlike Sanjay Van, which is a wilderness area, these four forests will transform the Central Ridge into curated spaces that are most decidedly not wilderness.

The Ridge biodiversity

The Ridge belongs to the Aravalli west thorn scrub forests ecoregion – a large, geographically distinct region with distinct climate and biodiversity – that stretches from Gujarat to Punjab, and this region, along with the rocky Aravallis proper (mostly in Rajasthan), also comprises large swathes of topographically plain ‘open natural ecosystems’, such as grassland. 

Large parts of this ecoregion have been taken over by pernicious invasive species such as Vilayati Keekar (Neltuma juliflora), Subabool (Leucanea leucocephala), Lantana (Lantana camara) and Gajar Ghaas (Parthenium hysterophorus), and the Delhi Ridge is no exception. Joining these invasive species are other exotics that were intentionally planted at a time when we knew no better, such as the various eucalypts. These invasive and exotic species today comprise much of the biomass of the Delhi Ridge. All the Ridge fragments as they are today are consequently extremely degraded parcels of land, ecologically speaking. 

That is to say, the Ridge is a dysfunctional ecosystem. However, under the canopy of this largely woody list of species lies a herb and shrub layer that lies largely untouched. The Flora of Delhi, written by J.K. Maheshwari in 1963, records a few hundred species of native herbs, shrubs, and vines found in the Ridge. 

One of them is the bulbous species Dipcadi montanum (Mountain Dipcadi). Endemic to the Indian subcontinent, this plant is rather uncommon throughout its range. In the Delhi region, it behaves as a spring ephemeral, emerging for just about a month, completing flowering and fruiting before returning to dormancy for the rest of the year. 

Dipcadi montanum. Photo: By arrangement

Another example are the exceptionally pretty vines from the Apocynaceae family found in the Ridge. Apocynaceae, the milkweed family, plays host to the........

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