|
The
department of Botany was established in the year 1937 when the Madras
Christian
College left its urban location in George Town, Madras, and moved to
the sylvan
surroundings in the selaiyur reserve forest, Tambaram.
The
B.Sc degree course in Botany was started with just a couple of rooms in
the
south-east corner of the main building and about a dozen students.
Professor
M.S.Sabesan was the first head of the department with one lecturer and
a tutor.
The
museum and library were shared between the Botany and Zoology
departments.
After
about 12 years during the 1950’s the student strength
increased to 25 and a
majority of them were from Srilanka and Malaysia.
The
shifting of the department in the year 1983 from the main building to a
spacious 2 floor department building designed and constructed with the
monetary
assistance from central agency, West Germany marked the beginning of an
era of
research in several disciplines of plant sciences.
The
beginning of 21st century has been a period of
introspection,
challenge and exiting possibilities.
The
policy of economic liberalization, the crisis and constraints in
funding of
higher education, mushrooming of self-financing institutions, and
public
perception have tended to undermine the importance of plant sciences in
the
country.
The
convention on biodiversity has sharply brought to focus the importance
of the
study of plants in our country of great biodiversity wealth and
pressing
environmental problems.
In
plant biology special focus is being given to such disciplines as
biodiversity-angiosperm and algal taxonomy, seed biology, pollen
biology,
ecology and environment, forest biology, cell biology, pollination and
dispersal biology, and those related to plant biotechnology
such as plant
tissue culture, algal and microbial biotechnology, molecular biology
and
genetics, plant physiology and biochemistry as well as bioinformatics.
The
department had an internet facility through LAN(local area network) and
all
research labs plus the I M.Sc and the II M.Sc labs have been provided
with an
extended internet connection which serves the purpose of web browsing
in labs
in the computer laboratory.
Bio-informatics
infra structure facility (BIF) at the college has established an
extension
culture in the department computer lab.
The
library has been renovated after the stock taking and getting
computerized.
The
past record shows steady growth and progress in teaching, research and
co-curricular activities.
The Botany society and the PG Botany
club contribute immensely to the academic as well as extracurricular
activities
of the department.
III B.Sc students have participated
actively in the various inter-collegiate competitions organized by
other
colleges and won deserving prizes trophies and over all shields for
their
performance in events such as paper presentation, quiz, bio-cartooning,
cross
word, floral arrangement, ad-zap etc.
BOTANY DEPARTMENT HIGHLIGHTS
One
of the oldest department of Botany in Tamil Nadu state(73 years)
Offers
best training in plant sciences at under-graduate, post-graduate and
research
levels
Focus
on research for more than four decades
Well
known in research fields such as Gravitropism, plant histochemistry,
plant
growth regulator studies, seed physiology, paleophytology, palynology,
algology, plant tissue culture and angiosperm taxonomy
Field
based studies for biodiversity and angiosperm taxonomy
Offers
consultancy in algae and flowering plants identification and in
medicinal
plants
Former
professor Dr.P.Dayanandan has received the best teacher award, from
government
of Tamil Nadu.
Research
collaborations with institutes such as M.S.Swaminathan research
foundation,
Chennai; International ocean institute; IIT campus, Chennai;
Queen’s
university-Canada; foundation for revitalization of local health
traditions-Bangalore; centre for plants, people and ecosystems, Chennai
and
C.P.Ramaswami Iyer Environmental Education Research centre, Chennai
New
species and new varieties in plant, fossils, algae and flowering plants
have
been described by the staff of the department. Two new species Anoectochilus
narasimhanii and Orophea narasimhanii have
been discovered by
researchers of the department pursuing angiosperm taxonomy.
Pollen
atlas for Chennai has been prepared by the staff of the department,
which is
referred by allergy specialist in Chennai.
Students
of this department are recognized for their knowledge and training in
Botany
and are recruited in Universities, colleges, Non-governmental research
organizations in India and research institutes abroad.
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS:
Department
of Biotechnology under the “Star college scheme”
has aided the Botany Department for equipment and consumables. This
initiative is to impart
scientific knowledge through use of equipments and tools even by
under-graduate
students. We are sure that this initiative will produce young research
minds
with good practical training. Apart from analyzing and other modern
equipment a
state of the art culturing facility for algae has also been
commissioned, using
the DBT star college funding.
Dr.D.Narasimhan Associate Professor of our
department is the principal investigator of
the
“species recovery” project. Under the project two
threatened and endangered
species will be mapped, micro propagated and introduced in their
habitat and
elsewhere. This apart histochemical and cytogenetic investigation and
analysis
using microscopic techniques would be carried out. A lab with modern
facilities
and shade house has been commissioned to investigate and produce
plantlets.
|
