Some of the flowers that you will find at the Regional Plant Resources Centre’s proposed garden are churiana or Mammea suriga (from above), asoka or Saraca asoca and muchukund or Pterspermum acerifolium. Telegraph pictures

Bhubaneswar, Aug. 19: The Regional Plant Resource Centre (RPRC) here has planned to open a garden of fragrant flower-bearing plants on its campus near Ekamra Kanan lake.

The plant resource centre has a collection of 200 varieties and hybrids of cacti, gardens of rose, wild berries and hibiscus.

Work has begun on the flower garden. The garden will be landscaped with lush lawns, pathways and plants, herbs and shrubs numbering more than 100 collected from different parts of the state and elsewhere.

“We have already collected 40 species of plants for the flower garden. Incessant rain has stalled the progress in landscaping since the work involves filling up some portions with new soil. We will collect different species of the plants. Planting will start by mid-September,” said senior scientist at the taxonomy and conservation division of the centre, Pratap Chandra Panda.

Apart from plant species from Orissa, exotic varieties will also be collected from places such as Bangalore and the North-east so that a wide spectrum of fragrant flowering species with their original gene pool may be displayed, Panda added.

“As the institute is also working on creating a genetic database of the available plants on its premises, the fragrant varieties will also be included in the process,’’ he said.

According to the plant resource centre sources, the institute has so far created DNA mapping for 450 plant species and aims to cover another 3,000 major plant species available in the state.

Scientists of RPRC have created a genetic database of the plants to know their genetic composition, their sequence and nature.

This data will help scientists in research in areas such as breeding programmes to produce high-yielding, drug-resistant and flood-resistant plant varieties to withstand environmental stress.

“The fragrant flower-bearing plants also have great curative value. Aromatic oils derived from flowers are used for aroma therapy in ayurveda and also in spas where specific aromatic elements are used to relieve mental stress and even pain.

“More research on the flower-derived chemicals can lead to better use of their aromatic values,” added a senior scientist of RPRC.