Western Ghats News

440-foot cane found in Gerusoppa forest
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[TUESDAY, APRIL 02, 2002 10:45:08 PM]
SHIMOGA: A 440-foot cane has been found at the Khadore range of Gerusoppa forest in Sharavthi range along the Shimoga and Uttara Kannada border, forest department officials have said. Called Calamaus Thwytes (in local language Handi Betta), this rattan could be the longest in the country and may be the world, contended the officials. The previous record for the longest rattan in Karnataka stood at 180 feet, displayed at the Dasara exhibition in Mysore decades ago. Karnataka stands first in cane production in South India. Cane, which once grew abundantly all along the Western Ghats, is found only in few pockets now, because of indiscriminate deforestation. In all, 600 varieties of cane, belonging to 13 families, are found in South-East Asia. The annual turnover from cane and cane-related items is estimated at Rs 3,500 crore. A.C. Lakshman, a retired chief conservator of forest of Karnataka, hailed the new discovery as a great boon to the efforts of the department. Lakshman has contributed a great deal for developing cane in Shimoga, Uttara Kannada and Kodagu districts over the last four decades. For his contributions, a cane -- Halu Betta of Karnataka -- has been named after him, Calamus Lakshmanac.