The Wildlife Society of Orissa has demanded immediate prohibition on the collection and trade in Cycas plants (locally known as Arguna/Odosomari) in the State.

The unregulated collection of the pith and stems of the plant is mostly going on in Ganjam district. The villagers cut them into pieces, dry them and sell sackfuls to traders of traditional medicines, the WSO in a letter to the government agencies pointed out.

Cycas spherical, Cycas orixensis and Cycas nayagarhensis are three species seen in Odisha. Cycas plants are found all over Odisha including Ganjam, Gajapati districts Rayagada, Koraput, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Sambalpur, Deogarh, Keonjhar, Dhenkanal, Angul,etc.

Notably, Cycas nayagarhensisspecies is relatively rare being endemic to Nayagarh district and hence it is critical to protect this plant from extinction.

Cycas is a genus of plants belonging to a very ancient lineage, the Cycadophyta, which are not closely related to palms, ferns, trees or any other modern group of plants. They are evergreen perennials and living fossils from Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.

Today, the Cycas species are threatened worldwide and many species are listed in IUCN Red list. We have checked the free trade of Non-Timber Forest Produce (NTFP) list notified by the Odisha government in 2000 and this plant is not included in the 69 trade items.

Collection and trade are clearly illegal and violate Odisha Forest Act,1972. However, the forest department has not carried out any enforcement to stop this trade that is driving the plant to extinction in Ganjam district.

We have also observed that the leaves are being collected in large numbers from the forests of Narsinghpur & Badamba of Cuttack district and sent to Cuttack city to florists who sell them for flower decorations in marriages and other events.

The rate at which these plants are being decimated from the landscape to feed this illegal market, it will not be long before the Cycas species vanish from Odisha forests once the trade spreads to other forest districts. However, we still see healthy Cycas populations in other areas where the trade has not taken strong roots, the outfit said.