WITH regard to a report published on these pages on April 29 in which barna trees were inadvertently referred to as cherry blossoms, M. Ashfaque Beg, secretary, Horticultural Society of Pakistan, has issued the following corrigendum:

I would like to draw your attention to the report titled ‘The springtime gift blossoms’, which is inaccurate and is in fact a misnomer for Karachi’s famous barna trees along the Governor House road, which is also called Aiwan-i-Saddar Road.

The barna tree is native to the Asia-Pacific region but it is also planted in the major cities of Indo-Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

The barna trees on Governor House road were planted by a team led by Mr A.K. Khan, then director parks and recreation KMC in the late sixties when Polo Ground was being refurbished as Gulshan-i-Jinnah and Bara Dari Complex.

Mr A.K. Khan was also one of the founding fathers of Horticultural Society of Pakistan in 1948.

Alas over 40 of these graceful trees were mercilessly destroyed when the yet to be completed [Green Line] track was being laid on Business Recorder Road in Jamshed Town a few years ago.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2020