World's oldest Chinar tree found in Kashmir

Srinagar, Dec 16 (UNI) A 627-year-old Chinar tree, considered to be the world's oldest and biggest such tree, has been found at a garden of a Muslim shrine in central Kashmir.

The Chinar tree, which has become a part of Kashmir's heritage, was found at Chattergam in Chadoora area of Badgam district.

According to renowned environmentalist Muhammad Sultan Wadoo, the tree was planted by a Sufi saint, Syed Abul Qasim Shah Hamdani, in a garden at Chattergam in 1374 AD.

He said the the stem of this Chinar tree was 31.85 mt in circumference and stands at 14.78 mt tall.

Earlier, the largest and the oldest Chinar tree was considered to be at Bijbehara in Anantnag district with 19.70 mt stem circumference and 13.30 mt tall.

Mr Wadoo has written several books on environment, including 'The trees of our Heritage', which covers significant aspects of forestry, plantation and environment besides research work on trees especially Chinar and Deodar, also called Green Gold.

In his research work of about 10 years, he traveled thousands of kilometers in the entire temperate zone of Jammu and Kashmir and assessed numerous Chinars to establish the historic one.

UNI