The BBMP is conducting a tree census in Bengaluru, the first of its kind. As of November 2024, 2,86,000 trees have been enumerated across seven zones. Here are some salient points from the data so far:

1. Except Dasarahalli zone, trees are being enumerated from most of the city. RR Nagar has the most data followed by South Zone. However, significant areas still remain uncovered by the census.
2. A total of 233 species have been identified by the census.
3. As expected, the humble Pongam tree (Pongamia pinnata) is the most common tree species in Bengaluru. However, less than one in four trees (23.73%) is a Pongam.
4. The next highest is Swietenia mahagoni, also known as false mahagony tree at 5.61%.
5. Significantly, many trees are marked as just “others” with no species marker. This accounts for the second highest category and needs to be corrected to ensure there is a good accounting of trees and species in the city.
6. There is a good balance of species, and the top 10 species make up only 50% of the trees in Bengaluru, which is in contrast with Pune, where only three species make up close to 50% of the trees.
7. The top 10 species have most of them in the range of 2-3%, and four of the top 10 are non-native species.
8. Around 8500 Saraca asoca, or “Ashoka”, trees have been counted and it is one of the top 10 tree species counted. However, going by the locations which includes the median of major roads, this is most likely Polyalthia longifolia, or the “False Ashoka” tree, which is a common avenue tree with tall vertical stems and little horizontal branching. Interestingly the census counts 738 Polyalthia trees, which are also located along medians and road sides which suggests that the False Ashoka trees might be getting counted as Saraca asoca in most cases and Polyaltha longifolia in a few depending on the enumerating personnel.

The addition of data to this dataset from the BBMP is ongoing, and we will continue to update the set every couple of months as and when a significant increase is seen. You can find the zone-wise data here.