Today is our topic of discussion Reading reports 4
Reading reports 4
Look at the picture, read the report and answer the questions that follow.
Fig : A poisonous plant
A poisonous plant, harmful to humans, animals and flora, was found some time ago in the south-western region of the country. It is causing concern to our plant biologists. They collected some samples of the plant recently from the Manik Mia Avenue area in the city after noticing its firm presence in the fields in south-western districts.
‘Bishgach’, botanically known as ‘Perthenium hysterophorus’, is on display at the National Tree Fair at Dhanmondi playground. “We are showing it to draw people’s attention”, said Ms B M Rezia, an official of the National Harborium, while talking to the Daily Star.
The harborium has a stall at the Fair, displaying a number of disappearing species, to focus interest on the plants which have medicinal and commercial values. Ms Rezia said, “The farmers are greatly concerned about ‘Bishgach’ which can cause harm to their crops, plants and animals. It grows fast. Its pollen, carried by the wind, spreads around.”
The plant was first sighted in 1990 by two Bangladeshi plant scientists, Dr Salar Khan and Dr Abul Hasan of Dhaka University, at a place two km from the city’s Saidabad bus terminal. Growing straight up to about one and a half metres the plant, its flower and pollen cause skin allergy in humans.
Animals that eat the plant have rash and diarrhoea which can be fatal to them. “Before the plant spreads fast all over the country, it must be destroyed. For that public awareness must be created through the media”, said Ms Rezia.
Questions:
1. Why is the poisonous plant causing concern to our plant biologists?
2. Who was showing the plant ‘Bishgach’ at a national fair? 3. Why were the farmers concerned?
4. How does the plant affect or attack humans and animals? What harm does the plant cause to them?
5. What should we do to destroy the plant before it spreads all over the country?
Study these words.
poisonous (adj) – A poisonous animal or plant produces poison
flora (n) – that can kill you or make you sick if you swallow that poison. plants, especially the plants that grow in a particular area
biologists (n, pl) – scientists who study living things, such as humans, animals or plants, etc.
botanically known – being known for its botanical (relating to plants) name
on display – When you put something on display, you put it in such a place that people can easily see it. You can put some paintings or magazines on display.
disappearing species – here plants which are becoming rare
pollen (n) -fine yellow dust produced by flowers. It causes other flowers to produce seeds when it is carried to them by the wind.
was sighted (v, pass.) – was seen or spotted suddenly and often briefly
allergy (n) – If you have allergy to something, you become ill when you eat it, smell it or touch it.
rash (n) – A rash is an area of red spots that appear on your skin when you have an allergy or when you are sick.
media (n) – You can refer to radio, TV, newspapers and magazines as the media. So we say mass media, multimedia, etc.