Colonial Botanical Engineering and the Ecological Transformation of Indian Landscapes

Urban landscapes across India today are often assumed to be natural extensions of local ecology. Yet many of the trees, shrubs, and plantation species that dominate these environments are the result of deliberate plant transfers during the colonial period. Between the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, British forestry departments, botanical gardens, and horticultural institutions introduced numerous non-native species into the subcontinent for economic, administrative, and aesthetic purp