page_title: T. Venkatapathi Reddiar
section_title: Biography
hierarchical_section_title: T. Venkatapathi Reddiar / Biography
caption_attribution_description: English: Picture of Crossandra infundibuliformis
context_page_description: T. Venkatapathi Reddiar is an Indian horticulturist and florist, credited with the development of over 100 varieties of crossandra flowers and casuarinas. He was honored by the Government of India, in 2012, with the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri.
context_section_description: Venkatapathi Reddiar was born on 29 March 1946 in Koodapakkam village of the Indian Union Territory of Puducherry. His schooling was broken while he was in grade 4 as he had to assist his family in farming but, taking a fascination for horticulture, he learnt the science through self-education. He obtained translated versions of scientific journals for his studies and attempted reportedly innovative practices at Lakshminarayana Crossandra Innovative Centre, a laboratory and research centre founded by him in 1972. Initially he worked on micropropagation of different varieties of flower plants but soon started deploying tissue culture techniques at the laboratory he had set up.
  Reddiar is credited with the standardization of the technique of nodal stem cuttings in mist chamber. He is reported to have developed over 100 varieties of plants such as Crossandra and disease resistant Casuarina. One of the crossandra varieties he has developed has been christened Abdul Kalam Crossandra, after the erstwhile President of India. Another variety of casuarina developed by him is dedicated to the incumbent Chief Minister of Puducherry, N. Rangaswamy and is known by name, Rangaswamy Casuarina. He is reported to have devised farming techniques for Delhi Crossandra which yields 20 kg of flowers per acre per day. He is also credited with the development of 30 high yielding mutant varieties of Crossandra using gamma radiation, with assistance from the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam.
  Reddiar, whose hybrid varieties have been planted in the Mughal Gardens of the Rashtrapati Bhavan, lives in Koodapakkam in Puducherry.
caption: Crossandra infundibuliformis
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "SONY", "Image Model": "DSC-W80", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2008:06:29 22:51:35", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "2300", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0]", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "1/96", "Thumbnail YResolution": "1/96", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "13446", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6099", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/125", "EXIF FNumber": "26/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "320", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:06:29 22:51:35", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2008:06:29 22:51:35", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "87/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "640", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "480", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "13294", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF Padding": "[]", "EXIF OffsetSchema": "4128"}