TWO months ago, Natesh Konanakatte, a young graftsman from Sagara taluk, posted online that he had identified a wild orange tree called illi hannu in the Mavinasara forest nearby. He also wrote that four years ago, he had planted a graft of a wild orange he had identified. “This year I got 500 oranges from that tree. They are sweet and tasty when they are fully ripe.”
Konanakatte hardly expected the nostalgic response he got. There is a revival of interest in vanishing varieties of wild oranges in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka. Ask. . .