Saluting every life with a flower each day! Flowers are soul of the planet, blooming to play music with silent notes. Smile at them as they are sweet hearted!! Only the photographs taken by me are uplinked. I lean heavily to http://www.flowersofindia for flower identification and descriptions. Looking forward to valuable comments and suggestions.
Desert rose or Japanese Frangipani is an ever green succulent shrub, native of East Africa. It grows 1-3 m. Leaves are spirally arranged, clustered towards the tips of the shoots. Flowers are beautiful, tubular 2 inches long, pink open trumpet shaped. It is a gardeners delight, because when potted, it tend to become a bonsai, which can be kept as an indoor plant. The sap of its roots and stems are poisonous and have been used as an arrow poison for hunting. I took this photograph on 5th September, 2011 at Mysore, in the home garden of the Uncle and Aunt after a shower, in the beautiful evening.
A succulent, native to Mexico. Cultivated for its fibres that are extracted from the leaves. The plant has large lancolate leaves with thick points and sharp tips. The long spike bears many urceolate yellow-green flowers. It was plenty in my native place and i has seen people cutting the leaves for its fibres. When we travel south Tamil Nadu, it is a common sight that people are harvesting the leaf for its fibre. This photograph i took just outside the chamber of Director, CSRTI, Mysore, on 11th Sept. 2011.
American mint, the aggressive rigid annual herb is native to the American continent. Stem is quadrate and bears hairs. The copious blue flowers are small and two lipped. A large number of pollinators help in the production of large number of seeds. The plant is used in the treatment for diarrhea and also it is found that the plant is effective as insecticide. I have observed this plant all along the road sides of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. I used this plant extract for my research work in the field of sericulture. Along with my friend i collected this plant for herbarium. Now it is available in plenty all along Mysore and i took this photograph in the CSRTI, Mysore campus on 3rd September, 2011.
The Umbrella Palm or Umbrella Plant or Umbrella papyrus is a wonderful plant with thin blades arranged like an umbrella. This fabulous marginal water plant, native of the swamps of Madagascar. This is a close relative of the Nile papyrus. The umbelliform inflorescence is composed of 10-20 small clusters of green-white tiny flowers. It appears at the end of the stems, on top of the leaf shaped bracts. I had this plant during 1988 while pursuing my computer course, staying with my aunt in Nagercoil. This photo i took on 3rd Sept. 2011 near the institute gate, where i am presently working.
The Flamingo flower or boy flower refers to the structure of spathe and spadix. The glossy heart shaped flower bract gives the name Painter’s palette. Anthurium is one of the most admired and cultivated garden plant across the globe, which comes in shades of red, pink, white, liliac, green, etc. The dark green heart shaped leaves themselves are attractive and adds to the beauty of any home garden. The plant produces four to six flowers every year and lasts for about six weeks in the plant. My uncle – father’s younger brother – had a very good collection of Anthuriums in Trivandrum (Kerala) when i noticed them during 1976. Now also he is very keen about maintaining many specialized cultivars. This photograph i took on 5th Sept. 2011 evening from the uncle’s home, who is maintaining a wonderful home garden.
The Potato vine, a wonderful shrubby twining climber bloom is a treat to watch. This is very suitable ornamental cover for trellis, walls, arches or for growing across lattice for shade. The star shaped white flowers are slightly fragrant, about 2.5 cm dia with a central yellow beak. I saw this plant in Coonoor while attending a conference there. It was attached to a leaning fence, calling my attention. I was relaxing around the fence and snapped the spike on 2nd December 2011.
The leaves and leaf buds are processed for making tea. Tea is native to Southeast Asia and now cultivated all across the world as a commercial crop. This evergreen shrub is trimmed suitably to maintain cultural and harvesting operations in tea gardens. The yellow-white flowers around 3 cm in dia with 7-8 petals. For me it was an enigma as a young student, as to how the drink is drawn out of a plant! First time i saw the plant during my study trip to Ooty arranged by my college, way back in 1986 as a graduate student. That time the green carpeted Nilgiri hills have mesmarised me and i fell in love with the hill station. During December 3rd 2011, along with my colleagues i visited a tea factory at Coonoor (Tamil Nadu) to buy tea and then ventured to feel the tea garden. I took this photograph, which was solitary in the axil of leaves, refreshing me as a cup of tea!
