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.
Cutch tree is a small deciduous thorny tree, growing upto 15 m high. This is native to India and Thailand. The stem is dark brown to black, with rough bark which peels off in long strips in mature trees. The fern-like leaves are 100-200 mm long and contain between 8 and 30 pairs of small leaves made up of numerous, oblong pairs of secondary leaflets 2-6 mm long. Pairs of stout thorns up to 10 mm long are found at the base of each leaf. The flowers are white or pale yellow, about 3 mm long and bunched tightly together to form a cylindrical flower spike, 35-75 mm long, resembling a lamb's tail. I photographed this flower on 11th September, 2011 as i was back to my home from lab.
East Indian Glory Bower is a shrub or small tree. The species is found in tropical and subtropical regions of Asia. It reaches upto 3 m high and is ever green. Young branches are 4 angled, leaves simple and opposite. Flowers are white and borne in 4-6 branched corymbose cymes at the end of branches. Inflorescence loosely cymose or capitate. The fruits are beautiful blue-green, becoming black when dry. Though it is found in North East India, this particular flowerwas shot at Mysore, just opposite to CSRTI, Mysore, for which i am thankful to my colleague, who took me to this shrub in the afternoon of 29th August 2011.
The morning mallow or common wireweed is native of Central America, but spread across the globe. This is a much branched shrubby plant growing to a feet or more, leaves are simple, lanceolate and prominently toothed. Flowers grow from axis and are yellow in colour, 1-2 cm diameter, solitary and occasionally in pairs. Flowers are buttercup like in shape with overlapping five petals. I took this photo on 31st August, 2011 in CSRTI, Mysore campus.
Cardinal sage is a perennial herb native to the Mexican mountains. It is a half hardy perennial, producing spikes of glowing red flowers each with the lower lip covered in velvet like hairs. The leaves are velvety and heart shaped. I took this photo on 30th November, 2010 on my way to Coonoor, somewhere in the Nilgiris, as the vehicle stopped for a short break - the old vehicle was literally huffing and puffing! This humble plant was smiling with vibrant red flowers as if it is welcoming us to the Nilgiris.
Hydrangea or mophead hydrangea is native to Japan and Korea. it is a rounded shrub with huge, deciduous, opposite, serrated, medium to dark green leaves. Flowers are arranged in huge, ball shaped clusters. The large shiny flower heads are blue or pink, but few varieties are white. Hydrangeas are fascinating in that, the colour of their flowers can change dramatically. Changing a hydrangea from pink to blue entails adding aluminium to the soil and a reverse is possible by removing aluminium from the soil. I took this photo in the evening of 5th September, 2011 from the uncle's home at Mysore, wherein it was thriving well in a cement pot.
Silky indigo is an erect or spreading annual up to 1.5 m tall. The stems are hairy with stiff brown hairs. Leaves are compound. Inflorescence is a receme with 25 mm long stalk. Pink flowers are 1 cm long. As i went on to shoot a morning glory, as a surprise gift, it presented itself to be shot. With a happy lens i shot this flower on 10th September 2011 from the wild growth of tree mulberry plantations in CSRTI, Mysore. I found it very difficult to shoot as it was busy chattering with the cool windy breeze!
The Indian coral tree or tiger claw is a showy tall tree growing 60-80'. This is a highly valued ornamental tree. The leaves are compound with three diamond shaped leaflets. The tree blooms profusely with bright crimson flowers 2-3" long in dense terminal clusters. I took this photograph on 3rd December, 2010 at Pasteure Institute, Coonoor, Tamil Nadu while on a trip to attend a Workshop.
