Holding high ...

Scientific name: Combretum constrictum

Sweetly for you ...

Scientific name: Lathyrus odoratus

The sweat peas are wonderful plants suited for a good healthy garden which needs a little attention and support. Quite common and favourite with old timers, who cherish the fine scent and simple beauty of this flower. This is an annual plant easy to start from seed. When trained up the supports of a porch or the railings of a deck, where their perfume will be best appreciated. The sweet-smelling flowers come in a wide range of colors and are the main feature of this climbing plant. The vine grows 6 to 9 feet tall, with dwarf types reaching 8-20 inches. Sweet peas are also suitable for baskets, tubs and spillover plantings, and make excellent cut flowers. They produce an abundance of flowers that can be used as cut flowers while leaving enough on the vine to keep it highly decorative. A lot of cultivars are selected for the beauty of their flowers. I took this photograph on 24th January 2012 from Lalbagh, Bangalore during the annual Republic day flower show!

Enthralling your moods ...

Scientific name: Calliandra haematocephala

A rembling shrub or small tree with branched pinnate silky leaves and powder puff like balls of conspicuous stamens. It is a fast growing shrub that can grow tall but also spreads wide. The leaves close at night. There are red, pin and white varieties. When i was working at Palakkad during 1992-1997, i was so enthralled with this flower that i bought a sapling and planted in the P2 Basic Seed Farm campus of Central Silk Board. Recently i came to know from my friend that the plant is growing well and flowering wonderfully. This photograph was taken on 24th January 2012 from Lalbagh, Bangalore.

Bright and beautiful ...

Scientific name: Turnera ulmifolia

Yellow alder, yellow buttercup, Sage rose or Cuban buttercup is native to the West Indies and Mexico. It is a perennial, dense, compact shrub, reaching to a height of two and half feet tall. The dark green leaves are clustered towards the branch tips, lanceolate to oblong lanceolate or narrowly elliptic. Leaf margin are doubly serrate. Flowers are bright yellow buttercups, slightly brownish towards the center. This plant is found to grow wild in my native place and this photograph was taken on 23rd December 2011.

Leaning towards you ...

Scientific name:  Coccinia grandis

Ivy gourd is an aggressive vine that can spread quickly over trees, shrubs, fences and other supports. Being a perennial plant, it can spread vegetatively or by seed. The long tendrils are elastic with coil like springs, that can wrap around the host. The leaves are palmately simple with five lobes. The flowers are large and white, about 4 cm across with five long tubular petals. The creamish coloured stamen is triangular in shape. I took this photograph on 23rd December 2011 from just in front of my home in my native place, which was leaning over a bush!

Humble but staple ...

Scientific name: Manihot utilissima

The bitter cassava or tapioca is a plant with long tuberous edible roots and soft brittle stems. The plant is native to the Amazone region of Latin America. It grows to a height of 1.5 to 2.5 m tall. The flowers are creamish with pink shades on the petal edges. The flowers are with five petals and each with a stamen attached to int. Another bunch of short stamens are found in the centre. This is a staple food for common man in many African, Latin American and Asian countries with full of starch sans any proteins. In India also in the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu it is widely cultivated. I took this photograph on 23rd December 2011, just in front of my sister's home in Kerala.