In the wings ...

Botanical name: Strelitzia reginae

Bird-of-paradise or Crane flower is a uniquely shaped flower. This exotic tropical perennial resembles a bird's head, and due to it's brilliant orange and blue colors and unique form, it resembles not just any bird but a bird-of-paradise! So not surprisely Strelitzia reginae is know as the bird-of-paradise flower. It's other common name, crane flower, is another bow to its exotic avian shape. Fantastically handsome flowers aside, this is also a very attractive foliage plant. The paddle-shaped leathery leaves are about 8 inches long and 6 inches wide. Forming massive clumps 3 feet high bird-of-paradise lends a romantic tropical ambiance to the landscape. I took this photograph on 6th January, 2012 near the telephone exchange in Visveswaranagar, Mysore.

Botanical name: Leucophyllum frutescens

Purple sage is a dense rounded 3-5 ft semi-evergreen shrub, in the desert conditions of Texas. It has 0.5-1 in wavy-looking ovalish alternate leaves with silvery velvety appearance. The five-lobed tubular 0.5-1 in flowers are borne singly in the leaf axils. They have spotted throats and a typical dogflower family character. The flowers appear after summer rains, sometimes covering the plants with white, pink, lavender, purple, or blue blossoms for a spectacular week long display. The flowers are followed by two-valved capsules filled with small wrinkled seeds. I have seen this plant only in the Atmanilayam Nursery Gardens, Parassala, Trivandrum district of Kerala. The photograph was taken on 2nd January, 2012.

Botanical name: Papaver orientale

Delicate blossoms of poppies have enchanted for generations. Oriental poppies are among the most flamboyant of the early summer flowers, with enormous, often frilly double flowers around 15 cm across in loud colours many are vermilion red, and most have black bases to the petals. Sunlight makes the translucent petals positively glow with color. Even though the narcotic content is minimal to absent in the red Oriental Poppy or the annual Common Poppy (P. rhoeas), the odor of the vibrant new flowers will nevertheless give you some sense of the odor of Opium Poppies. The Oriental Poppy generally has single flowers with black center, they come in early summer. Large, silky flowers feature black blotches at the base of each petal. Plants bloom profusely in May and June, the year after the seed is sown. This photograph was taken on 24th January, 2012 at Lal Bagh, Bangalore.

Resurrection ....

Botanical name: Citrus limomum

Torching you through summer ...

Botanical name: Billbergia pyramidalis

Foolproof plant is a bromeliad from Brazil. Every summer it blooms without fail with that strange orangey-pink flower. This probably is the origin of the common name. It is not really a flower, but rather an inflorescence with many flowers. It quickly grows "pups" to create an unusual ground cover. The succlent leaves form a large vase, and produce mostly red flowers with yellow and purple highlights. The flower looks like a torch. This photograph was taken on 3rd January, 2012 at my native place in a plant nursery.