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.
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!
Star glory is a beautiful twining vine with red flowers and delicate fern like leaves. It is native to Mexico but spread across all over the world. The leaves are finely divided pinnately into thread like segments. The scarlet red flowers are tubular and flare out at the mouth into a five pointed star. This plant is ideally suited for trellis and is an excellent source of nectar, which attracts butterflies and humming birds. During my childhood i had this plant in my home many years ago, as i was interested in the unusual leaf construction of this plant. I took this photo on Sept. 3rd 2011 inside the Central Sericultural Research and Training Institute, Mysore, where i am working presently.
Evergreen small tree of 4-5 m in height, native to Africa. Leaves are 20-30 cm in length, and flowers measuring 5-6 cm in length are trumpet shaped, yellow in color, with orange-reddish spots in the throat arranged in terminal clusters. Fruit is a capsule, of up to 70 cm in length, with abundant winged seeds. I have observed these medium avenue trees in Bangalore and Mysore residential streets. The beautiful flowers often invoked curiosity and dragged me towards them. This photograph was taken near my home in Mysore, in the evening of 8th Sept. 2011 which i observed while on a walk.
This beautiful love vine is ever green, fast growing creeper, native to Mexico. It climbs up to 40 feet, using its tendrils. The leaves are cordate or arrow-head shaped. The branches bear paniculate inflorescence in clusters. The sepals give the brilliant colours from white to pink. The heart shaped leaves and the delicate pink flowers have earned the name `cadena de amor' in Mexican, which means 'chain of love'. The ever blooming creeper has attracted my attention since childhood, on my way to school. In Mysore, i moved with my friend in search of some plants and one day in January this year, off from the main road we struck up with this profusely flowering vine, leaning over fence and nearby trees. My friend was so enthralled and photographs were taken, by clasping those flower bunches. On the early morning of Sept. 2nd, 2011 i visited the coral vine again, this time alone. Bountiful flowers have welcomed, but asking me where is your friend? As i was taking the snaps, i could see some other visitors - the honey bees, butterflies, little birds, squirrels, etc. And on this Onam day, i dedicate this to all, especially to my dear friend ...
