An eye on you ...

Botanical name: Chondrilla juncea

Water hyacinth, a member of the pickerelweed family, is a floating plant which can be grown indoors or outside. In a glass container you can see the attractive purple roots. The plants vary in size from a few centimeters to over a meter in height. The glossy green, leathery leaf blades are up to 20 cm long and 5-15 cm wide and are attached to petioles that are often spongy-inflated. Numerous dark, branched, fibrous roots dangle in the water from the underside of the plant. The inflorescence is a loose terminal spike with showy light-blue to violet flowers (flowers occasionally white) Each flower has 6 bluish-purple petals joined at the base to form a short tube. One petal bears a yellow spot. This plant was plenty in my native in the plants around us. Recently while visiting a nearby paddy field in Mysore by my residence, there is a water canal, wherein this grows well. This photograph was taken on 2nd April, 2012.

On the Vishu day ...

Botanical name: Cassia fistula

This native of India, commonly known as Amaltaas, is one of the most beautiful of all tropical trees when it sheds its leaves and bursts into a mass of long, grape-bunches like yellow gold flowers. A tropical ornamental tree with a trunck consisting of hard reddish wood, growing up to 40 feet tall. The wood is hard and heavy; it is used for cabinet, inlay work, etc. It has showy racemes, up to 2" long, with bright, yellow, fragrant flowers. These flowers are attractive to bees and butterflies. The fruits are dark-brown cylindrical pods, also 2' long, which also hold the flattish, brown seeds (up to 100 in one pod) These seeds are in cells, each containing a single seed. A postal stamp was issued by the Indian Postal Department to commemorate this tree. This is the national flower of Kerala state. This photograph was taken on 31st March, 2012.

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.