Prolific flowers & trees finally identified!

I have long wondered whaat the names of the flowers most common in my mother's garden are and today i finally found out:


From Flower arrangements

From 090216 - Flowering and Non Flowering Plants

This is the snowy white dwarf bauhinia /orchid. It is native to Asia. The white flowers look like snowflakes hanging on the branches and hence the name Snowy Orchid Tree. The leaves are shaped a little like a horse's hoof.



Crepe jasmine (called nandiar vatai here in Chennai) is a shrub very common in India and used extensively for religious activities. The petals are arranged in a pretty little pinwheel pattern and the leaves are dark green and shiny. The stems exude a milky latex when broken.

The unknown yellow flower that blooms on a tree much like the aralli (which btw is non other than the oleander) - Mexican oleander.

and for the pavazhai malli - night jasmine or tree of sadness! The flowers bloom at night and before dawn fall off the tree giving the ground underneath a pleasing blend of white and red. Called Coral Jasmine in English, it has a tell-tale botanical name: Nyctanthes arbor-tristis, Nyctanthes meaning that which blossoms at nightfall. It has many medicinal uses: antibacterial, antiinflammatory and anthelmintic (destroying intestinal worms). A dye extracted from the tube of the flower is used to color Tussar Silk.

The blue conch like flower with a yellow center that grows on a creeper on the left velli near the palms is called the butterfly pea


Here are all the flowers:

From Flower arrangements

The tree in front of the neighbour's- raintree
The english name for the champa - temple tree a.k.a plumeria;
The ubiquituous ashoka = the mast tree.

I cannot wait to see the flowers of the ashoka, the rain tree and the gulmohar (dolonix regia) this spring! The copperpod is already adding so much color to the cityscape!

To the not so discerning eye, the copperpod, gulmohar and the raintree look much the same when not in bloom. The way i tell them apart is by looking at the pods - those of the gulmohar are much longer and bigger than those of the copperpod - and by looking to see if the leaves close at night or when it cloudy - a behaviour observed only in the raintree. The leaves of the raintree are also a little bigger, rounder and of a darker green than those of the gulmohar and the copperpod.

My succulent unidentified plant

that i bought sometime last summer from the Horticultural Gardens is in full bloom! Bunches of really pretty, tiny red flowers adorn the ends of each of four branches and thanks to all the sun, the undersides of most leaves has turned a beautiful pinkish-magenta color.

From 090216 - Flowering and Non Flowering Plants

November 2009 update: An exhaustive search through the flowers of india website leads me to believe that this is the Flaming Katy (kalanchoe blossfeldiana).  (no wonder i thought the person at the nursery said something like 'kalanjium' )

The common indian crow (Nymphalidae: Brush footed butterfly)

From Butterflies

I got a picture of the CIC sitting on the exora bush between the coconut trees. It is brown in color, with a pretty line of white dots along the bottom edge of the hind side, both on the upper and under side wings.

The little blue flowers that enchant

We recently bought a plant with pretty little blue flowers that resemble the ones i see during my walks through boat club road. But this one has leaves that are much tinier than the boat club road creeper.
Is it some species of morning glory?

Butterflies mating

Not having spared a minute in the last maybe 15 years to observe a butterfly closely (yes, terrible isnt it?!), i did not even realise there were two butterflies in this picture when i sent it out to the MNS asking for the identify.
Some members came up with 'common mormon' and others with the 'common rose'.
It was a member who pointed out that there were two Common Mormons in the pic - the flamboyant female on top and the plain male underneath. The female common mormon is a mimic of the common rose and crimson rose; i think the way to tell them apart is to look at hte body - or the head which is most visible - the crimson rose and common rose have a red head unlike the black common mormon.
Now how does one tell the crimson rose and the common rose apart? the internet says that the crimson rose haas double red markings and double white patches unlike the common rose. hmmm.. i have t o see pictures to visualize this. Or better still, the butterflies themselves!

Madras Naturalists Society

Well, i've done it. I'm now a member of the MNS - Madras Naturalist's Society. A recent newspaper article brought my attention to this group; reading through a blog by one of its members spurred me into action - i dragged myself out of bed this morning and landed at KFI, The School, where they hold their meetings at 9, the second sunday of each month. I was rewarded with the delightful company of many like-minded nature enthusiasts under the shade of the big ole banyan tree. Here's to many nature adventures in the days to come!

Nature reserves & parks in singapore

Seeing that i have spent a good portion of my adult life in the island nation of singaproe, i felt a post on the nature reserves and parks in the city was warranted.
Among my favorite places in Singapore was the Botanical Gardens. The Gardens coveniently had a little bakery, mcdonalds and acoffee shop across the main entrance. It was a nice place to walk through, with a stage in the middle of a small lake and an open area for the audience when concerts where held. In the midst of the botanical gardens was the orchid garden featuring varied species of orchids, including Vanda Ms Joaquim - singapore's national flower. Here is a picture of the beauty from flikr:

The three main nature reserves of singapore where much of the original tropical vegetation is preserved are the Bukit Timah, Sungei Buloh and Labrador Reserves. The Bukit Timah reserve was right opposite my home for some years and i would wake up every morning to the view of the hill covered with dense vegetation while sipping a hot cup of coffee on my balcony. Sungei Buloh was where i saw my first Mangrove forest and was amazed by their roots. I still remember walking on the wooden boardwalks marvelling at the mangrove trees.

Here is a website to check out before heading to sungei buloh!

Singapore also has many parks with Reserves: mcRitchie, Seletar., upper pierce, lower pierce and hindhede - all i nthe central catchment area.

Most of the neighbourhoods in Singapore have their own little park as well. The one i frequented the most was Cluny Park.. in hte midst of the urban jungle that is Bukit Timah Road, cluny park was a sweet little retreat with its little lake, ducks and flowering plants. The Bukit Batok park, i was told, was also quite nice. And the one on East Coast Road catered not just to the neighbourhood population, but to all, with its long walking and skating paths and access to the beach.

Then of course there are the islands off signapore.. which offer plenty of opportunity to observe marine life. Sadly our trip to Pulau Ubin was spent more on bicyclign and tthe like than observing the natural diversity of the island. Ah well, a trip to majulah Singapora is overdue of course, and then i will have many more memories and pictures to boot!

Here is a write up from Singapore Parks:
Step into the nature reserves /nature parks and journey back in time to before Sir Stamford Raffles arrived and most of the island of singaproe was covered with dense tropical forests as are now see only in these parks. Though much of singapore's original vegetation has been cleared for logging and cultivation, some of the primary rainforest can still be seen at the bukit timah nature reserve and the 4 main nature parks/ These nature parks are reservoirs and the nature reserve surrounding them (central catchment nature reserve) serves as catchment areas and ensure the quality of the water in these reservoirs. Other than serving as reservoirs for water, these parks are also home to hundreds of species of flora and fauna. With an astonishing variety of birds, animals and insects, these parks/reserves are indeed treasure houses of singapores biodiversity.

The Jurong Bird Park, the Zoo and the Night Safari also provide opportunity to observe the local *and not so local* flora and fauna.

The sausage tree of the carribbean

Here is a tree i photographed in a shopping square in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands...


The tree is of the genus Kigelia and is native to tropical Africa.
I keep seeing a very similar tree all around Chennai. It has green sausage like fruits hanging from its branches. With time the sausages turn brown, then the brown casing falls off to reveal a white interior that looks almost like it is made of thick cotton pads stitched together. Interesting isnt it? I havent managed to take a picture of one of these yet. Am really curious to find out if it is the same as the sausage trees of african origin.