Pink leaves of the Roseflake Hibiscus - again around Ulsoor Lake

Lavendar flowers (plumbago) around Ulsoor Lake

The white plumbago, plumbago zeylanica is a 'rambling shrub found in scrub jungles, forest edges and fallow land.  Its tubular calyx is glandular-hairy, and sticky to the touch. Caterpillars of the Zebra Blue butterfly feed on this plant. The roots and bark are used in traditional medicine'.

Thanks once again, to Kehimkar's book for all the information.

The Lake View Temple

Flowers at the pool - Mussaenda

Yet another flowering plant around the swimming pool is the ubiquitous Mussaenda. I got to observe the flowers real close, something i have not done before, and realized that much like the bougainvilla the pink parts that we see from a distance are not the flowers but the bracts that enclose small yellow flowers! Quite the discovery.

Wildflower wednesday

For more wildflowers, visit Gail's Clay and Limestone

Passion flower at Ulsoor Lake

While walking around Ulsoor lake we noticed quite a luxuriant creeper of passion flower, full of flowers. The bees were having a great time. I also got to see the fruit for the first time.

Cassia around Ulsoor lake

Coincidence

Lately I've noticed that every time i spot a flower or tree that i dont know the name of, I only have to wait a week or two, and one of my blogging friends has a post about the object of my curiousity! It was no different with this delicate ground carpet that I found around my swimming pool. Recording nature captured the same flower with her lens.

Flowers at the pool - Balsam

Whats blooming

cassia in all shades of pink

Cow sighting

I have always wondered what the breed of cows i see around me in  India are. Some variant of the Holstein?

Wildflower wednesday - Blood flower

Blooms from our apartment complex that Kehimkar's book helps identify as the 'Blood Flower' a.k.a. Scarlet Milkweed, or asclepias currasavica. The blood flower is supposed to be a native of the West Indies, now naturalized in India and SriLanka.

About a week back i got to observe the fascinating way in which this plant propogates. Most of its branches were covered iwth a white 'cotton-like' substance amidst which were pods that were bursting open with the seeds. The 'cotton' would drift with the winds, carrying the seeds with it. No wonder we have so many of these plants all around.

Kehimkar's book lists this plant as the food plant of the plain tiger butterfly. And what did I find on a branch right next to the flowers I photographed ? (albeit the branch belonged to some other plant) The spectacular larvae of the plain tiger butterfly.

View from the balcony

Flowers of the shell ginger

The garden around the swimming pool I go to has the most interesting flowers. The first of which i feature on my blog is none other than those of the shell ginger that i saw for the first time last May in the neighbourhood park, but was able to photograph only a whole year later. Head over to the blog post where i've shared the pictures.

Avenue trees

One side chopped off sadly.

Skywatch Friday

Happy mother's day

The 8th of May has double significance for me. Not just is it Mother's day, it is also my grandfather's birthday.

Wildflower update

The wildflower that i saw a while back at the PWD park in Chennai is the Indian turnsole. Go on, click on the link and take a look at the little beauty!

The last of the holiday shots that needs identification as well

 

Flowering Quince?

Thanks due to the phytophactor for identifying this red beauty.

Forsythia it is

More shots from my mother's visit to Geneva

Thank you, Helen and Hugh for the ID.

More wildflowers to be identified

The wildflower celebration continues at Clay and Limestone.