Tell a friend about this flower!ntroduced
Photo: Chandresh Dhulia
Common name: Kasturi Kamal Hindi: Kasturi Kamal Nepali: Kapase
phool Botanical name: Saussurea gossypiphora Family: Asteraceae
(Sunflower family) Kasturi kamal plant looks like a wooly
snow-ball. It is a densely white- or grey-wooly more or less
globular high altitude plant. Stem 10-20 sm, stout, hollow,
enlarged clubshaped and densely leafy above, base covered with
black shining leaf bases. Leaves linear, coarsely toothed or lobed,
embedded in dense wooly hairs. Flower-heads purple, cylindrical
1.3-2 cm long, deeply embedded in woolly hairs and densely
clustered at the top of the stem. Kasturi kamal is native to the
Himalayas, and found at altitudes of 4300-5600 m. Medicinal uses:
The wool of this herb is applied to cuts, where it sticks
compactly, seals the wound.
Tell a friend about this flower!ative
Photo: Shaista Ahmad
Common name: Coffee Senna, coffeeweed, Negro coffee Hindi:
Kasunda, Bari kasondi Marathi: ran-takda, kasivda, kasoda,
rankasvinda Tamil: Nattam takarai, Payaverai Malayalam:
Mattantakara Telugu: Thangedu Kannada: Kolthogache Bengali:
Kalkashunda Oriya: Kasundri Urdu: Kasonji Assamese: Hant-thenga
Gujarati: Kasundri Sanskrit: Kasamarda, Vimarda, Arimarda Botanical
name: Cassia occidentalis Family: Caesalpiniaceae (Gulmohar family)
Synonyms: Senna occidentalis Coffee Senna is a smooth annual that
can grow up to 2 m tall. The leaves are compound, leaflets, in 4-6
pairs, have a sharp tip. These leaflets are 2-9 cm long and 2-3 cm
wide with a distinct gland 3-5 mm from the base of the stalk.
Flowers occur in leaf axils. Sepals are green and 6-9 mm long. The
petals are yellow and 1-2 cm long. The 6-7 stamens are of two
different lengths. The seed pods are dark brown, 8 to 12 cm
long, 7-10 mm wide and curve slightly upward. The seeds are dull
brown, 4-5 mm long and flattened on both ends. The seeds can be
roasted and made into a coffee-like drink. Medicinal uses: The seed
is bitter and has purgative properties. It is also used as a
diuretic, liver detoxifier, as a hepato-tonic (balances and
strengthens the liver). Further, used in whooping cough and
convulsion. Identification credit: Sankara RaoPhotographed in
Bangalore & Delhi.
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Photo: Gurcharan Singh
Common name: London Rocket Hindi: khubkaln, asalio, khubkhala
Sanskrit: khakasi, khubakala Urdu: khubakalan Botanical name:
Sisymbrium irio Family: Brassicaceae (Cauliflower family) London
Rocket is an annual herb more than 3 ft tall, with open, slender
stem branches. The flowers are small with four pale yellow petals.
The basal leaves are broad and often lobed, while the upper leaves
are linear in shape and up to four inches long. The fruit is a long
narrow cylindrical silique, which stays green when ripe. When dried
the fruit has small red oblong seeds. Medicinal uses: London Rocket
is used in the Middle East to treat coughs and chest congestion, to
relieve rheumatism, to detoxify the liver and spleen, and to reduce
swelling and clean wounds. Identification credit: Gurcharan
SinghPhotographed in Delhi.
Tell a friend about this flower! Common name: Henbane, Stinking
nightshade Hindi: Khurasani ajwain Sanskrit: Parseek yawani Nepali:
Khursani jwanu Botanical name: Hyoscyamus niger Family: Solanaceae
(Potato family) Henbane is a robust, leafy plant, growing to 1 m
tall. The plant is coarsely hairy, sticky and stinks. Basal leaves
are elliptic, irregularly lobed, stalked. Stem leaves are
stalkless. Flowers are cup-shaped, 2-3 cm across, dull yellow,
prominently netted with purple veins, and have a dark purple
center. Sepal cup is funnel shaped with triangular pointed sepals.
Sepals enlarge and become papery in fruit, and encircle the
capsule. Henbane is found in the Himalayas at altitudes of
2100-3300 m. Flowering: May-September. Medicinal uses: Henbane is
used in Homoepathic medicine. Identification credit: Navend
Photographed in Valley of Flowers & Nanda Devi Reserve,
Uttarakhand.
Tell a friend about this flower! Common name: Kariyat, Creat
Hindi: Kirayat, Kalpanath Manipuri: Vubati Marathi: Oli-kiryata,
Kalpa Tamil: Nilavembu Malayalam: Nelavepu, Kiriyattu Telugu:
Nilavembu Kannada: Nelaberu Bengali: Kalmegh Oriya: Bhuinimba
Konkani: Vhadlem Kiratyem Urdu: Naine-havandi Assamese: Kalmegh
Gujarati: Kariyatu Sanskrit: Kalmegha, Bhunimba Mizo: Hnakhapui
Botanical name: Andrographis paniculata Family: Acanthaceae
(Ruellia family) Synonyms: Justicia paniculata Kariyat is an erect
annual herb extremely bitter in taste in all parts of the plant. It
grows erect to a height of 1-4 ft in moist shady places with smooth
leaves and white flowers with rosepurple spots on the petals. Stem
dark green, 0.3 - 1.0 m in height, 2-6 mm in diameter, quadrangular
with longitudinal furrows and wings on the angles of the younger
parts, slightly enlarged at the nodes; leaves glabrous, up to 8.0
cm long and 2.5 cm broad, lanceolate, pinnate; flowers small, in
lax
spreading axillary and terminal racemes or panicles; capsules
linear-oblong, acute at both ends, 1.9 cm x 0.3 cm; seeds numerous,
sub quadrate, yellowish brown. Medicinal uses: Since ancient times,
Kariyat is used as a wonder drug in traditional Siddha and
Ayurvedic systems of medicine as well as in tribal medicine in
India and some other countries for multiple clinical applications.
The therapeutic value of Kalmegh is due to its mechanism of action
which is perhaps by enzyme induction. The plant extract exhibits
antityphoid and antifungal activities. Identification credit:
Prashant AwalePhotographed in Imphal & Nagpur.
Tell a friend about this flower!ative
Photo: Prashants Awale
Common name: Yellow Nicker, Gray nicker, nicker seed, bonduc
nut, Fever nut, nicker bean Hindi: Kantkarej, Kantikaranja,
Kuberakshi Marathi: Sagarlata Tamil: Kalichchikkai Malayalam:
Kalanchi Telugu: Gachchakaya Kannada: Gajikekayi Sanskrit:
Latakaranjah, Kuberakshi, Kantakikaranjah Botanical name:
Caesalpinia bonduc Family: Caesalpiniaceae (Gulmohar family)
Synonyms: Caesalpinia crista, Caesalpinia bonducella, Guilandina
bonduc Yellow Nicker is a large, thorny, straggling, shrub which
behaves like a strong woody climber, taking support of trees. The
branches are armed with hooks and straight hard yellow prickles.
Leaves are large, double compound, with 7 pairs of pinnae, and each
with 3-8 pairs of leaflets with 1-2 small
recurved prickles between them on the underside. Flowers are
yellow, in dense long-stalked racemes at the top. Fruits are
inflated pods, covered with wiry prickles. Seeds are 1-2 per pod,
oblong or globular, hard, grey with a smooth shiny surface. The
hard and shiny seeds are green, turning grey.They are used for
jewellery. Medicinal uses: Fruits are tonic and antipyretic. Seeds
yield a fatty oil used as a cosmetic and for discharges from the
ear. Leaves and bark are febrifuge. Identification credit: Prashant
Awale Photographed at Dighave village, near Dhule, Maharashtra.
Tell a friend about this flower! Common name: Bandicoot Berry
Hindi: Kukur jihwa Manipuri: Koknal Marathi: Karkani Tamil: Nalava,
Ottannalam Malayalam: Nakku Telugu: Amkador Kannada: Gadhapatri
Bengali: Kurkur Assamese: Ahina Sanskrit: Chatri Botanical name:
Leea indica Family: Leeaceae (Leea family) Bandicoot Berry is a
shrub with straight branches. The leaves are double compound or
triple compound, 90-120 cm long. The leaflets are extremely
variable in size and shape. The flowers are greenish-white. The
fruit is small. It is found in India to Indo-China, the Malay
Peninsula, Java, Sumatra, and Borneo. Medicinal uses: A decoction
of the root is given in colic, is cooling and relieves thirst. In
Goa, the root is much used in diarrheal and chronic dysentery. The
roasted leaves are applied to the head in vertigo.
Tell a friend about this flower! Common name: Opium Poppy, Afim
(Hindi) Botanical name: Papaver somniferum Family: Papaveraceae
(poppy family) Poppy is an annual herb native to Southeastern
Europe and western Asia. Also known as opium poppy, the species is
cultivated extensively in many countries, including Iran, Turkey,
Holland, Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, India,
Canada, and many Asian and Central and South American countries.
Reaching a height of 1.2 meters, the erect plant can have white,
pink, red, or purple flowers. Seeds range in color from white to a
slate shade that is called blue in commercial classifications. A
latex containing several important alkaloids is obtained from
immature seed capsules one to three weeks after flowering.
Incisions are made in the walls of the green seed pods, and the
milky exudation is collected and dried. Opium and the isoquinoline
alkaloids morphine, codeine, noscapine, papaverine, and thebaine
are isolated from the dried material. The poppy seeds and fixed oil
that can be expressed from the seed are not narcotic, because
they
develop after the capsule has lost the opium-yielding potential.
Medicinal uses: Poppy is one of the most important medicinal
plants. Traditionally, the dry opium was considered an astringent,
antispasmodic, aphrodisiac, diaphoretic, expectorant, hypnotic,
narcotic, and sedative. Poppy has been used against toothaches and
coughs. The ability of opium from poppy to serve as an analgesic is
well known. Opium and derivatives of opium are used in the
pharmaceutical industry as narcotic analgesics, hypnotics, and
sedatives. Opium and the drugs derived from opium are addictive and
can have toxicological effects.Photographed in Nainital
Tell a friend about this flower! Common name: Blistering
Ammannia, Acrid weed, Monarch redstem, Tooth cup Hindi: Aginbuti,
Ban mirich, Dadmari, Jungli mehendi Marathi: aginbuti,
bharajambhula, dadmari Tamil: kal-l-uruvi Malayalam: kallur vanchi,
nirumelneruppu Kannada: kaadugida Bengali: banmarich Konkani:
dadmaria Sanskrit: agnigarbha, brahmasoma, kshetrabhusha,
kshetravashini, mahasyama,
pasanabheda Nepali: ambar Botanical name: Ammannia baccifera
Family: Lythraceae (Crape Myrtle family) Synonyms: Ammannia
vescicatoria, Ammannia aegyptiaca Blistering Ammannia is an erect,
branched, smooth, slender, annual herb, found in open, damp, waste
places. It is more or
less purplish herb 10-50 cm in height, with somewhat 4-angled
stems. The leaves are narrow-oblong, oblanceshaped, or narrowly
elliptic, about 3.5 cm long - those on the branches very numerous,
small, and 1-1.5 cm long with narrowed base and pointed or somewhat
rounded tip. The flowers are small, about 1.2 mm long, greenish or
purplish, and borne in dense clusters in leaf axils. The capsules
are nearly spherical, depressed, about 1.2 mm in diameter, purple.
The seeds are black. The common name comes from the fact that the
leaves are exceedingly acrid, irritant, and vesicant, and are being
used by the village-folk to raise blisters, being applied to the
skin for half an hour or a little longer. Medicinal uses: The
leaves or the ashes of the plant, mixed with oil, are applied to
cure herpetic eruptions. The fresh, bruised leaves have been used
in skin diseases as a rubefacient and as an external remedy for
ringworm and parasitic skin affection. Identification credit:
Dinesh Photographed at Vaghbil, Thane, Maharashtra. Valke
ative
Photo: Gurcharan Singh
Common name: Ajwain Bengali:
Jowan Gujarati:
Yavano Hindi: , Ajwain Kannada: ajamoola, oma, omu, ajamoda
Marathi: Ova Nepali: Javano Sanskrit: Ajamoda, Ajamodika, dipyaka,
yavani, yamanika Tamil: Omam Telugu: omaan, vamu Urdu: Ajwain
Botanical name: Trachyspermum ammi Family: Apiaceae (Carrot family)
Synonyms: Sison ammi, Trachyspermum copticum, Carum ajowan Ajwain
is an erect, hairless or minutely pubescent, branched annual herb.
The stems are grooved. the leaves are rather distant, 2-3-pinnately
divided in narrow linear segments. Flowers are borne in terminal or
seemingly-lateral stalked, compound umbels, white and small. The
fruits are ovoid,
aromatic, greyish brown. The mericarps, which are the components
of the fruit, are compressed, with distinct ridges and tubercular
surface, 1-seeded. This is what is used as the spice Ajwain, in
cooking. Medicinal uses: Ajwain is also traditionally known as a
digestive aid, relieves abdominal discomfort due to indigestion and
antiseptic. Identification credit: Gurcharan SinghPhotographed in
Delhi.
Tell a friend about this flower!ative
Photo: Prashant Awale
Common name: Toothache Plant, Para cress Hindi: Akarkar, Pipulka
Marathi: Pipulka, Akarkara Kannada: Hemmugalu Assamese: Pirazha
Botanical name: Acmella oleracea Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower
family) Synonyms: Spilanthes acmella, Spilanthes oleracea Toothache
Plant or "Paracress" is a flowering herb. Its leaves and flower
heads contain an analgesic agent that may be used to numb
toothaches. It is grown as an ornamental (and occasionally as a
medicinal) in various parts of the world. The stems are prostrate
or erect, often reddish, hairless. Leaves are broadly ovate to
triangular, 511 cm long, 48 cm wide, margins toothed, tip sharp.
Flower-heads arise singly, elongated-conical, containing primarily
disc florets, 12.4 cm long, 1.11.7 cm in diameter. Disc florets are
many, yellow to orange, 2.73.3 mm long. Achenes are black, 22.5 mm
long. Eating Toothache Plant is a memorable experience. The
leaf
has a smell similar to any green leafy vegetable. The taste,
however, is somewhat reminiscent of Echinacea, but lacking the
bitter and sometimes nauseating element of that medicinal. First, a
strong, spicy warmth spreads outward across one's tongue, turning
into a prickling sensation. With this the salivary glands leap into
action, pumping out quantities of saliva. As the prickling spreads,
it mellows into an acidic (slightly metallic) sharpness accompanied
by tingling, and then numbness. The numbness fades after a time
(two to twenty minutes, depending on the person and amount eaten),
and the pungent aftertaste may linger for an hour or more.
Medicinal uses: The leaves and flower heads contain analgesic,
antifungal, anthelminthic, and antibacterial agents, but some of
the compounds are destroyed by desiccation or freezing.
Identification Photographed in Garden of Five Senses, Delhi &
Maharashtra. credit: Akramul Hoque & Shaista Ahmad
Tell a friend about this flower! Common name: Flax, Common flax,
Flaxseed, Linseed Hindi: Alsi Tamil: Ali Telugu: Madanginja,
Ullusulu Bengali: Atasi Sanskrit: Atasi Botanical name: Linum
usitatissimum Family: Linaceae (Linseed family) Flax is a cool
temperate annual herb with erect, slender stems, 80-120 cm tall. A
cultivated plant in closely spaced field conditions it has little
branching except at the apex. Leaves are alternate, lance-like and
greyish-green with 3 veins. Flowers have five, pale blue petals in
a cluster. The sepals are lancelike and nearly as long as the
pointed fruit. The fruit are spherical capsules. The seeds are
oval, somewhat flattened, 46mm long and are pale to dark brown and
shiny. Flax is native to the region extending from the eastern
Mediterranean to India. It was extensively cultivated in ancient
Egypt. Flax is grown both for its seed and for its fibres.
Interestingly, the species name usitatissimummeans, most useful.
Various parts
of the plant have been used to make fabric, dye, paper,
medicines, fishing nets and soap. It is also grown as an ornamental
plant in gardens, as flax is one of the few plant species capable
of producing truly blue flowers (most "blue" flowers are really
shades of purple), although not all flax varieties produce blue
flowers. In Durga Puja, five flowers are offered to goddes Durga,
red China Rose, Red Oleander, Lotus, Aparajita and Atasi (Flax).
Medicinal uses: In Ayurveda, Flax is used internally in habitual
constipation, functional disorders of the colon resulting from the
misuse of laxatives and irritable colon, as a demulcent preparation
in gastritis and enteritis. Externally, the powdered seeds or the
press-cake are used as an emollient, in poultices for boils,
carbuncles and other skin afflictions. Used in Soothing Body Lotion
for dry skin.