100916825 indian medicinal plants flowers 1100

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 club-shaped 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.


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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 Rao Photographed 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 Singh Photographed in Delhi.


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.


Common name: Kariyat, Creat Hindi: Kirayat, Kalpanath

Manipuri: Vubati Marathi: Oli-kiryata, Kalpa Tamil: uni0BAE_uni0BCDuni0BAA_uni0BC1 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 rose-

purple 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 Awale Photographed in Imphal & Nagpur.


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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.


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.


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


Common name: Blistering Ammannia, Acrid weed, Monarch

redstem, Tooth cup Hindi: Aginbuti, Ban

mirich, Dadmari, Jungli mehendi Marathi:

aginbuti, bharajambhula, dadmari

Tamil: uni0BB2_uni0BCDuni0BB2_uni0BC1uni0BB0_uni0BC1 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 Valke

Photographed at Vaghbil, Thane, Maharashtra.

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Photo: Gurcharan Singh

Common name: Ajwain Bengali: bn_ekaar Jowan Gujarati:

Yavano Hindi: , Ajwain Kannada:

ajamoola, oma, omu, ajamoda Marathi: Ova Nepali:

Javano Sanskrit: Ajamoda, Ajamodika,

dipyaka, yavani, yamanika Tamil: uni0BAE_uni0BCD 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 Singh Photographed in Delhi.


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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

credit: Akramul Hoque & Shaista Ahmad

Photographed in Garden of Five Senses, Delhi & Maharashtra.

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 lance-like and nearly as long as the pointed fruit. The fruit are spherical capsules. The seeds are oval, somewhat flattened, 4-6mm 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.

ramchana, tamanya Marathi: ambatvel,

amboshi, sarbarival Tamil: uni0B9F_uni0BCDuni0B9F_uni0BC1uni0BAA_uni0BCDuni0BA3_uni0BCD kattuppirantai Malayalam: amarcakkoti, corivalli, kattuperanta, tsjori-valli,

vatakkoti Telugu: kanupu tige, puli mada

Kannada: heggoli Bengali: Amal-lata

Assamese: Chepeta-lota Sanskrit:

amlavetasah, atyamlaparni, gandirah

Botanical name: Cayratia trifolia Family: Vitaceae (Grape

family) Synonyms: Cissus trifolia, Vitis trifolia, Vitis carnosa

Native to India, Bush Grape is a vine that climbs by means of tendrils which are found opposite the leaves. The leaves are trifoliolate with petioles 2-3 cm long. The leaflets are ovate to

oblong-ovate, 2-8 cm long, 1.5-5 cm wide, pointed at the tip, and coarsely toothed at the margins. The flowers are small greenish white and borne on solitary cymes in leaf axils. The

fruit is fleshy, juicy, dark purple or black, nearly spherical and about 1 cm in diameter. Flowering: December.

Medicinal uses: The root, ground with black pepper, is applied to boils. The root is also used as an astringent medicine.

Identification credit: Dinesh Valke

Photographed at Vaghbil, Thane, Maharashtra.


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Photo: Tabish

Common name: Amaltas, Golden shower tree, Indian

Laburnum Hindi: Amaltas Manipuri: Chahui

Tamil: uni0BA9_uni0BCD Konrai Malayalam: Vishu konnai

Marathi: Bahava Mizo: Ngaingaw Bengali: bn_ekaar

Sonali, Bandarlati, Amultas Urdu: Amaltas Botanical name: Cassia fistula Family: Caesalpiniaceae (Gulmohar family)

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.

Medicinal uses: The sweet blackish pulp of the seedpod is used as a mild laxative. Photographed in Delhi.

pata Urdu: Zakhmhaiyat Manipuri: ,

Manahidak Botanical name: Kalanchoe pinnata Family: Crassulaceae (sedum family) Synonyms: Cotyledon pinnata, Bryophyllum pinnatum

Native Hawaiian plant. Easy to grow just from one leaf set on top of moist soil. Very fast growing, drought tolerant small shrub. Tolerates almost any conditions. Spectacular bloomer.

Air Plant grows to about 3-6 feet tall. The erect, thick, succulent stems bear large, fleshy leaves, each with 3 or 5

oval leaflets with round-toothed edges. Young plantlets develop along the margins of the mature leaves. The attractive, drooping blooms are borne on large panicles. The flowers have purple or yellowish-white tinged calyxes and reddish corollas. Kalanchoe is a genus of about 125 species of tropical, succulent flowering plants in the Family Crassulaceae,

mainly native to the Old World but with a few species in the New World. These plants are cultivated as ornamental houseplants and rock or "cactus" garden plants. They are

popular because of their ease of propagation, low water requirements, and wide variety of flower colors typically borne in clusters well above the vegetative growth. The "Air plant"

Kalanchoe pinnata is a curiosity because new individuals develop vegetatively at indents along the leaf, usually after the leaf has broken off the plant and is laying on the ground, where the new plant can take root. Medicinal uses: Bahamians call it Life Leaf or Ploppers. In the

Bahamas it is mostly used for Asthma or shortness in breath.

Photographed in New Delhi


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Common name: Indian Sarsaparilla Hindi:

Anantamul, Dudhli Manipuri: Anantamul

Marathi: Anant vel Tamil: Nannari, Sugandipala Malayalam: Narunenti Telugu: Suganda pala Kannada: Sugankha-palada-gidda, Sogade Oriya: onotomulo

Gujarati: Sariva, Upalasari Sanskrit: Anantamul, Sariva Botanical name: Hemidesmus indicus Family: Asclepiadaceae (Milkweed family)

Indian Sarsaparilla is a vine, which trails on the ground and climbs by means of tendrils growing in pairs from the petioles of the alternate, orbicular to ovate, evergreen leaves. The vine emerges from a long, tuberous rootstock, and can reach up to 1-3 m. The hindi name Anantamool literally means, endless

root. The small, greenish flowers grow in auxiliary umbels. The flower cymes are stalkless. Flowers have 5 petals, greenish on

the outside and purple to yellowish orange on the inside. The flower petals are fleshy, typical of the Milkweed family to which it belongs. Now the Milkweed family has been incorporated in the Oleander family. Flowering: October-January. Medicinal uses: It is one of the Rasayana plants of Ayurveda,

as it is anabolic in its effect. It is used for venereal diseases, herpes, skin diseases, arthritis, rheumatism, gout, epilepsy,

insanity, chronic nervous diseases, abdominal distention, intestinal gas, debility, impotence and turbid urine. Identification credit: Prashant Awale

Photographed at Korigad, Maharashtra.

Tell a friend about this flower! Common name: Belladonna, Devil's Cherries, Naughty Man's Cherries, Divale, Black Cherry, Devil's Herb, Great Morel,

Dwayberry Hindi: Angur Shefa, luckmuna,

Luckmunee, Sag-angur Tamil: Bellatona, Pelletonacceti Kashmiri: Sagangur Bengali: Yebruj Urdu: Bikh luffah, Poast bikh luffah Sanskrit: Suchi

Botanical name: Atropa belladonna Family: Solanaceae (Potato family) Synonyms: Atropa bella-donna

Belladonna is a perennial branching herb growing to 5 feet tall.

The leaves are dull, darkish green in colour and of unequal size, 3-10 inches long, the lower leaves solitary, the upper ones in pairs alternately from opposite sides of the stem, one leaf of each pair much larger than the other, oval in shape, acute at the apex, entire and attenuated into short petioles. First-year plants grow only about 1 1/2 feet in height. Their

leaves are often larger than in full-grown plants and grow on the stem immediately above the ground. Older plants attain a height of 3-5 ft, occasionally even 6 ft. The flowers, borne in

leaf axils, are of a dark and dingy purplish colour, tinged with green, about 2.5 cm long, pendent, bell-shaped, furrowed. The flowers have five large teeth or lobes, slightly reflexed. The fruit is 0.5 inch smooth berry, which ripens to acquire a shining black or purple color. Every part of the plant is

extremely poisonous, and can result in poisoning of not handled carefully.

Medicinal uses: The plant is believed to be narcotic, diuretic, sedative, antispasmodic, mydriatic. Belladonna is a most valuable plant in the treatment of eye diseases, Atropine, obtained during extraction, being its most important constituent on account of its power of dilating the pupil. Identification credit: Ramesh Raju Photographed in Andhra Pradesh.


Common name: Delek air tree, Ironwood tree Hindi: Anjan

, Kaya Marathi: Anjan Telugu: Mandi, Lakhonde Malayalam: Kanjavu Oriya: Neymaru Botanical name: Memecylon umbellatum Family: Melastomataceae (Melastome family) Synonyms: Memecylon edule

A large shrub or small tree, up to 8-14m tall with amazing bright blue flowers that look almost unreal. Delek air produces

showy clusters of tiny purple flowers, about 1cm each. The trees bloom once or twice a year, and are then indeed a beautiful sight. As the flower petals are shed, the sand and

rocks below are dusted in mauve. The fruits are small (about 1cm) and are green, turning red then black as they ripen. The tree has a thin bark, so it is sometimes also called 'Nipis kulit' or 'thin-skinned' in Malay. Delek air belongs to the same family as the more familiar Singapore Rhododendron (Melastoma malabathricum) This tree is not only beautiful, but also useful.

It provides hard timber used for building houses and boats. A

yellow dye can be extracted from the leaves and the bark is used to treat bruises. Medicinal uses: The leaves are used in the treatment of gonorrhea, or when mixed with several other ingredients, they make good fomentations for external use.

Identification credit: Yogish Holla Photographed in Goa & Maharashtra.

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Common name: Sage Leaved Alangium Hindi: Ankol

Urdu: Ankula Malayalam: Arinjl Telugu: Urgu Kannada:

Ankolamara Sanskrit: Ankolah Tamil: Alandi Botanical name: Alangium

salviifolium Family: Alangiaceae (Alangium family)

Sage Leaved Alangium is a tall thorny tree native to India. It grows to a height of about 3 to 10 meters.The bark is ash colored, rough and faintly fissured. The leaves are elliptic oblong, elliptic lanceolate or oblong lanceolate. The flowers are greenish white, fascilcled, axillary or on old wood. The berries are ovoid, ellipsoid or nearly globose.glabrous, smooth and violet to purple. The flowering season is February to June.

Medicinal uses: In Ayurveda the roots and the fruits are used for treatment of rheumatism, and hemorrhoid.Externally it is used for the treatment of bites of rabbits,

rats, and dogs. Identification credit: Pravin Kawale

Photographed in Maharashtra.

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Photo: Thingnam Girija

Common name: Two-toothed Chaff Flower, Ox knee, Pig's knee Tamil: Sigappu Nayurivi Sanskrit: Apamarga Nepali:

Datiun, Rato apamarga

Botanical name: Achyranthes

bidentata Family: Amaranthaceae (Amaranth family)

Two-toothed Chaff Flower is an erect, perennial herb, 0.7-1.2 m tall, distributed in hilly districts of India, Java, China and Japan. Stem green or tinged purple, with opposite branches. Leaf stalk 0.5-3 cm, hairy; leaf blade elliptic or elliptic-lanceolate, rarely oblanceolate, 4.5-12 2-7.5 cm. Flower spikes terminal or axillary, 3-5 cm; rachis 1-2 cm, white hairy. Flowers dense, 5 mm. Tepals shiny, lanceolate, 3-5 mm, with

a midvein, apex acute. Stamens 2-2.5 mm; pseudostaminodes slightly serrulate, apex rounded. Utricles yellowish brown,

shiny, oblong, 2-2.5 mm, smooth. Seeds light brown, oblong, 1 mm. Seed are cooked and eaten. A good substitute for cereal grains in bread-making, they have often been used for

this purpose during famine. Flowering: July-September. Leaves

are used as a vegetable in the same manner as spinach. Medicinal uses: Traditional Chinese herb used to nourish the kidney and liver, drain 'dampness' and promote circulation. Prescribed for difficult urination, painful urethritis, suppressed menstruation. Commonly used to treat traumatic injuries,

stiffness and pain of the lower back and loins and for weakness in the legs and feet. Do not use

during pregnancy. Identification credit: Akramul Hoque

Photographed in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh.

Tell a friend about this flower! Common name: Pale Java Tea Sanskrit: Arjaka, Shveta-Kutherak Botanical name: Orthosiphon pallidus Family: Lamiaceae (Mint family)

Pale Java Tea is a perennial herb with a woody rootstock, not

aromatic. Stems are diffusely branched, ascending-erect, 10-35 cm, slender, quadrangular, velvety or almost hairless. Leaves are ovate, 1-3.5 x 1-2 cm, pale green, slightly fleshy, nearly entire to saw-toothed, gland- dotted, stalked, velvety to almost hairless. Inflorescence is usually unbranched, short. Verticillasters 5-7, 6-flowered, distant. Bracts are 0.5-1 mm, ovate-oblong. Flower stalks are 2 mm spreading in flower, deflexed in fruit. Sepal cup is 2-2.5 mm in flower, and up to 6 mm in fruit, velvety in lower part, upper lobe ovate-circular;

lower pair of teeth subulateattenuate, 2 mm in fruit. Flowers are white or lilac, 5-6 mm; tube as long as calyx teeth. Stamens included. Nutlets are pale brown, orbicular-ovoid, 1 x

1 mm. Identification credit: Prashant Awale


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Common name: Arjun Hindi: Arjun Manipuri:

Maiyokpha Tamil: uni0BB0_uni0BC1uni0BA4_uni0BC1 Marutu Malayalam: Nirmarutu Kannada: Nirmatti Botanical name: Terminalia arjuna Family: Combretaceae (rangoon creeper family)

In Indian mythology, Arjun is supposed to be Sita's favourite tree. Native to India, the tree attracts lot of attention because

of its association with mythology and its many uses. Arjuna is a large, evergreen tree, with a spreading crown and drooping branches. Grows up to 25 m height, and the bark is grey and

smooth. Leaves are sub-opposite, 5-14 2-4.5 cm in size, oblong or elliptic oblong. Flowers small, white, and occur on long hanging recemes. Fruit is 2.3-3.5 cm long, fibrous woody, glabrous and has five hard wings, striated with numerous curved veins. Flowering time of the tree is April-July, in Indian conditions.

Medicinal uses: Every part of the tree has useful medicinal properties. Arjun holds a reputed position in both Ayurvedic and Yunani Systems of medicine. According to Ayurveda it is alexiteric, styptic, tonic, anthelmintic, and useful in fractures, uclers, heart diseases, biliousness, urinary discharges, asthma,

tumours, leucoderma, anaemia, excessive prespiration etc. According to Yunani system of medicine, it is used both

externally and internally in gleet and urinary discharges. Identification credit: R.K. Nimai Singh

Photographed in Lodhi gardens, New Delhi


ative


Common name: Indian Ipecac, Indian ipecacuahna Hindi:

Antamul, Jangli pikvam Marathi: Khadari, Pitthakaadi, Pitthamaari, Pitvel Tamil: Naippalai, Nancaruppan

Malayalam: Nansjera-patsja, Vallippala Telugu: Kakapala, Tellayadala, Verripala Kannada: Antamula, Nipaladaberu,

Aadumuttada gida Bengali: Antamul Oriya: Mendi, Mulini Assamese: Antamul Sanskrit: Arkaparni, Lataksiri, Shwasaghni Botanical name: Tylophora

indica Family: Asclepiadaceae (Milkweed family) Synonyms: Asclepias asthmatica, Tylophora asthmatica, Cynanchum indicum

Indian Ipecac is a small, slender, much branched, velvety, twining or climbing herb with yellowish sap. It is mostly found in the sub-himalayan tract from Uttarakhand to Meghalaya and in the central and peninsular India. Rootstock is 2.5-5 cm,

thick. Leaves, 6-11 cm long, 3.8-6 cm wide, are ovate-oblong

to elliptic-oblong, with a narrow tip, heart-shaped at base, thick, velvety beneath when young, smooth above. Leaf stalks are up to 1.2 cm long. Flowers are small, 1-1.5 cm across, in 2 to 3-flowered fascicles in cymes in leaf axils. Sepal up is divided nearly to the base, densely hairy outside. Sepals are

lance-shaped. Flowers are greenish- yellow or greenish-purple, with oblong pointy petals. Fruit is a follicle, up to 7 x 1 cm,

ovoid-lanceshaped. Flowering: August-December. Medicinal uses: It is traditionally used as a folk remedy in certain regions of India for the treatment of bronchial asthma, inflammation, bronchitis, allergies, rheumatism and dermatitis. Identification credit: Prashant Awale Photographed in Mumbai.


Common name: Arni (Hindi), Taggi gida (Kannada), Taluddai (Tamil) Botanical name: Clerodendrum phlomidis Family: Verbenaceae (verbena family)

A fairly common shrub of arid plains, low hills, deserts of Sind, Punjab and Baluchistan. Shrubs 1.5-3 m tall, stem ashy-grey, branches pubescent. Leaves opposite, ovate to rhomboid-ovate, 1.5-5 cm long, 1-3 cm broad, entire to sinuate-crenate, subacute-obtuse; petiole up to 2.5 cm long. Flowers creamy-white or pale yellowish, c. 1.5 cm across; pedicels 5-10 mm long, densely hirsute; bracts ovate lanceolate. Calyx campanulate, glabrous, pale or somewhat yellowish green, somewhat inflated, 5-lobed; lobes 4-5 mm long, ovate-triangulate, Corolla-tube 2-2.5 cm long, much narrower than the calyx, pubescent externally; lobes 5, subequal, ovate-elliptic, 7-8 mm long, obtuse. Drupe obovoid, 8-12 mm long, black, wrinkled, usually 4-lobed, enclosed by the persistent calyx; seeds oblong, white. Distribution: Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Burma.

Medicinal uses: Root is bitter tonic and given in convalescence of measles. Juice of leaves is alterative and given in neglected syphilitic complaints. The root is given as a demulcent in gonorrhoea, and decoction of the plant is considered as an alterative. It helps cure stomach troubles and swellings in cattle. Identification

credit: Navendu Pag

Photographed in Garden of Five Senses, Delhi.


ative Photo: Thingnam Girija

Common name: Malabar Nut, {Arusa, Vasala} ,

(Hindi), Nongmangkha angouba (Manipuri), Adatodai (Tamil), Basak (Bengali) Botanical name: Adhatoda vasica

Family: Acanthaceae (ruellia family) Synonyms: Justicia adhatoda

A small evergreen, sub-herbacious bush which grows commonly in open plains, especially in the lower Himalayas. The Leaves are 10 to 16 cms in length, minutely hairy and broadly lanceolate. A herbal plant which requires very little watering and is an extremely hardy plant is Malabar nut. If

there is one herbal plant that needs to be singled out for propagation and planting on a large scale, it would be this one. Adhatoda in Tamil, meaning a plant shunned by herbivorous

animals. Propagated easily by cuttings, grows to a height of eight to 14 feet and has attractive white flowers. Medicinal uses: Adhatoda is useful for curing coughs, colds

and asthma and is easy to administer.It has been used for centuries, and is mentioned in Sanskrit scriptures. Identification

credit: Thingnam Sophia

Photographed in Garden of Five Senses, Delhi


Common name: Winter Cherry Hindi: Ashwagandha ,

Rasbhari Kannada: Kanchuki Marathi: Ghoda, Tilli Gujarati: Ghodaasun Telugu: Vajigandha Malayalam: Amukkuram Tamil: Amukkuram Botanical name: Withania

somnifera Family: Solanaceae (Potato family)

Ashwagandha, is native to drier parts of India. It is a perennial

herb that reaches about 6 feet in nature. In the greenhouse they flower in the late fall and winter. Orange fruits in

persistent papery calyxes follow the small greenish flowers. Ashwagandha is propagated by division, cuttings or seed. Seed is the best way to propagate them. Seed sown on moist sand will germinate in 14-21 days at 20 C. A postal stamp was issued by the Indian Postal Department to commemorate this flowers.

Medicinal uses: Ashwagandha has been a prized top notch adaptogenic tonic in India for 3000 - 4000 years. The plants contain the alkaloids withanine and somniferine, which are

used to treat nervous disorders.

Tell a friend about this flower! Common name: Pink Scaly Rhododendron Hindi: Atarasu,

Sumral, Simris, Talshi Nepali: Bhaale Sunpati Botanical name: Rhododendron lepidotum Family: Ericaceae (Rhododendron family)

Pink Scaly Rhododendron is a low shrublet, growing to about a meter tall. Narrow lanceshaped leaves, 2.5-4 cm long, are densely covered with fleshy scales. Flowers are pink or purple,

borne in clusters of 2 to 4, on slender stalks. Flowers are about 2-2.5 cm across, broadly tubular with 5 spreading rounded

petals, scaly and glandular outside. Eight stamens protrude out of the flowers with red filaments which are hairy on the lower side. Fruit is a capsule, densely scaly, covered with persisting sepals. Flowering: June-July. Medicinal uses: The people of Manang district, central Nepals, take the juice of the plant, believing it purifies the

blood. Pounded leaves are boiled in water and spread on cots, beds, and mats to kill bugs. Identification

credit: Nongthombam Ulysses Photographed in Valley of Flowers, Uttarakhand.


ntroduced

Photo: Dinesh Valke

Common name: Wild Snake Root, Devil Pepper, Be Still Tree, American serpentwood, be still tree, devil root, milkbush

Hindi: barachandrika, Chandrabhaga Tamil:

Pampukaalaachchedi Malayalam: Pampumkolli, Kattamalpori

Telugu: papataku Kannada: dodda chandrike Bengali: bar chandrika, gandhanakuli

Oriya: patalagarudi Sanskrit: Vanasarpagandha,

Sarpanasini

Botanical name: Rauvolfia tetraphylla Family: Apocynaceae (Oleander family) Synonyms: Rauvolfia canescens, Rauvolfia heterophylla,

Rauvolfia hirsuta

Native to tropical America, Wild Snake Root is a small tree or

shrub that will reach 6 ft in height. Leaves are whorled, medium to dark green in color, and occur in groups of 4 unequally-sized leaves at each node. In late summer to early

fall the very small, white flowers appear. Flowers to 5 mm long, tube 3.7 mm long. Bright red berries form that turn black as they ripen, and look like large pepper corns. Medicinal uses: The roots yield the drug deserpidine, which is an antihypertensive and tranquilizer.

Identification credit: Arvind Kadus

Photographed at Kamshet, Maharashtra.

Tell a friend about this flower! Common name: Asthma Weed, Common spurge, Cats hair

Hindi: Bara dudhi Manipuri: Pakhamba maton

Marathi: Dudhi Tamil: Ammam Paccharisi Malayalam: Nelapalai Telugu: Nanabalu Kannada: Achchedida Bengali: Barokarni Konkani: Dudurli Botanical name: Euphorbia

hirta Family: Euphorbiaceae (Castor family)

Asthma Weed is a slender-stemmed, annual hairy plant with

many branches, growing up to 40 cms tall, reddish or purplish in color. Leaves are opposite, elliptic-oblong to oblong-

lancelike, 1-2.5 cm long, blotched with purple in the middle, toothed at the edge. Flowers, purplish to greenish in color, dense, axillary, short-stalked clusters or crowded cymes, about 1 mm in length. Capsules are broadly ovoid, hairy, three-angled, about 1.5 cm. Medicinal uses: Asthma weed has traditionally been used in

Asia to treat bronchitic asthma and laryngeal spasm, though in modern herbalism it is more used in the treatment of intestinal amoebic dysentery.


Common name: Large Caltrops Hindi: Bara Gokhru Kannada: Ane neggilu Malayalam: Ananerinnil Tamil:

Yanai nerunjil Oriya: Gokhara Marathi: Gokhura

Gujarati: Kadva gokhru Botanical name: Pedalium murex Family: Pedaliaceae (sesame family)

Large Caltrops is a shrubby, stiff-stemmed herb, native to India, grown for reputed medicinal and other uses. It is diffuse annual, much branched, spreading, succulent, glandular, up to 60 cm tall. Roots similar to turmeric in colour. Leaves simple, opposite, ovate or oblong-obovate, 1-4.5 cm long, irregularly and coarsely crenate-serrate. Yellow flowers 1.5-2 cm across,

stalk 1-2 mm long, increasing up to 4 mm in fruit. Sepals 2 mm long; teeth linear, scaly outside, persistent. Petals fused into a broad tube, 1-3 cm long; lobes obtuse. Stamens 0.5-1

cm long; anthers kidney shaped. The four angled seed is with 5 extremely sharp spines. It is an important famine food -

leaves eaten as vegetable. Medicinal uses: Leaves are antibilious. Seeds are demulcant, diuretic, tonic, muscilaginous and aphrodesiac. Used in male impotence, gonorrhoea, and incontinence. Identification credit: Pravin

Kawale

Photographed in Alibag, Maharashtra.


ative


Common name: Asian spider flower, Yellow spider flower, Cleome, Tickweed Hindi: Bagra Urdu: Hulhul Malayalam:

Naivela Tamil: Naikkaduku Kannada: Nayibela Gujarati:

Pilitalvani Telugu: Kukkavaminta Marathi:

Pivala tilavan Botanical name: Cleome viscosa

Family: Capparaceae (Caper family) Synonyms: Polanisia viscosa

Asian spider flower is a usually tall annual herb, up to a meter high, more or less hairy with glandular and eglandular hairs.

Leaves 3-5-foliolate, petiolate; leaflets obovate, elliptic-oblong, very variable in size, often 2-4 cm long, 1.5-2.5 cm broad, middle one largest; petiole up to 5 cm long. Racemes

elongated, up to 30 cm long, with corymbose flowers at the top and elongated mature fruits below, bracteate. Flowers 10-15 mm across, whitish or yellowish; pedicels 6-20 mm long;

bracts foliaceous. Sepals oblong-lanceolate, 3-4 mm long, 1-2 mm wide, glandular-pubescent. Petals 8-15 mm long, 2-4 mm

broad, oblong-obovate. Stamens 10-12 (rarely more, up to 20), not exceeding the petals; gynophore absent. Fruit 30-75 mm long, 3-5 mm broad, linear-oblong, erect, obliquely striated, tapering at both ends, glandular-pubescent, slender; style 2-5 mm long; seeds many, 1-1.4 mm in diam., glabrous

with longitudinal striations and transverse ridges, dark brown. Medicinal uses: The leaves are diaphoretic, rubefacient and

vesicant. They are used as an external application to wounds and ulcers. The juice of the leaves has been used to relieve earache. The seeds are anthelmintic, carminative, rubefacient and vesicant. The seed contains 0.1% viscosic acid and 0.04% viscosin. Identification credit: Pravin Kawale & L.P.A. Reddy

Photographed in Okhla Pakshi Vihar, Delhi


ative

Photo: Dinesh Valke

Common name: Baheda, Belliric Myrobalan, Bastard

myrobalan, Beach almond, Bedda nut tree Hindi:

bahera, bahuvirya, bhutvaas, kalk,

karshphal Manipuri: bahera Marathi: behada,

bibhtaka, kalidruma, vehala Tamil: uni0BA9_uni0BCD tanri Malayalam: thaanni Telugu:

bhutavasamu, karshaphalamu, tadi,

tandrachettu, vibhitakamu Kannada:

taarekaayi Bengali: baheda Oriya: bahada Konkani:

goting Urdu: Bahera Assamese: bauri Gujarati:

baheda Khasi: Dieng rinyn Sanskrit: akshah,

bahuvirya, bibhitakah, karshah, vibhitakah

Nepali: barro

Botanical name: Terminalia bellirica Family: Combretaceae (Rangoon creeper family) Synonyms: Myrobalanus bellirica

Baheda is a tall handsome tree, with characteristic bark, 12-50

m tall. Leaves are alternately arranged or fascicled at the end of branches, elliptic or elliptic obovate, leathery, dotted, entire.

Leaf tip is narrow- pointed or rounded. Leaves are 8-20 cm long, 7.5-15 cm wide, on stalks 2.15 cm long. Flowers arise in spikes in leaf axils, 5-15 cm long. Flowers are greenish yellow, 5-6 mm across, stalklesse, upper flowers of the spike are male, lower flowers are bisexual. Stamens are 3-4 mm long. Fruit is obovoid 1.5-2.5 cm in diameter, covered with minute pale pubescence, stone very thick, indistinctly 5 angled. Medicinal uses: In traditional Indian Ayurvedic medicine, Baheda is known as "Bibhitaki;" in its fruit form it is used in

the popular Indian herbal rasayana treatment triphala. This species is used by some tribes in the Indian subcontinent for its mind-altering qualities - they smoke dried kernels. Too

much of this can cause nausea and vomiting. Identification

credit: Dinesh Valke

Photographed at Karnala Bird Sanctuary, Maharashtra.

Tell a friend about this flower! Common name: Chinaberry tree, Persian lilac, Pride of India,

Bead tree, Lilac tree Hindi: Bakain Manipuri: Seizrak

Marathi: Bakan-nimb Bengali: Bakarjam Tamil:

uni0B9F_uni0BCDuni0B9F_uni0BC1 uni0BAE_uni0BCDuni0BAA_uni0BC2 Kattu vembhu Botanical name: Melia azedarach Family: Meliaceae (mahogany family) Synonyms: Melia azedarach var. japonica, Melia toosendan

The Persian lilac tree is frequently confused with Neem. However, the structure of the leaves and the color of the flowers, white in Neem and lilac in Persian lilac, are sufficient to distinguish between the two. A large evergreen tree native

to India, growing wild in the sub-Himalayan region. In India, Muslims are credited with the spread of the tree. The bark is reddish brown, becoming fissured on mature trees. The

deciduous leaves are bipinnate (twice feather-like) and 1-2 ft long. The individual leaflets, each about 2 in long and less than half as wide, are pointed at the tips and have toothed edges. In spring and early summer, Persian lilac produces masses of

purplish, fragrant, star shaped flowers, each about 3/4 in in diameter, that arch or droop in 8 in panicles. They are followed by clusters of spherical, yellow fruits about 3/4 in in diameter that persist on the trees even after the leaves have fallen. All parts of Persian lilac tree are poisonous. Eating as few as 6

berries can result in death. Birds that eat too many seeds have been known to become paralyzed.

Medicinal uses: Bark and fruit extract is used to kill parasitic roundworms. In Manipur, leaves and flowers are used as poultice in nervous headache. Leaves, bark and fruit are insect repellant. Seed-oil is used in rheumatism. Wood-extract is used in asthma. Photographed in Delhi


aturalized

Photo: Tabish

Common name: Sausage Tree, Common Sausage Tree

Hindi: Balam khira, Jhar fanoos Kannada: Aanethoradu Kaayi, Mara Sowthae Telugu: Enuga thondamu, Kijili, Naagamalle

Botanical name: Kigelia africana Family: Bignoniaceae (Jacaranda family) Synonyms: Crescentia pinnata, Kigelia pinnata

The blood-red flowers of the sausage tree bloom at night on long, ropelike stalks that hang down from the limbs of this tropical tree. The fragrant, nectar-rich blossoms are pollinated by bats, insects and sunbirds in their native habitat. The mature fruits dangle from the long stalks like giant sausages.

They may be up to two feet long and weigh up to 6.8 kg. The flowers are seen hanging from the tree while they haven't opened. After they open, they fall off quite soon. The fruit,

while not palatable for humans, is popular with hippos, baboons, and giraffes. Mainly grown as a curiosity and

ornamental, both for its beautiful deep red flowers and its strange fruit. Medicinal uses: There are also a range of traditional uses for the fruit, varying from topical treatments for skin afflictions, to treatment for intestinal worms. There are some steroid

chemicals found in the sausage tree that are currently added to commercially available shampoos and facial

creams.

Photographed in Delhi.


Common name: Banchalita Hindi: banchalita

Manipuri: bn_ekaar Koknal Bengali: Banchalita

Botanical name: Leea asiatica Family: Leeaceae (Leea family) Synonyms: Leea aspera, Leea crispa, Phytolacca asiatica

Banchalita is an erect gergarious shrub with angular stem swollen above the nodes and internodes. Petioles and

peduncles usually have narrow crisped wings. Leaves are pinnately compound - not double-pinnate like Bandicoot Berry. Leaflets are 3-5, laterals opposite, ovate or ovate-oblong,

serrate, tip sharp, base rounded or heart-shaped. Flowers, 5-6 mm across, greenish white, are borne in short, cymes at the end of branches. Calyx united, cup-like, teeth 5, obscure, often

glandular-tipped. Petals 5, connate, 2-3 mm long, ovate, acute. Stamens 5, united; staminal tube 5-lobes, 2-celled. Ovary inserted on the disc; style short; stigma 2-lobed. Leaf extract is mixed with water and used for washing hair by Chiru tribe in NE India. Flowering: September.

Medicinal uses: Root tuber is used against guineaworms. The root with bark ofBoswellia serrata is made into paste which is prescribed in case of snake-bite by the tribes of Hazaribag district of Bihar. Identification credit: Dinesh Valke Photographed in Maharashtra.


Common name: Weaver's Beam Tree Hindi:

Banpalas, Mokhdi, Mokha Kannada: bula, gante,

mogalingamara Malayalam: maggamaram, malamplasu,

muskkakavrksam Marathi: Mokha, mokadi, nakti

Oriya: mokka Sanskrit: Ghantapatali, Golidha, Kastapatola Tamil: kattupparutticceti, mogalingam, makalinkam Telugu: bullakaya, magalinga, tondamukkudi Botanical name: Schrebera swietenioides Family: Oleaceae (Jasmine family)

Weaver's Beam Tree is a moderate sized deciduous tree,

growing up to 20 m tall, with thick grey bark. Leaves are pinnate, with 3-4 pairs of opposite leaflets, and a terminal one. Leaflets are ovate, entire, unequal-sided, petioles thickened at

the insertion of leaflets. Flowers are yellowish white, variegated with brown, in terminal trichotomous, corymb-like, compound clusters. Flowers are fragrant at night. Flower tube is funnel- shaped, 8-12 mm long. Petals are 5-7, widely

spreading, wedg-shaped, blunt, with brown glandular raised dots on the upper side. Capsule is the size of a hen's egg, pear-shaped, woody, hard, scabrous, 2-celled, seeds 4 in each cell, pendulous, irregularly oval, compressed, produced into a long membranous wing. The wood is used by weavers to make

the beam of the looms. Flowering: February-April. Medicinal uses: The roots, bark and leaves are bitter, acrid,

appetising, digestive, thermogenic, stomachic, depurative, constipating urinary astringent and anthelmintic. The fruits are reported to be useful in curing hydrocele. Identification credit: Satish Phadke Photographed in Maharashtra.


aturalized

Photo: Navendu Pg

Common name: Indian Mulberry, Great morinda Hindi:

Bartundi Telugu: Mogali Marathi: Nagakunda Tamil: Nuna Malayalam: Mannapavatta Kannada: Tagase

maddi Gujarati: Surangi Oriya: Pindre Bengali: Hurdi Konkani: Bartondi Botanical name: Morinda citrifolia Family: Rubiaceae (coffee family)

Great morinda is a shrub or small tree native to Southeast Asia but has been extensively spread by man throughout India and into the Pacific islands as far as the islands of French Polynesian, of which Tahiti is the most prominent. It can also be found in parts of the West Indies. The plant grows well on sandy or rocky shores. Apart from saline conditions, the plant also can withstand drought and grows in secondary soils. It can grow up to 9 m tall, and has large, simple, dark green, shiny and deeply veined leaves. The plant flowers and fruits all

year round. The flowers are small and white. The fruit is a multiple fruit that has a pungent odor when ripening, and is hence also known as cheese fruit or even vomit fruit. It is oval and reaches 4-7 cm in size. At first green, the fruit turns yellow then almost white as it ripens. It contains many seeds. It is sometimes called starvation fruit. Despite its strong smell and bitter taste, the fruit is nevertheless eaten as a famine food. Medicinal uses: Scientific studies have investigated noni's effect on the growth of cancerous tissue. One such study found that noni inhibited and reduced growth of the capillary vessels sprouting from human breast tumor explants and, at increased concentrations, the noni caused existing vessels to rapidly degenerate. Identification credit: Navendu Pg Photographed in Maharashtra.


Common name: Hill Glory Bower Hindi: Titabhamt,

Bhant Manipuri: Kuthap manbi Marathi: Bhandira

Tamil: Perukilai Malayalam: Peruku Telugu: Gurrapu katilyaku Kannada: Ibbane, Basavana pada Bengali: Bhant

Sanskrit: Bhandirah Nepali: Rajbeli

Botanical name: Clerodendrum viscosum Family: Verbenaceae (Verbena family) Synonyms: Clerodendrum infortunatum, Volkameria infortunata

Hill glory bower is a gregarious shrub, 1-2 m high. The

quadrangular branches are covered with sily yellwish hair. Oppositely arranged leaves are oval, 10-20 cm long, hairy. The base of the leaf is heart-shaped. White flowers, tinged with

pink, occur in large panicles. The five white petals are tinged pink at the base. Four long stamens, 3 cm, protrude out of the flower. Flowering: March-April. Medicinal uses: Extract of the leaves is given orally in fever

and bowel troubles in the Kuki and Rongmei tribes in the North-East India. Fresh leaf-juice is introduced in the rectum for removal of ascarids. Leaves and flowers are used to cure scorpion sting. Identification

credit: Rahul Prabhu Khanolkar

Photographed in Maharashtra and Belgaon, Karnataka.

ative

Photo: Pravin Kawale

Common name: Marking Nut, dhobi nut tree, Indian marking

nut tree, Malacca bean, marany nut, marsh nut, oriental

cashew nut, varnish tree Hindi: or bhilawan,

billar Marathi: bhallataka, bhillava,

bibba Tamil: uni0B99_uni0BCDuni0B9F_uni0BCD cen-kottai, uni0BAE_uni0BCDuni0BAE_uni0BCD

compalam, uni0BAE_uni0BCD kalakam, kavaka,

uni0B9F_uni0BCDuni0B95_uni0BCDuni0B95_uni0BCDuni0B9F_uni0BCD kitta-k-kani-k-kottai Malayalam:

alakuceer, ceenkkuru, theenkotta Telugu: bhallatamu,

jidimamidichettu Kannada: geru, gerannina mara Bengali: bhallata, bhallataka Oriya:

bhollataki, bonebhalia Konkani: amberi, bibba

Urdu: baladur, bhilavan, billar Assamese:

bhala Gujarati: bhilamo, bhilamu Sanskrit:

ahvala, arshastah, arudhkh,

bhallatakah, vahnih, vishasya Nepali:

bhalaayo Botanical name: Semecarpus anacardium Family: Anacardiaceae (Cashew family) Synonyms: Anacardium orientale

Marking Nut is a moderate-sized deciduous tree with large stiff leaves. Leaves are 7-24 inches long, 2-12 inches wide, obovate-oblong, rounded a t the tip. Leaf base is rounded,

heart-shaped or narrowed into the stalk, leathery in texture. Flowers is small, borne in panicles shorter than the leaves.

Fruit is a drupe 1 inch long, ovoid or oblong, smooth and shining, black when ripe, seated on a fleshy cup. The stem yields, by tapping, an acrid, viscid juice from which a varnish is prepared. The nut yields a powerful and bitter substance used everywhere in India as a substitute for marking ink for clothes by washermen, hence it is frequently called Dhobi Nut. It gives

a black colour to cotton fabrics, but before application it must be mixed with limewater as a fixator. The fruits are also used as a dye. They are also largely employed in Indian medicine.

The fleshy cups on which the nuts rest and the kernels of the nuts are eaten. Medicinal uses: The fruit is useful in leucoderma, scaly skin,

allergic, dermatitis, poisonous bites, leprosy, cough, asthma, and dyspepsia. It is extremely beneficial in the diseases like piles, colitis, diarrhea, dyspepsia, ascites, tumours and worms.

The topical application of its oil on swollen joints and traumatic wounds effectively controls the pain.

Identification credit: Pravin Kawale Photographed in Maharashtra.


ative Photo: Thingnam Girija

Common name: False Daisy, Trailing eclipta Hindi:

Bhringaraj, Kesharaj Manipuri: Uchi-sumbal Tamil:

uni0B99_uni0BCDuni0BA3_uni0BCD Karisilanganni, Kavanthakara Malayalam: Kannunni Telugu: Galagara Kannada: Ajagara Oriya:

Kesarda Sanskrit: Bhringaraj

Botanical name: Eclipta prostrata Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family) Synonyms: Eclipta erecta, Eclipta alba, Eclipta punctata, Verbesina prostrata

False Daisy is an annual commonly found growing in waste ground. Stems are erect or prostate, entirely velvety, often rooting at nodes. Oppositely arranged stalkless, oblong, lance-shaped, or elliptic leaves are 2.5-7.5 cm long. It has a short, flat or round, brown stem and small white daisy-like flowers on a long stalk. Eclipta grows abundantly in the tropics and is used with success in Ayurvedic medicine. Bhringaraj was used

by Hindus in their Shradh, the ceremony for paying respect to a recently deceased person. This plant is one of the Hindus Ten Auspicious Flowers and is sometimes called, the king of hair. Medicinal uses: Bhringraj is mainly used in hair oils, but it has been considered a good drug in hepatotoxicity. In hair oils, it may be used alongwith Centela asiatica (Brahmi) and Phyllanthus emblica (Amla) It may be used to prevent habitual abortion and miscarriage and also in cases of post-delivery uterine pain. A decoction of leaves is used in uterine haemorrhage. The juice of the plant with honey is given to infants with castor oil for expulsion of worms. For the relief in piles, fumigation with Eclipta alba is considered beneficial. The paste prepared by mincing fresh plants has got an anti-inflammatory effect and may be applied to insect bites, stings, swellings and other skin diseases. Identification credit: Navendu Pag

Photographed in Millenium Park, Delhi.

ative

Photo: Rahul Prabhu Khanolkar

Common name: Crested Lepidagathis Hindi:

Bukhar Jadi Marathi: Bhui Gend, Bhu terada Tamil: Karappanpoondu Kannada: Surya Kantha Botanical name: Lepidagathis

cristata Family: Acanthaceae (Ruellia family)

Crested Lepidagathis is a perennial herb, with almost no stem.

Branches, 20 cm long, arise out of a globose head on the ground, and spread out. Flowers are also arise stalkless from this globose head. Flowers are pale pink, 2-lipped. The upper lip is notched, and the lower lip is divided into 3 lobes. Medicinal uses: In Chattisgarh they use this herb in

treatment of fever particularly in treatment of Malarial fever. The decoction of leaves is used internally for this purpose. Its utility in treatment of fever has given it the name Bukhar Jadi

In reference literatures, the use of this herb in treatment of itchy affections of skin has been mentioned. The traditional healers of Chhattisgarh Plains are aware of this use. In many

parts of Chhattisgarh, the cattle owners use the decoction of

this herb to wash the cattle in rainy season in order to keep it free from flies. Identification credit: Rahul Prabhu Khanolkar



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Common name: Common Yarrow, Sneezewort, Soldier's

friend, Thousand-leaf Hindi: Gandrain, Puthkanda, Bhut Kesi Marathi: Rojmaari Tamil: Achchilliya Konkani: Rajmari Urdu: Tukhm gandana, Buiranjasif, Brinjasuf

Botanical name: Achillea millefolium Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family) Synonyms: Achillea lanulosa, Achillea magna

Yarrows are herbaceous perennials, most with fragrant lacy foliage and small daisy-like flowerheads borne in rounded corymbs. Common yarrow has leaves that are grayish green, aromatic, and very finely dissected, like soft dainty ferns. The plant forms dense spreading mats of lacy leaves from rhizomes

that creep beneath the ground surface. In summer yarrow sends up erect, grayish, usually unbranched stems, 1-3 ft tall. The fifty or more small, about 0.25 in across with whitish

flowerheads are borne in flat to domed clusters. Flower have white, 5-ray petals that surround tiny yellow to light cream-

coloured disc florets, each flower head is 3-5 mm across; occur as independent and terminal round or flat-topped clusters; clusters are 6-30 cm across. The plant may have been named after the Greek person Achilles. Within India, Common Yarrow is found in the Himalayan region of Jammu & Kashmir,

Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand in an altitude range of 1050-3600 m.

Medicinal uses: In Greek mythology it is said to have been used by Achilles to heal his warriors during the battle of Troy - hence the name "Achillea". In Anglo-Saxon times it was used as a charm to ward off evil and illness - and as a treatment for wounds, much as Achilles used it, giving it a common name for the period of 'Soldier's Wound-Wort'. Yarrow has been used to stop bleeding by inserting leaves into the nostrils of wounded soldiers. Druids used Yarrow to predict seasonal weather. In Chinese legends, Yarrow was used to predict the future.

Identification credit: Shaista Ahmad Photographed in Delhi & Kerala.


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Photo: Kiran Srivastava

Common name: Gandarusa, Warer willow Hindi: Nili nargandi, Kala bashimb Marathi: tev, bakas, kalaadulsa

Tamil: karunochi, vadaikkutti Malayalam: karunochchi, vada-kodi Telugu: addasaramu, gandharasamu, nalla-noch-chili Kannada: aduthodagidda, karalakkigidde, karinekki

Bengali: jagatmadan Oriya: nilanirgundi Assamese: tita-bahak, bishalya karani Sanskrit: bhutakeshi, gandharasa,

indrani, kapika, krishnanirgundi Botanical name: Justicia gendarussa Family: Acanthaceae (Ruellia family)

Synonyms: Gendarussa vulgaris, Adhatoda subserrata

Gandarusa is an erect, branched, smooth undershrub 0.8-1.5

m tall. The leaves are lance-shaped, 7-14 cm long, 1-2.5 cm wide, and pointed at the ends. The rather small flowers are borne in 4-12 cm long spikes, at the end of branches or in leaf

axils. The teeth of the sepals cup are smooth, linear, and about 3 mm long. The flowers are about 1.5 cm long, white or pink, with purple spots. The capsule is club-shaped, about 12

mm long, and smooth. Medicinal uses: Gandarusa is reputed for its beneficial effects in Respiratory disorders like cough, cold, bronchitis, throat infections, pulmonary infections and allergic disorders like bronchial asthma. It is assumed to possess greater medicinal

value to yellow vasa plant or Adhatoda vasica. Identification

credit: N.S. Dungriyal

Photographed at Yeoor Hills, Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Maharashtra.


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Photo: Pravin Kawale

Common name: Giant potato, Large Forest Ipomoea Hindi:

Bhuyikohada Telugu: Nelagummudu Tamil:

Palmudamgi Malayalam: Mutalakkilannu Marathi: Bhui-kohala

Botanical name: Ipomoea mauritiana Family: Convolvulaceae (morning glory family) Synonyms: Ipomoea digitata, Ipomoea insignis

Giant potato is a type of morning glory plant. Like the sweet potato, it belongs to the Ipomoea genera. It grows as a vine.

The origin of Ipomoea mauritiana is unknown, it is there all over the tropics. It is naturalised in many parts of the world. This vine has stems that can grow to 10 m. Leaf blade is circular in outline, 7-18 X 7-22 cm, usually palmately 5-7-divided to or beyond middle, rarely entire or shallowly lobed.

Inflorescences few to many flowered. Flowers are pink or reddish purple, with a darker center, funnelform, 5-6 cm across.

Medicinal uses: The leaves and roots are used externally to treat tuberculosis and for the treatment of external and breast infections. In Ayurveda, a decoction of the tuberous roots are used for the preparation of medicinal wine. The Ayurvedic name is Kiribadu Ala, and it is also an ingardient in

Chyavanprash. Identification credit: Pravin Kawale Photographed in Alibag, Maharashtra


Common name: Bilimbi, Cucumber-Tree Hindi: Bilimbi Manipuri: Heinajom Marathi: Bilambi Tamil: Pulima Malayalam: Vilumpi Telugu: Gommareku Kannada:

Belambu Konkani: Bimbul Botanical name: Averrhoa bilimbi Family: Oxalidaceae (Wood sorrel family)

The bilimbi tree is long-lived, reaches 5-10 m in height. Its trunk is short and quickly divides up into ramifications. Bilimbi

leaves, 30-60 cm long, are alternate, imparipirmate and cluster at branch extremities. There are around 11 to 37

alternate or subopposite oblong leaflets. This Carambola relative produces very small pickle-like fruits which are borne directly on the trunk of the tree and also on the branches. The fruits are preceded by small red flowers on the trunk and branches. Its flowers, like its fruits, are found in hairy panicles that directly emerge from the trunk as well as from the oldest,

most solid branches. The yellowish or purplish flowers are tiny, fragrant and have 5 petals. The bilimbi fruit's form ranges from ellipsoid to almost cylindrical. Its length is 4-10 cm. The

bilimbi is 5-sided, but in a less marked way than the carambola. If unripe, it is bright green and crispy. It turns yellowish as it ripens. The flesh is juicy, green and extremely acidic. The fruit's skin is glossy and very thin. The bilimbi is too acid for eating raw but the green uncooked fruits are prepared

as a relish in Suriname. Originated seemingly from the Moluccas, in India, where it is usually found in gardens, the

bilimbi has gone wild in the warmest regions of the country. Medicinal uses: In Malaysia the leaves of bilimbi are used as a treatment for venereal disease. A leaf decoction is taken as a medicine to relieve rectal inflammation. It seems to be effective against coughs and thrush. Identification credit: Dinesh Valke Photographed in Maharashtra.

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Common name: Indian Pennywort, Coinwort, Asiatic

coinwort, American coinwort, spadeleaf Hindi: Brahma

manduki Malayalam: Kodangal Kannada: Vondelaga Tamil: Vallarai Assamese: Bor-mani-muni

Manipuri: bn_ekaar Peruk Telugu: Saraswataku Bengali: Bora thulkari Marathi: Karinga

Botanical name: Centella asiatica Family: Apiaceae (Carrot family)

Indian Pennywort is a small creeping herb with shovel shaped leaves emerging alternately in clusters at the stem nodes. The runners lie along the ground and the inch long leaves with their scalloped edges rise above on long reddish petioles. The insignificant greenish- to pinkish-white flowers are borne in dense umbels (clusters in which all the flower stalks arise from

the same point) on separate stems in the summer. The seeds are pumpkin-shaped nutlets 0.1-0.2 in long. In India it is

revered as a medicinal herb, and particularly in Manipur the full plant is eaten as food like a leafy vegetable. Indian Pennywort appears to have originated in the wetlands of Asia. China, India, and Malaya were probably within its original range.

Medicinal uses: Indian Pennywort is revered as one of the great multi-purpose miracle herbs of Oriental medicine. It has

been in use for thousands of years and has been employed to treat practically every ailment known to man at one time or place or another. The leaf and root extract has been used in Ayurvedic medicine for a long time but has become very popular in the past couple of years for both internal use as well as topical application - although the cosmetic application is relatively new. In Ayurvedic practice it also has a valuable and sought-after Vayasthapana effect - helping to retard the aging process.< div> Photographed in Dharamshala & New Delhi.


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Common name: Stinking Cassia, Chinese senna, foetid cassia, Java bean, low senna, peanut weed, sickle senna,

sicklepod Assamese: Bon medelua, Dari diga, Medeluwa Bengali: Panevar, Chakunda Hindi: Panwar, Chakunda, Chakvat Kannada: Sogata Malayalam: Sakramardakam

Manipuri: bn_ekaar Thaunum namthibi Marathi: Takla,

Tankala Mizo: Kelbe-on Oriya: chakunda Tamil: uni0BB5_uni0BC1 Senavu Urdu: Panwar, Panevar, Tarota Botanical name: Senna tora Family: Caesalpiniaceae (Gulmohar family)

Synonyms: Cassia tora

Stinking Cassia is a small erect hairlesss shrub, about 1 m tall, commonly found growing wild on roadsides. True to its name, foetid/stinking cassia has a disagreeable smell. It is widely spreading with numerous ascending, hairless branches. The

compound leaves are arranged spirally and usually have three pairs of symmetrically egg-shaped leaflets up to 2 inches long.

One to three yellow flowers appear on short axillary stems. The linear pods grow to 8 inches long, curve downward and contain many shiny, angular seeds. It occurs abundantly in open pastures, and is very common on roadsides and wasteland. In organic farms of India, Stinking Cassia is used

as natural pesticide. Medicinal uses: According to Ayurveda, the leaves and seeds

are useful in leprosy, ringworm, flatulence, colic, dyspepsia, constipation, cough, bronchitis, cardiac disorders. Identification credit: Prashant Awale

Photographed in Panvel, Maharashtra.


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Common name: Salaparni Hindi: Chapakno Tamil:

uni0BB2_uni0BCD Nirmalli Malayalam: Muvvila, Moovila Telugu: Nayakuponna, Muyyakuponna Sanskrit: Salaparni, Sanaparni

Botanical name: Pseudarthria viscida Family: Fabaceae (Pea family) Synonyms: Hedysarum viscidum

Salaparni is a perennial under shrub which grows all over India up to 1000 m altitude. It attains the height about 60-120 cm.

The branches are slender and covered with minute white hair. The leaves are 7.5-15 cm long and 2.5-5 cm broad, trifoliate, ovate-oblong, hairy and densely grey-silky beneath. The

flowers purplish or pink, in 15-30 cm long axillary racemes. The fruits, pods, oblong, flattened, covered with sticky hairs. The seeds 4-6, compressed and brownish black in color. The plant flowers in May. Medicinal uses: The whole plant of salaparni is used for

medicinal purpose in Ayurvedic medicine. The herb is seldom used externally. Internally it is useful in vast range of diseases. It is used in the treatment for asthma and nervous dysfunction. It is also used in the treatment of insect bites and used against inflammations, vomiting, etc.

Identification credit: Prashant Awale Photographed in Maharashtra.


Common name: Common Leucas Hindi: Chhota

halkusa, Gophaa Manipuri: Mayanglambum Marathi:

Tamba Tamil: uni0BA4_uni0BC1uni0BAE_uni0BCD Thumbai Malayalam: Tumba Telugu: Tummachettu Kannada: Tumbe guda Bengali:

Ghal ghase Oriya: Bhutamari Konkani: Tumbo Sanskrit:

Dronapushpi Botanical name: Leucas aspera Family: Lamiaceae (Mint family)

Common Leucas is an erect and diffusely branched annual herb. Leaves are linear or oblong, 2.5 to 7.5 cm long with blunt tips and scalloped margins. Whorls are large, terminal and axillary, about 2.5 cm in diameter and crowded with white bell shaped flowers. Calyx is variable, with an upper lip and

short, triangular teeth. Medicinal uses: A popular Pot Herb believed to help develop

resistance to fight diseases. Photographed in Manipur.


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Photo: Kiran Srivastava

Common name: Indian Borage Hindi: Chhota Kalpa Gujarati: Undhanphuli Kannada: Katte tume soppu Tamil: Kallutaitumapi Telugu: Guvvagutti Marathi: Chota Kalpa Sanskrit: Adhapuspi Botanical name: Trichodesma indicum Family: Boraginaceae (forget-me-not family)

This is an erect, spreading, branched, annual herb, about 50 centimeters in height, with hairs springing from tubercles. The leaves are stalkless, opposite, lanceolate, 2 to 8 centimeters long, pointed at the tip, and heart-shaped at the base. The flowers occur singly in the axils of the leaves. The sepal tube (calyx) is green, hairy, and 1 to 13 centimeters long, with pointed lobes. The flower tube is pale blue, with the limb about 1.5 centimeters in diameter, and the petals pointed. The fruit is ellipsoid, and is enclosed by the calyx. The nutlets are about 5 millimeters long, and rough on the inner surface. It is found throughout India, on roadsides and stony dry wastelands, upto 1,500 m.

Medicinal uses: The plant is acrid, bitter in taste. In herbal medicine jargon, it is thermogenic, emollient, alexeteric, anodyne, anti-inflammatory, carminative, constipating, diuretic, depurative, ophthalmic, febrifuge and pectoral. This herb is also used in arthralgia, inflammations, dyspepsia, diarrhoea, dysentery, strangury, skin diseases and dysmenorrhoea. Identification credit: Nandan Kalbag & Navendu Pag



Common name: Chir pine, Himalayan longleaf pine, Chir (Hindi), Wuchan (Manipuri) Botanical name: Pinus roxburghii Family: Pinaceae (pine family) Synonyms: Pinus longifolia

Among the principal pines found in India, chir pine is the most important. Native to the Himalayas, it is good as a street tree too. This is one of the least exacting of the Himalayan trees

growing sometimes on bare rocks where only a few species are capable of existing. It is a resinous tree capable of yielding resin continuously provided rill method of tapping is adopted.

Erect, round-headed evergreen tree with one or more trunks. Grows at moderate rate to 30 ft., with spread of 20 ft at maturity. The bark is red-brown, thick and deeply fissured at the base of the trunk, thinner and flaky in the upper crown. The leaves are needle-like, in fascicles of three, very slender, 20-35 cm long, and distinctly yellowish green. The flowers are

monoecious (individual flowers are either male or female, but

both sexes can be found on the same plant) and are pollinated by wind. The cones are ovoid conic, 12-24 cm long and 5-8 cm broad at the base when closed, green at first, ripening glossy chestnut-brown when 24 months old. They open slowly over the next year or so.

Medicinal uses: The turpentine obtained from the resin of all pine trees is antiseptic, diuretic, rubefacient and vermifuge. It

is a valuable remedy used internally in the treatment of kidney and bladder complaints and is used both internally and as a rub and steam bath in the treatment of rheumatic affections. It is also very beneficial to the respiratory system and so is useful in treating diseases of the mucous membranes and respiratory complaints such as coughs, colds, influenza and TB. Externally it is a very beneficial treatment for a variety of skin complaints, wounds, sores, burns, boils etc and is used in the form of liniment plasters, poultices, herbal steam baths

and inhalers. The wood is diaphoretic and stimulant. It is useful in treating burning of the body, cough, fainting and ulcers Photographed in Delhi


Common name: Indian Elm, entire-leaved elm tree, jungle

cork tree, south Indian elm tree Hindi: chilbil,

kanju, papri Marathi: ainasadada, or

vavala Tamil: aya Malayalam: aaval Telugu: nali Bengali: nata karanja Oriya:

dhauranjan Konkani: vamvlo Gujarati: charal,

charel, kanjo Sanskrit: chirivilva Nepali:

sano pangro Botanical name: Holoptelea integrifolia Family: Ulmaceae (Elm family) Synonyms: Ulmus integrifolia

Indian Elm is a large deciduous tree, gowing up to 18 m tall. It has grey bark, covered with blisters, peeling in corky scales on old trees. Alternately arranged leaves are elliptic-ovate, 8-13

cm long and 3.2-6.3 cm wide, smooth, with entire margins, and a pointed tip. Leaf base is rounded or heart-shaped.

Stipules are lance-shaped. Crushed leaves emit an unpleasant odour. Flowers are small, greenish-yellow to brownish, pubescent, borne in short racemes or fascicles at the scars of fallen leaves. Sepals are velvety, often 4. Fruit is an a circular samara, 2.5 cm in diameter, with membranous, net-veined

wings, and flat seed. Medicinal uses: The bark of Indian Elm is used in

rheumatism. Seed and paste of stem bark is used in treating ringworm. Bark and leaves are used for treating oedema, diabetes, leprosy and other skin diseases, intestinal disorders, piles and sprue. Identification

credit: Dinesh Valke

Photographed at Tungareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary, Maharashtra.


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Common name: Spanish Needles, yellow flowered blackjack,

black jack, five leaved blackjack, beggar ticks Hindi:

Chirchitta

Botanical name: Bidens biternata Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family) Synonyms: Coreopsis biternata

Spanish Needles is an erect annual herb, up to 1 m. Closely related to B. pilosa, but can be distinguished by the leaves, which are usually 5-7 foliolate, with the lowermost pair redivided into two to three segments. The outer involucral

bracts resemble those of B. bipinnata. The achenes are up to 16 mm long, almost glabrous. The flowers are yellow, including the ray-florets. Spanish Needles is a widespread

weed of disturbed and cultivated areas. Medicinal uses: Used to treat eye and ear affections (leaf juice); applied to skin affections in general, as a haemostatic on wounds, and wrapped around the umbilical cord of babies (rubbed leaves)


Common name: Panicled Swertia Hindi: Charaita

Sanskrit: Kiratatikta Nepali: Chiraito

Botanical name: Swertia paniculata Family: Gentianaceae (Gentian family) Synonyms: Ophelia paniculata, Ophelia wallichii, Swertia gracilescens

Panicled Swertia is an annual herb, growing up to 80-120 cm tall. Roots are yellow and fibrous. Branched stems are slender, erect, 1.5-4 mm in diameter. Basal leaves wither away at maturity. Stem leaves are nearly stalkless, narrow lance-shaped, 2-5.5 cm long, 4-14 mm wide, margin fringed with hairs. Inflorescences are panicles of cymes, many flowered, spreading, to 70 cm. Flower stalks are erect, 0.6-1.5 cm long. Flowers are 5 parted, meaning with most parts occuring in fives. Sepal tube is 1-1.5 mm, with ovate-lance-shaped sepals, 6-10 2-5 mm. Flowers are pale yellow- green, with 2 blackish purple spots above each nectary. Flower tube is 1-1.5 mm, with ovate petals, 6-8 mm long, with narrow tips.

Nectaries are 1 per petal, horseshoe-shaped, naked. Stamens are 4-5 mm long, with purple anthers. Capsules are ovoid, 8-10 mm. Flowering: August-October. Medicinal uses: Decoction of the plant is used as tonic. Plant is also used as substitute for Chirayita in the treatment of malaria and other fever. Identification credit: Navendu Pg

Photographed in Mussoorie, Uttarakhand.


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Common name: Chitra, Indian barberry, Tree turmeric, Nepal

barberry Hindi: Chitra Tamil: Mullukala Malayalam:

Maramanjal Bengali: Darhaldi

Botanical name: Berberis aristata/chitria Family: Berberidaceae (Barberry famil)

Chitra is an evergreen shrub found commonly in Garhwal and Himalayas. It grows to 4 m high and 0.5 m wide. Leaves, in tufts of 5-8, lance-like, simple spiny, toothed, leathery, stalkless, pointed, 4.9 cm long, 1.8 cm broad, deep green on the dorsal surface and light green on the ventral surface.

Spines (which, in fact, are modified leaves) are three-branched and 1.5 cm long. Flowers, stalked, yellow, in simple to corymbose raceme, with 11-16 flowers per cluster. The

average diameter of a fully opened flower is 12.5 mm. Six yellow sepals (3 small, 3 large), with 6 petals, yellow, 4-5 mm long. Medicinal uses: It is one of very important medicinal plants. Almost every part of this plant has some medicinal value. A

bitter tonic antiperiodic and diaphoretic An infusion is used in the treatment of malaria, eye complaints, skin diseases, menorrhagia, diarrhoea and jaundice. Berberine, universally present in rhizomes of Berberis species, has marked antibacterial effects. Since it is not appreciably absorbed by

the body, it is used orally in the treatment of various enteric infections, especially bacterial dysentery.

Identification credit: Nongthombam Ulysses

Photographed in Mussoorie.

Tell a friend about this flower! Common name: Chitrak, Plumbago, White leadwort Hindi:

Chitrak Assamese: Boga agechita

Manipuri: Telhidak angouba Tamil: uni0BA4_uni0BCD uni0BAE_uni0BC2uni0BAE_uni0BCD chittiramoolam Karimai Malayalam: Vellakoduveli Kannada: Chitramulika Bengali: Safaid-sitarak Oriya: Ogni Botanical name: Plumbago zeylanica Family: Plumbaginaceae (Plumbago family)

Chitrak is a herb that grows wild in India and has been used by rural and tribal people for hundreds of years as a traditional system of medicine. Chitrak is native to SE Asia. It is a much branched, evergreen shrub that reaches about 6 feet in nature. Dark green leaves are ovate to 6 inches long by half as wide. They are fast growing plants, but their size is easily controlled by pot size and pruning. The flowers are white in showy dense racemes and will flower all year long. Individual flowers are up to inch (a bit more than 1 cm) across. Chitrak needs full sun to partial shade with intermediate to warm temperatures. After flowering, the plants should be cut back to keep them growing vigorously. The fruits are like a

small cocklebur with glue on the soft spines and they will stick to anything. The root and root bark and seeds are used medicinally as a stimulant, caustic, digestion, antiseptic, anti-parasitic. Chitrak is propagated by cuttings, division of older plants or by seed. Medicinal uses: Chitrak is used in treating intestinal troubles, dysentery, leucoderma, inflammation, piles, bronchitis, itching, diseases of the liver, and consumption. The leaves of this herb work well for treating laryngitis, rheumatism, diseases of the spleen, ring worm, scabies, and it acts as an aphrodisiac. A tincture of the root bark is used as an anti-periodic. Chitrak root helps improve digestion and it stimulates the appetite. Chitrak root is also an acro-narcotic poison that can cause an abortion. Identification

credit: Navendu Pag, Vaibhav

Photographed in Garden of Five Senses, Delhi.


Common name: Red Physic Nut, wild castor, wild croton, wild

sultan seed Hindi: danti Marathi: danti, katari

Tamil: uni0B95_uni0BCDuni0B95_uni0BC1 pey-amanakku Malayalam: ceriyadanthi, naagadanthi Telugu:

adavi amudamu, kond amudamu,

nela jidi, nepalamu Kannada: damti,

kaadu haralu, naagadamti Bengali: danti,

dantigaacha Oriya: Konkani:

baktumbo Sanskrit: danti, dantika, dirgha,

erandhapatrika, erandhaphala,

makulakah, nagadanti, nagavinna,

nikumbha, !#$ pratyaksreni, rechani, () ruksha,

+ shigra, , vishalya, / udumbaraparni Nepali:

Ajaya pal, Dudhe Jhaar

Botanical name: Baliospermum montanum Family: Euphorbiaceae (Castor family) Synonyms: Baliospermum axillare, Baliospermum solanifolium, Jatropha montana

Red Physic Nut is a stout undershrub, 10 cm to 8 m in height with herbaceous branches from the roots. Leaves are simple,

toothed with undulations. Upper leaves are small, lower ones large, sometimes palmately 3-5 lobed, 3-30 cm long, 1.5-15 cm broad. Male and female flowers are separated, seen in the same flowering branch, minute, about 3 mm across, greenish yellow, arranged in axillary and terminal racemes, spikes or fascicles. Capsules are distinctly 3-lobed, obovoid, stony, 8-13 mm across, minutely densely pubescent. Seeds are egg-shaped. Medicinal uses: Roots, seeds, leaves and seed oil are used to

treat jaundice, constipation, piles, anemia, conjuctivitis. The roots are purgative, anthelmintic, carminative, rubefacient and anodyne. Used in abdominal pain, constipation, calculus,

general anasarca, piles, helminthic infestation, scabies and skin disorders. Root paste is applied to painful swellings and piles. The leaves relieve asthma and seeds are used to cure

snakebites. Identification

credit: N. S. Dungriyal

Photographed at Yeoor Hills, Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Maharashtra.


Common name: Fiji Arrowroot, batflower, East Indian

arrowroot, Polynesian arrowroot, Tahiti arrowroot Hindi:

Bagh-moochh, devkanda Marathi: devkanda

Tamil: cenai, uni0BAE_uni0BCD kakanam, uni0B95_uni0BCDuni0BB0_uni0BC1 kattu-k-karunai Telugu: adavidumpa

Botanical name: Tacca

leontopetaloides Family: Taccaceae (Bat Flower family) Synonyms: Tacca hawaiiensis, Tacca involucrata, Tacca pinnatifida

Fiji Arrowroot is a perennial herb naturally distributed from western Africa through southeast Asia to northern Australia. The leaf's upper surface has depressed veins, and the under surface is shiny with bold yellow veins. Greenish purple flowers

are borne on tall stalks in clusters, with long trailing whisker-like bracts. The plant is usually dormant for part of the year and dies down to the ground. Later, new leaves will arise from

the round underground tuber. The tubers are hard and potato-

like, with a brown skin and white interior. The tubers of Polynesian arrowroot contain starch that was an important food source for many Pacific Island cultures, primarily for the inhabitants of low islands and atolls. Polynesian arrowroot was prepared into a flour to make a variety of puddings.

Medicinal uses: In traditional Hawaiian medicine the raw tubers were eaten to treat stomach ailments. Mixed with water

and red clay, the plant was consumed to treat diarrhea and dysentery. This combination was also used to stop internal hemorrhaging in the stomach and colon and applied to wounds to stop bleeding. Identification credit: Dinesh Valke

Photographed at Saphale Ghat, Maharashtra.

Tell a friend about this flower! Common name: Fire Flame Bush, Red Bell Bush Hindi: Dhawai Marathi: Dowari Tamil: Velakkai Malaya

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