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Common Name: Verbena
Botanical Name: Verbena Hybrida
Family: Verbenaceae

Verbena (play /vərˈbiːnə/),[2] (vervain), is a genus in the family Verbenaceae. It contains about 250 species of annual and perennial herbaceous or semi-woody flowering plants. The majority of the species are native to the American continent and Europe.

The leaves are usually opposite, simple, and in many species hairy, often densely so. The flowers are small, with five petals, and borne in dense spikes. Typically some shade of blue, they may also be white, pink, or purple, especially in cultivars.

The genus can be divided into a diploid North American and a polyploid South American lineage, both with a base chromosome number of 7. The European species is derived from the North American lineage. It seems that verbena as well as the related mock vervains (Glandularia) evolved from the assemblage provisionally treated under the genus name Junellia; both other genera were usually included in the Verbenaceae until the 1990s.[3] Intergeneric chloroplast gene transfer by an undetermined mechanism – though probably not hybridization – has occurred at least twice from vervains to Glandularia, between the ancestors of the present-day South American lineages and once more recently, between V. orcuttiana or V. hastata and G. bipinnatifida. In addition, several species of verbena are of natural hybrid origin; the well-known garden vervain has an entirely muddy history. The relationships of this close-knit group are therefore hard to resolve with standard methods of computational phylogenetics

Some species, hybrids and cultivars of verbena are used as ornamental plants. They are drought-resistant, tolerating full to partial sun, and enjoy well-drained, average soils. Plants are usually grown from seed. Some species and hybrids are not hardy and are treated as half-hardy annuals in bedding schemes.

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Common Name: Verbena
Botanical Name: Verbena Hybrida
Family: Verbenaceae

Verbena (play /vərˈbiːnə/),[2] (vervain), is a genus in the family Verbenaceae. It contains about 250 species of annual and perennial herbaceous or semi-woody flowering plants. The majority of the species are native to the American continent and Europe.

The leaves are usually opposite, simple, and in many species hairy, often densely so. The flowers are small, with five petals, and borne in dense spikes. Typically some shade of blue, they may also be white, pink, or purple, especially in cultivars.

The genus can be divided into a diploid North American and a polyploid South American lineage, both with a base chromosome number of 7. The European species is derived from the North American lineage. It seems that verbena as well as the related mock vervains (Glandularia) evolved from the assemblage provisionally treated under the genus name Junellia; both other genera were usually included in the Verbenaceae until the 1990s.[3] Intergeneric chloroplast gene transfer by an undetermined mechanism – though probably not hybridization – has occurred at least twice from vervains to Glandularia, between the ancestors of the present-day South American lineages and once more recently, between V. orcuttiana or V. hastata and G. bipinnatifida. In addition, several species of verbena are of natural hybrid origin; the well-known garden vervain has an entirely muddy history. The relationships of this close-knit group are therefore hard to resolve with standard methods of computational phylogenetics

Some species, hybrids and cultivars of verbena are used as ornamental plants. They are drought-resistant, tolerating full to partial sun, and enjoy well-drained, average soils. Plants are usually grown from seed. Some species and hybrids are not hardy and are treated as half-hardy annuals in bedding schemes.

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Common Name: Verbena
Botanical Name: Verbena bonariensis
Family: Verbenaceae

Verbena bonariensis is a tall and slender-stemmed perennial. It can grow to 6 ft (120 cm) tall and can spread to 3 ft (90 cm) wide. At maturity, it will develop a woody base. Fragrant lavender to rose-purple flowers are in tight clusters located on terminal and axillary stems, blooming from mid-summer until fall frost. The stem is square with very long internodes. Leaves are ovate to ovate-lanceolate with a toothed margin and grow up to 4 in (10 cm) long.

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Common name: Calico Flower, Dutchman's Pipe, Pipe vine
Botanical name: Aristolochia elegans
Family: Aristolochiaceae (Birthwort family)

Native to South America, Calico flower is a tender evergreen vine with very unusual flowers. Leaves are beautiful, bright green heart shaped. These are about 3 in long by 2 in wide and grow closely together to create a dense mass of foliage. Slender woody stems twine gracefully in tight coils around any support, growing to heights of 10-15 ft. In summer the vine produces abundance of 3 in flowers scattered among the drooping leaves. The greenish-white flowers have a s-shaped tube that is flared at the mouth that resembles a 19th century Dutch pipe. Species of Aristolochia are generically called pipe vines or Dutchman's pipes for this reason. The inner portion surface of the mouth of the "pipe" is covered with a purplish-brown pattern that is reminiscent of calico fabric which inspire this species common name "calico flower".

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Common name: Indian birthwort
Botanical name: Aristolochia indica
Family: Aristolochiaceae (birthwort family)

Aristolochia indica is a native of India and Eastward. The Aristolochiales are a group of flowering plants that have attractive leaves and flowers, often with bizarre colors or patterns, and so they are cultivated in gardens. Some oddly shaped flowers have been given names like "bird's head" and "Dutchman's pipe". In this genus, the sepals are united into a long curving tube which completely surrounds the reproductive structures. Often this tube is mottled or dark-colored, producing a pungent odor that attracts pollinating flies. In addition to the foul-smelling species of Aristolochia that attract flies to pollinate them, other species are important for the survival of butterflies. There has been concern in India that since Aristolochia indica has become endangered, the swallowtail butterfly Tros aristolochae may also be endangered. This butterfly will only lay its eggs on Aristolochia vines, and its caterpillars make defensive use of the toxic chemicals they ingest. In fact most swallowtail caterpillars in the tribe Troidini feed on Aristolochiales foliage.

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Common name: Yellow Bleeding Heart
Botanical name: Dicentra macrocapnos
Family: Papaveraceae (Poppy family)

Synonyms: Dactylicapnos macrocapnos
Yellow Bleeding Heart is a charming vine found rambling on banks and through shrubberies in the Himalayas, from Uttarakhand to NE India, at altitudes of 1500-3000 m. It is a slender climber, growing up to 2 m long, with short-stalked hanging clusters of yellow urn-shaped, or with some imagination, heart-shaped flowers, tipped with purple. Flowers are 2-2.5 cm long, with 2 small traingular sepals, 4 petals, with 2 outer ones having inflated bases, the inner 2 long-stalked, keeled, enlarged and coming together at the tips. Stamens are only 2. Leaves are double- compound with stalked ovate leaflets, 5-25 mm. Capsule is cylindrical, with papery valves and shining seeds. Flowering: April-October.

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Common name: Hawaiian Sunset Vine, Hawaiian Bell, Braveheart Vine
Botanical name: [Stictocardia beraviensis (Vatke) Hallier f.] Stictocardia beraviensis
Family: Convolvulaceae (Morning glory family)
Synonyms: Ipomoea beraviensis

Hawaiian Sunset Vine is a woody climber, growing up to 14 m long. Leaves are ovate, heart-shaped, 16-20 cm, pointed or blunt, stalk as long or slightly shorter than the blade. Flowers are large, 5 cm, bright crimson-red, striped orange within, inspiring the comparison with Hawaiian sunsets. Flowers are borne in clusters of 10 or so. Sepals are 7-13 mm, almost circular to elliptic. Fruit is about 1.4 cm, surrounded by enlarged sepals. Hawaiian Sunset Vine is native to W. Africa, Madagascar, and cultivated as a garden plant throughout the tropical world.

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Common name: Cardinal Creeper, Lady Doorly's Morning Glory
Botanical name: Ipomoea horsfalliae
Family: Convolvulaceae (morning-glory family)

Native to Jamaica, this evergreen woody vine is commonly cultivated all around the world. The ornamental features are its foliage and the flowers. The leaves are palmately divided into five to seven segments, and are very atractive smooth green color. The noticable long red flowers are in groups. Even before the flowers emerge the buds are a positive feature, because they look like small berries.

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Common name: Cardinal Creeper, Lady Doorly's Morning Glory
Botanical name: Ipomoea horsfalliae
Family: Convolvulaceae (morning-glory family)

Native to Jamaica, this evergreen woody vine is commonly cultivated all around the world. The ornamental features are its foliage and the flowers. The leaves are palmately divided into five to seven segments, and are very atractive smooth green color. The noticable long red flowers are in groups. Even before the flowers emerge the buds are a positive feature, because they look like small berries.

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Common name: Lady Margaret Passion Flower
Botanical name: Passiflora 'Lady Margaret'
Family: Passifloraceae (Passion flower family)

Lady Margaret Passion Flower is a species with large red flowers, among the most sought-after passionflowers. It is a hybrid between Passiflora coccinia and Passiflora incarnata. Most red-flowering passionflowers are difficult to care for. Lady Margaret Passion Flower is one of the few ref-flowering hybrids that is comparatively undemanding but nevertheless free-flowering. Although the flowers are not the brilliant blood-red of the Red Passion Flower, they nevertheless stand out dramatically, a deep purplish red, with prominently marked corona not found in other red-flowering passionflowers. Flowers are 7-9 cm across. Sepals are green outside, deep purplish-red inside, oblong, 3.3-4 cm long. Petals are oblong, 3.6-4.4 cm long, 1.3-1.6 cm wide. Leaves are 3-lobed, 6.5-15 X 7.5-16 cm, with toothed margin. Fruit is ovate, 4-5 X 2-3 cm, green.

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Common name: Milky Way Morning Glory, Purple Morning Glory
Botanical name: Ipomoea purpurea 'Milky Way'
Family: Convolvulaceae (Morning glory family)

Milky Way morning glory is a popular annual vine grown for its pretty funnel-shaped flowers of creamy white with mauve accents. This vigorous twining climber has hairy stems and medium green ovate leaves. On summer mornings it bears funnel-shaped cream flowers, each marked with a maroon star. Purple morning glory grows best in sheltered sites away from high winds. It requires full sun and fertile soil with good drainage and grows best on trellises, arbors or fences. Plants will gently self-seed if allowed to.

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Common name: Black-Eyed Susan Vine
Botanical name: Thunbergia alata
Family: Acanthaceae (ruellia family)

Black-eyed Susan vine is an perennial climber native to South Africa. Grown in tropical zones it will climb to 8 feet but stays much smaller when grown as an annual or when it is contained in a pot. Orange or yellow flowers have chocolate-purple centers and are produced in mid-summer until autumn. This annual is available in whites, creams, yellows and gold, and is usually started from seed. The Black Eyed Susan Vine is not nearly as aggressive nor as hardy as Thunbergia gregorii, but has much the same fuzzy wrinkled leaves and tendrils. The flowers look very striking due to the dark center and will be covered in bloom most of the year, excepting the depths of winter.

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Common name: Flaming Glorybower, Bleeding Heart Vine
Botanical name: Clerodendrum splendens
Family: Verbenaceae (verbena family)

Flaming glorybower, native to western Africa, is a woody or semi-woody evergreen vine or running shrub to 12 ft long, that climbs by twining. The leaves are oval, to 7 in long, and arranged in opposite pairs. Flowers are tuba shaped, having a slender tube with an abruptly expanded corolla. They are scarlet (sometimes white), about 1 in across and borne in dense terminal clusters to 5 in inches long. The fruit is unknown. This evergreen climber is popular in warm, humid climates and can be used as an evergreen screen on a trellis or wall. The flowers are extremely showy and attractive to butterflies as well as people. Flaming glory bower can be found growing up the pillars and walls and exhibits its peak flowering during December and January.

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Common name: Green Taro, cocoyam
Botanical name: Colocasia esculenta
Family: Araceae (Arum family)

Green Taro is a tuberous bulb plant growing 3-5 ft tall. The large leaves of the plant resemble elephant ears. It produces heart shaped leaves 2-3 ft long and 1-2 ft across on 3 ft long stalks that all emerge from an upright tuberous rootstock, technically a corm. The inflorescence, which is rarely produced in cultivated plants, is a pale green spathe and spadix, typical of the arum family. The corm is shaped like a top with rough ridges, lumps and spindly roots, and usually weighs around 0.5-1 kg, but occasionally as much as 3.5 kg. The skin is brown and the flesh is white or pink. Certain kinds of taros produce smaller tubers or "cormels" which grow off the sides of the main corm.

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Common name: Sikkim Rhubarb
Botanical name: Rheum nobile
Family: Polygonaceae (buckwheat family)

Rhubarb is a plant name for the many different species of Rheum, growing in the wild in the mountains of the Western and North-western provinces of China and in the adjoining Tibetan territory. Sikkim Rhubarb is a deciduous perennial that grows to 6.6 feet high by 3.3 feet wide. Basal leaves in a rosette. It forms large fleshy rhizomes and large leaves with long, thick (and tasty) petioles (stalks) Spikes of flowers rising to 3-4 feet completely shielded by large, translucent white bracts Prefers clay loam soil with a pH ranging from acid to alkaline and partial to full sun with moderate moisture. This plant has hermaphrodite flowers. Native to Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sikkim.

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Common name: Calla lily, Arum Lily
Botanical name: Zantedeschia aethiopica
Family: Araceae (arum family)
Synonyms: Calla aethiopica, Richardia africana, Richardia aethiopica, Colocasia aethiopica

Calla Lily is an old-fashioned, but very elegant garden plant, native to South Africa. These elegant flowers have graced many bridal bouquets in Europe, in old times. Calla lily is a clump forming herbaceous plant, arising from tubers, with large arrow shaped leaves. It grows to about 2 ft in height. The flower consists of a orange-yellow finger-like spathe surrounding a white spadix. Pink and yellow varieties of Zantedeschia are also available. Golden calla has elongated oval shaped leaves, dotted with small white splotches, and bright, gleaming golden yellow spathes. All are strikingly beautiful, and even when not in flower, the large, tropical looking, spear shaped leaves make a lush statement, like bananas, cannas or ginger.

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Common name: Giant Himalayan Lily, Giant lily
Botanical name: Cardiocrinum giganteum
Family: Liliaceae (lily family)
Synonyms: Lilium giganteum

Giant Himalayan lily occurs in the Himalayas and may reach a height of two-three metres with almost 20 cm long fragrant trumpet-shaped flowers and large heart shaped leaves. The middle flowers of the raceme open first. The buds have an upright position in the raceme while the flowers in the beginning are oriented perpendicular to the axis but later on become hanging. The white flowers (maroon interior markings) are beautiful and fragrant. After pollination the petals fall off and the swelling ovary lengthens and turns upright from its formerly pendant position. The flower stalks age beautifully in the fall and on a dry day, the seed pods split open and shimmering drifts of delicate seed float down to the ground.

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Common name: Kaiser's Crown, Crown imperial, Imperial fritillary
Botanical name: [Fritillaria imperialis L.] Fritillaria imperialis
Family: Liliaceae (Lily family)

Kaiser's Crown is a beautiful plant native to a wide stretch from Anatolia across the plateau of Iran to Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Himalayan foothills. In India, it is found in the Kashmir valley. It is one of the earliest plants to be cultivated. It grows to about 3 feet tall, and bears lance shaped, glossy leaves, at intervals along the stem. It bears a prominent whorl of 3-5 downward facing flowers at the top of the stem, topped by a 'crown' of small leaves, hence the name. While the wild form is usually orange-red, various colors are found in cultivation, ranging from nearly a true scarlet through oranges to yellow. Flowering is accompanied by a distinctly foxy odor that repels mice, moles, and other rodents. Flowering: April-June.

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Common name: Short Scaped Spider Plant
Botanical name: Chlorophytum breviscapum
Family: Liliaceae (Lily family)

Short Scaped Spider Plant is an annual herb, growing up to 20-30 cm high, with tuberous roots. Short stem has clustered, radical leaves, 6-9 in number, about a foot long, linear lancelike. The leaves are sharp tipped, wavy, shining above and pale beneath, ending below in a broad leaf-stalk. Scape is only 10-20 cm long. White flowers, 1 cm across, occur in racemes 5-10 cm long. Bracts are membarnous, lancelike. Flowers have 6 "petals", linear in shape. Six stamens, about 8 mm long, with 3 mm yellow anthers. Capsules are 3-winged, with black seeds. Flowering: September.

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Common name: Peruvian lily, Lily-of-the-Incas, Parrot lily, Parrot flower
Botanical name: Alstroemeria spp.
Family: Amaryllidaceae (Nargis family)

Alstroemeria, commonly called the Peruvian Lily or Lily of the Incas, is a South American genus of about 50 species of flowering plants, mainly from cool, mountainous regions in the Andes. It was named after the Swedish baron Clas Alströmer (Claus von Alstroemer) by his close friend Carolus Linnaeus. People often think they are orchids (which they are not) They grow from clusters of white peanut-sized tubers arranged like the spokes of a wagon wheel. In the spring, they send up 8-12 in stalks that have the general character of an upright Solomon's seal with the foliage clustered in a little umbrella at the top of the stem. Although the stem is arrow-straight and the foliage is held in a horizontal position, the glistening parallel-veined pale green leaves tend to curl under at the edges and droop at the ends and always look a bit limp. As the season progresses, the stem elongates to 18-30 in and the leaves (now looking more twisted than limp) appear to spread out along its length in a stretched out spiral arrangement. Early in the summer, clusters of red flowers appear at the stem tips. The tubular 1-2 in flowers look like distorted azalea blossoms that are struggling to open. The ragged uneven petal edges curl slightly inward instead of flaring outward.

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Common name: Drumstick Primrose
Botanical name: [Primula denticulata Sm.] Primula denticulata
Family: Primulaceae (Primrose family)
Synonyms: Primula aequalis, Primula elata, Primula telemachica

Drumstick Primrose is a beautiful Himalayan herb with pretty purple to mauvish-blue flowers with yellowish throats, in compact spherical heads, borne on stout flowering stems 3-15 cm tall. Flowers are 1-2 cm across, with deeply bilobed petals, and a flower tube 0.2-2 cm long. Leaves occur in compact rosette at the base, oblong to inverted-lance-shaped, narrowing down to a winged leaf-stalk. Leaves enlarge quite a bit after flowering, reach up to 30 cm. Drumstick Primrose is found in the Himalayas, from Afghanistan to Burma, at altitudes of 1500-4500 m. Flowering: April-June.

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Common name: Fuchsia
Botanical name: Fuchsia spp.
Family: Onagraceae (Evening primrose family)

Fuchsia are flowering plants, mostly shrubs, which were named after the German botanist Leonhart Fuchs (1501–1566). Fuchsias are ideally suited for hanging baskets because of their drooping stems and colorful, bell-shaped flowers. The correct pronunciation is "fyooksiyaa", but in the US it has been modified to "fyoosha". There are about 100–110 species of Fuchsia. The great majority are native to South America. Fuchsia leaves are opposite or in whorls of 3–5, simple lanceolate and usually have serrated margins (entire in some species), 1–25 cm long, and can be either deciduous or evergreen depending on the species. The flowers are very decorative pendulous "eardrop" shape, borne in profusion throughout the summer and autumn, and all year in tropical species. They have four long, slender, sepals and four shorter, broader, petals; in many species the sepals are bright red and the petals purple, but the colours can vary from white to dark red, purple-blue, and orange. A few have yellowish tones, and recent hybrids have added the color white in various combinations. The ovary is inferior and the fruit is a small, 0.5–2.5 cm, dark reddish green, deep red, or deep purple, edible epigynous berry containing numerous very small seeds. Many people describe the fruit as having a subtle grape flavor spiced with black pepper.

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Common name: Ice Plant, Livingston Daisy
Botanical name: Dorotheanthus bellidiformis
Family: Aizoaceae (ice plant family)
Synonyms: Mesembryanthemum criniflorum

Ice plant, native to South Africa, is a small succulent ground cover which forms patches of brilliant, almost flourescent colour in spring. Ice plant is very peculiar in appearance. The plant is covered with bladder-like cells that store water. They glisten in the sun giving it an appearance of icicles, hence the common name. Older leaves redden with age, giving the plant color. It has no true petals. Instead flowers have two rings of white stamens (the male sexual organs) surrounding the female organs. The outer ring of stamens is flattened and petal-like and only the inner ring of stamens is fertile. Modified Petal-like stamens are highly unusual in seed-bearing plants. The flowers are single and may reach up to 5 cm across. They vary in colour from white to pink and shades of orange and yellow. Today ice plant is widespread across the globe; it can be found in Australia, Asia, the Americas, Mediterranean Europe, the Atlantic Islands, and North and South America.

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Common name: Blue Flag Iris
Botanical name: Iris versicolor
Family: Iridaceae (iris family)

Iris flowers open in the Spring shortly after daffodils and tulips. Once the flower buds reach maturity, the base of the flower elongates to push the bud out from the sheath that surrounded it. Once extended, flower opening occurs with three petals often called the "standards", and three outer petal-like sepals called the "falls". Iris flowers enjoy a lot of sunshine and remain open for several days. Iris is a genus of flowering plants with showy flowers which takes its name from the Latin word for rainbow, referring to the wide variety of flower colors found among the many species as well as countless garden cultivars. Blue Flag Iris and other varitations of those names, is a species of Iris native to North America where it is common in sedge meadows, marshes, and along streambanks and shores. It is a perennial herb, usually 10-80 centimeter. high. This iris tends to form large clumps from thick, creeping rhizomes. The unwinged, erect stems generally have basal leaves that are more than 1 cm. wide. Leaves are folded on the midribs so that they form an overlapping flat fan. The well developed blue flower has 6 petals and sepals spread out nearly flat and have two forms. The longer sepals are hairless and have a greenish-yellow blotch at their base. The inferior ovary is bluntly angled. Flowers are usually light to deep blue and in bloom during May to July. Fruit is a 3-celled, bluntly angled capsule. The large seeds can be observed floating in the fall. Known by the Manipuri name kombirei, Iris flowers have a special significance in the Manipuri New Year, or the festival of Cherei. On this day, Iris flowers are given as offering to god.

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Common name: Rosy Everlasting, Rosy sunray, Pink paper daisy, Pink-and-white everlasting
Botanical name: Rhodanthe chlorocephala subsp. rosea
Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)
Synonyms: Helipterum roseum, Acroclinium roseum

Native to Australia, Rosy Everlasting is an annual plant up to about a foot tall and a foot wide. It has linear or elliptical-shaped leaves which are green to greyish green in colour and up to 2.5 cm long. The flower heads appear mainly in winter and spring but sporadic flowering can occur at other times. The heads occur singly at the ends of the stems and are 1-6 cm in diameter with yellow or greenish centres surrounded by white or pink, papery bracts. Subspecies splendida has the largest flower heads while ssp.rosea has the most colourful heads. This species, particularly ssp.rosea, has been a popular plant in cultivation for many years because of its very colourful display, especially in massed plantings. It is suited to most temperate areas and will often germinate in the garden from seed produced from the previous season's plantings. It prefers well drained soils in a sunny position. Propagation from seed is usually reliable and seed should be sown in late autumn or early winter.

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Common name: Desert Rose, Adenium
Botanical name: Adenium obesum
Family: Apocynaceae (Oleander family)

A member of the same botanical family as Frangipani, Adenium is sometimes also called Japanese Frangipani. A small treelet, mostly grown in pots, Adenium can reach the height of about 1 meter. The Desert Rose is a native of East Africa. It has fleshy leaves and beautiful 2-inch pink open-trumpet shaped flowers. It is a succulent, and forms more of a bush than a tree. It will be an indoor bonsai in all but the warmest climates. Needs little water during winter, especially when kept cool.

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Common name: Dianthus
Botanical name: Dianthus chinensis
Family: Caryophyllaceae (Carnation family)
Synonyms: Dianthus amurensis, Dianthus heddewigii, Dianthus laciniatus

China Pinks are short-lived perennial garden plants, native to China and northern parts of India, blooming in several colours. They are extremely popular garden plants in India. The small single flowers have four to six slightly overlapping petals that have smooth or often cut and fringed edges. The pretty petals in the shades of pink and red and white are gathered at the base into a strong green tubular calyx. Stamens protrude out and the anthers are blue. The plant grows in well drained soil, in beds, pots, borders in sunny areas and can easily be multiplied by seeds.

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Common name: Tiger Flower, Mexican Shell Flower, Peacock flower
Botanical name: Tigridia pavonia
Family: Iridaceae (Iris family)

This exotic Mexican bulb is named completely after its quite startling colour combinations- all the shades of scarlet, orange, pink, yellow, mauve and white, usually with contrasting markings. The botanical name Tigridia means tiger like, and pavonia means peacock like. Tigridias are bulbous plants, which have been in cultivation since the 17th century. Tigridia pavonia is a popular species within the tribe; growing when happy up to a metre tall, though generally, the flowers and plants peak around the 30-54cm. Flowers on these are up to 15 cm. in diameter with spreading but usually reflexed segments. These segments are brightly coloured, coming in various shades depending on the colour form grown and generally show multi coloured spots and blotches in the cup formed by the bases of the segments. The flower is made up of two distinct segments, the outer segments about 10cm. long; while the inner segments are smaller. To grow them well, a good well drained soil is essential, coupled with a sunny warm position. Tiger flower is a fully hardy plant in all climates except in the extremes.

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Common name: Scarlet Flame Bean, West Indian Mountain Rose, Brownea
Botanical name: Brownea coccinea
Family: Caesalpiniaceae (Gulmohar family)
Synonyms: Brownea capitella, Brownea latifolia

Scarlet Flame Bean is a slow-growing, small tree from tropical America with large heads of orange-red flowers, 6-8 inches across, which hang primarily beneath the foliage, on older branches. Generally, the exotic looking flowers are not visible at all from the outside. Leaves are pinnately compound, leaflets up to 6 in long and up to 2.3 in wide, up to 6 pairs, with sometimes one terminal leaflet, pink-brown and pendulous when young. Flowers borne in large, bright, orange-red clusters, hanging mostly beneath foliage primarily on older branches, which distinguishes it from other Browneas. Fruit is a woody pod about 6 in long and 5 2 in broad. Scarlet Flame Bean is native to tropical America, and now cultivated in India, among many tropical countries.

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Common name: Kansas Columbine
Botanical name: [Aquilegia 'Kansas'] Aquilegia 'Kansas'
Family: Ranunculaceae (Buttercup family)

Kansas Columbine is a garden cultivar of Aquilegia, with stunning red and yellow flowers. Flowers grow on a long stem above the leaves and have five pointed red sepals and five rounded yellow petals with long red spurs projecting backwards between the sepals.

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Common name: Himalayan Lantern, Creeping Agapetes
Botanical name: Agapetes serpens
Family: Ericaceae (Rhododendron family)
Synonyms: Pentapterygium serpens, Vaccinium serpens,Thibaudia myrtifolia

Himalayan Lantern is a beautiful shrub, 40–60 cm tall, with arching stems and tiny hanging lantern-like flowers. Rootstock is tuberous. Twigs are cylindrical, 1–2 mm in diameter. Leaves are crowded, on short stalks 1 mm. Leaf blade is dark green above and pale green on the underside, narrowly ovate or ovate-oblong, 1.2–2 cm long, 5–8 mm wide, leathery. Base is rounded, margin slightly recurved, toothed above middle, tip sharp or blunt. Flowers hang down in fascicles of 1–3. Stalks are 0.7–2.5 cm, slightly thicker at apex. Sepal cup is 3.5–4 mm, 5-winged. Sepals are ovate-triangular, 3.5–4.5 mm long. Flowers are bright red, orange, or pinkish white, with dark red zig-zag bands, tubular, 1.2–2.8 cm, 5-angled. Tiny petals are curved back, triangular, 2–3 mm. Berry is obovoid, 5-winged, about 6 mm in diameter. Persistent sepals are enlarged. Himalayan Lantern is found in the Himalayas at altitudes of 1200-3000 m, in Nepal and NE India, particularly Darjeeling. Flowering: May–June.

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Common name: Gazania
Botanical name: Gazania rigens
Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

A typical daisy like flower up to about 10cm across, they are commonly banded with a dark zone around the central disc. Some types may have linear petal strips also. Colours vary from white, cream, yellow, gold, orange to the very dark reds, pale to dark lilac variations are possible also. Flowers are produced on stems up to 25cm in length, these close in the evening or on dark overcast days. Leaves turn upwards at night. Plants require high light for the flowers to open.

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Common name: Scarlet Pimpernel, shepherd's clock
Botanical name: Anagallis arvensis ssp. arvensis
Family: Myrsinaceae (Myrsine family)

Scarlet pimpernel has weak sprawling stems growing to about 50 cm long, sometimes rooting at the nodes. Leaves are opposite, entire, stalkless, ovate, up to 2 cm long, 1.3 cm broad, stem-clasping or not, with brown speckles below, variously pubescent. The small orange or red flowers are produced in the leaf axils from spring till autumn. The petal margins are somewhat crenate and have small glandular hairs. Blue Pimpernel is a closely related subspecies. The Blue Pimpernel and the Scarlet Pimpernel both are often called shepherd's weather glass or shepherd's clock because the flowers close before sunset or if it is about to rain. These brightly colored flowers appear as bright dots in the field, which dramatically "disappear" when the flowers close, if the sky is overcast or the sun is about to set. Closed flowers are quite hard to notice because of their dull color.

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Common name: Gloxinia
Botanical name: Sinningia speciosa
Family: Gesneriaceae (Gloxinia family)
Synonyms: Gloxinia speciosa

These widely loved perennials, commonly known as Gloxinia, are natives of Brazil. They grow up to a foot high and have basal rosettes of large, oval, bluish green leaves. The large, fleshy, tubular, flowers, red inside, white outside, are produced on short stems, in the summer. Numerous hybrids have been produced to give wide variety of bloom colors. The plants should be set in a sunny location with a humid atmosphere and be given plenty of water. These plants may be divided, or stem cuttings may be taken in late spring or summer. Mature leaves may also be used to increase your plants in the summer. They are taken off the plant and notches are cut just below the junction of the main veins on the undersides. They are then laid on peat moss and sand or leaf mold and anchored with pebbles. — with Badar Syed, Navajyothi Rama Reddy, Malar Madeshwaran and 46 others.

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Common name: Pink Ball, Dombeya
Botanical name: Dombeya wallichii
Family: Malvaceae (Mallow family)
Synonyms: Astrapaea wallichii

The Pink-Ball Dombeya is a small tree with large heart-shaped, toothed leaves and dense heads of little pink flowers which hang from foot long stalks. When in bloom, the tree looks spectacular, with large, pendant, pink hanging flower balls. The tree, native to Madagascar, can grow up to 20 feet tall, but is widely grown as a large garden shrub. Leaves are heart-shaped, 4-8 inches long, 2-4 inches wide. It is cultivated for its beautiful pendulous deep pink flower-balls. The name is in honor of Joseph Dombay, a French medical man and botanist who made extensive plant collections in Peru and Chile. D. wallichii is a broad-headed tree growing up to 30 feet. It has heart shaped toothed leaves up to 12 inches long with pointed tips. Leaves have fine hairs on the underside. The blooms of this plant have a pleasant fragrance, almost like caramel corn. Flowering: March-May.

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Common name: Rose Campion
Botanical name: [Silene coronaria (Desr.) Clairv. ex Rchb.] Silene coronaria
Family: Caryophyllaceae (Carnation family)
Synonyms: Agrostemma coronaria, Lychnis coronaria

Rose Campion is a perennial herb, grayish white-tomentose, native to West Asia, till Pakistan. It is also found in Kashmir, most likely naturalized. Stems are several, erect, branched distally, stout, 40-100 cm. Basal leaves are inverted-lanceshaped, spoon-shaped, 5-10 cm × 1-2.5 cm, margins entire, tip pointed, with tuft of white hairs. Stem leaves are in 5-10 pairs, stalkless, blade with both surfaces obscured by dense, silky, grayish-white velvety hairs. Flowers are borne in several-flowered, clusters. Bracts are leaflike, 1-2 cm. Flower-stalks are straight, stout, up to 10 cm. Flowers are about 3.5 cm across. Sepals cup is thickly 10-veined, obovate, about 1.5 × 1 cm in fruit, margins toothed with 5 narrowly lanceshaped petals, about 1/ 4 length of tube, tomentose. Flowers are rich magenta-pink, sometimes white, clawed, claw equaling calyx, opening into a flat flowers. Petals are broadly obovate, shallowly 2-lobed. Stamens equal claw; stigmas 5, equaling claw. Rose Campion is cultivated as a garden plant. — with Sugu Bala, Malar Madeshwaran, Shiva Priya and 46 others.

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Common name: Sweet Sultan
Botanical name: Amberboa amberboi
Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)
Synonyms: Centaurea moschata var. amberboi, Amberboa suaveolens

Sweet Sultan is a biennial herb 30-50 cm tall. It is closely similar to Sweet Sultan, which has white, pink or purple flowers. It differs in its bright yellow flowers. Stem is solitary, branched or unbranched. Flowers rest on an almost spherical involucre, 1.2-2 cm in diameter. Sweet Sultan is native to Turkmenia and Iran, grown as a garden plant in India.

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Common name: Peruvian lily, Lily-of-the-Incas, Parrot lily, Parrot flower
Botanical name: Alstroemeria spp.
Family: Amaryllidaceae (Nargis family)

Alstroemeria, commonly called the Peruvian Lily or Lily of the Incas, is a South American genus of about 50 species of flowering plants, mainly from cool, mountainous regions in the Andes. It was named after the Swedish baron Clas Alströmer (Claus von Alstroemer) by his close friend Carolus Linnaeus. People often think they are orchids (which they are not) They grow from clusters of white peanut-sized tubers arranged like the spokes of a wagon wheel. In the spring, they send up 8-12 in stalks that have the general character of an upright Solomon's seal with the foliage clustered in a little umbrella at the top of the stem. Although the stem is arrow-straight and the foliage is held in a horizontal position, the glistening parallel-veined pale green leaves tend to curl under at the edges and droop at the ends and always look a bit limp. As the season progresses, the stem elongates to 18-30 in and the leaves (now looking more twisted than limp) appear to spread out along its length in a stretched out spiral arrangement. Early in the summer, clusters of red flowers appear at the stem tips. The tubular 1-2 in flowers look like distorted azalea blossoms that are struggling to open. The ragged uneven petal edges curl slightly inward instead of flaring outward.

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White Alstroemeria

A fresh white flower, Alstromeria flowers have semi heart-shaped blooms. A single stem has an average of 3 to 5 blooms with bright white petals that are often two-toned, with creamy inner petals and freckled. Also known as Peruvian Lilies, this striking white Alstromeria would provide a stunning backdrop for any wedding bouquet, table centerpiece or flower arrangement.

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PrimaDonaa Alstroemeria

A fresh pink flower, Alstromeria flowers have semi heart-shaped blooms. A single stem has an average of 3 to 5 blooms with bright white petals that are often two-toned, with creamy inner petals and freckled. Also known as Peruvian Lilies, this striking white Alstromeria would provide a stunning backdrop for any wedding bouquet, table centerpiece or flower arrangement.

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Common name: Fox Brush Orchid, Cat's-tail Orchid
Botanical name: Aerides maculosa
Family: Orchidaceae (Orchid family)
Synonyms: Saccolabium speciosum, Aerides schroederi, Aerides illustris

Fox Brush Orchid is a dwarf orchid species with crystalline pink, spotted magenta, fragrant flowers to 2cm. The spikes are arching to pendulous, to about 25cm long with many flowers. They occur mainly in Asia : the Indian subcontinent, Nepal, Southern China, SE Asia, the Philippines, New Guinea. They form pendulous racemes with many fragrant, long-lasting, waxy flowers, in white, (rarely) yellow, purple or pink colors, with a forward facing spur, growing on stout many-leaved stems from the leaf axils. The leaves grow distichously (in two vertical rows) The leaf margins are bilobed, while the apex is emarginate.

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Common name: Small Warty Acampe
Botanical name: Acampe papillosa
Family: Orchidaceae (Orchid family)
Synonyms: Acampe carinata

Small Warty Acampe is a clump-forming orchid found in the Eastern Himalayas, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Myanamar, up to an altitude of 200 m. It is a large sized, single-stemmed, warm growing epiphyte. It looks very much like a Vanda. It has a stout erect to curved stem carrying narrowly oblong, strap-shaped, leathery leaves. Leaves are slightly notched into 2 unequal lobes. Flowers arise in the fall on a short, 1 inch long, many (10-12) flowered umbel with miniature, Vanda-like flowers which are fragrant, held close in to the leaf axils.

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Common name: Curled Aerides
Botanical name: Aerides crispa
Family: Orchidaceae (Orchid family)
Synonyms: Aerides crispum

Curled Aerides is an epiphytic orchid found in SW India at elevations of 800-1200 m. It has a thick dull violet purple stem carrying spreading, thick, leathery, pale green leaves, dull-violet -purple basally. Leaves are strap-shaped, unequally bilobed at the tip with a small tip between the lobes. Inflorescens is a 40-50 cm long, erect to arching, branched, 20 to 25 flowered cluster, carrying fragrant flowers.

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Common name: Umbrella Bulbophyllum
Botanical name: Bulbophyllum umbellatum
Family: Orchidaceae (Orchid family)
Synonyms: Bulbophyllum annamicum

Umbrella Bulbophyllum is found in the Himalayas, Nepal to SE Asia, in humid, mossy, mixed and coniferous forests. The plant lives on mossy branches in old, dwarf, gnarled trees at elevations up to 2000 m as a miniature sized, hot to warm growing epiphyte. Pseudobulbs are enveloped basally by a fibrous sheath and carry a single, leathery, narrowly elliptic, stalked leaf. The plant blooms on a slender, 20 cm long, basal, 5-8 flowered inflorescence that is just shorter than the leaf and has an umbel of foul smelling flowers.

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Common name: Forest Calanthe
Botanical name: Calanthe sylvatica
Family: Orchidaceae (Orchid family)
Synonyms: Calanthe masuca

Found in India, Nepal, Sikkim, China, Thailand, Malaysia and the Ryukyus Islands, Forest Calanthe is a terrestrial, medium sized orchid with small pseudobulbs and several, plicate leaves. Its blooms in the summmer on an erect, successively several to 10-15 flowered inflorescence.

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Common name: Pineapple Orchid
Botanical name: Dendrobium densiflorum
Family: Orchidaceae (Orchid family)
Synonyms: Callista densiflora, Callista clavata, Dendrobium clavatum

Pineapple Orchid is a spectacular orchid which is easily identified by the densely packed clusters of flowers hanging down, looking like pineapples. Flowers are yellow with a rich orange lip which is funnel shaped below and expands outwards into a rounded hairy and toothed top. Flowers are 3.5-4 cm across, densely packed into large dense hanging clusters. When in bud, the clusters looks like cones. Leathery leaves, borne towards the tip of the pseudo-bulb, are oblong-elliptic, 10-15 cm long. Pseudo-bulbs are club-shaped, 1-1.5 ft long, with prominent internodes. Pineapple Orchid is native to C. Nepal to NE India and Burma. Flowering: April-May

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Common name: Cathcart's Esmeralda
Botanical name: [Esmeralda cathcartii (Lindl.) Rchb.f.] Esmeralda cathcartii
Family: Orchidaceae (Orchid family)
Synonyms: Arachnanthe cathcartii, Arachnis cathcartii, Vanda cathcartii

Cathcart's Esmeralda is a giant sized, warm to cool growing, vanda-like epiphytic orchid with an elongate stem. Alternately arranged leaves are oblong, leathery. The plant blooms in the spring and summer on a stout, axillary, 18 cm long, pendulous or horizontal, 3-6 flowered inflorescence. Flowers are waxy, very fragrant, long-lived flowers. For cultivation, the plant needs a wood slat basket and cultural conditions similar to Vanda. Cathcart's Esmeralda is found in the NE India, eastern Himalayas, Nepal, Bhutan and Sikkim in tropical broadleaf forests near streams in cool shade at elevations of 600-2000 m.

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Common name: Low Growing Pleione, Ground Growing Pleione
Botanical name: [Pleione humilis (Sm.) D.Don] Pleione humilis
Family: Orchidaceae (Orchid family)
Synonyms: Epidendrum humile, Dendrobium humile, Coelogyne humilis

Low Growing Pleione is an orchid found from Nepal to Sikkim at elevations of 1100-3500 m, growing on moss or the smooth trunks of rhododendron trees. It is a small sized terrestrial or epiphyte orchid with ovoid-conical pseudobulbs, carrying a single, apical, deciduous, inverted-lanceshaped, somewhat pointed leaf. The plant blooms on a basal, 3-5 inches long, single flowered inflorescence enveloped by a green sheath, with a slightly fragrant, color variable flower. Flowers are generally pure white, with the lip strongly marked in blood red.

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Common name: Lady's Slipper Orchid
Botanical name: Paphiopedilum hirsutissimum
Family: Orchidaceae (orchid family)

The genus name Paphiopedilum is derived from the Greek Paphos, a city on the island of Cyprus, and pedilon, slipper. commonly referred to as the Lady’s or Venus’ Slipper Orchids, so named from the unusual shape of the pouch (labellum) of the flower, which was said to resemble a lady’s slipper. The pouch functions by trapping insects so that they are forced to climb up past the staminode, behind which they collect or deposit pollinia. These sympodial orchids lack pseudobulbs. Instead they grow robust shoots, each with several leaves. These can be short and rounded or long and narrow, and typically have a mottled pattern. When older shoots die, newer ones take over. Each new shoot only blooms once when it is fully grown, producing a raceme between the fleshy, succulent leaves. The roots are thick and fleshy. Potted plants form a tight lump of roots that, when untangled, can be up to l m long. The Paphiopedilums are among the most widely cultivated and hybridized of orchid genera.

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Common name: Chinese Lady's-Tresses
Botanical name: [Spiranthes sinensis (Pers.) Ames] Spiranthes sinensis
Family: Orchidaceae (Orchid family)
Synonyms: Spiranthes lancea, Spiranthes pudica, Spiranthes australis

The genus name Spiranthes comes from the Greek words "speira" meaning spiral and "anthos" meaning flower, and refers to the spiral arrangement of flowers. Chinese Lady's-Tresses is an orchid found in the Himalayas and in many countries from Asia to Australia. It is a medium sized, cool to hot growing terrestrial orchid found on roadsides, grassy areas, open forests, at elevations of 100-2000 m. The plant has cylindrical, velvety roots, and a basal rosette of a few oblong-elliptic to linear-lanceshaped, pointed glossy dark green leaves. Flowers are borne on an erect, slender, up to 25 cm long many flowered spike. The spreading flowers twist around in a spiral with 2 to 3 distant, glandular-hairy sheaths and lanceshaped, long-pointed, glandular-hairy floral bracts. Flowers are rose to rose-purple, rarely whitish, fragrant. Sepals are lanceshaped, up to 5 mm long, the dorsal forming a tube with the narrower petals and lip. Flowering: May-September.

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Common name: Mokara Orchid
Botanical name: Mokara spp.
Family: Orchidaceae (orchid family)

Mokara is an artificial hybrid generic name. It derives from the combination of ArachnisX Ascocentrum X Vanda. The first Mokara Hybrid was Mokara Wai Liang ( " Arachnis Isable X Ascocenda Red Gem) It is namd after C.Y.Mok of Singapore, who registered the first such hybrid in 1969.The plant form is a combination of those in hte three parent genera. In general it seems very similar to that of Aranda. Mokara Hybrids are now the more popular cutflowers when considering the non- dendrobium type flowers. Cultivation and propogation are very similar to those for the arandas.

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Common name: Dog flower, Snapdragon
Botanical name: Antirrhinum majus
Family: Scrophulariaceae (dog flower family)

The flower which goes by the name of dog-flower in India, is known as snapdragon in other places. Dog flowers, like many garden flowers, have a long history of enjoyment. Children love opening the jaw of the flower and watching it snap shut. Opening the dog's jaw in just the right place is a skill passed down from parent to child just like the love of gardening. Dog flowers are available in every color but blue. They are, in botanical terminology, zygomorphic, with assymetrical petals, and stamens and stigma enclosed between the two petal lips comprising fused petals. Dog flowers have upright stems dressed with two-lipped tubular flowers. The gradual opening of the buds provides color for an extended period of time. Although technically short-lived perennials, snapdragons are usually grown as annuals. Most cultivars come true from seed. Native originally to North Africa, Spain and along the Mediterranean to Italy, snapdragons have become naturalized in India.

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Common name: Dog flower, Snapdragon
Botanical name: Antirrhinum majus
Family: Scrophulariaceae (dog flower family)

The flower which goes by the name of dog-flower in India, is known as snapdragon in other places. Dog flowers, like many garden flowers, have a long history of enjoyment. Children love opening the jaw of the flower and watching it snap shut. Opening the dog's jaw in just the right place is a skill passed down from parent to child just like the love of gardening. Dog flowers are available in every color but blue. They are, in botanical terminology, zygomorphic, with assymetrical petals, and stamens and stigma enclosed between the two petal lips comprising fused petals. Dog flowers have upright stems dressed with two-lipped tubular flowers. The gradual opening of the buds provides color for an extended period of time. Although technically short-lived perennials, snapdragons are usually grown as annuals. Most cultivars come true from seed. Native originally to North Africa, Spain and along the Mediterranean to Italy, snapdragons have become naturalized in India.

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Common name: Coral Jasmine, Tree of Sorrow, Queen of the night
Botanical name: [Nyctanthes arbor-tristis L.] Nyctanthes arbor-tristis
Family: Oleaceae (Jasmine family)

Coral Jasmine should not be confused with the West Indian shrub Cestrum nocturnum, also called queen of the night. Nyctanthes arbortristis literally means, night-blooming sad tree. Grows as large shrub or small tree depending on how it is trained. The large attractive leaves are rough and hairy. The sweet scented flowers are small, attractive with white petals and an orange-red tube in center and bloom profusely, opening at night and drop off in the morning, thus making a carpet of flowers in the morning. Used for worship. Needs warmth during winter months. Use well drained soil and fertilize once a month.

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Common name: Night-blooming cestrum, Night blooming jasmine
Botanical name: Cestrum nocturnum
Family: Solanaceae (potato family)

This sprawling shrub has glossy, smooth, simple leaves 4"-8" long. Vine-like stems reach up to 12' in its native habitat, but it seldom reaches more than a 4' mound in a single season. It blooms in cycles throughout warm weather. Greenish-creamy white tubular flowers rise from above leaves along the stem, followed by shiny white, fleshy berries. Although the flowers are not showy to the eye, their sweet scent can overpower. The perfume is distinctly powerful at night - this feature has had its influence on its common name in all languages. The Hindi name translates to queen of the night, while the Manipuri name means moon flower. No fragrant garden should be without this nocturnal beauty. While night blooming jasmine is a gorgeous plant with charming blooms, the scent also produces severe allergic reactions in some individuals.

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Common name: Roundleaf Rock Jasmine
Botanical name: Androsace rotundifolia
Family: Primulaceae (Primrose family)

Roundleaf rock jasmine is a lovely species growing to 15 cm tall. Leaves are rounded as the name suggests, quite a deep green with paler mottling along the veins. The round leaves are also shallowly to deeply lobed. Each plant is quite tidy in form, the leaves held on long petioles and forming a rosette from the centre of which rise the long flower stems. The flowers are held in terminal heads with numerous flowers per head. Colour is pale pink with a fine yellow eye. The petals are notched. Leafy elliptic sepals are often longer than the petals, and are visible from the top. The beautiful plant is found at altitudes of 1500-3600 m. Flowering: June-July.

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Common name: Primrose Rock Jasmine
Botanical name: Androsace studiosorum
Family: Primulaceae (Primrose family)
Synonyms: Androsace primuloides, Androsace sarmentosa var. primuloides

Primrose Rock Jasmine is quite similar to Common Rock Jasmine, but has more tightly packed umbels of flowers carried on a slender hairy stems, 10-15 cm tall. Flowers are about 8 mm across, in dense hairy umbels up to 2-3 cm across. Leaves form a rosette at the base. They are obovate or spoon- shaped, numerous, ovelapping. Primrose Rock Jasmine is found in the Himalayas, at altitudes of 3000-4000 m. Flowering: June-August.

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Common name: Pink jasmine, Winter jasmine
Botanical name: Jasminum polyanthum
Family: Oleaceae (Jasmine family)

Fast growing twining vine with glossy, compound leaves and very fragrant white flowers. Though called "Pink" it is only the buds that are pale pink. When opened the star-shaped flowers are pure white. Flowering is usually prolific, and growth is rampant. Vines reach a height of about 20 ft. Native to southeastern China, pink jasmine is a popular landscape and greenhouse plant. In warmer climates, pink jasmine can be used freely to cover walls and high fences, to grow on arbors, or train up any surface where a verdant cover is desirable. This is especially nice grown around windows, where it can provide a visual frame and where its heavenly scent can waft inside.

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Common name: Tulip Tree, American tulip tree
Botanical name: [Liriodendron tulipifera L.] Liriodendron tulipifera
Family: Magnoliaceae (Magnolia family)

Tulip Tree is a deciduous tree native to North America, that can grow to heights of over 30 m with trunk diameters of 4-6 ft. It sometimes takes a conical form, but when grown in the open tends to assume a broad columnar shape that is its signature form. The distinctive cup-shaped flowers are 1.5 in across and about 2-2.5 in length and look like tulips growing on a tree. The handsome flowers are greenish-yellow with orange markings, borne at the branch tips. Stamens are long, and are arranged in many ranks - when the petals fall off, a cup of these stamens still remains on the tree. Alternately arranged leaves are 5-6 inches long, as much broad, four-lobed, heart-shaped or truncate or slightly wedge-shaped at base, entire, and the tip cut across at a shallow angle, making the upper part of the leaf look square. Flowers are followed by brown scaly cone-shaped fruit. Flowering: March-April.

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Common name: Prickly Paperbark, Prickly-leaf Teatree
Botanical name: [Melaleuca styphelioides Sm.] Melaleuca styphelioides
Family: Myristicaceae (Nutmeg family)

Prickly Paperbark is a small to medium sized tree up to 20 m tall, with a dense, rounded canopy and drooping branchlets. The spongy bark is white or light brown and peels of in large strips. The stalkless leaves are 7-15 mm long and 2.5-6 mm wide, ovate to broad-ovate. These are slightly twisted, have sharply-pointed tips, and are arranged alternately on the branchlets. Flowers appear in summer in cream or white cylindrical bottlebrush-like spikes which are 2-5 cm long and 1-2 cm in diameter. Often new growth appears at the end of the spikes. Following flowering, grey-brown, woody capsules appear in clusters along the branchlets. These are ovoid, stalkless and 3-4 mm in diameter. Prickly Paperbark is native to eastern Australia.

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Common name: Magnolia, Southern magnolia
Botanical name: Magnolia grandiflora
Family: Magnoliaceae (Magnolia family)

Magnolia, a native of the southeastern US, is one of the most magnificent of the fragrant trees. It's trunk is typically straight and erect with spreading branches that form a dense, broadly pyramidal crown. It has large, thick, leathery dark green leaves which are up to 10 inches long. In the spring, they have a golden to rust color on their undersides. The large evergreen trees may grow to 90 ft tall, and the fragrant white blossoms that have smooth, almost velvet-looking petals, are 8-12 inches across. The snow white flowers are huge, and cup-shaped when young. The fruits are reddish-brown conelike structures, 2-4 in long, with bright red kidney shaped seeds that hang from little threads when fully mature in autumn. In the US, the magnolia is used as a street tree, a free standing specimen, a framing tree, or shade tree. In most parts of India, magnolias are grown only in select well-maintained gardens. In Manipur, magnolias are commonly grown - the Manipuri name ootahmbal means "tree lotus" - flowers are used as offering in puja.

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Common name: Parrot's Beak
Botanical name: Gmelina philippensis
Family: Verbenaceae (Verbena family)
Synonyms: Gmelina hystrix

Parrot's Beak is an extraordinary round and spiny shrub, or a small tree, 3-8 m tall, with pendant branches. Rhomboid-elliptic leaves are 5-7.5 cm long, 3-4 cm broad, entire or slightly lobed, smooth. Exotic flowers comprised of yellow blossoms which emerge from a pendant structure of overlapping bracts. The flower resembles parrot's beak. The fruit is fleshy, smooth, yellow, pear-shaped, and about 2 centimeters long. Parrot's Beak is a native of Philippine islands, India and S.E. Asia.
Medicinal ues: In the Philippines it is said that the juice of the fruit is externally applied to portions of the feet affected by “alipuñga,” a kind of eczema. The juice of the fruit is also considered anti “limatik,” (limatik is a species of leech of the genus Haemadipsa).

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Common name: Crown Flower
Botanical name: Calotropis gigantea
Family: Asclepiadaceae (Milkweed family)

This large shrub, which looks like a small tree, sports clusters of waxy flowers that are either white or lavender in color. Each flower consists of five pointed petals and a small, elegant "crown" rising from the center, which holds the stamens. The plant has oval, light green leaves and milky stem. The flowers last long, and in Thailand they are used in various floral arrangements. They were also supposed to be popular with the Hawaii queen Liliuokalani, who considered them as symbol of royalty and wore them strung into leis. In India, the plant is common in the compounds of temples. The fruit is a follicle and when dry, seed dispersal is by wind. The seeds with a parachute of hairs, is a delight for small children, who like to blow it and watch it float in the air. This plant plays host to a variety of insects and butterflies

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Common name: Mountain Ebony
Botanical name: Bauhinia hookeri
Family: Caesalpiniaceae (Gulmohar family)
Synonyms: Lysiphyllum hookeri

Native to Australia, Mountain Ebony is a rounded shrub or small open tree, up to 5m high, with an irregular habit. Leaves are silver to grey green, held in small delicate pairs up to 2.5 cm across, looking just like hundreds of butterfly wings. Plants are semi-deciduous with most leaves falling immediately before flowering then replaced with the flowers. Plants flower in spring to early summer and dot the canopy with large pure white orchid-like five petal flowers up to 7 cm in diameter, with a number of long spidery brilliant red stamens protruding out.

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Common name: Prickly Paperbark, Prickly-leaf Teatree
Botanical name: [Melaleuca styphelioides Sm.] Melaleuca styphelioides
Family: Myristicaceae (Nutmeg family)

Prickly Paperbark is a small to medium sized tree up to 20 m tall, with a dense, rounded canopy and drooping branchlets. The spongy bark is white or light brown and peels of in large strips. The stalkless leaves are 7-15 mm long and 2.5-6 mm wide, ovate to broad-ovate. These are slightly twisted, have sharply-pointed tips, and are arranged alternately on the branchlets. Flowers appear in summer in cream or white cylindrical bottlebrush-like spikes which are 2-5 cm long and 1-2 cm in diameter. Often new growth appears at the end of the spikes. Following flowering, grey-brown, woody capsules appear in clusters along the branchlets. These are ovoid, stalkless and 3-4 mm in diameter. Prickly Paperbark is native to eastern Australia.

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Common name: Silk floss tree
Botanical name: Ceiba speciosa
Family: Bombacaceae (baobab family)
Synonyms: Chorisia speciosa

Floss Silk Tree is often rated among the most beautiful trees in the world. Also called Silk Floss Tree, this deciduous tropical from Brazil and Argentina is a large tree rated to over 40 feet. Floss Silk Tree is also well known for the large spikes protecting the trunk and limbs. It has pale green leaves palmately divided into 5-7 pointed leaflets. The young trees start out growing fast, straight, and narrow, then slowly develop broadly spreading umbrella canopies as they age. Silk floss trees typically drop their leaves just before they put on their spectacular autumn display of large five-petaled flowers. The petals vary from pale pink to rose to purple or burgundy at the tips and grade into ivory with brownish spots or blotches at the base. After blooming, pear shaped fruits appear which have a silky floss on the seeds, hence the name.

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Common name: Weeping Bottle brush
Botanical name: Callistemon viminalis
Family: Myrtaceae (Bottlebrush family)

The flower spikes of bottlebrushes form in spring and summer and are made up of a number of individual flowers. The pollen of the flower forms on the tip of a long coloured stalk called a filament. It is these filaments which give the flower spike its colour and distinctive 'bottlebrush' shape. The filaments are usually yellow or red, sometimes the pollen also adds a bright yellow flush to the flower spikes. Each flower produces a small woody fruit containing hundreds of tiny seeds. These fruits form in clusters along the stem, and are usually held on the plant for many years. The seeds are usually not released from the fruits for several years, but in some species the fruits open after about a year. Fire also stimulates the opening of the fruits in some bottlebrushes.

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Common name: Formosa Acacia, Small Philippine Acacia
Botanical name: Acacia confusa
Family: Mimosaceae (Touch-me-not family)

Formosa Acacia is a small tree native to Northern Philippines. Adult plants show leaf-like phyllodes, while the juvenile one have foliage of bipinnate leaves. The trunk can grow up to 1 m thick in very old trees, however, generally it is smaller. Phyllodes are alternate, leathery, parallel-curving-veined, 8-10 cm long, narrowed at both ends. Yellow flowers arise in small spherical heads 6-8 mm in diameter. The flowers heads occur singly or in twos in axil of phyllodes. Pods are borne few together, linear or somewhat curved, flat or slightly twisted, brown, 5-10 cm long, 1 cm broad, with about 8 seeds.

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Common name: Elephant Creeper, Hawaiian baby woodrose
Botanical name: Argyreia nervosa
Family: Convolvulaceae (Morning glory family)
Synonyms: Argyreia speciosa, Convolvulus nervosus, Lettsomia nervosa

Elephant Creeper is a vigorous vine native to India, introduced world-wide. It has large, leathery heart-shaped leaves, which are white on the underside due to hairs. It is called elephant creeper because of the large leaves which look like elephant ears. Leaf blades are 15-25 cm long, and 13-20 cm wide, heart-shaped. Trumpet-shaped flowers are borne in cymes, on long, white-velvety stalks. Sepals are 1.3-1.5 cm long, velvety like the leaves. Flower-stalks are up to 15 cm long. Flowers are 5-7.5 cm long, with a short tube and bell-shaped limb, lavender to pink, the throat being of a darker shade. The flowers are followed by hard, woody capsules, which when they ripen break open to resemble miniature roses. The toxic seeds should not be eaten as they contain alkaloids. Flowering: July-December, March-April.

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Common name: Common Morning Glory, Purple Morning Glory
Botanical name: Ipomoea purpurea
Family: Convolvulaceae (Morning glory family)

Common Morning Glory is a morning glory vine native to Mexico and Central America, but widely naturalized in India. Like all morning glories the plant entwines itself around structures with its viny stems, growing to a height of 2-3 m tall. The stems are covered with brown hairs, which is an identifying feature. Leaves are heart-shaped, 4-15 cm long. Flowers are borne on 1-5 flowered stalks in leaf axils. The flowers are funnel-shaped, 4-6 cm long diameter. The flower color varies from purple, pale blue to white. On the average, the leaves are much larger than the flowers. In the Blue Dawn Flower, leaves are smaller than, or of the same size as, the flowers. The habitats of morning glories are landscapes, fences and crops. The plant is predisposed to moist and rich soil, but can be found growing in a wide array of soil types. Although it is often considered a noxious weed, Common Morning Glory is also grown for its beautiful purple, pink and white flowers and has many cultivars.

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Common name: Pink Morning Glory
Botanical name: Ipomoea barlerioides
Family: Convolvulaceae (Morning glory family)

Pink Morning Glory is a slender trailing herb. Alternately arranged leaves are oblong lanceshaped, with a point tip and base somewhat heart-shaped, hairy, 2-5 cm long, 0.5 cm wide. Leaves are carried on 2-3 cm long stalks. Flowers are pink, funnel-shaped, 2 inches long, arising singly in leaf axils, on 5-6 cm long stalk. Sepals are 5, nearly equal, lanceshaped, 1.5-2.2 cm long, hairy. Fruit is an ovoid capsule, with the persistent sepals, up to 0.5 cm in diameter. Flowering: September-October.

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Common name: Ivy-leaved Morning Glory, Railway creeper, Mile a Minute Vine
Botanical name: Ipomoea cairica
Family: Convolvulaceae (Morning glory family)

One of the commonest yet most useful of the evergreen creepers, refreshing the eve in the hottest weather with its clear, green leaves and delicate, mauve blooms, the Railway Creeper is found in gardens, villages, and on practically every railway station, thus earning for itself its nickname. This morning glory vine is beautiful, climbing on to whatever it finds - the purple flower studded vine wrapped around bending bamboo stems, is a pleasing sight. Its stem is hairless, readily set roots when in touch with the earth. This species can be identified by its leaves which are hairless to 9cm long with 5-7 lobes, middle lobe the largest. Flowers purple, pink or rarely pinkish white, to 8cm across, solitary or in groups of 2-3. Fruit a 4-valved capsule, about 1cm across, each valve with 1 seed. Seed with wispy hairs attached. Spread by wind, water and humans.

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Common name: Yellow-Throated Morning Glory, Yellow-throated Ipomoea
Botanical name: [Ipomoea parasitica (Kunth) G. Don] Ipomoea parasitica
Family: Convolvulaceae (Morning glory family)
Synonyms: Convolvulus parasiticus, Ipomoea perlonga, Convolvulus circinnatus

Yellow-Throated Morning Glory is an ornamental climber. It is native to the American continents, but is well naturalized as an escape from cultivation in many parts of the world, including India. Stems are trailing for several metres and climbing over low bushes, reddish, muriculate, hairless or velvety. Leaves are ovate, 5-15 × 5-15 cm, blunt or long-pointed at the tip, heart-shaped. Upper surface is covered with prostrate velvety hairs, smooth and scarcely pubescent on the nerves beneath. Leaf-stalks are 5-24 cm long, velvety or smooth, sometimes rough. Beautiful funnel-shaped flowers are borne in several-flowered cymes. The cyme is carried on a stalk 5-25 cm long. Flower-stalks are 0·7-1.5 cm long, enlarged at the tip. Bracts are lanceshaped, 4-7 mm long, velvety, falling off. Sepals are nearly equal, lanceshaped-oblong, 5 mm long, with a short point at the tip, velvety outside. Flower are funnel-shaped, blue with purplish tinge, 3·5-4·5 cm long, with a yellow center, velvety at the midpetaline areas. Capsule is ovoid to globose, hairless. Seeds are trigonous, brownish, hairless or very shortly velvet-hairy. — with Mega Raj, Subasree Mohan, Geeta Ilangovan and 46 others.

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Common name: Wax Begonia, Fibrous Begonia, bedding begonia, perpetual begonia
Botanical name: Begonia x semperflorens-cultorum Family: Begoniaceae (Begonia family)

Wax Begonia are tough little compact garden plants, growing barely a foot high. However, they provide almost continuous color in full sun or partial shade locations for many months, and can easily be grown as a houseplant. The single or double flowers are available in various shades of red, pink, or white, and the shiny, large, succulent leaves are either green, variegated, or bronze-colored. It is the leaf coloration which attracts many people to Wax Begonia. The bronze-leaved begonias are better suited to full sun locations and plants will flower from spring. These kinds are seen more often in the warmer regions of India. Plant 12 inches apart in a bed to form a solid mass of color. If desired, plants can be dug up and potted, cut back by one-third, and will continue to bloom indoors. Wax Begonaias are a group of cultivars developed from hybridization of several species, especially B. cucullata and B. schmidtiana

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Common name: Ruffled Yellow Begonia
Botanical name: Begonia tuberosa 'Ruffled Yellow'
Family: Begoniaceae (Begonia family)

Ruffled Yellow Begonia is a cultivaer of Begonia with vivid, large, fully-double flowers. The flowers provide a strong contrast with deep green leaves for an eye-catching display. Flowers are big, sunny 5-9 inch yellow blooms. Blooms from mid summer through entire season. It is a long, heavy bloomer.

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Common name: Wax Begonia, Fibrous Begonia, bedding begonia, perpetual begonia
Botanical name: Begonia x semperflorens-cultorum Family: Begoniaceae (Begonia family)

Wax Begonia are tough little compact garden plants, growing barely a foot high. However, they provide almost continuous color in full sun or partial shade locations for many months, and can easily be grown as a houseplant. The single or double flowers are available in various shades of red, pink, or white, and the shiny, large, succulent leaves are either green, variegated, or bronze-colored. It is the leaf coloration which attracts many people to Wax Begonia. The bronze-leaved begonias are better suited to full sun locations and plants will flower from spring. These kinds are seen more often in the warmer regions of India. Plant 12 inches apart in a bed to form a solid mass of color. If desired, plants can be dug up and potted, cut back by one-third, and will continue to bloom indoors. Wax Begonaias are a group of cultivars developed from hybridization of several species, especially B. cucullata and B. schmidtiana.

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Biological Name: Primula vulgaris (red)
Family: Primulaceae
Genus: Primula

Primula vulgaris (syn. P. acaulis (L.) Hill) is a species of Primula native to western and southern Europe (from the Faroe Island and Norway south to Portugal, and east to Germany, Ukraine, the Crimea, and the Balkans), northwest Africa (Algeria), and southwest Asia (Turkey east to Iran).[1][2] The common name is primrose,[3] or occasionally common primrose or English primrose to distinguish it from other Primula species also called primroses.

It is an herbaceous perennial plant, low growing, to 10–30 cm tall, with a basal rosette of leaves. The leaves are 5–25 cm long and 2–6 cm broad with an irregularly crenate to dentate margin, and a usually short leaf stem. The flowers are 2–4 cm in diameter, borne singly on a slender stem, pale yellow, white, red, or purple (see further below), actinomorphic with a superior ovary which later forms a capsule which opens by valves to release the small black seeds. The flowers are hermaphrodite but heterostylous; individual plants bear either pin flowers (longuistylous flower: with the capita of the style prominent) or thrum flowers (brevistylous flower: with the stamens prominent). Fertilisation can only take place between pin and thrum flowers. Pin-to-pin and thrum-to-thrum pollination is ineffective.[4][5]
Pin flower of primrose

It flowers in early spring, one of the earliest spring flowers in much of Europe. ("Primrose" is ultimately from Old French primerose or medieval Latin prima rosa, meaning "first rose".)[6] In appropriate conditions, it can cover the ground in open woods and shaded hedgerows.

In more populated areas it has sometimes suffered from over-collection and theft so that few natural displays of primroses in abundance can now be found. However it is common on motorway verges and railway embankments where human intervention is restricted. To prevent excessive damage to the species, picking of primroses or the removal of primrose plants from the wild is illegal in many countries

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Biological Name: Primula vialii
Family: Primulaceae
Genus: Primula

Primula vialii is a very striking plant, especially when seen grown in groups, it is easy to distinguish from other primroses, its distinctive flowers have a bottle brush appearance unlike any other in the genus. A a rosette-forming herbaceous perennial, its stout stalk is crowded with hundreds of tiny flowers of red calyces and blue-violet corollas.
It is rare to find this plant in its native haunts, as it comes close, if not already, to being an endangered species.

Since the foliage is dormant for seven months of the year, the best way to plant them is as a colony under and around evergreen ferns, hostas or other small plants. Given suitably moist soil, they will also thrive in a more open situation, such as the junction of a pond and rock garden, where the right set of growing conditions is reasonably easily provided.
When they come into bloom they are spectacular. The short-lived perennials thrive in moist, humus rich, well-drained soil with lots of leaf mold. In these conditions the plants will sometimes live longer. Since they are late to leaf out in spring, mark their positions well. Easy to start from seed, they reliably bloom their second year.

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Common name: Dickie's Primrose
Botanical name: Primula dickieana
Family: Primulaceae (Primrose family)
Synonyms: Aleuritia dickieana

Dickie's Primrose is a perennial herb found in NE India. Leaf stalks are winged, about 1/5 to as long as leaf blade. Leaves are elliptic-obovate to oblanceolate, 1.5-7 cm long, 0.3-1 cm broad, tapering at base, margin nearly entire to remotely toothed. Flowering stem is 8-20 cm tall. Yellow flowers are borne in 1-6-flowered umbels. Flower-stalks are 1-7 mm, elongating to 2.5 cm in fruit. Sepal cup is tubular-bellshaped, 6.5-8 mm, parted to 1/3 or near middle. Sepals are triangular. Flowers can be yellow, white, or purple. Flower-tube is 3-4 times as long as the sepal cup, velvety at mouth and inside. Flowers are 2-3 cm wide with inverted- heartshaped petals 7-8 mm. Capsule is ovoid, nearly as long as calyx. Dickie's Primrose is found in wet meadows in the Himalayas, at elevations of 4000-5000 m in Bhutan, Myanmar, NE India, Nepal and Sikkim. Flowering: June-July.

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Common name: Foxtail Orchid, Blunt Rhynchostylis
Botanical name: Rhynchostylis retusa
Family: Orchidaceae (Orchid family)

This is a medium sized, warm to hot growing species that comes from Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and India. It is found in semi-deciduous and deciduous dry lowland forests woodlands at elevations of sealevel to 700 m with stout, repent, short stem carrying to 12, curved, fleshy, deeply channeled, keeld, retuse apically leaves and blooms on an axillary, pendant, to 60 cm long, racemose, densely many flowered, cylyndrical inflorescence that occurs in the winter and early spring and requires even water and fertilizer year round.

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Common name: Himalayan Galearis
Botanical name: [Galearis spathulata (Lindl.) P.F.Hunt] Galearis spathulata
Family: Orchidaceae (Orchid family)
Synonyms: Galeorchis spathulata, Orchis spathulata

Himalayan Galearis is a terrestrial orchid with flowers white or dark purple, borne on a short stem with usually a single leaf at the base. Flowers are about 1.2 cm across, lip broadly elliptic, entire or obscurely 3-lobed, as long as the sepals and with many shallow longitudinal grooves. Spur is cylindrical, stout and nearly half as long as the ovary. Sepals are unequal, the dorsal one ovate, forming a hood with the petals, the lateral ones spreading. Bracts are leafy, as long or longer than the flowers. Leaf is blunt, fleshy, elliptic-oblong, stalked, 2.5-5.7 cm. Stem is angled, 5-20 cm tall. Himalayan Galearis is found in the Himalayas, from Uttarakhand to Bhutan, at altitudes of 3000-4300 m. Flowering: June-July.

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Common name: Common Columbine, European columbine, Granny's nightcap, Granny's bonnet
Botanical name: [Aquilegia vulgaris L.] Aquilegia vulgaris
Family: Ranunculaceae (Buttercup family)

Common columbine is is a species of columbine native to Europe. It is a flowering perennial herb growing up to 1.2 m tall, with branched, thinly hairy stems. The leaves are compound, with the basal leaflets themselves trifoliate. The beautifully shaped flowers are in various shades of purple, blue, pink and white, are pendent or horizontal with hooked spurs, and appear in early Summer. The original wild flower comes in shades of blue, purple, pink and white, around 2-3' tall, but hybrids have been bred for garden use, so that now these hardy perennials are available in all sizes from just a few inches to several feet high, in all colours and combinations of colours imaginable.

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Common name: Strawberry Clover
Botanical name: [Trifolium fragiferum L.] Trifolium fragiferum
Family: Fabaceae (Pea family)
Synonyms: Amoria fragifera, Trifolium neglectu, Trifolium bonannii

Strawberry Clover is a prostrate creeping perennial herb with stems up to 50 cm long, usually rooting from nodes. Leaves are borne on long stalks. Each blade is made up of usually three toothed oval leaflets up to 2-2.5 cm long. Stipules are to 1.5 cm long, spear-shaped, membranous. Flowers pink to whitish, pea-shaped, borne in dense head-like clusters atop leafless stems. The head of flowers is around a cm long when first flowering. It increases in size to 2 cm as the fruits develop, the sepals becoming thin and inflated, fuzzy and pinkish in color, to resemble a strawberry or raspberry, hence the common name. Strawberry Clover is found in Pakistan, Kashmir, Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Ethiopia, N. Africa, Arabia, Egypt, Caucasus and Europe. Flowering: May-August.

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Common name: Large Leaf Primrose
Botanical name: [Primula macrophylla var. macrophylla]
Family: Primulaceae (Primrose family)

Large Leaf Primrose is a perennial herb, characterized by a moderately dense head of 5-25 purple, violet or lilac flowers with with usually a dark eye. Petals are entire, elliptic to ovate, flower-tube 1-3 cm long. Sepal cup is cylindrical with linear-lanceshaped sepals. Flower-stalks are up to 2.5 long. Flowering stems are 12-25 cm tall. Leaves are erect, 10-30 cm long, entire or toothed, white powdery beneath, gradually tapering to a long sheathing leaf-stalk. Capsule is cylindric, up to 2.5 cm. Large Leaf Primrose is found in the Himalayas, from Afghanistan to SE Tibet, at altitudes of 3300-4800 m. Flowering: June-August.

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Common name: Catnip, Pink Catmint
Botanical name: Nepeta spp.
Family: Lamiaceae (mint family)

Pink Catmint, a cousine of the better known Nepeta cataria, is a 50–100 cm tall herb resembling mint in appearance, with hairy green leaves; the flowers are pinkish white, with purple throat. The genus is native to Europe, Asia and Africa, with the highest species diversity in the Mediterranean region east to China. Most of the species are herbaceous perennial plants, but some are annuals. They have sturdy stems with opposite heart-shaped, green to greyish-green leaves. The flowers are white, blue, pink or lilac and occur in several clusters toward the tip of the stems. Before the introduction of Chinese tea, catmint was used to make tea by the British. Catnip and catmints are mainly known for, and named after, the effects they have on cats, particularly domestic cats. Catnip contains nepetalactone, a terpene, that is thought to mimic feline sex pheromones. Cats detect it through their vomeronasal organs. When cats sense the bruised leaves or stems of catnip, they will rub in it, roll over it, paw at it, chew it, lick it, leap about and purr.
Medicinal uses: [Warning: Unverified information] Due to the fact that catnip promotes sweating when used as an herbal tea, it was used for the treatment of nervousness, colds, influenza, and fevers during the Middle Ages. Catnip has also been alleged to aid with flatulence, diarrhea, colic, and other childhood diseases, as well as preventing miscarriages, premature births, and morning sickness.

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Common name: Gerber daisy, Transvaal daisy, Barberton daisy daisy
Botanical name: Gerbera Jamesonii
Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

Gerbera daisy is a tender perennial plant that is known for its huge, brilliantly-colored flowers. The spectacular flowers resemble large daisies with a golden center surrounded by one or more ranks of "petals" (actually ray flowers) In nature these ray flowers range in color from yellow to deep orange but selected varieties extend the color palette to include white, cream, pink, red, crimson and even violet. Both single and double forms are available. Flowers range in size from 2.5 to 4 inch diameters and are held on 12 to 18 inch stems. The coarse leaves are 8 to 10 inches in length and are arranged in a rosette forming low mounds that are about 12 inches wide. The Gerbera daisy is native to the Transvaal region of South Africa.

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Common name: Frangipani
Botanical name: Plumeria rubra
Family: Apocynaceae (oleander family)

Frangipani, also known as the Lei flower, is native to warm tropical areas of the Pacific Islands, Caribbean, South America and Mexico. They can grow to be large shrubs or even small trees in mild areas of the U.S. In tropical regions, Plumeria may reach a height of 30' to 40' and half as wide. Their widely spaced thick succulent branches are round or pointed, and have long leather, fleshy leaves in clusters near the branch tips. Leaves tend to fall in early winter since they are deciduous and sensitive to cold.

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Common name: Zinnia, Common zinnia
Botanical name: Zinnia elegans
Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

Originally coming from Mexico, this is a very popular flower, with its wide range of colours and sizes. Many varieties differing in weight, shape, size and colour have been evolved. The leaves are oval and rough textured. There are single, semi-double or double flowers and the colours range from white, cream, yellow, orange over rose, purple scarlet, maroon, to lilac, lavender, magenta, mauve, salmon to violet. Grown as tall (75 - 90 cm), medium (45 - 60 cm) and dwarf (15 - 45 cm) varieties, Zinnias are suitable for beds, borders, and pots. The cut flowers are commonly used in flower arrangements. They are grown by seeds and survive best in light and medium loam soils, rich in organic matter and in a sunny environment. Frequent and heavy watering is required. Generally, there is no damage from insects.

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Common name: Zinnia, Common zinnia
Botanical name: Zinnia elegans
Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

Originally coming from Mexico, this is a very popular flower, with its wide range of colours and sizes. Many varieties differing in weight, shape, size and colour have been evolved. The leaves are oval and rough textured. There are single, semi-double or double flowers and the colours range from white, cream, yellow, orange over rose, purple scarlet, maroon, to lilac, lavender, magenta, mauve, salmon to violet. Grown as tall (75 - 90 cm), medium (45 - 60 cm) and dwarf (15 - 45 cm) varieties, Zinnias are suitable for beds, borders, and pots. The cut flowers are commonly used in flower arrangements. They are grown by seeds and survive best in light and medium loam soils, rich in organic matter and in a sunny environment. Frequent and heavy watering is required. Generally, there is no damage from insects.

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Common name: Zinnia, Common zinnia
Botanical name: Zinnia elegans
Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

Originally coming from Mexico, this is a very popular flower, with its wide range of colours and sizes. Many varieties differing in weight, shape, size and colour have been evolved. The leaves are oval and rough textured. There are single, semi-double or double flowers and the colours range from white, cream, yellow, orange over rose, purple scarlet, maroon, to lilac, lavender, magenta, mauve, salmon to violet. Grown as tall (75 - 90 cm), medium (45 - 60 cm) and dwarf (15 - 45 cm) varieties, Zinnias are suitable for beds, borders, and pots. The cut flowers are commonly used in flower arrangements. They are grown by seeds and survive best in light and medium loam soils, rich in organic matter and in a sunny environment. Frequent and heavy watering is required. Generally, there is no damage from insects.

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Common name: Zinnia, Common zinnia
Botanical name: Zinnia elegans
Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

Originally coming from Mexico, this is a very popular flower, with its wide range of colours and sizes. Many varieties differing in weight, shape, size and colour have been evolved. The leaves are oval and rough textured. There are single, semi-double or double flowers and the colours range from white, cream, yellow, orange over rose, purple scarlet, maroon, to lilac, lavender, magenta, mauve, salmon to violet. Grown as tall (75 - 90 cm), medium (45 - 60 cm) and dwarf (15 - 45 cm) varieties, Zinnias are suitable for beds, borders, and pots. The cut flowers are commonly used in flower arrangements. They are grown by seeds and survive best in light and medium loam soils, rich in organic matter and in a sunny environment. Frequent and heavy watering is required. Generally, there is no damage from insects.

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Common name: Evening Primrose
Botanical name: Oenothera biennis
Family: Onagraceae (evening primrose family)

Evening primrose, the beautiful yellow flower, gets its name from the fact that it remains partially close in the day, and opens up suddenly in the evening. Oenothera family is highly variable, and hence difficult to identify. The plant has an upright stem with leaves that are 10-20 cm long, slightly toothed and lance like. Flowers are large, yellow, 2.5-5 cm wide, with four petals. A cross-shaped stigma protrudes out of the flower cup.
Medicinal uses: [Warning: Unverified information] The plant contains an astringent mucilage that modern herbalist use in cough remedies. Externally the plant has been use to treat sores and various skin conditions. Published studies indicate that the oil might be useful in treating atopic eczema or eczema caused by allergy.

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Common name: Moonflower vine, Moon vine
Botanical name: Ipomoea alba
Family: Convolvulaceae (morning glory family)

Moon vine is a vigorous twining vine that is very fast growing in really hot weather. Mon vine is a close relative of the morning glory, and has similar heart shaped leaves that are a rich green and 4-8 inches long. However, unlike its cousine, its buds open in late afternoon and shrivel up by morning. For this reason, it is sometimes also called evening glory. Although the individual flowers of moon vine have a short life, they are of large size, and are produced in large numbers. These are held on a stem that bears several buds simultaneously, not all of which bloom the same night. The long 4 in buds are also very attractive especially in the hours just before the flower opens. And what a fabulous flower the moon vine produces - they are fluted funnels sculpted in purest alabaster white. About the diameter of a saucer measuring 5-6 inches across. As if the moonflower was not already enchanting enough, it also has a delightful fragrance to complement its beauty and perfume warm summer nights. Native to American tropics, moon vine can be seen growing wild in India.

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Common name: Night Gladiolus
Botanical name: Gladiolus Tristis

The beautiful Night Gladiolus is a creamy yellow flower with a very nice spicy fragrance. It is usually grown in dense areas with heavy rainfall. These are also found near sea level to high elevations. Usual height is 36 to 48 inches. The bloom in late spring and early to mid summers. It’s name comprises of two words; Night and Gladiolus. Gladiolus is a word of Latin origin meaning sword. Parts of this plant are poisonous and can cause skin irritations and allergic reactions. The plant is attractive to butterflies, bees and insects.

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Common name: Common Blue Poppy
Botanical name: Meconopsis simplicifolia
Family: Papaveraceae (poppy family)

Commonest Himalayan blue poppy, characterized by small, solitary flowers on leafless stems. Meconopsis simplicifolia was discovered around 1848. It was the first one to be discovered. This species doesn't get as much attention as the other 2. The blue poppy belongs to the Meconopsis genus. This genus consists of 50 species of annual, biennials, and short lived perennials. Mountainous areas, alpine meadows or woodland and rocky slopes in the eastern Himalayas and western China are the places where the plants conforming this genus grow.

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Common name: Oriental Poppy
Botanical name: Papaver orientale
Family: Papaveraceae (poppy family)

Delicate blossoms of Poppies have enchanted for generations. Oriental poppies are among the most flamboyant of the early summer flowers, with enormous, often frilly double flowers around 15cm (6in) across in loud colours many are vermilion red, and most have black bases to the petals. Sunlight makes the translucent petals positively glow with color. Even though the narcotic content is minimal to absent in the red Oriental Poppy or the annual Common Poppy (P. rhoeas), the odor of the vibrant new flowers will nevertheless give you some sense of the odor of Opium Poppies. The Oriental Poppy generally has single flowers with black center, they come in early summer. Large, silky flowers feature black blotches at the base of each petal. Plants bloom profusely in May and June, the year after the seed is sown. Foliage dies back in midsummer, reappears in fall or the following spring.

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Common Name : Prickly wild rose or Artic rose
Botanical Name: Rosa acicularis
Family: Rosaceae

Rosa acicularis, also known as the prickly wild rose, the prickly rose, the bristly rose and the Arctic rose, is a species of wild rose with a Holarctic distribution in northern regions of Asia[2], Europe[3], and North America.

Description

Rosa acicularis is a deciduous shrub growing 1–3 m tall. The leaves are pinnate, 7–14 cm long, with three to seven leaflets. The leaflets are ovate, with wavy margins. The flowers are pink (rarely white), 3.5–5 cm diameter; the hips are red, pear-shaped to ovoid, 10–15 mm diameter.

The ploidy of this rose species is variable. Botanical authorities have listed it as tetraploid and hexaploid in North America (subsp. sayi),[4] and octoploid in Eurasia (subsp. acicularis).[4] On the northern Great Plains and in northwest Canada, extending to Whitehorse, Yukon its populations are generally tetraploid.[citation needed]

North America

This native rose species of the U.S. and Canadian northern Great Plains is the provincial flower of Alberta[5]. It is not as common in the Parkland region of the Canadian Prairie provinces as Rosa woodsii (Woods' rose), but is the most abundant rose species growing in the boreal forests of northern Canada and Alaska.

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Name : Alba Rose.

ALBA: An Old Garden Rose. Perhaps this rose may even have been in existence as far back as the 1st century!! Albas are most likely a cross of Rosa canina and Rosa damascena. Albas have light pink to white fragrant blossoms on an upright shrub with blue-grey-green foliage. Albas can tolerate shadier conditions are cold-hardy. They are once-blooming late spring/early summer.

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Name : Gallica Rose

GALLICA: An Old Garden rose. Sometimes referred to as “French roses” or “Provins roses” they are one of the oldest cultivated species of roses with examples stretching back as early as the 12th century. Gallica roses are fragrant and although once-blooming but put on quite a show when they do. They can form a dense, thick shrub (prone to sorryering), and reach heights of about 4-5 feet. Gallica roses bloom in shades of light pink to deep pink, to dark wine hues, and even striped colorations. Empress Josephine was quite taken with gallica roses and her garden at Malmaison was filled with them. They are tolerant of shade, poor soils and cold winters. Famous gallicas include: Rosa gallica ‘Officinalis’ (Apothecary’s Rose) and ‘Rosa gallica ‘Versicolor’ (or ‘Rosa Mundi‘).

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Name: CLIMBING ROSE

CLIMBING ROSE: Roses don’t officially “climb” as they do not grasp or wind any tendrils or leaves. However, they may throw out very long canes which can be trained along a support. Climbing roses can include: Modern Large-Flowered, Pillar, Ramblers, Noisettes, Old Garden Roses, Ayrshires, Hybrid Moyesii, Hybrid Sempervirens and Hybrid Tea roses. Climbing roses are good candidates for “pegging,” that is anchoring part of the long cane to the ground thereby increasing flowering along the length of the cane and possible rooting it to create an additional plant.

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Name: Arcata Pink Globe Rose.

A rose that has been discovered and not yet identified. They will take a temporary name reflecting the location from where it was discovered and sometimes that can be quite silly.

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Name: Dublin Bay Rose.
Class: Floribunda, Cl., Large-Flowered Climber.

Dublin Bay really is a great climbing rose. Very hardy, and it's a true red rose...not like some of the washed out varieties that you see. It's lightly perfumed with a repeat flowering later in the season.

One thing that I like about Dublin Bay - it's not prone to the black discoloration on the petals, that you often see on darker red roses.

This is a distant relative of "New Dawn", which is a lovely pale pink rose, and a firm favorite of mine (one of Altisimos' parents was New Dawn).

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Common name: Musk Rose
Botanical name: [Rosa moschata Mill.] Rosa moschata Family: Rosaceae (Rose family)

Musk rose is a species of rose which has been in cultivation for long. Its wild origins are uncertain but are suspected to lie in the western Himalayas. It is a shrub up to 3 m tall, with single white 5 cm across flowers in a loose cyme or corymb. The sepals are 2 cm long with slender points. The flowers have a characteristic "musky" scent, emanating from the stamens. The prickles on the stems are straight or slightly curved and have a broad base. The light- or greyish-green leaves have 5 to 7 ovate leaflets with small teeth. The stipules are narrow with spreading, free tips. Small, ovate fruits called hips are borne, turning orange-red in autumn. This species has historically been confused with Himalayan Musk Rose, a closely related, tall-climbing species from the Himalayas that bears flowers in late spring and which possesses a similar, musky scent.

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Common name: Playboy rose

The main attraction of the Playboy rose is its duel or one might even call “triple” shades of color. A mixture of orange and yellow highlighted by a red hue color the petals of this spectacular flower. Next up in its “attraction arsenal” are the quite unique petals – semi double petals. They appear to be in two sets but a closer inspection would reveal that they are formed in an unorthodox adjacent manner. The petal edge is not smooth but resembles a wave in shape. A golden yellow stamen sits in the middle of every blossom, and on average a blossom measures around 3.5 inches across. In comparison to other types of roses, the its petals hold the orange color significantly well, and fall off cleanly when the blossoms fade. The plant blooms from beautiful pointed buds in clusters of blossoms that have a faint but pleasant fragrance. The foliage is dark green, looking almost polished; it provides an excellent highlighting medium for the colorful blossoms and covers the rather slightly thorny canes well.

The playboy rose’s blossoms change color from shades of yellow and orange in the initial stages of bloom and onto a deeper red hue as time goes by and the flower ages. Gardeners love this fantastic rose plant not only for its show, but also for its hardiness. Its significantly disease resistant and tolerates the shade extremely well. The plant grows in the form of shrubs that reach heights around 3 to 4 ft and is ideal as a border or hedge. The plant is best grown in warm climates allowing for the blossoms to give optimum colors. A great combination for the Playboy rose would be to grow it with other blossoms of a lighter shade such as white. It produces a dazzling effect when placed with other hot-colored plants such as Dhalias and Cannas.

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Name: Charles Albanel Rose.
Class: Explorer

Charles Albanel, introduced in 1982, is another very hardy rose. It forms a vigorous, low shrub, which makes it suitable as a ground cover. At Ottawa, this shrub reaches a height of 0.5 m and a diameter of 1.0 m. Flowering is repeated and free in early summer and then only sporadically throughout the rest of the season. Plants are highly resistant to blackspot and powdery mildew.

The fragrant, medium red flowers are 7 - 9 cm across and have an average of 20 petals. Many attractive large fruits are formed. This plant propagates easily from softwood stem cuttings.

This selection has been tested at Ottawa since 1972 and at other locations across Canada and in the northern United States since 1980. It has shown no winter damage in Ottawa and very little at locations with more severe climates. This cultivar is fully hardy in zone

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Common name: China Pink, Dianthus, Indian Pink
Botanical name: Dianthus chinensis
Family: Caryophyllaceae (Carnation family)
Synonyms: Dianthus amurensis, Dianthus heddewigii, Dianthus laciniatus

China Pinks are short-lived perennial garden plants, native to China and northern parts of India, blooming in several colours. They are extremely popular garden plants in India. The small single flowers have four to six slightly overlapping petals that have smooth or often cut and fringed edges. The pretty petals in the shades of pink and red and white are gathered at the base into a strong green tubular calyx. Stamens protrude out and the anthers are blue. The plant grows in well drained soil, in beds, pots, borders in sunny areas and can easily be multiplied by seeds.

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Common name: China Pink, Dianthus, Indian Pink
Botanical name: Dianthus chinensis
Family: Caryophyllaceae (Carnation family)
Synonyms: Dianthus amurensis, Dianthus heddewigii, Dianthus laciniatus

China Pinks are short-lived perennial garden plants, native to China and northern parts of India, blooming in several colours. They are extremely popular garden plants in India. The small single flowers have four to six slightly overlapping petals that have smooth or often cut and fringed edges. The pretty petals in the shades of pink and red and white are gathered at the base into a strong green tubular calyx. Stamens protrude out and the anthers are blue. The plant grows in well drained soil, in beds, pots, borders in sunny areas and can easily be multiplied by seeds.

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Common name: China Pink, Dianthus, Indian Pink
Botanical name: Dianthus chinensis
Family: Caryophyllaceae (Carnation family)
Synonyms: Dianthus amurensis, Dianthus heddewigii, Dianthus laciniatus

China Pinks are short-lived perennial garden plants, native to China and northern parts of India, blooming in several colours. They are extremely popular garden plants in India. The small single flowers have four to six slightly overlapping petals that have smooth or often cut and fringed edges. The pretty petals in the shades of pink and red and white are gathered at the base into a strong green tubular calyx. Stamens protrude out and the anthers are blue. The plant grows in well drained soil, in beds, pots, borders in sunny areas and can easily be multiplied by seeds.

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Common name: Carnation
Botanical name: Dianthus caryophyllus
Family: Caryophyllaceae (Carnation family)

Dianthus, its botanical name, means divine flower. Carnation was the flesh-pink colour Elizabethan portrait painters used as a background wash. Available in a huge range of colours, almost all except blue. Carnation blooms are edible. With petals pulled apart, they can be used to sprinkle color & spicy scent over the surface of a leafy salad, perhaps also with the addition of a few honeysorryle trumpets & nasturtiums. There are folklores associated with carnations, and one is supposed to be making a statement by the color of carnation one is wearing:

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Common name: Sweet William
Botanical name: Dianthus barbatus
Family: Caryophyllaceae (Carnation family)

Sweet William is a species of Dianthus native to the mountains of southern Europe, with a variety in northeastern China, Korea, and southeasternmost Russia. It is a biennial or short-lived perennial herb, growing to 30-75 cm tall, with green to glaucous blue-green tapered leaves 4-10 cm long and 1-2 cm broad. The flowers are produced in a dense cluster of up to 30 at the top of the stems and have a spicy, clovelike scent. Each flower is 2–3 cm diameter with five petals with serrated edges. In wild plants the petals are red with a white base. There are varieties with red, pink and white flowers. The plant is widely used in borders, rock gardens. Sweet William flowers attracts birds, bees and butterflies. Many legends purport to explain how Sweet William acquired its name, but none is verified. It is variously said to be named after Saint William of York, William the Conqueror, or Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland. Another etymological derivation is that william is a corruption of the French oillet, meaning "little eye". Sweet William is a favourite name for lovelorn young men in English folkloric ballads.

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Common name: China Pink, Dianthus, Indian Pink
Botanical name: Dianthus chinensis
Family: Caryophyllaceae (Carnation family)
Synonyms: Dianthus amurensis, Dianthus heddewigii, Dianthus laciniatus

China Pinks are short-lived perennial garden plants, native to China and northern parts of India, blooming in several colours. They are extremely popular garden plants in India. The small single flowers have four to six slightly overlapping petals that have smooth or often cut and fringed edges. The pretty petals in the shades of pink and red and white are gathered at the base into a strong green tubular calyx. Stamens protrude out and the anthers are blue. The plant grows in well drained soil, in beds, pots, borders in sunny areas and can easily be multiplied by seeds.

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Common name: Balsam, Garden balsam, Rose balsam, Spotted snapweed
Botanical name: [Impatiens balsamina. L
Family: Balsaminaceae (Balsam family)

Native to Southeast Asia, this erect, sparsely-branched, tender annual plant is a species of impatiens. These plants which grows upto 18 inches tall have thick-juicy stems and medium spiky edged light green leaves. Flowers can be single or double around 2 inches diameter, bloom singly or in small clusters from the leaf axils, close to the stem and the colour ranges from white, pink, rose, red, violet, bicolour etc. Each blossom has a columbine-like spur on the back. Sometimes called Touch-Me-Not as seeds explode from ripe pods when touched.

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Common name: Garden balsam, Bi color rose Rose balsam.
Botanical name: Impatiens balsamina
Family: Balsaminaceae

Native to Southeast Asia, this erect, sparsely-branched, tender annual plant is a species of impatiens. These plants which grows upto 18 inches tall have thick-juicy stems and medium spiky edged light green leaves. The attractive flowers of this variety are double and beautiful mix of red and white. They bloom on the leaf axils, close to the stem.

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Common name: Delta-shaped Aloe
Botanical name: Aloe deltoideodonta
Family: Asphodelaceae (Aloe family)

Delta-shaped Aloe is considered a small clumping Aloe. When the plant becomes too large, it forms large clusters of new shoots or "pups" around its base. It has dark-green leaves with tiny white streaks and some spots. The short, triangular shaped leaves are lined with very small soft teeth. Flowers are pinkish-red.

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Common name: Swan's neck agave, Foxtail Agave, Dragon-Tree Agave, Spineless Agave
Botanical name: Agave attenuata
Family: Agavaceae (agave family)

Swan's neck agave is a species of agave sometimes known as the "lion's tail", "foxtail", “elephant’s trunk”, for its development of a curved stem, unusual among agaves. Native to the plateau of central Mexico, as one of the unarmed agaves, it is popular as an ornamental plant in gardens. The stems typically range from 50-150 cm in length, and eventually old leaves fall off, leaving them naked and visible. The plants have a large rosette of thick fleshy leaves generally ending in a sharp point. It may take up to 10 years to bloom. Swan’s neck agave's flower spike is a thing of wonder, and will either produce greenish-yellow flowers or thousands of small plantlets, on its' entire length. Each plant stalk blooms only once. Unlike other members of it's family this plant doesn't die after flowering. Agave attenuata are best propagated by digging pups produced at the base of older plants and seeds germinate readily when they are fresh.

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Common name: Silver Vase Bromeliad, Urn Plant
Botanical name: Aechmea fasciata
Family: Bromeliaceae

Silver vase is an epiphytic Bromeliad from Brazil. Aechmeas are among the most beautiful of all Bromeliads for indoor decoration. Large, colorful blooms rise high above the vase-shaped rosette of leaves. These plants are definite eye catchers. The original plant is light to medium green with silvery bands - a variegated form with white to cream stripes running down the leaf is also available. The pink, spikey inflorescence lasts for months; individual blooms are purple and last only a day. After flowering, Bromeliads produce side shoots (offsets), which may be removed while young and rooted for additional plants.

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Common name: Aeonium
Botanical name: Aeonium spp.
Family: Crassulaceae (orpine family)

Aeonium is a succulent plant which branches from near the base, forming clumps with a shape like a branched, ornamental candlestand having several sockets for candles. It has rosettes of leaves on a stable stems. Yellow, star-shaped flowers appear on larger plants, contrasting with the dark leaves. They are borne in conical clusters at the end of one or more stems. After flowering, these stems will die, but new branches will replaced them. Aeonium is a genus of about 35 species of succulent, subtropical plants of the family Crassulaceae. Aeoniums are native to the Canary Islands, but some are also found at Madeira, in Morocco and in eastern Africa (for example in the Semien Mountains of Ethiopia) Low-growing Aeonium species are A. tabuliforme and A. smithii; large species include A. arboreum, A. valverdense and A. holochrysum. They are related to the genera Sempervivum, Greenovia, Aichryson and Monanthes, which is easy to see from their similar flowers.

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Common name: Donkey Tail, Burro Tail
Botanical name: Sedum morganianum
Family: Crassulaceae (sedum family)

Donkey Tail is a native of Mexico. It makes an attractive, succulent plant for hanging baskets. The spindle-shaped leaves have a silver-blue cast to them. Pendulous branches may reach 3 feet or more in baskets. The common name refers to its growth habit which produces long trailing rope-like stems with leaves packed close to the stem. It rarely flowers, but when it does it produces pink to deep red flowers. It is best grown as a hanging basket or in a wall pot. Needs good drainage, partial shade and protection from the wind. This is a tender sedum, often grown as a houseplant. This plant is easily propagated from stems or just a single leaf dropped on sandy soil. It will root and sprout new "leaflets" in just a few days.

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Common name: Marsh Dewflower, Marsh dayflower
Botanical name: Murdannia lanuginosa
Family: Commelinaceae (dayflower family)

Marsh dewflower is an annual, emergent plant that invades water edges and marshes, often growing emersed. It forms dense mats of vegetation which out-compete native vegetation. Plant stems are succulent, root at the nodes, and grow prostrate along the ground. Leaves are alternate, lance-shaped, and up to 3 inches long. The flowers occur at the ends of the stems or arise from the position between the stems and leaves (leaf axils) Flowers can occur singly or in clusters of 2 to 4. All flowers occur on short flower stalks and consist of 3 purple, blue, pink, yellow, or nearly white petals that are approximately 1/3 inch long.

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Common name: Mimicry Mesemb, Mimicry plant
Botanical name: Pleiospilos spp.
Family: Aizoaceae (ice plant family)

Mimicry Mesembryanthemums is a rather loose term used to describe a group of South African succulent plants of a number of different genera in the family Aizoaceae. The genus Pleiospilos, when grown properly, is one of the most stone-like of the Mimicry Mesembs, resembling not rounded pebbles like the Lithops but angular rough pitted chunks of rock. The name is Greek and means full of dots, referring to the usually dotted surface of the plants. All species come from the Karroo desert in Cape Province, Africa and are almost stemless plants with one to three pairs of usually angular thick leaves joined at the base. In some species there is a chin-like ledge on the underside of the leaf. This genus is comparatively easy to grow and will reward good culture by producing its large flowers, usually yellow, regularly every fall.

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Common name: Glossy Abelia
Botanical name: Abelia X grandiflora
Family: Caprifoliaceae (Honeysorryle family)

Glossy abelia is an evergreen shrub with arching branches and a rounded shape, which can grow up to 10 ft tall, and as wide as 12 ft. In reality the garden specimens are about 3-5 ft tall. Oppositely arranged glossy, dark green leaves are about 1-2 in long and half as wide. The fragrant, funnel shaped flowers are white, tinged with pink, and about an inch long. The long lasting sepals are rose pink in color, spreading. There are several named cultivars in the trade, including some with darker pink flowers, some with yellow or variegated leaves, some with a creeping habit, and some that stay small. Glossy abelia is a hybrid species that resulted from a cross between the deciduous Chinese abelia (Abelia chinensis) and an evergreen species A. uniflora, also from China.

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Common name: Nilofar, Romanian White Waterlily
Botanical name: [Nymphaea alba L.] Nymphaea alba
Family: Nymphaeaceae (Waterlily family)
Synonyms: Castalia alba, Nymphaea venusta, Nymphaea splendens

Nilofar is an aquatic flowering plant found in Kashmir. It is also found in Europe and W. Asia and N. Africa. It grows in water from 1-5 ft deep and likes large ponds and lakes. The leaves can be up to 30 cm in diameter and they take up a spread of 5 ft per plant. Leaf's main veins radiate from a single point. The flowers are white and they have many small stamens inside. Flower are 10-20 cm across, unmistakable, with lot of yellow stamens in the center. Petals are 20-25, white, ovate-oblong, 3-6 cm, transition to stamens gradual. Filament of inner stamens are as wide as anther. Carpels are completely united, walls between cells of ovary single. Stigma rays are 14-20; carpellary appendages triangular-tapered. Fruit is semiglobose, 2.5-3 cm. Seeds ellipsoid, 2-3 mm, smooth. Flowerig: June-August.

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Common name: Flamingo flower, Painter's palette
Botanical name: Anthurium andraeanum
Family: Araceae (arum family)

Anthurium, pronounced an-THOO-ree-um, are once-seen, never-forgotten flowers. Their unmistakable glossy heart-shaped bright red flower bract (which gives them their popular name of painter's palette) surrounds the true flowers, which are in the form of a spike (or spathe) at the centre. Anthuriums come in shades of reds, pinks, white, lilac, green and chocolate brown. A tropical perennial herb growing up to 20" tall; it has dark green heart-shaped leathery leaves and a green stem. The seeds are small subglobose berries. The flower bracts have a puckered appearance and shine as though they were varnished. Anthuriums will bloom more or less continuously, each plant having four to six flowers during the year. Each flower will last about six weeks on the plant or several weeks when cut and placed in a vase of water.

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Common name: Lily Magnolia
Botanical name: Magnolia liliiflora
Family: Magnoliaceae (Magnolia family)
Synonyms: Magnolia lilliflora

Lily magnolia is a bushy, rounded deciduous shrub which gets up to 13 ft tall with a spread about the same. The leaves are large, up to 8 in long and 4 in wide. The goblet shaped fragrant flowers are pink to purplish, about 3 in across and produced in spring and sporadically through the summer. They look like lilies growing on a tree, hence the common name. Lily Magnolia is originally from China. It has been reported that the species may no longer occur in the wild.

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Common name: Cymbidium Valya Craig
Botanical name: Cymbidium Balkis X Cymbidium Cariga
Family: Orchidaceae (Orchid family)

Cymbidium Valya Craig 'Sutherland' is a cymbidium hybrid that blooms from late winter through summer. It had a very unique color contrast of medium yellow sepals and petals with a suffuse rose-red lip. Flowering: March-April.

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Common name: Mexican Flame Vine, Orange Glow Vine
Botanical name: Senecio confusus
Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

Mexican flame vine is a woody tropical vine with the enchanting summertime habit of covering itself in brilliant daisy-like flowers. The bright orange blossoms are about 1 in in diameter and are borne in small clusters. As they age the flowers change from orange to almost red. They are followed by fruiting structures that resemble smaller versions of the dandelion's puffy seed heads. This vine has thick evergreen leaves that are shaped like arrowheads and serrated on the edges. They are arranged alternately on the vine and are deep green in color providing a handsome background for the firey orange flowers. The scientific name of this plant Senecio confusus translates to "confused old man" referring, probably, to this vine's rampant habit of growth. If not provided support, Mexican flame vine grows this way and that in a confusion of stems that piles up to eventually form a sprawling shrub.

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Common name: Garden Weigela, Japanese Weigela
Botanical name: Weigela hortensis
Family: Caprifoliaceae (Honeysorryle family)

Garden Weigela is a tall multi-stemmed deciduous shrub, growing to 2-3 m in cultivation. It is named after German scientist Christian Ehrenfried Weigel. Oppositely arranged leaves are ovate-elliptic, 4-11 cm long, base heart-shaped, tip tapering to blunt. Beautiful pink flowers are borne at the end of branches or in leaf axils. Flowers are bell-shaped to funnel-shaped, 2.5-3.5 cm long. Fruit is a leathery cylindrical capsule 2 cm long, pointing up on the branches. Garden Weigela is native to Japan, cultivated in Kashmir valley. Flowering: May-July.

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Common name: Aztec Arrowhead, Giant Arrowhead
Botanical name: Sagittaria montevidensis
Family: Alismataceae (Water Plantain family)

Aztec Arrowhead is an aquatic herb, considered native to South America, possibly Brazil. Leaf stalks are thick, cylindrical, spongy, mostly erect but also reclining, up to 75 cm. Leaves are arrow-shaped, hairless. Inflorescence is typically shorter than leaves, prostrate. Flowers arise in whorls or pairs at nodes. Flowers have 3 white petals with yellow base. Sepals are 3, green. Flower stalks are thick, up to 5 cm long. Flowering: June-September.

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Common name: Marmalade Bush
Botanical name: [Streptosolen jamesonii (Benth.) Miers] Streptosolen jamesonii
Family: Solanaceae (Potato family)

Marmalade bush, is an evergreen shrub that produces loose clusters of flowers gradually changing from yellow to red as they develop, resulting in an overall appearance resembling orange marmalade (thus the name). The sole member of its genus, it is found in open woodlands of Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. It is cultivated in cooler parts of India. The stems tend to be tall and slender, with an overall height of 3-6 ft. The leaves are ovate to elliptic, green to dark green, with a pattern of fine wrinkles. The flowers have a slender tube 3-4 cm long, with spreading petal lobes. The blooms can appear nearly all year in mild-winter areas, but the heaviest flowering is from spring through fall.

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Common name: Venidium Zulu Prince, Cape Daisy, Monarch of the Veldt
Botanical name: Venidium fastuosum 'Zulu Prince'
Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

Venidium is a genus of flowering plants, native to South Africa. This variety produces gorgeous creamy white semi-double 4" daisy flowers bloom prolifically for several months. The center disc is a beautiful shiny black, giving a very exotic look. The leaves are silky, silvery green due to the presence of soft hairs, and are deeply lobed. Blooms over a very long summer and fall season. Stunning when mass planted and is an excellent cut flower. Grows to 2 feet tall, and is wonderful in a pot.

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Common name: Calla lily, Arum Lily
Botanical name: Zantedeschia aethiopica
Family: Araceae (arum family)
Synonyms: Calla aethiopica, Richardia africana, Richardia aethiopica, Colocasia aethiopica

Calla Lily is an old-fashioned, but very elegant garden plant, native to South Africa. These elegant flowers have graced many bridal bouquets in Europe, in old times. Calla lily is a clump forming herbaceous plant, arising from tubers, with large arrow shaped leaves. It grows to about 2 ft in height. The flower consists of a orange-yellow finger-like spathe surrounding a white spadix. Pink and yellow varieties of Zantedeschia are also available. Golden calla has elongated oval shaped leaves, dotted with small white splotches, and bright, gleaming golden yellow spathes. All are strikingly beautiful, and even when not in flower, the large, tropical looking, spear shaped leaves make a lush statement, like bananas, cannas or ginger.

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Common name: Leopard Flower, Blackberry lily
Botanical name: Iris domestica
Family: Iridaceae (Iris family)
Synonyms: Belamcanda chinensis

Leopard Flower is an perennial herb, with leaves in fans on branching stems. Lance-shaped leaves will reach 2 to 3 feet. Flowers are 5 cm across, borne on long, slender stalks, at the end of stems. They have 6 petals, yellow to orange-red, spotted with maroon or purple, which is what gave it the name leopard flower. Fruit is a black berry. The name Blackberry Lily derives from the clusters of shiny black seeds exposed when seed capsules split open. In India, Leopard Flower is found in the Himalayas at altitudes of 1000-2300 m. Flowering: July-August.

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Common name: Mealy Blue Sage, Mealy sage, Mealy-cup sage, Mealycup sage
Botanical name: Salvia farinacea
Family: Lamiaceae (Mint family)

Mealy Blue Sage is a 2-3 ft upright perennial plant, originally from Mexico. Mealy sage is named for the mealy-white appearance of the sepals which are covered with felted hairs. The species name farinacea means flour, alluding to the same characteristic. The blue flowers are 5-lobed and 2-lipped 2/3–3/4 inch long with 2 stamens and 1 pistil. They have the usual sage fragrance. The long narrow leaves grow in clusters out of which grow the flower stems. The leaves may or may not have teeth. Dark-blue to white tubular flowers are densely congested in whorls along the upper stems creating a 3-9 inch spike. Gray-green lance-shaped leaves are numerous especially in the lower portion of the plant. Several cultivars are available with varying flower color and plant height. The cultivar 'Victoria Blue' has darker blue flowers.

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Common name: Pentas, Star flower, Star cluster
Botanical name: Pentas lanceolata
Family: Rubiaceae (coffee family)

Dark green, lance-shaped, somewhat furry and deeply veined leaves provide a lush backdrop for prolific clusters of never-ending, five-petaled flowers. These may be red, white, lavender, purple, or shades of pink. Some are two-toned. All are extremely attractive to butterflies, and the red and dark pink varieties delight hummingbirds. Depending on the variety, the habit of growth may be upright to about 3', or low and mounding. Full sized pentas are often sprawling, as tall stems will topple over. The flowers are held in terminal clusters and self-deadhead. In warm weather the plant grows fast and stays in bloom constantly. Where winters are not too severe, pentas are perennial. They may always be treated as an annual and replanted after danger of frost for long-lasting summer color. Africa is probably the original home of pentas.

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Common name: Blanket Flower, Firewheel, Indian blanket
Botanical name: Gaillardia pulchella
Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

Blanket flower is a short-lived annual flowering plant native to the central United States. The branching stem of this plant is hairy and upright, growing to 2 ft tall. The leaves are alternate, mostly basal, 4-8 cm long, with edges smooth to coarsely toothed or lobed. The pinwheel, daisy-like inflorescences are 4-6 cm diameter, vividly colored with red, orange and yellow. The central disc florets of the flowerhead tend to be more red-violet, with the outer ray florets being yellow. In one variety, almost the entire flower is red, with only the barest tips of the pedals touched with yellow.

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Common name: Forget-Me-Not
Botanical name: [Cynoglossum microglochin
Family: Boraginaceae (Forget-me-not family)
Synonyms: Cynoglossum petiolatum var. nervosum, Cynoglossum nervosum

Forget-Me-Not is a perennial herb, up to 12 cm tall, with dark purplish-blue flowers like Forget-Me-Not. Stem is simple or branched, hairy, sometime densely so. Basal leaves are stalked, stalks up to 20 cm long. Leaves are ovate to oblong or inverted-lanceshaped, 6-20 x 15-10 cm, pointed to blunt, abruptly to gradually narrowed towards base or base flat, densely or sparsely covered with hairs on both surfaces. Middle stem leaves are oblong, blunt, stalks up to 5 cm long, upper-most leaves are almost stalkless. Flowers are borne in lax or dense clusters, simple or bifurcate, up to 16 cm in fruit, at branch ends or in leaf axils. Flower-stalks are short, up to 3 mm in fruit and reflexed. Sepal cup is 4/5th parted into oblong-ovate or elliptic ovate sepals, 3-4.5 mm long, up to 6 mm and spreading in fruit. Flowers are blue to purplish-blue, petals ovate, 3-4 mm long. Throat scales notched, about l mm long. Nutlets are ovate, 4-5 mm long; margin appendiculate, appendage glochidiate, confluent at the base; dorsal middle area often with a prominent kell with few erect glochidiate appendages. Purple Forget-Me-Not is found in the Himalayas, from Afghanistan, Kashmir to Kumaon. Flowering: May-June.

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Common name: Sea Lavender, Statice
Botanical name: Limonium sinuatum
Family: Plumbaginaceae (Plumbago family)

Sea Lavender is an upright plant with dandelion-like leaves that grows to 16 inches tall and 12 inches across. It has clusters of small, papery flowers that bloom at ends of stems in summer and early fall, and are especially good for drying. The brightly colored, flat flower clusters are sought after for use as a dried material. The flowers have a papery texture and hold their color well. They may also be used in arrangements as a fresh flower. Best growth occurs when the plants are exposed to full sun and are planted in well-drained soil. Statice will tolerate heat and drought as well as salt spray.

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Common name: Marmalade Bush
Botanical name: [Streptosolen jamesonii (Benth.) Miers] Streptosolen jamesonii
Family: Solanaceae (Potato family)

Marmalade bush, is an evergreen shrub that produces loose clusters of flowers gradually changing from yellow to red as they develop, resulting in an overall appearance resembling orange marmalade (thus the name). The sole member of its genus, it is found in open woodlands of Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. It is cultivated in cooler parts of India. The stems tend to be tall and slender, with an overall height of 3-6 ft. The leaves are ovate to elliptic, green to dark green, with a pattern of fine wrinkles. The flowers have a slender tube 3-4 cm long, with spreading petal lobes. The blooms can appear nearly all year in mild-winter areas, but the heaviest flowering is from spring through fall.

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Common name: Zinnia
Botanical name: Zinnia elegance
Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

The compact cultivar 'Thumbelina' is perfect for pots. Brightly colored, button like blooms adorn this truly dwarf zinnia variety. It flowers all summer long in a wide range of colors.
Originally coming from Mexico, this is a very popular flower, with its wide range of colours and sizes. Many varieties differing in weight, shape, size and colour have been evolved. The leaves are oval and rough textured. There are single, semi-double or double flowers and the colours range from white, cream, yellow, orange over rose, purple scarlet, maroon, to lilac, lavender, magenta, mauve, salmon to violet. Grown as tall (75 - 90 cm), medium (45 - 60 cm) and dwarf (15 - 45 cm) varieties, Zinnias are suitable for beds, borders, and pots. The cut flowers are commonly used in flower arrangements. They are grown by seeds and survive best in light and medium loam soils, rich in organic matter and in a sunny environment. Frequent and heavy watering is required. Generally, there is no damage from insects.

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Common name: Rubber vine
Botanical name: Cryptostegia grandiflora
Family: Apocynaceae (Oleander family)

Rubber vine is a self supporting, scrambling, many-stemmed vine that grows to 2 metres tall with long trailing whips. Flowers are large and showy, with five white to light purple petals in a funnel shape. The flowers resemble those of the purple Allamanda (Allamanda violacea) A milky sap oozes from stems, leaves and seedpods when cut or broken. The Rubber Vine originates from Madagascar and was formerly grown there and later in India to produce a poor quality rubber latex. Leaves are dark green and glossy, 6-10 cm long, 3-5 cm wide and in opposite pairs. Roots go very deep, and have been found at a depth of 13 meters in mine shafts. Roots of seedlings are twice as long as shoots. The growth form of rubber vine differs depending on the surrounding conditions. They can form dense canopies of overlapping plants with long whips, form towers upto 30mts high the height of native trees and grow as freestanding shrubs in the absence of other vegetation. The seedpods are rigid, 10-12 cm long, 3-4 cm wide and grow in pairs at the end of a short stalk. The Rubber Vine is poisonous it contains glucosides interfering with the heart, and ingesting will provoke stomach and intestinal upset.

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Common name: English Daisy, Lawn Daisy
Botanical name: Bellis perennis
Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

English Daisy is a common European species of daisy familiar to children as a favourite flower for picking, and the raw material for daisy-chains. It is not affected by mowing and is therefore often considered a weed on lawns, though many also value the appearance of the flowers. The flower heads, white, pink or red, carried singly above a rosette of leaves, close at night or in dull weather and provide the origin of the common name "day's eye", which got corrupted to "daisy". It is a herbaceous plant with short creeping rhizomes and small rounded or spoon shaped evergreen leaves 2–5 cm long. The flowerheads are 2–3 cm in diameter, with white ray florets (often tipped red) and yellow disc florets; they are produced on leafless stems 2–10 cm (rarely 15 cm) tall. The lawn daisy is a dicot.

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Common name: Frangipani,
Botanical name: Plumeria rubra
Family: Apocynaceae (oleander family)

Frangipani, also known as the Lei flower, is native to warm tropical areas of the Pacific Islands, Caribbean, South America and Mexico. They can grow to be large shrubs or even small trees in mild areas of the U.S. In tropical regions, Plumeria may reach a height of 30' to 40' and half as wide. Their widely spaced thick succulent branches are round or pointed, and have long leather, fleshy leaves in clusters near the branch tips. Leaves tend to fall in early winter since they are deciduous and sensitive to cold.

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Common name: Butter Daisy, Melampodium, Gold Medallion Flower, Star Daisy
Botanical name: Melampodium divaricatum
Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)
Synonyms: Dysodium divaricatum, Melampodium paludosum

Butter Daisy is a very prolific summer annual. The plant stays covered with small yellow, daisy-like flowers, about an inch in diameter, since when it is young. These flowers produce lots and lots of seeds, seedlings coming up constantly all during the growing season, and even from one season to the next. Leaves are bright green, oppositely arranged, 6-10 cm long and 3-5 cm wide and have irregular margins. The flower heads are bright yellow, with a darker bronzy-orange center, and are born singly on stalks 2-3 cm long which arise from the leaf axils. They need good sun to bloom well, and must stay watered.

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Common Name: Verbena
Botanical Name: Verbena Hybrida
Family: Verbenaceae

Verbena (play /vərˈbiːnə/),[2] (vervain), is a genus in the family Verbenaceae. It contains about 250 species of annual and perennial herbaceous or semi-woody flowering plants. The majority of the species are native to the American continent and Europe.

The leaves are usually opposite, simple, and in many species hairy, often densely so. The flowers are small, with five petals, and borne in dense spikes. Typically some shade of blue, they may also be white, pink, or purple, especially in cultivars.

The genus can be divided into a diploid North American and a polyploid South American lineage, both with a base chromosome number of 7. The European species is derived from the North American lineage. It seems that verbena as well as the related mock vervains (Glandularia) evolved from the assemblage provisionally treated under the genus name Junellia; both other genera were usually included in the Verbenaceae until the 1990s.[3] Intergeneric chloroplast gene transfer by an undetermined mechanism – though probably not hybridization – has occurred at least twice from vervains to Glandularia, between the ancestors of the present-day South American lineages and once more recently, between V. orcuttiana or V. hastata and G. bipinnatifida. In addition, several species of verbena are of natural hybrid origin; the well-known garden vervain has an entirely muddy history. The relationships of this close-knit group are therefore hard to resolve with standard methods of computational phylogenetics

Some species, hybrids and cultivars of verbena are used as ornamental plants. They are drought-resistant, tolerating full to partial sun, and enjoy well-drained, average soils. Plants are usually grown from seed. Some species and hybrids are not hardy and are treated as half-hardy annuals in bedding schemes.

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Common name: Chameleon Plant
Botanical name: Houttuynia cordata
Family: Saururaceae (lizard-tail family)

Chameleon Plant is a perennial ground cover plant. It is been marketed as a creeping ornamental garden plant, which has heart shaped leaves up to 75 mm long and almost as wide. The leaves are comprised of a mixture of colors from green through yellow to red, the brighter colors being more prominent when grown in full sunlight. The leaves are opposite along thin erect stems which arise from slender rhizomes. The minute flowers are densely clustered on short spikes. At the base of each spike are four white petal-like parts. The leaves of Chameleon Plant are heart-shaped, usually green, but take on various colors like variegated cream, bronze, scarlet, and have a peppery scent when crushed. The leaves make a marvelous flavoring in salads. In Manipur, people love it and consume it in various ways, as salad, also in pakodas.
Medicinal uses: [Warning: Unverified information] Leaf-extract is used in dysentry, rhizome is used i stomach ulcers. Boiled extract of rhizomes is taken for muscular pains due to overstrain.

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Common name: Himalayan Marsh Orchid, Spotted Heart Orchid
Botanical name: [Dactylorhiza hatagirea (D.Don) Soó] Dactylorhiza hatagirea
Family: Orchidaceae (Orchid family)
Synonyms: Orchis latifolia var. indica

Himalayan Marsh Orchid is a medicinal herb which is now considered critically endangered. It is a perennial herb with erect, leafy, stout and hollow stem. Leaves are oblong-lance-shaped, with sheathing base. Pink purple flowers are borne in an upright spike. Flowers are purple and the bracts green, narrowly lance-shaped, lower longer than the flowers, upper slightly shorter. Flowers are about 1.8 cm long, including the curved spur. Sepals and petals are nearly equal. Three of them form a hood, and the two side sepals spread outwards. The lip is rounded and shallowly 3-lobed, spotted dark purple. Marsh Orchis is found in shrubberies, open slopes and marshes, in the Himalayas, from Pakistan to SE Tibet, at altitudes of 2800-4000 m. Flowering: June-July. Roots are tuberous, divided into 2 or 3 lobes.
Medicinal uses: [Warning: Unverified information] The tuber yields salap and is reputed as expectorant, aphrobisiac and as nervine tonic. Locally it is used as a nervine tonic and aphrodisiac.

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Common name: Jewels of Opar, Panicled Fameflower
Botanical name: [Talinum paniculatum (Jacq.) Gaertn.] Talinum paniculatum
Family: Dioscoreaceae (Yam family)
Synonyms: Talinum patens, Portulaca patens

Jewels of Opar is a somewhat succulent herb, up to 3 ft tall, growing from tuberous roots. Leaves are elliptic to obovate, up to 12 cm long, much smaller below the inflorescence, slightly fleshy. Flowers are borne in lax, many-flowered branched inflorescences, bright pink, up to about 1.2 cm in diameter. Fruit a glossy dark red capsule, 3-5 mm in diameter. The individual flowers, on airy stalks, are small, but are nice massed together, especially with the red bead-like buds and fruits. A favorite with bees. jewels of Opar is native to Africa.
Medicinal uses: [Warning: Unverified information] Naturalized globally, Jewels of Opar has a long Chinese medicinal history. Sweet and neutral, used for loss of energy, and problems associated with lungs and spleen.

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Common name: Himalaya Onion, Jimbur
Botanical name: Allium wallichii
Family: Alliaceae (onion family)

Himalaya Onion is a deciduous bulb that grows to 1.0 meters high by 0.5 meters wide. It grows in Himalyan foothills between 2300-6600 m. It sports hemispheric umbels of purple flowers. In Nepal, Himalaya onion is often used for cooking, especially for flavouring dal (दाल) boiled legumes. Rather uniquely, jimbu leaves are usually employed in the dried state and fried in butter fat to develop their flavour.
Medicinal uses: [Warning: Unverified information] The bulbs, boiled then fried in ghee, are eaten in the treatment of cholera and dysentery. The raw bulb is chewed to treat coughs and colds. It is said that eating the bulbs can ease the symptoms of altitude sickness. Members of this genus are in general very healthy additions to the diet. They contain sulphur compounds (which give them their onion flavour) and when added to the diet on a regular basis they help reduce blood cholesterol levels, act as a tonic to the digestive system and also tonify the circulatory system.

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Common name: Chives
Botanical name: Allium schoenoprasum
Family: Alliaceae (onion family)

Chives are a species of flowering plant in the onion family Alliaceae, native to Europe and Asia. They are referred to only in the plural, because they grow in clumps rather than alone. Chives are hardy, draught tolerant, perennials, eight to twenty inches tall, that grow in clumps from underground bulbs. The leaves are round and hollow, similar to onions, but smaller in diameter. In June or July, chives produce large round flower heads consisting of purple to pink flowers. The flowers, which bloom for two months in midsummer, form round deep purple or pink globes that make an attractive garnish. Chives are grown for their leaves, which are used as a vegetable or a herb; they have a somewhat milder flavour than onions, green onion or garlics. Among the latter three Allium plants, chives resemble most the ordor of green onions.

Medicinal uses: [Warning: Unverified information] The ancient Chinese are the first documented to be using chives, as long ago as 3000 years B.C. The Romans believed chives could relieve the pain from sunburn or a sore throat. They believed that eating chives would increase blood pressure and acted as a diuretic.

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Common name: Chinese Balsam
Botanical name: [Impatiens chinensis L.] Impatiens chinensis
Family: Balsaminaceae (Balsam family)
Synonyms: Impatiens cosmia, Impatiens crassicornu

Chinese Balsam is an annual herb, found in NE India, often beside ponds, streamsides, field margins and swamps, at altitudes of 100-1200 m. Plant grows up to 1-2 ft tall, with stem which erect in upper part, prostrate at the base, slender, hairless. Nodes are slightly swollen, with adventitious roots. Oppositely arranged leaves are stalkless or nearly so, narrow linear or linear-lanceshaped. Leaves are gray-green below, green on the upper side, 2-10 cm long, and only 0.5-1 cm wide, rigidly papery. Leaf margin has widely separated spiny teeth. Flowers arise either singly or 2-3 fascicled in leaf axils. Slender flower stalks are 2-4.4 cm. Flowers are large, purple-red or white. Lateral sepals are linear, 1 × 0.1 cm. Lower sepal is funnel-shaped, 1.5 cm deep, gradually narrowed into an incurved or involute, slender spur. Upper petal circular, 1 cm in diameter; lateral united petals are not clawed, 1.4-1.5 cm, 2-lobed; basal lobes nearly circular, small. Farther lobes are broadly obovate to axe-shaped, apex rounded-obtuse; auricle narrow. Stamens are 5, with linear filaments. Capsule is elliptic. Flowering: June-August.

Medicinal uses: [Warning: Unverified information] The whole plant is used medicinally for relieving fever and pain, removing toxic materials, promoting blood circulation, treating diarrhea, curing urinary infections, and healing carbuncles. In Manipur, the plant is used externally in burns, and taken internally with milk in gonorrhea.

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Common name: East Himalayan Balsam
Botanical name: [Impatiens arguta Hook. f. & Thomson] Impatiens arguta
Family: Balsaminaceae (Balsam family)
Synonyms: Impatiens gagei

East Himalayan Balsam is a beautiful wildflower found in the forests, thickets, grasslands in valleys, along canals and moist places, in East Himalayas, from E. Nepal to NE India, at altitudes of 1800-3200 m. It is a perennial plant, growing up to 70 cm tall. Erect stems are rigid and branched. Alternately arranged leaves, carried on 1-4 cm long stalks, are ovate or ovate-elliptic, 4-15 cm long, and 2-4.5 cm broad. Leaf margins are sharply toothed, and the tip is pointed or tapering. Flowers arise singly or doubly in leaf axils. Flower stalks are long, slender, often with 2 bracts at base. Flowers are pink or purple-red, large or medium- sized. Flowers are characterized by lower lobes of the lateral petals being divided into two. Lateral sepals are 4 - outer 2, with tip long cuspidate - inner 2, narrowly lanceshaped. Lower sepal is sac-like, narrowed into an incurved, short spur. Upper petal is circular. Lateral united petals are not clawed, 2-lobed. Basal lobes are broadly oblong; Farther lobes are shaped like the head of an axe, large, with a two parted tip. Flowering: July-October.
Medicinal uses: [Warning: Unverified information] The flowers are used medicinally for dissolving clots, promoting diuresis, and treating abdominal pain, postpartum blood stasis, carbuncles, and difficulty in urination.

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Common name: Cone Campion, Large Sand Catchfly, Cone catchfly, Weed campion, Weed silene
Botanical name: [Silene conoidea L.] Silene conoidea
Family: Caryophyllaceae (Carnation family)
Synonyms: Conosilene conoidea, Cucubalus conoideus

Cone Campion is an annual herb, up to 40 cm tall. Stems are erect, branched or simple, densely glandular-velvety. Leaves are 2.5-14 cm long, 0.2-1.2 cm wide, linear-lanceshaped, base stem,-clasping at the nodes, stalkless, glandular-velvety. Bracts are similar to leaves, but smaller in size. Flowers are borne in panicles, with 3-5 flowers in lax clusters. Flower-stalks are densely glandular-velvet-hairy. Sepal tube is 2.1-2.5 cm long, pointed, with lanceshaped teeth, 30-nerved. Petals are pink to reddish, limb 8-9 mm, notched or entire, claw 1.5-1.6 cm. Coronal scales are oblong. Carpophore is about 1 mm, glabrous. Capsule is 1.1-1.8 cm, conical, with narrow neck, included in the calyx. Seeds are 1.1 mm long, kidney-shaped. Cone Campion is found in the Himalayas, S. Europe, N. Africa and temperate Asia, at altitudes of 1500-2500 m. Flowering: May-July.

Medicinal uses: [Warning: Unverified information] The plant is said to be emollient and is used in baths or as a fumigant. The juice of the plant is used in the treatment of ophthalmia.

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Common name: Thyme Speedwell, Thyme-Leaved Speedwell
Botanical name: [Veronica serpyllifolia L.] Veronica serpyllifolia
Family: Plantaginaceae (Isabgol family)

Thyme Speedwell is a perennial herb, forming mats when left undisturbed. This species is easy to identify because of its growing habit, rounded leaves, and whitish-blue flowers. Multiple stems arise from the base, prostrate to ascending, rooting at the nodes, branching, up to 30 cm long (10-15cm tall), bristly. Oppositely arranged leaves are very short- stalked. Leaves are round, entire to slightly toothedm green, 9 mm long, 7 mm broad, mostly hairless. Leaves are reduced to bracts in inflorescence. Flowers are borne in racemes full of bracts, at the end of stems. Flower- stalks are up to 2 mm long, bristly, shorter than the subtending bract. Flowers are whitish-blue with purple stripes internally, 4-petalled. Flower tube is up to .8 mm long. Petals are rounded, up to 3 mm long and broad, entire. Lower lobe is reduced. Stamens are 2, erect, protruding. Filaments are up to 3 mm long, club-shaped, white. Anthers are purple, .3 mm long. Style is 2 mm long in flower, translucent to purple near the tip. Stigma is capitate. Sepals are 4, green, unequal, persistent, up to 3 mm long, 2 mm broad in flower, pointed to rounded at tip. Fruit is inverted- heartshaped, up to 5 mm broad, 4 mm long, with a persistent long style. Thyme Speedwell is found on nearly all continents. In India it is found in mountain meadows of the Himalayas, at altitudes of 400-3700 m. Flowering: April-July.

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Common name: Yellow Cobra Lily, Yellow Jack in the Pulpit
Botanical name: Arisaema flavum
Family: Araceae (Arum family)

Yellow Cobra Lily can be distinguished from all other cobra lilies by its very small yellowish or greenish hood, 1.5-4 cm, which is usually dark purple on the inside. The stem carrying the hood is 10-40 cm tall. Leaves are digitately compound with 5-11 oblong-lanceshaped leaflets 2.5-12 cm long. Yellow Cobra Lily is found in the Himalayas, from Afghanistan to SW China, at altitudes of 1800-4500 m. Flowering: May-June.

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Common name: Campbell's Magnolia
Botanical name: Magnolia campbelli
Family: Magnoliaceae (Magnolia family)

Campbell's magnolia is a magnolia that grows in the forests of the Himalaya from Nepal to SW China and Burma, at altitudes of 2400-3000 m. It is a large deciduous tree, bearing large white or cream, scented flowers, mostly on bare branches. Flowers are 13-20 cm across, with 12-15 large white petals, outer ones silvery-haired. Smooth oval leaves are up to a foot long, with silky hairs on the underside when young. Fruit is a cylindrical spike 15-20 cm long, with red seeds. A pink flowered form of Campbell's Magnolia occurs in East Himalayas, and is cultivated around Darjeeling. Flowering: March-April.

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Common name: Yellow Colchicum
Botanical name: [Colchicum luteum Baker] Colchicum luteum
Family: Colchicaceae (Colchicum family)

Yellow Colchicum is a perennial herb found in the Himalayas. Corms are ovoid, oblong, 1.5-3.5 x 1-2 cm, flattened at the base, with longitudinal groove on one side. Coat is brown to dark-brown, membranous. Flowers are yellow, funnel-shaped, 3-4 cm across. Tepals are 6, united below into a long, narrow tube, up to 9 cm long. Segments are linear to inverted-lanceshaped, 2-3 cm long, pointed to blunt. Stamens are 6, attached at the base of the tepals, not protruding. Filaments are 4-5 mm long, anthers yellow, linear, 1-1.5 cm long. Ovary is superior, trilocular. Styles are 3, threadlike, longer than the stamens, stigma minute. Leaves are 3-6, appearing at flowering time, linear to broadly linear, 10-20 cm long, 0.5-2 cm broad, tip blunt. Fruit is capsular, ovoid, up to 3 cm long, seeds numerous, spherical, 2 mm in diameter. Yellow Colchicum is found in the Himalayas, from Pakistan to Himachal Pradesh, at altitudes of 1000-2700 m. Flowering: February-June.
Medicinal uses: [Warning: Unverified information] Yellow Colchicum is useful in the treatment of rheumatic swelling. A paste made with saffron and egg can be applied beneficially to rheumatic and other swellings. Dried and powdered root of the plant is useful in the healing of wounds. It should be sprinkled on the affected area.

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Common name: Rubber bush, apple of Sodom
Botanical name: Calotropis procera
Family: Asclepiadaceae (milkweed family)

Spreading shrub or small tree to 4 m, exuding copious milky sap when cut or broken; leaves opposite, grey-green, large up to 15 cm long and 10 cm broad, with a pointed tip, two rounded basal lobes and no leaf stalk; flowers waxy white, petals 5, purple-tipped inside and with a central purplish crown, carried in stalked clusters at the ends of the branches; fruit grey-green, inflated, 8 to 12 cm long, containing numerous seeds with tufts of long silky hairs at one end. Shrubs, mostly less than 6 ft., but up to 15 ft.; similar to C. gigantea, but leaves oblong to elliptic, corolla usually about 1 in. across with lobes more erect, corona lobes glabrous or pubescent, and follicle 4-5 in. long.

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Common name: Flowering Rush
Botanical name: [Butomus umbellatus L.] Butomus umbellatus
Family: Butomaceae (Flowering-rush family)
Synonyms: Butomus caesalpini, Butomus vulgaris, Butomus floridus

Flowering Rush is a perennial aquatic plant. Other than suggested by its common name, it is not a true rush. The plant has linear, pointed leaves up to 1 metre long, or more. The leaves are triangular in cross-section and arise in two rows along the rhizome/base. They are untoothed, parallel veined and twisted. The inflorescence is umbel-like consisting of a single terminal flower surrounded by three cymes. The flowers are regular and bisexual, 2-3 cm across. There are three petal-like sepals which are pink with darker veins. They persist in the fruit. The three petals are like the sepals but somewhat larger. 6 - 9 stamens. Carpels superior, 6 - 9 and slightly united at the base. When ripe they are obovoid and crowned with a persistent style. Ovules are numerous and found scattered over the inner surface of the carpel wall, except on the midrib and edges. Fruit is a follicle. The seeds have no endosperm and a straight embryo. Flowering Rush is native to Kashmir and Eurasia. It is found at altitudes of Flowering: June-July.

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Common name: Plum)
Botanical name: Prunus domestica
Family: Rosaceae (rose family)

A decidious Tree growing to 12m by 10m at a medium rate. It is in flower in April, and the seeds ripen from July to November. The flowers are hermaphrodite (has both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Insects. The plant is self-fertile. The fruit varies considerably from cultivar to cultivar, but it is generally somewhat mealy, soft and juicy with a delicious flavour ranging from very sweet to acid. The more acid fruits are usually only used for cooking purposes. White flowers grow in clusters, and are beautiful to look at.

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Common name: Egg Magnolia
Botanical name: Magnolia liliifera
Family: Magnoliaceae (Magnolia family)
Synonyms: Talauma candollei

Egg Magnolia is a medium size tree with large velvet leaves and fragrant yellowish off-white flowers about 4-5" wide. It is found in North-East India - Assam, Manipur, Sikkim. Before opening, buds have an egg shape, hence the common name. One of the most valuable ornamental fragrant trees of Asia. A highly valued fragrant flower of this small tree or shrub resembles Dwarf Magnolia flower, but the scent is much stronger. Leaves are large, 7-9 inches long and 4 inches wide. Can be grown in container in a well-lit spot. Egg Magnolia is similar to Dwarf Magnolia, as both species have those egg shaped flowerbuds, but Dwarf Magnolia flowers are white.

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Common name: Smooth Ground Daisy
Botanical name: [Waldheimia glabra (Decne.) Regel] Waldheimia glabra
Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)
Synonyms: Allardia glabra, Anthemis glabra

Smooth Ground Daisy is a tufted mat-forming, aromatic, high-altitude perennial plant of drier areas. The stems spread to 10 cm or more. Wedge-shaped and bluntly 3-5 lobed leaves occur in rosettes. Flower-head appear solitary on stems. "Petals" (ray flowers) are pink-purple or white, elliptic blunt, 1-1.5 cm long. The yellow central disk is broader than the length of the "petals". The bracts appearing just below the flowers are blunt with purple papery margins. Smooth Ground Daisy is found in the Himalayas at altitudes of 4000-5500 m. Flowering: July-September.

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Common name: Griffith's Cobra Lily
Botanical name: [Arisaema griffithii Schott] Arisaema griffithii
Family: Araceae (Arum family)

This species of Cobra Lily is uniquely beautiful yet difficult to describe, even in comparison to other species. Griffith's Cobra Lily is both attractive and bizarre in equal proportions. Has two, large, dark green, slightly wrinkled leaves, each divided into 3 leaflets and prominent dark veins on the underside. Bears a large (up to 8 inches), hooded, green spathe, deeply veined with green over dark purple-brown. Spathes are borne at ground level under the leaves. The spadix is abruptly narrowed to a purple tail-like appendage, 20-80 cm long. Griffith's Cobra Lily is found in the Himalayas, from C. Nepal to Bhutan, at altitudes of 2400-3000 m. Flowering: May-June.

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Common name: Large Bellflower, Great bellflower
Botanical name: Campanula latifolia
Family: Campanulaceae (bellflower family)

This beautiful perennial plant can be found growing in the wild in the Himalayas, from Kashmir to Nepal. It is a handsome leafy plant bearing elegant spikes of large, nodding, dark blue-purple, bell-shaped flowers. Flowers are 4-5 cm long, borne in a spike at the top of stems 0.5-2 m. Stem leaves are nearly stalkless, 5-12 cm long, ovate or lance-shaped with a rounded base, with toothed margin. Large Bellflower is found in shrubberies and forests at altitudes of 2100-3600 m.

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Common name: Common Rock Jasmine
Botanical name: Androsace sarmentosa
Family: Primulaceae (primrose family)

Common Rock Jasmine is a perennial herb. Leaf rosettes solitary or several forming lax mats, 3-5 cm in diameter - slightly hairy leaves. Umbels of pink flowers with yellow eyes in late spring. It is in flower from July to August. The flowers are hermaphrodite (has both male and female organs) The plant prefers light (sandy) and medium (loamy) soils, requires well-drained soil and can grow in nutritionally poor soil. This flower is native to the Himalayas, from Sikkim to Kashmir.
Medicinal uses: [Warning: Unverified information] The entire plant is used in Tibetan medicine, it is said to have a bitter taste and a cooling and coarsening potency. A resolutive, it dries up serous fluids. It is used in the treatment of disorders from tumours, inflammations of fluids and other serous fluid disorders.

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Common name: Narrow-Leaved Swertia
Botanical name: [Swertia angustifolia Buch.-Ham. ex D. Don] Swertia angustifolia
Family: Gentianaceae (Gentian family)

Narrow-Leaved Swertia is an annual herb, 20-80 cm tall. Roots are yellow, fibrous. Stems are erect, subquadrangular, narrowly winged on angles, branched. Leaves are stalkless, lanceshaped to elliptic-lanceshaped, 2-6 cm × 3-12 mm, both ends flat, veins 1-3. Inflorescences panicles of cymes, spreading branched, many flowered. Flowers are 4-merous. Pedicel erect, 3-7 mm. Calyx tube 1-2 mm, sepals linear-lanceolate, 6-8 mm, apex acute, midvein 1-3. Flowers are white or pale yellow, with brown spots, 8-9 mm in diameter, tube 1-2 mm. Petals are 4-6.5 mm, tip blunt and apiculate. Nectaries 1 per corolla lobe, pocket-shaped, with an orbicular scale and many minutely hairy short fimbriae at apex of pocket. Filaments 3.5-4 mm; anthers ellipsoid, ca. 1 mm. Style short, distinct; stigma lobes capitate. Capsules ovoid, 5-7 mm. Seeds are brown, ellipsoid, about 0.6 mm. Flowering: August-November.

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Common name: Hugel's Gentian
Botanical name: [Gentiana hugelii Griseb.] Gentiana hugelii
Family: Gentianaceae (Gentian family)
Synonyms: Qaisera hugelii, Gentiana marginata var. hugelii

Hugel's Gentian is a beautiful deep blue gentian
named after Baron Karl von Hügel, 19th century Austrian naturalist. It is an annual herb up to 8 cm tall, branched above. Lower leaves are elliptic to oblong, 2-3 cm long, with cartilaginous margin. Stem leaves are smaller, fused at base, obovate, tip rounded, slightly mucronate and recurved, margin cartilaginous. Flowers are blue, 1-1.5 cm across, congested in cluster at branch ends. Sepal tube is up to 1.2 cm long some what transparent especially portion below the sinus of sepals, sepals 3-4 mm long, oblong, blunt. Flowers are 0.8-1.8 cm long, tube almost twice as long as spreading petals. Throat has several threadlike objects, inside of tube is whitish. Petals are oblong-obovate, rounded at tip, plicae, slightly shorter and narrower than lobes, irregularly split at tip. Capsule is obovoid, slightly exserted with many seeds. Hugel's Gentian is found in the Himalayas.

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Common name: Blue Nettle, Nettle Leaved Strobilanthes
Botanical name: [Strobilanthes urticifolia Wall. ex Kuntze] Strobilanthes urticifolia
Family: Acanthaceae (Barleria family)
Synonyms: Strobilanthes attenuata, Strobilanthes alatus, Pteracanthus urticifolius

Blue Nettle is an erect shrub up to 1.2 m, with round to 4-angled,sticky hairy branches. Flowers are dark-blue, about 2 cm across, in lax, glandular-pubescent panicle-like clusters. Bracts are narrowly lanceshaped-oblong, shorter than calyx, early falling off; bracteoles narrowly oblong, 4-5 mm long, caducous. Sepals are 5, unequal, ligulate, 8-12 mm long, glandular hairy, blunt, enlarged and accrescent in fruit, one much larger than the rest. Flowers 3-4 cm long, tube cylindrical below, as long as calyx, curved above, within, limb petals open. Upper leaves are stalkess. Lower stem leaves are carried on 2.5-8.5 cm long, apically winged hairy stalks. Leaves are ovate, 8-16 x 4.5-8 cm, hairy on both sides to becoming hairless, basally heart-shaped or rounded, toothed, long-pointed. Capsule are narrowly elliptic-oblong, 1.5-1.7 cm long, glandular-pubescent to glabrescent, 4-seeded. Seeds ovate, c. 3 mm long, hairy. Blue Nettle is found in the Himalayas, from Afghanistan to Nepal, at altitudes of 2000-3500 m. Flowering: June-October.

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Common name: Showy Inula
Botanical name: Inula orientalis
Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)
Synonyms: Inula grandiflora

The Showy Inula, a member of the Sunflower family, is found from Kashmir to Nepal at altitudes of 1,800 to 3,600 meters. It is a stout, hairy perennial herb, 45 to 125 cm. tall, with aromatic roots, and sessile, serrulate, glandular, elliptic-oblong to subcordate leaves, 5 to 11 cm. long. The orange-yellow flowers measures 12 cm across, and are rarely borne in profusion in June. A postal stamp was issued by the Indian Postal Department to commemorate this flower.

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Common name: Tulip Tree, American tulip tree
Botanical name: [Liriodendron tulipifera L.] Liriodendron tulipifera
Family: Magnoliaceae (Magnolia family)

Tulip Tree is a deciduous tree native to North America, that can grow to heights of over 30 m with trunk diameters of 4-6 ft. It sometimes takes a conical form, but when grown in the open tends to assume a broad columnar shape that is its signature form. The distinctive cup-shaped flowers are 1.5 in across and about 2-2.5 in length and look like tulips growing on a tree. The handsome flowers are greenish-yellow with orange markings, borne at the branch tips. Stamens are long, and are arranged in many ranks - when the petals fall off, a cup of these stamens still remains on the tree. Alternately arranged leaves are 5-6 inches long, as much broad, four-lobed, heart-shaped or truncate or slightly wedge-shaped at base, entire, and the tip cut across at a shallow angle, making the upper part of the leaf look square. Flowers are followed by brown scaly cone-shaped fruit. Flowering: March-April.

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Common name: Prickly Paperbark, Prickly-leaf Teatree
Botanical name: [Melaleuca styphelioides Sm.] Melaleuca styphelioides
Family: Myristicaceae (Nutmeg family)

Prickly Paperbark is a small to medium sized tree up to 20 m tall, with a dense, rounded canopy and drooping branchlets. The spongy bark is white or light brown and peels of in large strips. The stalkless leaves are 7-15 mm long and 2.5-6 mm wide, ovate to broad-ovate. These are slightly twisted, have sharply-pointed tips, and are arranged alternately on the branchlets. Flowers appear in summer in cream or white cylindrical bottlebrush-like spikes which are 2-5 cm long and 1-2 cm in diameter. Often new growth appears at the end of the spikes. Following flowering, grey-brown, woody capsules appear in clusters along the branchlets. These are ovoid, stalkless and 3-4 mm in diameter. Prickly Paperbark is native to eastern Australia.

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Common name: Magnolia, Southern magnolia
Botanical name: Magnolia grandiflora
Family: Magnoliaceae (Magnolia family)

Magnolia, a native of the southeastern US, is one of the most magnificent of the fragrant trees. It's trunk is typically straight and erect with spreading branches that form a dense, broadly pyramidal crown. It has large, thick, leathery dark green leaves which are up to 10 inches long. In the spring, they have a golden to rust color on their undersides. The large evergreen trees may grow to 90 ft tall, and the fragrant white blossoms that have smooth, almost velvet-looking petals, are 8-12 inches across. The snow white flowers are huge, and cup-shaped when young. The fruits are reddish-brown conelike structures, 2-4 in long, with bright red kidney shaped seeds that hang from little threads when fully mature in autumn. In the US, the magnolia is used as a street tree, a free standing specimen, a framing tree, or shade tree. In most parts of India, magnolias are grown only in select well-maintained gardens. In Manipur, magnolias are commonly grown - the Manipuri name ootahmbal means "tree lotus" - flowers are used as offering in puja.

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Common name: Parrot's Beak
Botanical name: Gmelina philippensis
Family: Verbenaceae (Verbena family)
Synonyms: Gmelina hystrix

Parrot's Beak is an extraordinary round and spiny shrub, or a small tree, 3-8 m tall, with pendant branches. Rhomboid-elliptic leaves are 5-7.5 cm long, 3-4 cm broad, entire or slightly lobed, smooth. Exotic flowers comprised of yellow blossoms which emerge from a pendant structure of overlapping bracts. The flower resembles parrot's beak. The fruit is fleshy, smooth, yellow, pear-shaped, and about 2 centimeters long. Parrot's Beak is a native of Philippine islands, India and S.E. Asia.
Medicinal ues: In the Philippines it is said that the juice of the fruit is externally applied to portions of the feet affected by “alipuñga,” a kind of eczema. The juice of the fruit is also considered anti “limatik,” (limatik is a species of leech of the genus Haemadipsa).

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Common name: Crown Flower
Botanical name: Calotropis gigantea
Family: Asclepiadaceae (Milkweed family)

This large shrub, which looks like a small tree, sports clusters of waxy flowers that are either white or lavender in color. Each flower consists of five pointed petals and a small, elegant "crown" rising from the center, which holds the stamens. The plant has oval, light green leaves and milky stem. The flowers last long, and in Thailand they are used in various floral arrangements. They were also supposed to be popular with the Hawaii queen Liliuokalani, who considered them as symbol of royalty and wore them strung into leis. In India, the plant is common in the compounds of temples. The fruit is a follicle and when dry, seed dispersal is by wind. The seeds with a parachute of hairs, is a delight for small children, who like to blow it and watch it float in the air. This plant plays host to a variety of insects and butterflies.

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Common name: Mountain Ebony
Botanical name: Bauhinia hookeri
Family: Caesalpiniaceae (Gulmohar family)
Synonyms: Lysiphyllum hookeri

Native to Australia, Mountain Ebony is a rounded shrub or small open tree, up to 5m high, with an irregular habit. Leaves are silver to grey green, held in small delicate pairs up to 2.5 cm across, looking just like hundreds of butterfly wings. Plants are semi-deciduous with most leaves falling immediately before flowering then replaced with the flowers. Plants flower in spring to early summer and dot the canopy with large pure white orchid-like five petal flowers up to 7 cm in diameter, with a number of long spidery brilliant red stamens protruding out.

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Common name: Prickly Paperbark, Prickly-leaf Teatree
Botanical name: [Melaleuca styphelioides Sm.] Melaleuca styphelioides
Family: Myristicaceae (Nutmeg family)

Prickly Paperbark is a small to medium sized tree up to 20 m tall, with a dense, rounded canopy and drooping branchlets. The spongy bark is white or light brown and peels of in large strips. The stalkless leaves are 7-15 mm long and 2.5-6 mm wide, ovate to broad-ovate. These are slightly twisted, have sharply-pointed tips, and are arranged alternately on the branchlets. Flowers appear in summer in cream or white cylindrical bottlebrush-like spikes which are 2-5 cm long and 1-2 cm in diameter. Often new growth appears at the end of the spikes. Following flowering, grey-brown, woody capsules appear in clusters along the branchlets. These are ovoid, stalkless and 3-4 mm in diameter. Prickly Paperbark is native to eastern Australia.

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Common name: Silk floss tree
Botanical name: Ceiba speciosa
Family: Bombacaceae (baobab family)
Synonyms: Chorisia speciosa

Floss Silk Tree is often rated among the most beautiful trees in the world. Also called Silk Floss Tree, this deciduous tropical from Brazil and Argentina is a large tree rated to over 40 feet. Floss Silk Tree is also well known for the large spikes protecting the trunk and limbs. It has pale green leaves palmately divided into 5-7 pointed leaflets. The young trees start out growing fast, straight, and narrow, then slowly develop broadly spreading umbrella canopies as they age. Silk floss trees typically drop their leaves just before they put on their spectacular autumn display of large five-petaled flowers. The petals vary from pale pink to rose to purple or burgundy at the tips and grade into ivory with brownish spots or blotches at the base. After blooming, pear shaped fruits appear which have a silky floss on the seeds, hence the name.

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Common name: Weeping Bottle brush
Botanical name: Callistemon viminalis
Family: Myrtaceae (Bottlebrush family)

The flower spikes of bottlebrushes form in spring and summer and are made up of a number of individual flowers. The pollen of the flower forms on the tip of a long coloured stalk called a filament. It is these filaments which give the flower spike its colour and distinctive 'bottlebrush' shape. The filaments are usually yellow or red, sometimes the pollen also adds a bright yellow flush to the flower spikes. Each flower produces a small woody fruit containing hundreds of tiny seeds. These fruits form in clusters along the stem, and are usually held on the plant for many years. The seeds are usually not released from the fruits for several years, but in some species the fruits open after about a year. Fire also stimulates the opening of the fruits in some bottlebrushes.

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Common name: Formosa Acacia, Small Philippine Acacia
Botanical name: Acacia confusa
Family: Mimosaceae (Touch-me-not family)

Formosa Acacia is a small tree native to Northern Philippines. Adult plants show leaf-like phyllodes, while the juvenile one have foliage of bipinnate leaves. The trunk can grow up to 1 m thick in very old trees, however, generally it is smaller. Phyllodes are alternate, leathery, parallel-curving-veined, 8-10 cm long, narrowed at both ends. Yellow flowers arise in small spherical heads 6-8 mm in diameter. The flowers heads occur singly or in twos in axil of phyllodes. Pods are borne few together, linear or somewhat curved, flat or slightly twisted, brown, 5-10 cm long, 1 cm broad, with about 8 seeds.

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Common name: Freesia
Botanical name: Freesia spp.
Family: Iridaceae (Iris family)

Native to Africa, Freesia is a genus of 14-16 species of flowering plants in the Iris family. Freesias are strongly scented so they make a nice addition to any area. They have five to 10 single or double flowers. Stems are usually 10 to 18 inches long with little or no foliage. The bell-shaped freesia blooms up to seven days and comes in white, golden yellow, orange, red, pink, mauve, lavender, purple and bicolors. They are herbaceous plants which grow from a corm 1-2.5 cm diameter, which sends up a tuft of narrow leaves 10-30 cm long, and a sparsely branched stem 10-40 cm tall bearing a few leaves and a loose one-sided spike of fragrant narrowly funnel-shaped flowers.

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Common name: Daffodil, Lent lily
Botanical name: Narcissus tazetta
Family: Amaryllidaceae (Nargis family)

Commonly known in India as Nargis, daffodils are lilylike perennials with numerous narrow, straplike leaves, and a single flowering stalk, all arising from a subterranean bulb. Leaves grow upward, then droop out and down, and range from 6-30 inch in length. Flower stalks range from 4 in tall in the miniature varieties, up to 24 in tall in standard varieties. There can be from one to a dozen or more flowers per stalk. Flower colors are mostly white and yellow, but some kinds have orange, pink or red coronas. There are about 50 species of daffodils, and many thousands of named cultivars and hybrids of garden origin. Daffodils originated in Portugal, Spain, the southern coast of France and the northern coast of Morocco. Medieval Arabs used juice of the wild daffodil, N. pseudonarcissus as a cure for baldness.
The name Narcissus has it origin in the famous Greek myth about Narcissus, the handsome youth who was granted his great good looks by the Gods. However, his beauty was permanent and he was immortal, "If he never knows himself". Many nymphs fell in love with him, but he did not respond. A nubile wood nymph named Echo fell desperately in love, but Narcissus spurned her. She was so devastated by his rejection that she wept and wailed, and was ultimately consumed by her love. But the Gods were not pleased. The goddess, Nemesis, heard about poor Echo, and lured Narcissus to a shimmering lake. There in his vain state, he was unable to resist gazing at his own reflection, and fell in love with himself! As he gazed, the divine penalty took effect, and he simply faded away. In his place sprang up the golden flower that bears his name today. Now you know how Nargis came to be, and also why psychologists warn vain patients about the "Narcissus complex."

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This variety of Champa produces golden yellow flowers. Champa is native to Indonesia, India and other neighbouring areas. It occurs naturally in the eastern Himalayan region. It is a large evergreen tree with a long straight bole of 18-21 m with a close tapering crown composed of ascending branches. The most interesting part of the tree are its flowers which have an extremely heady fragrance. This fragrance has made Champa flowers very popular and they have been part of the culture in India from time immemorial. They are used in religeous offering in various parts of India. On a warm humid night, the scents can easily be enjoyed several hundred feet away. Champa flowers are used to make the world's most expensive perfume 'Joy' in America.

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Common name: Grape Hyacinth
Botanical name: Muscari armeniacum
Family: Asparagaceae (Asparagus family)

Grape Hyacinths are so named because their clusters of small, bell-shaped, cobalt-blue flowers look like clusters of upside-down grapes. There is a famous planting of them at the Keukenhof Gardens in Holland which is known as the Blue River. This is a dense planting of Muscari armeniacum that winds through the Gardens, past trees, shrubs, and other spring flowers. Year after year, this is one of the most photographed scenes in this park.An additional benefit is that all Muscari have a lovely fragrance. The more you plant, the more fragrance you get. Conical racemes of slightly fragrant, tightly packed, bell-shaped, cobalt blue flowers having a thin white line around the rim of each bell are borne on 6-9" scapes. Each bulb produces 1-3 flower scapes. Clumps of narrow, fleshy, somewhat floppy, basal leaves up to 12" long appear in autumn and live through the cold of winter. Flower scapes emerge in early spring.

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Common name: Gold Spot Ginger Lily, Butterfly Lily Ginger
Botanical name: Hedychium coronarium var. chrysoleucum
Family: Zingiberaceae (Ginger family)

This is an unusual variety of Heydychium quite popular in many places in NE India, like Manipur. This wild form was collected from northeast India, and distributed in the West by nursery owner Ganesh Mani Pradhan of Sikkim, under the name Hedychium coronarium 'Gold Spot'. As the name suggests, it has a large golden orange mark at the base of one petal. This actually a form of Butterfly Ginger Lily which is a fragrant flower. Takhellei, as it is called in Manipuri, is used in Manipur to prepare what is known as a nachom with chingonglei (flowers of Mimosa Bush. Two or three flowers of the chingonglei is inserted inside the lily and the combination of the two flowers is regarded as divine. This ornamental flower combination is usually worn behind the ear by womenfolk.

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Common name: Night Blooming Cereus, Queen of the Night, Lady of the night, Dragon fruit
Botanical name: [Hylocereus undatus (Haw.) Britton & Rose] Hylocereus undatus
Family: Cactaceae (Cactus family)
Synonyms: Cereus undatus, Cereus tricostatus, Hylocereus tricostatus

Night-Blooming Cereus is a climbing cactus, native to the American tropics. The stems are 3-winged and green with wings that are 1 to 2 inches wide. Areoles are about 1.5 inches apart with 1-5 spines up to 1 cm long. They climb by use of aerial roots and can reach a height 30 feet or more growing on rocks and trees. As indicated by the name, the blooms appear at night and soon close after the day starts. In late spring to early summer the very large white fragrant flowers adorn the plant. Individual flower are 14 inches long by 12 inches across and very showy. If pollinated, they produce edible curious-looking red fruits up to 5 inches long. Fruit is popularly known as dragon-fruit.

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Common name: Fragrant Panama rose, Sweet Smelling Rondeletia
Botanical name: Rondeletia odorata
Family: Rubiaceae (coffee family)

Originally from Panama and Cuba, Fragrant Panama rose is an evergreen shrub, commonly cultivated in gardens in India. It grows up to 6-10 feet tall, with opposite sessile, ovate to oblong leaves with wavy margins, 2 inches long. From summer to fall, it blooms with beautiful, fragrant reddish orange, tubular flowers with yellow throats. Flowers occur in many-flowered cymes at the end of branches, up to 5 inch across. The Fragrant Panama rose was first collected by Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland in "Mexico: Guerrero: inter Alto del Peregrino et Río Papagallo", 'between loft of the wanderer (or peregrine's nest?) and the River Papagayo (parrot)'. The botanical name was published by Kunth in 1818 in the fourth edition of Nova Genera et Species Plantarum. The name honored Guillaume Rondelet, a natural historian, physician, and botany instructor at the university in Montpellier, France in the 16th century.

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Common name: Blood Lily, Football Lily, Powderpuff Lily
Botanical name: Scadoxus multiflorus ssp. multiflorus
Family: Amaryllidaceae (Nargis family)
Synonyms: Haemanthus multiflorus

Blood lily is a beautiful flowering bulb from tropical Africa. The spectacular flowerhead is a huge spherical umbel consisting of up to 100 flowers, held clear of the foliage at the end of a solitary stem. Each plant will produce only one flowerhead in a season. Blood lily is a bulbous plant with leaves on short, speckled stalks. The flower stalk bears a rounded inflorescence, 8-12 cm across. The plant may live for many years and will flower annually indoors. During the growing season the plant needs bright light, if possible direct sunshine for two hours daily. During winter dormancy, light is unimportant but temperature should not drop below 13 degrees centigrade.

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Common name: African daisy, Rain Daisy, Weather Prophet, Cape Marigold
Botanical name: Dimorphotheca pluvialis
Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

White African daisy is always one of the first spring annuals to flower in Delhi. It is an annual plant, native to Namibia, Namaqualand and the south western Cape. During spring huge fields are covered with this bright white daisy, forming a dazzling mass. The white petals, actually ray florets, are mauve on the underside. For the best display it is important to visit the garden on a sunny day as these sun loving daisies only open with the warmth of the sun from about 10 o’clock in morning to 4 o’clock in the afternoon. As the sun moves across the sky their flowers follow, always facing the sun. African daisy forms a bushy plant that is covered with large white daisies all flowering at the same level. The flowering season is from July to October, depending on the rain. The narrow leaves are light green, about 7 cm long, have indented edges and are alternately arranged on the stem. They are numerous at the base of the stems, becoming fewer and smaller near the top.

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Common name: African tulip tree or Fountain tree
Botanical name: Spathodea campanulata
Family: Bignoniaceae

African Tulips produce terminal clusters of beautiful blooms held above the foliage appearing in upturned whorls at the branch tips. A few at a time, the buds of the lowest tier bend outward and open into large bell-shaped orange-red flowers with a yellow border on the petals and four brown-anthered stamens in the center. They are followed by 5-10 in green brown fingerlike pods pointing upwards and outwards above the foliage.
Facts About African tulips

The generic name comes from the Greek word, in reference to the spathe-like calyx.
African tulip is native to tropical Africa.
African tulip tree grows to about 7-25 m tall.
African Tulip flower is a decorative tree, because of their beautiful red tulip-like flowers.
African Tulip is also known as the fountain tree because of the water sealed in the flower buds, and if you were to slice it open, it would squirt out like a fountain.
African Tulip flowers are especially adapted for hummingbird pollination.

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Common name: Silk floss tree, Kapok
Botanical name: Ceiba speciosa
Family: Bombacaceae (baobab family)
Synonyms: Chorisia speciosa

Floss Silk Tree is often rated among the most beautiful trees in the world. Also called Silk Floss Tree, this deciduous tropical from Brazil and Argentina is a large tree rated to over 40 feet. Floss Silk Tree is also well known for the large spikes protecting the trunk and limbs. It has pale green leaves palmately divided into 5-7 pointed leaflets. The young trees start out growing fast, straight, and narrow, then slowly develop broadly spreading umbrella canopies as they age. Silk floss trees typically drop their leaves just before they put on their spectacular autumn display of large five-petaled flowers. The petals vary from pale pink to rose to purple or burgundy at the tips and grade into ivory with brownish spots or blotches at the base. After blooming, pear shaped fruits appear which have a silky floss on the seeds, hence the name.

(https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/598774_205245839620214_1372986106_n.jpg) (http://www.friendstamilchat.com)

Common name: Alpine Aster
Botanical name: Aster alpinus

Alpine aster flowers are violet pink and white colored flowers which are good for cut flower arrangements. .This hardy perennial produces an abundance of flowers in shades of violet pink, and white. The Alpine Aster is ideal for rock or alpine gardens and is great for cutting. 3-10" tall.

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Common Name: Trumpet Lily African Queen
Botanical Name: Lilium African Queen

African Queen offers one of the loveliest fragrances! Its huge trumpets are an exquisite mix of caramel-orange shades that are long lasting and stay true to colour even in the heat of summer.

More tubular in shape, these lilies resemble splayed trumpets and will produce long flowers up to 8 in – 20 cm long. They are intoxicatingly fragrant and will continue grow in height from season to season so be sure to plant them where they will be protected from strong winds. They prefer a rather heavy soil with an ample supply of humus and good drainage. Remove faded flowers and do not cut back stems until autumn. Bulbs should not be lifted but left in the soil to bloom annually for many years.

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Common Name: Pot Oriental Hybrid Lily Bulb
Classification: Oriental Hybrid Lily Bulb
Bulb Size - Premium-size (16/18 cm) to Exhibition-size (over 20 cm).

Flower Description: A 'Star Gazer' look-a-like, deep garnet-red with a nice white edge, but this new clone is much more compact, but with the same great fragrance and easy-care attributes. 18 inches. June/July bloom.

Compact Oriental lilies are becoming increasingly popular, especially as patio gardens become more numerous. For all potted lily bulbs, use one gallon of a high quality potting soil that DOES NOT have fertilizer added. Read the label carefully, some potting soils have too much nitrogen in their formula to benefit lilies, and in fact, it will harm flowering. We recommend you use a vegetable or rose food for all lilies; one tablespoon per bulb when sprouts first emerge, then again just as buds begin to open. With these smaller-sized bulbs and short stems an 8 to 10 inch pot is fine, taller growing lilies need a larger container. Potted lilies must be protected over winter against freeze-thaw and excessive moisture, our guarantee of hardiness is for garden-planted lilies, of which these are also excellent choices.

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Name: Alma Ata Oriental Lily

White, upfacing, slightly reflexed blooms on shorter stems for that "front of the border" location with a sweet, spicy fragrance. This Oriental lily bulb does well in hot and humid states. 3 Feet.

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Common name: Bateman's Lily
Botanical name: Lilium x maculatum Cv. 'Batemanniae' Family: Liliaceae (Lily family)
Synonyms: Lilium elegans var. Batemanniae, Lilium batemanniae

Bateman's Lily is a beautiful cultivar of the Japanese Sukashi-yuri lily. It has flowers which pale orange-red or apricot, sometimes tinged pink, unspotted. Tepals are smooth or nearly so inside, little or no clawing at base, slender. Flowers are borne in clusters of 1-12, each one 3-5 inches in diameter. The plant is late flowering. Stems are up to 3.5 ft and smooth. Leaves are 5-12 cm long, 0.6-1.9 cm wide. Authors have considered 'Batemanniae' to be a later blooming, improved form. Japanese research has suggested that this is actually an interspecific hybrid. It was well known in Japan in the 19th century, and much admired. It was named for Maria Sybilla Bateman, a lily enthusiast of the late 1900's in London. In 1935 it was given an Award of Merit by the Royal Horticultural Society, well after its introduction (at least by 1891), but by 1956 it was considered lost to virus disease.

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Common name: Forest Spider Lily
Botanical name: Pancratium parvum
Family: Amaryllidaceae (Nargis family )

Pancratium is a genus of about 18 species flowering plants in the family Amaryllidaceae, which includes Nargis and Amaryllis lily. Forest spider lily is an endemic short plant which is seen in the first few weeks of Monsoons. The plants are herbaceous perennial, growing from bulbs and grow up to 30-50 cm high. The flowers are large, white and fragrant. The short lived flowers often appear before the leaves. Leaves are thin, 15-20 cm long, linear-lancelike. Flowers appear in an umbel of 2-4, enclosed in a membranous spathe. The stem carrying the flowers is 15-30 cm long. Stamens are enclosed in a staminal cup, much like Nargis. The plant prefers forested regions. Flowering & Fruiting period is May-July.

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Common name: Bush Lily, Fire Lily
Botanical name: Clivia miniata
Family: Amaryllidaceae (Nargis family )
Synonyms: Imantophyllum miniatum

Native to South Africa, Bush Lily is a clump forming perennial bulbous plant with strap-like leaves and beautiful orange-red flowers. The genus Clivia was named after the Duchess of Northumberland, Lady Charlotte Clive who first cultivated and flowered the type specimen in England. The species name miniata means color of red lead oxide, referring to the flower color. In Victorian times this beautiful plant was very popular for indoor use in England and Europe. Bush lily has strap shaped leaves which arise from a fleshy underground stem. The flowering heads of brilliant orange (rarely yellow), trumpet shaped flowers appear mainly in spring but also sporadically at other times of the year. Bush lily can be propagated by seed or by removing sorryers. The fruits are bright orange when ripe (or golden in the case of the yellow flowered plants) All parts of Bush lily are somewhat poisonous and may cause mild upset stomach if ingested. Sap from the leaves or roots may irritate sensitive skin. Probably no plant rewards more beauty for less care than the Bush lily. A great house-plant because of its meagre requirements for light, water and fertilizer.

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Common name: Rain Lily Rose
Botanical name: Zephyranthes rosea
Family: Amaryllidaceae (Nargis family )

Rose Rain Lily are small flowers that are rose in color with a green base. The flowers are much smaller that of Rain Lily pink, and the throat is distinctly green. Leaf blades are dull green, to 5 mm wide. Spathe is 2–2.8 cm. Flowers are erect to slightly bent, rose pink in color, funnel-shaped, 2.7–2.8 cm. Flower tube is green, 0.2–0.3 cm, increasing in diamter. Tepals are spreading, but not reflexed. Stamens are diverging, filaments filament like, 1–1.7 cm; anthers small 3–6 mm. Style is 1.8–2.7 cm, longer than perianth tube. Stigma is divided into 3, protruding out, 1–5 mm beyond anthers. Flowering: March-July.

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Common name: Handsome Flowered Dendrobium
Botanical name: Dendrobium formosum
Family: Orchidaceae (orchid family)

Handsome Flowered Dendrobium was discovered by William Roxburgh in north-east India. He came to India in 1776 as an Assistant Surgeon with the East India Company and later became the Company’s botanist in the subcontinent. Handsome Flowered Dendrobium occurs in the Eastern Himalayas, from Nepal to Manipur, Myanmar. It is a bulky species with large , aureate flowers . Its erect , thickly foliaged pseudobulbs are up to 18 in long and typically covered with conspicuous black protuberances in the upper part . The snow -white flowers measure 3.8 in /8 cm in diameter. The lip has a 2 cm long spur and has orange yellow decoration inside. Pseudobulbs erect, Easy to grow, it is suitable for the home or a greenhouse.

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Common name: White Water Lily, White Lotus
Botanical name: Nymphaea pubescens
Family: Nymphaeaceae (Waterlily family)
Synonyms: Nymphaea lotus var. pubescens, Nymphaea purpurea, Nymphaea esculenta

This is a beautiful white waterlily, native to India and South-east Asia. The toothed floating leaves vary from being elliptic-oval to almost circular, and are 15-26 cm across. The leaves are papery and have fine hair on them. White flowers are 5-15 cm in diameter, with 12-14 shiny petals, and rise above the water. There are red and pink varieties too. This flowered is reverred in ancient Hindu literature.

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Common name: Clasping-Leaf Borage
Botanical name: Trichodesma inaequale
Family: Boraginaceae (Forget-me-not family)
Synonyms: Trichodesma amplexicaule

Clasping-Leaf Borage is an erect hairy herb with scattered hairs. Lower leaves are oppositely arranged, stalkless. linear-oblong. Upper ones are alternately arranged, heart-shaped, stem-clasping, broadly ovate, long pointed. Flowers appear singly, laterally on branches or opposite the leaves. Sepals are shortly and obtusely eared. Flowers are pale blue with rounded petals which are flat, with a point at the tip. Flower throat is hairy. Clasping-Leaf Borage found in Mumbai and neighbouring area. This flowers is closely similar to Indian Borage, but can be distinguished by two features - one, leaves are stem-clasping, they are only half-clasping in Indian Borage; two, the stamens do not protrude out, whereas in Indian Borage they protrude out.

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Common name: Duck Lettuce, Water-plantain ottelia
Botanical name: Ottelia alismoides
Family: Hydrocharitaceae (Tape Grass family)
Synonyms: Stratiotes alismoides

Duck Lettuce is a fresh-water plant with leaves arising from root. Leaf blades are submerged, sometimes partly emergent in shallow water, broadly ovate to circular, thin and translucent. A closely related species Swamp Lily differs in that it has elliptic to ovate, thick and opaque leaves. Leaf stalks are 3-sided, 8-50 cm long. Leaves are 7-22 cm x 4.5-21 cm. Flowers are 3-petalled, white. Sepals are 1-1.5 cm long. Petals are white with yellow-spotted base, 2-3 cm long. Fruits are enclosed in spathe.

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Common name: Wax Begonia, Fibrous Begonia, bedding begonia, perpetual begonia
Botanical name: Begonia x semperflorens-cultorum Family: Begoniaceae (Begonia family)

Wax Begonia are tough little compact garden plants, growing barely a foot high. However, they provide almost continuous color in full sun or partial shade locations for many months, and can easily be grown as a houseplant. The single or double flowers are available in various shades of red, pink, or white, and the shiny, large, succulent leaves are either green, variegated, or bronze-colored. It is the leaf coloration which attracts many people to Wax Begonia. The bronze-leaved begonias are better suited to full sun locations and plants will flower from spring. These kinds are seen more often in the warmer regions of India. Plant 12 inches apart in a bed to form a solid mass of color. If desired, plants can be dug up and potted, cut back by one-third, and will continue to bloom indoors. Wax Begonaias are a group of cultivars developed from hybridization of several species, especially B. cucullata and B. schmidtiana — with Anku Kumari.

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Common name: Calla lily, Arum Lily
Botanical name: Zantedeschia aethiopica
Family: Araceae (arum family)
Synonyms: Calla aethiopica, Richardia africana

Calla Lily is an old-fashioned, but very elegant garden plant, native to South Africa. These elegant flowers have graced many bridal bouquets in Europe, in old times. Calla lily is a clump forming herbaceous plant, arising from tubers, with large arrow shaped leaves. It grows to about 2 ft in height. The flower consists of a orange-yellow finger-like spathe surrounding a white spadix. Pink and yellow varieties of Zantedeschia are also available. Golden calla has elongated oval shaped leaves, dotted with small white splotches, and bright, gleaming golden yellow spathes. All are strikingly beautiful, and even when not in flower, the large, tropical looking, spear shaped leaves make a lush statement, like bananas, cannas or ginger.

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Common name: Scarlet Runner Bean, Runner bean
Botanical name: Phaseolus coccineus
Family: Fabaceae (Pea family)

Scarlet Runner Bean is a twining perennial vine, native to South America. It is widely cultivated world over, for it showy red flowers, and their edible pods and seeds. It has thick stocky roots and the vine can reach 12 ft or more. Leaves are trifoliate and each leaflet is broad-oval and 4-5 in long. Flowers in most cultivars are bright scarlet red, and shaped like typical bean family flowers with the two lowermost petals united into a "keel", the uppermost petal modified into a hoodlike "standard", and the lateral petals modified into spreading "wings." The flowers are about an inch long and clustered on many-flowered racemes up to 10 inches long. There can be as many as 20 flowers on a single flowering stalk. The pods are 6-12 inches long, and the seeds are about an inch long, with 6-10 seeds per pod. The green pods are edible whole but in some varieties (the scarlet runner) tend to become fibrous early, and only the seeds within are eaten. The seeds can be used fresh or as dried beans. The starchy roots are still eaten by Central American Indians.

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Common name: Peruvian lily, Lily-of-the-Incas, Parrot lily, Parrot flower
Botanical name: Alstroemeria spp.
Family: Amaryllidaceae (Nargis family)

Alstroemeria, commonly called the Peruvian Lily or Lily of the Incas, is a South American genus of about 50 species of flowering plants, mainly from cool, mountainous regions in the Andes. It was named after the Swedish baron Clas Alströmer (Claus von Alstroemer) by his close friend Carolus Linnaeus. People often think they are orchids (which they are not) They grow from clusters of white peanut-sized tubers arranged like the spokes of a wagon wheel. In the spring, they send up 8-12 in stalks that have the general character of an upright Solomon's seal with the foliage clustered in a little umbrella at the top of the stem. Although the stem is arrow-straight and the foliage is held in a horizontal position, the glistening parallel-veined pale green leaves tend to curl under at the edges and droop at the ends and always look a bit limp. As the season progresses, the stem elongates to 18-30 in and the leaves (now looking more twisted than limp) appear to spread out along its length in a stretched out spiral arrangement. Early in the summer, clusters of red flowers appear at the stem tips. The tubular 1-2 in flowers look like distorted azalea blossoms that are struggling to open. The ragged uneven petal edges curl slightly inward instead of flaring outward.

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Common name: Beach Moonflower, sea moonflower
Botanical name: Ipomoea violacea
Family: Convolvulaceae (Morning glory family)
Synonyms: Convolvulus tuba, Ipomoea macrantha, Ipomoea tuba

Beach Moonflower is creeping vine found on the sea-across the tropical world. Plant is woody, twining, and hairless, with the stems growing to 5 m, often longitudinally wrinkled. Leaf stalks are 3.5-11 cm. Leaves are circular or ovate, 5-16 X 5-14 cm, base deeply heart-shaped, with rounded lobes, and a sharp tip. Lateral veins are 7 or 8 pairs. Flowers occur either singly or in bunches of few. The stalk carrying the bunch is often 2.5-4.5 cm. Flowers stalk is 1.5-3 cm, thickened in fruit. Flowers open at night, hence the common name Moonflower. Sepals are circular, equal or outer 2 shorter, 1.5-2.5 cm, thinly leathery, tip blunt, enlarged in fruit and turned back. Flowers are white, with greenish midpetaline bands. They have a narrow tube which flares open into a flat flower, 9-12 cm long. Limb is 8-10 cm in diameter. Flowering: August-September.

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Common name: Blue Golden-Eyed Primrose
Botanical name: [Primula strumosa]
Family: Primulaceae (Primrose family)
Synonyms: Primula calderiana subsp. strumosa

Blue Golden-Eyed Primrose is a beautiful primrose with blue flowers which look quite similar to Purple Golden-Eyed Primrose. It can be identified from the characteristic that the clusters of flowers are borne on stems that are not much longer than the deep green leaves. The flowering stem in Purple Golden-Eyed Primrose is much taller than the leaves. Each flower is wide open, deep blue with a small ring of orange near the centre, but the species includes yellow-flowered plants. Flower tube is 1.1-1.3 cm, limb 1.5-2.5 cm wide. Petals are round, not notched. Leaf-stalks are broadly winged, concealed by basal bud scales at anthesis, becoming diffuse, about as long as leaf blade. Leaf blade is oblanceolate to obovate or oblong, 5-20 X 1-2.5 cm at anthesis. Flowering stems are 7-19 cm, yellow powdery towards the top, elongating to 35 cm in fruit, with umbels of 4- to many flowers. Sepal cup is bell-shaped, 5-7.5 mm, densely yellow powdery, with ovate to ovate-oblong sepals with blunt tips. Blue Golden-Eyed Primrose is found in Eastern Himalayas, in Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh, and China, at altitudes of 3500-4300 m. Flowering: May-June. — with Vashanthi KM.

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Common name: Magnolia, Southern magnolia
Family: Magnoliaceae (Magnolia family)

Magnolia, a native of the southeastern US, is one of the most magnificent of the fragrant trees. It's trunk is typically straight and erect with spreading branches that form a dense, broadly pyramidal crown. It has large, thick, leathery dark green leaves which are up to 10 inches long. In the spring, they have a golden to rust color on their undersides. The large evergreen trees may grow to 90 ft tall, and the fragrant white blossoms that have smooth, almost velvet-looking petals, are 8-12 inches across. The snow white flowers are huge, and cup-shaped when young. The fruits are reddish-brown conelike structures, 2-4 in long, with bright red kidney shaped seeds that hang from little threads when fully mature in autumn. In the US, the magnolia is used as a street tree, a free standing specimen, a framing tree, or shade tree. In most parts of India, magnolias are grown only in select well-maintained gardens. In Manipur, magnolias are commonly grown - the Manipuri name ootahmbal means "tree lotus" - flowers are used as offering in puja.

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Common name: Aztec Arrowhead, Giant Arrowhead, Tropical Arrowhead, Ruby-Eyed Arrowhead
Botanical name: Sagittaria montevidensis
Family: Alismataceae (Water Plantain family)

Aztec Arrowhead is an aquatic herb, considered native to South America, possibly Brazil. Leaf stalks are thick, cylindrical, spongy, mostly erect but also reclining, up to 75 cm. Leaves are arrow-shaped, hairless. Inflorescence is typically shorter than leaves, prostrate. Flowers arise in whorls or pairs at nodes. Flowers have 3 white petals with yellow base. Sepals are 3, green. Flower stalks are thick, up to 5 cm long. Flowering: June-September.

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Common name: Carnation
Botanical name: Dianthus caryophyllus
Family: Caryophyllaceae (Carnation family)

Dianthus, its botanical name, means divine flower. Carnation was the flesh-pink colour Elizabethan portrait painters used as a background wash. Available in a huge range of colours, almost all except blue. Carnation blooms are edible. With petals pulled apart, they can be used to sprinkle color & spicy scent over the surface of a leafy salad, perhaps also with the addition of a few honeysorryle trumpets & nasturtiums. There are folklores associated with carnations, and one is supposed to be making a statement by the color of carnation one is wearing:

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Common name: Nun's Orchid, Nun's Cap Orchid Family: Orchidaceae (orchid family)
Synonyms: Limodorum tancarvilleae

This magnificent species is a very wide spread terrestrial, being found along the eastern seaboard of Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Indo-China, Thailand and on into Northern India. The plant is a large one, with stout fleshy pseudobulbs, and several large pleated leaves. Inflorescence is a simple raceme which may attain 100cm in height, and bear up to 30 large (10cm) shapely blooms. The common name is explained by looking into the throat of the flower. One can see what appears to be a nun with head bowed in prayer. It is a species which has evolved as a bog dweller and it is always found in areas which are shady, and subject to flooding for a few months each year, remaining cool and moist for the rest of the year. The more than 4' long, erect, basal, racemose inflorescence, after blooming and the fall of the dead flowers, can be cut off and placed on sand in a long, plastic, plant flat and partially covered, put in a deep shaded, humid, well watered area and in 2 to 3 months, plantlets will begin to grow from the old floral bracts. After 6 months they can be transplanted into a pot.

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Common Name: Verbena
Botanical Name: Verbena Hybrida
Family: Verbenaceae

Verbena (play /vərˈbiːnə/),[2] (vervain), is a genus in the family Verbenaceae. It contains about 250 species of annual and perennial herbaceous or semi-woody flowering plants. The majority of the species are native to the American continent and Europe.

The leaves are usually opposite, simple, and in many species hairy, often densely so. The flowers are small, with five petals, and borne in dense spikes. Typically some shade of blue, they may also be white, pink, or purple, especially in cultivars.

The genus can be divided into a diploid North American and a polyploid South American lineage, both with a base chromosome number of 7. The European species is derived from the North American lineage. It seems that verbena as well as the related mock vervains (Glandularia) evolved from the assemblage provisionally treated under the genus name Junellia; both other genera were usually included in the Verbenaceae until the 1990s.[3] Intergeneric chloroplast gene transfer by an undetermined mechanism – though probably not hybridization – has occurred at least twice from vervains to Glandularia, between the ancestors of the present-day South American lineages and once more recently, between V. orcuttiana or V. hastata and G. bipinnatifida. In addition, several species of verbena are of natural hybrid origin; the well-known garden vervain has an entirely muddy history. The relationships of this close-knit group are therefore hard to resolve with standard methods of computational phylogenetics

Some species, hybrids and cultivars of verbena are used as ornamental plants. They are drought-resistant, tolerating full to partial sun, and enjoy well-drained, average soils. Plants are usually grown from seed. Some species and hybrids are not hardy and are treated as half-hardy annuals in bedding schemes. — with Say Hifarva.

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Common name: Red Heart Hibiscus, Red Heart Rose-of-Sharon
Botanical name: Hibiscus syriacus 'Red Heart'
Family: Malvaceae (Mallow family)

A shrub of upright growing habit, with lobed, dark-green leaves. Strikingly beautiful flowers of pure white with a red heart appear incessantly, from July well into Autumn. The flowers are single and huge in size. It is a cultivar of Rose of Sharon.

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Common name: Splendid Hibiscus
Botanical name: Hibiscus splendens
Family: Malvaceae (Mallow family)

A bush or small tree up to 6 metres tall and 7 cm in trunk diameter. The cylindrical trunk is covered in sharp prickles, as is most of the plant. Leaves are 7 to 20 cm long. Being toothed, heart shaped with a fine point at the tip. Leaves are simple or with three to five lobes, arranged alternatively on the stem. The mid rib and lateral veins are visible on both sides of the leaf.

The spectacular pink coloured flowers are around 7 cm long, appearing in the months of October to December. The species name "splendens" refers to the beauty of the flower.

The fruit is an egg shaped capsule, covered in hairs. Five cells within the capsule contain pyramid shaped dark seeds, 3 to 4 mm long. Care is required in handling the capsule because of the irritating hairs. Fruit matures from December to February. Being a rainforest regeneration plant, germination from seed is easily achieved, and cuttings strike well.

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Common name: Maple-Leaved Mallow
Botanical name: Hibiscus platanifolius
Family: Malvaceae (Mallow family)
Synonyms: Pavonia platanifolia, Hibiscus eriocarpus, Hibiscus collinus

Maple-Leaved Mallow is a tree, growing up to 10 m tall. Flowers are pale pink, with each petal having a deep pink base. Flowers are about 3-5 inches across. Sepals are leathery, hairy. Stamen-column is 2-2.5 cm long, pale pink. Leaves are usually 3-5-lobed, 6-12 x 5-12 cm. Maple-Leaved Mallow is native to India.

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Common name: Rose Mallow, Swamp mallow
Botanical name: Hibiscus moscheutos
Family: Malvaceae (Mallow family)

Rose mallow is a perennial wetland plant that can grow in large colonies. It dies back in winter and re-sprouts in spring. The hirsute leaves are of variable morphology, but commonly found as deltoidal in form and sometimes having up to three lobes. It is found in wetlands and along the riverine systems of the southeastern United States. The flowers are about 6" across.There exists in nature numerous forms and petal colors range from pure white to deep rose, and, except for one genome, all have an eye of deep maroon. Taxonomic consensus is lacking for the nomenclature of the multiple sub-species. The complete flowers are born apically, whereas the related Hibiscus laevis carries bud and bloom along the stem.

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Common name: Althaea, Rose of Sharon
Botanical name: Hibiscus syriacus
Family: Malvaceae (Mallow family)

Rose of Sharon isn't a rose, but its large, flat blossoms and nectar attract hummingbirds and tiny insects. Native to China and India, they have been cultivated as long as records exist. The Chinese used the flowers and leaves for food. Thomas Jefferson grew them from seed, and was documented to have planted them at all three of his homes. The flowers on this woody shrub come in several colors, including white, pink, purple, and red. Its leaves don't come out until late in spring, causing false everal kinds have dark-colored centers in the flowers, and single-flowering types are quite common. Seedlings often sprout in nearby areas. Propagation from cuttings is usually preferred, because unlike seedlings, r

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Common name: Fox Brush Orchid, Cat's-tail Orchid
Botanical name: Aerides maculosa
Family: Orchidaceae (Orchid family)
Synonyms: Saccolabium speciosum, Aerides schroederi, Aerides illustris

Fox Brush Orchid is a dwarf orchid species with crystalline pink, spotted magenta, fragrant flowers to 2cm. The spikes are arching to pendulous, to about 25cm long with many flowers. They occur mainly in Asia : the Indian subcontinent, Nepal, Southern China, SE Asia, the Philippines, New Guinea. They form pendulous racemes with many fragrant, long-lasting, waxy flowers, in white, (rarely) yellow, purple or pink colors, with a forward facing spur, growing on stout many-leaved stems from the leaf axils. The leaves grow distichously (in two vertical rows) The leaf margins are bilobed, while the apex is emarginate.

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Common name: Glossy Abelia
Botanical name: Abelia X grandiflora
Family: Caprifoliaceae (Honeysorryle family)

Glossy abelia is an evergreen shrub with arching branches and a rounded shape, which can grow up to 10 ft tall, and as wide as 12 ft. In reality the garden specimens are about 3-5 ft tall. Oppositely arranged glossy, dark green leaves are about 1-2 in long and half as wide. The fragrant, funnel shaped flowers are white, tinged with pink, and about an inch long. The long lasting sepals are rose pink in color, spreading. There are several named cultivars in the trade, including some with darker pink flowers, some with yellow or variegated leaves, some with a creeping habit, and some that stay small. Glossy abelia is a hybrid species that resulted from a cross between the deciduous Chinese abelia (Abelia chinensis) and an evergreen species A. uniflora, also from China.

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Common name: Match Stick Plant, Gamos Bromeliad
Botanical name: Aechmea gamosepala
Family: Bromeliaceae (Pineapple family)

Aechmea are known for beautiful foliage, long lasting color and vivid berry-like fruit. These plants can adapt and grow on a variety of surfaces such as on trees in full sunlight between 300 to 3,500 feet. Specimens have been found in Peru having 3 foot long leaves, but the avarage is 1 foot in length. Match Stick Plant has smooth, 20-inch long, green leaves. The flat-topped inflorescence has reddish-purple bracts and purple petals and red sepals. The flowers look like pink match-sticks with bright blue heads.

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Common name: Pussy Ears, Furry Kittens
Botanical name: Cyanotis somaliensis
Family: Commelinaceae (Dayflower family)

The origin of this creeping, tender perennial is uncertain, but it is probably Somalia. Its fleshy, narrowly oblong leaves are glossy dark green and covered with soft white hairs,resembling ears of a pussy. It produces small, 3-petaled, blue flowers, dotted with yellow stamens, in the axils of the leaves in the winter and spring. Cyanotis is the third largest genus of Commelinaceae in Africa, with approximately 25 species. The genus is widespread outside of forested habitats, occurring often in dry habitats, but it also includes an aquatic species.

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Common name: Blue Lettuce, Russian lettuce, Tataren Lattich
Botanical name: [Mulgedium tataricum (L.) DC.] Mulgedium tataricum
Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)
Synonyms: Lactuca tatarica, Lactuca multipes, Lagedium tataricum

Blue Lettuce is a plant with milky sap, 20-100 cm tall. It is a perennial herb arising from white, deep-seated, creeping root, often growing in patches. Stems are erect, hairless or almost so. Leaves are alternate, narrowly lance-shaped, 5-18 cm long and 6-35 mm wide, entire, or the lower ones more or less with triangular, backward-pointing lobes or sharply toothed, often with waxy coating beneath. Flower-heads are blue, showy, about 2 cm wide, with 18-50 ray florets only, several in open clusters. Involucre is 1.5-2 cm high in fruit, with overlapping bracts in 3 rows. Fruits are 4-7 mm long, the slender body moderately compressed, prominently several-nerved on each face, the beak stout, often whitish, equaling or less than half as long as the body. Pappus of white, hair-like bristles. The species name tataricum means, from the Tatar Mountains in Russia. Blue Lettuce is found in SW Asia, Russia, Mongolia, China and E. Europe. In India it is found on riverbanks and terraces, by lakes, meadows, by fields, consolidated sand dunes, gravelly places in the Himalayas, in Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh, at altitudes of 1200-4300 m. Flowering: June-September.

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Common name: Willow Leaved Dayflower
Botanical name: Commelina clavata
Family: Commelinaceae (Dayflower family)
Synonyms: Commelina salicifolia, Commelina thwaitesii, Commelina diffusa (invalid)

Willow Leaved Dayflower is a perennial herb with thick, non tuberous roots. Shoots are rising to climbing, rooting on contact with ground, up to 1 m long. Leaves are narrowly lance-shaped to narrowly lanceshaped-elliptic, 2.5-10 cm long, 0.4-1.5 cm wide, with pointed or long pointed tip. Flowers are borne in 2-flowered clusters. Flowers are sky-blue, about 1.5 cm across, with sepals 3 mm long. Paired petals are 7 mm wide, sky-blue. The third petal is 5 mm wide.

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Common name: Blue Himalayan Anemone
Botanical name: Anemone obtusiloba
Family: Ranunculaceae (Buttercup family)

Blue Himalayan Anemone is a perennial herb which is very variable, with 2-5 cm buttercup flowers in colors white, blue or yellow. Flowers are borne on short spreading, tufted stems about 5-15 cm long. Flowers have 5-7 elliptic petals which are silky haired beneath. The plant has many softly hairy basal leaves, 2-5 cm across. Leaves are rounded in outline, deeply 3-lobed. The lobes are further lobed or cut. Leaves just below the flowers are about 2.5 cm, 3-lobed and stalkless. Blue Himalayan Anemone is commonly found in forests, shrubberies, open slopes and grazing grounds, at altitudes of 2100-4300 m. Flowering: May-July.

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Common name: Potato tree, Giant Star Potato Tree
Botanical name: Solanum macranthum
Family: Solanaceae (potato family)

Native to Brazil, Potato tree is a small tree widely cultivated in the tropics. It is not actually potato, but belongs to the potato family. This plant grows quickly into a bushy tree of 15 feet in height and 15' wide. Grown for its ornamental purpose. The leaves are large, lobed and prickly. Flowers are fragrant and change their color from white to pink to lavender. It requires a rich soil for good growth. Suited for planting singly. Propagated by seeds. The Solanum family is very large, consisting of nearly 1500 species ranging from vegetables like the potato and aubergine, to ornamental shrubs and climbers, plus a number of weeds. Some, as their common name Nightshade suggests, are toxic and need careful handling.

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Common name: Empire Blue Butterfly Bush
Botanical name: [Buddleja davidii 'Empire Blue'] Buddleja davidii 'Empire Blue'
Family: Buddlejaceae (Butterfly-bush family)

Empire Blue Butterfly Bush is a large deciduous shrub with long, arching branches, growing up to 10 ft or more tall. Leaves are lance-shaped, grey-green, white beneath. Flowers are scented, violet-blue in elongated panicles at ends of current year's growth. Buddleia are nectar rich plants, which encourage beneficial wildlife, such as butterflies ladybirds, lacewings and hoverflies into the garden. 'Empire Blue' is an old cultivar, raised by Karle A. Lucal and introduced by the Good & Reese nursery, Ohio, in 1941 (patented 1942). 'Empire Blue' was accorded the RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM) in 1993.

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Common name: Blue Himalayan Anemone
Botanical name: Anemone obtusiloba
Family: Ranunculaceae (Buttercup family)

Blue Himalayan Anemone is a perennial herb which is very variable, with 2-5 cm buttercup flowers in colors white, blue or yellow. Flowers are borne on short spreading, tufted stems about 5-15 cm long. Flowers have 5-7 elliptic petals which are silky haired beneath. The plant has many softly hairy basal leaves, 2-5 cm across. Leaves are rounded in outline, deeply 3-lobed. The lobes are further lobed or cut. Leaves just below the flowers are about 2.5 cm, 3-lobed and stalkless. Blue Himalayan Anemone is commonly found in forests, shrubberies, open slopes and grazing grounds, at altitudes of 2100-4300 m. Flowering: May-July.

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Common name: Forest Calanthe
Botanical name: Calanthe sylvatica
Family: Orchidaceae (Orchid family)
Synonyms: Calanthe masuca

Found in India, Nepal, Sikkim, China, Thailand, Malaysia and the Ryukyus Islands, Forest Calanthe is a terrestrial, medium sized orchid with small pseudobulbs and several, plicate leaves. Its blooms in the summmer on an erect, successively several to 10-15 flowered inflorescence.

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Common name: Sea Lavender, Statice
Botanical name: Limonium sinuatum
Family: Plumbaginaceae (Plumbago family)

Sea Lavender is an upright plant with dandelion-like leaves that grows to 16 inches tall and 12 inches across. It has clusters of small, papery flowers that bloom at ends of stems in summer and early fall, and are especially good for drying. The brightly colored, flat flower clusters are sought after for use as a dried material. The flowers have a papery texture and hold their color well. They may also be used in arrangements as a fresh flower. Best growth occurs when the plants are exposed to full sun and are planted in well-drained soil. Statice will tolerate heat and drought as well as salt spray.

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Common name: Wax Begonia, Fibrous Begonia, bedding begonia, perpetual begonia
Botanical name: Begonia x semperflorens-cultorum Family: Begoniaceae (Begonia family)

Wax Begonia are tough little compact garden plants, growing barely a foot high. However, they provide almost continuous color in full sun or partial shade locations for many months, and can easily be grown as a houseplant. The single or double flowers are available in various shades of red, pink, or white, and the shiny, large, succulent leaves are either green, variegated, or bronze-colored. It is the leaf coloration which attracts many people to Wax Begonia. The bronze-leaved begonias are better suited to full sun locations and plants will flower from spring. These kinds are seen more often in the warmer regions of India. Plant 12 inches apart in a bed to form a solid mass of color. If desired, plants can be dug up and potted, cut back by one-third, and will continue to bloom indoors. Wax Begonaias are a group of cultivars developed from hybridization of several species, especially B. cucullata and B. schmidtiana

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Common name: Freesia
Botanical name: Freesia spp.
Family: Iridaceae (Iris family)

Native to Africa, Freesia is a genus of 14-16 species of flowering plants in the Iris family. Freesias are strongly scented so they make a nice addition to any area. They have five to 10 single or double flowers. Stems are usually 10 to 18 inches long with little or no foliage. The bell-shaped freesia blooms up to seven days and comes in white, golden yellow, orange, red, pink, mauve, lavender, purple and bicolors. They are herbaceous plants which grow from a corm 1-2.5 cm diameter, which sends up a tuft of narrow leaves 10-30 cm long, and a sparsely branched stem 10-40 cm tall bearing a few leaves and a loose one-sided spike of fragrant narrowly funnel-shaped flowers.

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Common name: Daffodil, Lent lily
Botanical name: Narcissus tazetta
Family: Amaryllidaceae (Nargis family)

Commonly known in India as Nargis, daffodils are lilylike perennials with numerous narrow, straplike leaves, and a single flowering stalk, all arising from a subterranean bulb. Leaves grow upward, then droop out and down, and range from 6-30 inch in length. Flower stalks range from 4 in tall in the miniature varieties, up to 24 in tall in standard varieties. There can be from one to a dozen or more flowers per stalk. Flower colors are mostly white and yellow, but some kinds have orange, pink or red coronas. There are about 50 species of daffodils, and many thousands of named cultivars and hybrids of garden origin. Daffodils originated in Portugal, Spain, the southern coast of France and the northern coast of Morocco. Medieval Arabs used juice of the wild daffodil, N. pseudonarcissus as a cure for baldness.
The name Narcissus has it origin in the famous Greek myth about Narcissus, the handsome youth who was granted his great good looks by the Gods. However, his beauty was permanent and he was immortal, "If he never knows himself". Many nymphs fell in love with him, but he did not respond. A nubile wood nymph named Echo fell desperately in love, but Narcissus spurned her. She was so devastated by his rejection that she wept and wailed, and was ultimately consumed by her love. But the Gods were not pleased. The goddess, Nemesis, heard about poor Echo, and lured Narcissus to a shimmering lake. There in his vain state, he was unable to resist gazing at his own reflection, and fell in love with himself! As he gazed, the divine penalty took effect, and he simply faded away. In his place sprang up the golden flower that bears his name today. Now you know how Nargis came to be, and also why psychologists warn vain patients about the "Narcissus complex."

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Common name: Joy Perfume Tree, Champa
Botanical name: Magnolia champaca
Family: Magnoliaceae (magnolia family)
Synonyms: Michelia champaca

This variety of Champa produces golden yellow flowers. Champa is native to Indonesia, India and other neighbouring areas. It occurs naturally in the eastern Himalayan region. It is a large evergreen tree with a long straight bole of 18-21 m with a close tapering crown composed of ascending branches. The most interesting part of the tree are its flowers which have an extremely heady fragrance. This fragrance has made Champa flowers very popular and they have been part of the culture in India from time immemorial. They are used in religeous offering in various parts of India. On a warm humid night, the scents can easily be enjoyed several hundred feet away. Champa flowers are used to make the world's most expensive perfume 'Joy' in America.

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Common name: Grape Hyacinth
Botanical name: Muscari armeniacum
Family: Asparagaceae (Asparagus family)

Grape Hyacinths are so named because their clusters of small, bell-shaped, cobalt-blue flowers look like clusters of upside-down grapes. There is a famous planting of them at the Keukenhof Gardens in Holland which is known as the Blue River. This is a dense planting of Muscari armeniacum that winds through the Gardens, past trees, shrubs, and other spring flowers. Year after year, this is one of the most photographed scenes in this park.An additional benefit is that all Muscari have a lovely fragrance. The more you plant, the more fragrance you get. Conical racemes of slightly fragrant, tightly packed, bell-shaped, cobalt blue flowers having a thin white line around the rim of each bell are borne on 6-9" scapes. Each bulb produces 1-3 flower scapes. Clumps of narrow, fleshy, somewhat floppy, basal leaves up to 12" long appear in autumn and live through the cold of winter. Flower scapes emerge in early spring.

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Common name: Gold Spot Ginger Lily, Butterfly Lily Ginger
Botanical name: Hedychium coronarium var. chrysoleucum
Family: Zingiberaceae (Ginger family)

This is an unusual variety of Heydychium quite popular in many places in NE India, like Manipur. This wild form was collected from northeast India, and distributed in the West by nursery owner Ganesh Mani Pradhan of Sikkim, under the name Hedychium coronarium 'Gold Spot'. As the name suggests, it has a large golden orange mark at the base of one petal. This actually a form of Butterfly Ginger Lily which is a fragrant flower. Takhellei, as it is called in Manipuri, is used in Manipur to prepare what is known as a nachom with chingonglei (flowers of Mimosa Bush. Two or three flowers of the chingonglei is inserted inside the lily and the combination of the two flowers is regarded as divine. This ornamental flower combination is usually worn behind the ear by womenfolk.

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Common name: Night Blooming Cereus, Queen of the Night, Lady of the night, Dragon fruit
Botanical name: [Hylocereus undatus (Haw.) Britton & Rose] Hylocereus undatus
Family: Cactaceae (Cactus family)
Synonyms: Cereus undatus, Cereus tricostatus, Hylocereus tricostatus

Night-Blooming Cereus is a climbing cactus, native to the American tropics. The stems are 3-winged and green with wings that are 1 to 2 inches wide. Areoles are about 1.5 inches apart with 1-5 spines up to 1 cm long. They climb by use of aerial roots and can reach a height 30 feet or more growing on rocks and trees. As indicated by the name, the blooms appear at night and soon close after the day starts. In late spring to early summer the very large white fragrant flowers adorn the plant. Individual flower are 14 inches long by 12 inches across and very showy. If pollinated, they produce edible curious-looking red fruits up to 5 inches long. Fruit is popularly known as dragon-fruit.

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Common name: Fragrant Panama rose, Sweet Smelling Rondeletia
Botanical name: Rondeletia odorata
Family: Rubiaceae (coffee family)

Originally from Panama and Cuba, Fragrant Panama rose is an evergreen shrub, commonly cultivated in gardens in India. It grows up to 6-10 feet tall, with opposite sessile, ovate to oblong leaves with wavy margins, 2 inches long. From summer to fall, it blooms with beautiful, fragrant reddish orange, tubular flowers with yellow throats. Flowers occur in many-flowered cymes at the end of branches, up to 5 inch across. The Fragrant Panama rose was first collected by Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland in "Mexico: Guerrero: inter Alto del Peregrino et Río Papagallo", 'between loft of the wanderer (or peregrine's nest?) and the River Papagayo (parrot)'. The botanical name was published by Kunth in 1818 in the fourth edition of Nova Genera et Species Plantarum. The name honored Guillaume Rondelet, a natural historian, physician, and botany instructor at the university in Montpellier, France in the 16th century.

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Common name: Forest Spider Lily
Botanical name: Pancratium parvum
Family: Amaryllidaceae (Nargis family )

Pancratium is a genus of about 18 species flowering plants in the family Amaryllidaceae, which includes Nargis and Amaryllis lily. Forest spider lily is an endemic short plant which is seen in the first few weeks of Monsoons. The plants are herbaceous perennial, growing from bulbs and grow up to 30-50 cm high. The flowers are large, white and fragrant. The short lived flowers often appear before the leaves. Leaves are thin, 15-20 cm long, linear-lancelike. Flowers appear in an umbel of 2-4, enclosed in a membranous spathe. The stem carrying the flowers is 15-30 cm long. Stamens are enclosed in a staminal cup, much like Nargis. The plant prefers forested regions. Flowering & Fruiting period is May-July.

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Common Name: Viola Cornuta
Family: Violaceae
Genus: Viola

Viola cornuta (horned pansy, horned violet) is a low-growing, clump-forming temperate evergreen perennial in the genus Viola (violet), native to the Pyrenees and the Cordillera Cantábrica of northern Spain at altitude of 1,000–2,300 metres (3,300–7,500 ft).[1] It grows to 50 cm in height and spread. It has mid-green ovate leaves with rounded teeth, and masses of delicate pale violet flowers in early summer. The flower consists of five strap-shaped petals with a slender spur.

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Common Name: Viola arvensis
Family: Violaceae
Genus: Viola

Viola arvensis is a species of violet known by the common name field pansy. It is native to Europe, western Asia, and North Africa, and it is known on other continents as an introduced species and a weed of disturbed and cultivated areas.

Viola arvensis was shown to contain cyclotides, a class of peptides found in plants. The peptide cycloviolacin O2 in particular has shown to possess cytotoxic activity against human cancer cells and is therefore looked at as a potential drug lead

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Common name: Pansy, Pansy Violet
Botanical name: Viola x wittrockiana
Family: Violaceae (violet family)

The Pansy is a plant cultivated as a garden flower. Lovely grown in pots, troughs, or as mass plantings, pansies have never gone out of fashion. These lightly scented flowers are available in a huge range of colors. The name pansy is from the French word pensée, meaning thought or remembrance. The dark centers in some flowers are thought to resemble little faces. They grow only six to ten inches high and can spread up to ten to twelve inches across. Pansies can be distinguished from Violets in that while the petals of Violets may have dark lines on them, Pansy flowers have big blotches that make them strongly resemble faces. However, with more and more new cultivars of both being created, the distinction has somewhat blurred. They grow well in sun or semi-shade, and can tolerate cool weather. The modern Garden Pansy (V. × wittrockiana) is a plant of complex hybrid origin involving at least three species, V. tricolor (Wild Pansy or Heartsease), V. altaica and V. lutea.

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Common name: Dog flower, Snapdragon
Botanical name: Antirrhinum majus
Family: Scrophulariaceae (dog flower family)

The flower which goes by the name of dog-flower in India, is known as snapdragon in other places. Dog flowers, like many garden flowers, have a long history of enjoyment. Children love opening the jaw of the flower and watching it snap shut. Opening the dog's jaw in just the right place is a skill passed down from parent to child just like the love of gardening. Dog flowers are available in every color but blue. They are, in botanical terminology, zygomorphic, with assymetrical petals, and stamens and stigma enclosed between the two petal lips comprising fused petals. Dog flowers have upright stems dressed with two-lipped tubular flowers. The gradual opening of the buds provides color for an extended period of time. Although technically short-lived perennials, snapdragons are usually grown as annuals. Most cultivars come true from seed. Native originally to North Africa, Spain and along the Mediterranean to Italy, snapdragons have become naturalized in India.

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Common name: Daylily 'Frans Hals'
Botanical name: Hemerocallis hybrids
Family: Liliaceae (lily family)

A striking flower with alternating yellow and yellow-striped red petals. Daylilies are clump forming perennials with arching, grasslike or straplike leaves 10-40 in long, depending on the cultivar. All the leaves arise from the base of the plant in two opposing ranks, resulting in a fanlike appearance which becomes obscured as the clump enlarges. A leafless stalk, called a scape, extends above the leaves and bears the flowers. Most scapes have two or more branches, each with several flower buds. In most varieties the flowers open one at a time, and last only one day, but the blooming period may extend for weeks, even months. There are hundreds of societies dedicated to the cultivation of daylilies and the propagation of new cultivars.

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Common name: Gladiolus, Natal lily
Botanical name: Gladiolus dalenii/natalensis
Family: Iridaceae (Iris family)

The name "Gladiolus" is derived from the Latin word "gladius", meaning "sword", for the shape of its leaves. An ancient name for the gladiolus was "xiphium," from the Greek word "xiphos", also meaning sword. The gladiolus flower is the birth flower for August; it also represented the Roman gladiators. Gladiolus are native to the mountains of South America. They are widely grown in India. Gladiolus are easy to grow, and are the favourite flowers in India for bouquets, hence their popularity. Blossoms come in a wide range of colors and bicolors, including blue. The blossoms will open from the bottom first. Harvest spikes of Gladiolus just before the top blossoms open. The top blossoms will open indoors.

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Common name: Lobster claw, Hanging heliconia
Botanical name: Heliconia rostrata
Family: Heliconiaceae (heliconia family)

Of all the Heliconias around you will probably be most familiar with this one. Heliconia rostrata is one of the most recognized and widely grown species, but that doesn't take away from the fact that it is still considered one of the most beautiful. Heliconia rostrata has a pendent inflorescence, the bracts are red with greenish yellow edges. Each bract resembles a lobster's claw, hence the common name. It is a very popular species, and one of the more common in cultivation. Heliconia rostrata is one of the most recognized and widely grown species, but that doesn't take away from the fact that it is still considered one of the most beautiful. The inflorescence it produces is one of the most colorful one will ever encounter. The mature plant normally starts to flower in the summer. The flowers last a long time and make an excellent cut flower. It is an easy grower in tropical areas but some room is required because the stalks can reach 7 feet in height.

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Common name: Orange Tephrosia, Orange Hoary Pea
Botanical name: Tephrosia tinctoria
Family: Fabaceae (Pea family)
Synonyms: Galega tinctoria, Cracca tinctoria, Tephrosia pulcherrima

Orange Tephrosia is a perennial undershrub, found growing among bushes in rocky place. The branches are angular, with yellow-brown hairs. Alternate arranged leaves are compound, ovate-lance-like or ovate-triangular. Leaflets are 3-5 or sometimes, solitary, each 3-9 x 11.2-2.5 cm, terminal leaflet larger, oblong or obovate, apex rounded, mucronate, base rounded. Orange flowers occur in racemes of few flowers, in leaf axil or at the end of branches. The peduncle carrying the raceme is to 6 cm long, longer than leaflets, yellow-hairy. Sepals are united united below in a tube, and are separated into 5 linear sepals, longer than tube. Petals 5, free, 1-1.2 cm long ; standard petal hairy without. Flowering: October.

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Common name: Red Nerine Lily, Guernsey Lily, Berglelie
Botanical name: Nerine sarniensis
Family: Amaryllidaceae (Nargis family )

Red Nerine Lily is a beautiful plant from South Africa. It is named for Nerine, a water nymph in Greek mythology. According to a story, a ship carrying these beautiful Red Nerine Lilies sank near the island of Guernsey near UK, and took root there - hence they are named sarniensis, Sarnia being the Roman name for Guernsey. The bulbs begin active growth in early autumn with the emergence of flower-buds, followed shortly afterwards by leaves. The spectacular, glittering blooms are quite unmistakable - the relatively broad petals radiate outwards in all directions and are strongly recurved and wavy along their margins. The inflorescence carries 7-15 flowers and the stamens stand erect and are prominent due to the recurved petals. Flower color ranges from crimson to scarlet and from pale pink to deep rose-pink, and there is also a most attractive, pure white form. The glittering 'gold dust' seen in bright light on the petals of the red forms of this species is caused by the reflection of light by the red pigment present in the epidermal cell layer, which overlays several layers of yellow pigment beneath it. The spreading, strap-shaped leaves of Nerine sarniensis vary markedly in color, from pale to dark green or gray. This species is easily cultivated in a free-draining medium such as equal parts of river sand, loam, and sifted, acid compost. The bulbs are best planted with their necks fully exposed above soil level. It is an ideal subject for shallow containers.

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Common name: Daylily 'Frans Hals'
Botanical name: Hemerocallis hybrids
Family: Liliaceae (lily family)

A striking flower with alternating yellow and yellow-striped red petals. Daylilies are clump forming perennials with arching, grasslike or straplike leaves 10-40 in long, depending on the cultivar. All the leaves arise from the base of the plant in two opposing ranks, resulting in a fanlike appearance which becomes obscured as the clump enlarges. A leafless stalk, called a scape, extends above the leaves and bears the flowers. Most scapes have two or more branches, each with several flower buds. In most varieties the flowers open one at a time, and last only one day, but the blooming period may extend for weeks, even months. There are hundreds of societies dedicated to the cultivation of daylilies and the propagation of new cultivars.

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Common name: Amaryllis Lily
Botanical name: Hippeastrum hybrid
Family: Amaryllidaceae (Nargis family)

Hippeastrum is a genus of about 70-75 species and 600+ hybrids and cultivars of bulbous plants in the family Amaryllidaceae, native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas from Argentina north to Mexico and the Caribbean. Some species are grown for their large showy flowers. These plants are popularly but erroneously known as Amaryllis, which is an African genus, in the same family. "Hippeastrum" is Latin for "horseman's star" (also known today as "knight's star") and was chosen in 1837 by the Honorable Reverend William Herbert, Dean of Manchester. No one is entirely sure why he picked this name although buds on the verge of opening do look something like a horse's ear and clearly the blossoms do resemble six-pointed stars. Colors include red, rose, pink, white, orange, yellow and pale green with variations on these including different colored stripes and edges on the petals. Some flowers have uniform colors or patterns on all six petals while others have more pronounced colors on the upper petals than on the lower ones.

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Common name: African tulip tree, Fountaintree
Botanical name: Spathodea campanulata
Family: Bignoniaceae (Jacaranda family)

One of the world's most spectacular flowering trees, African tulip tree is a large upright tree with glossy deep green pinnate leaves and glorious orange scarlet flowers. It may grow to 80 ft on an ideal site, but most specimens are much smaller. The tree has a stout, tapering, somewhat buttressed trunk covered in warty light gray bark. The lateral branches are short and thick. The 1-2 ft long opposite leaves, which emerge a bronzy color, are massed at the ends of the branches. They are composed of 5-19 deeply veined oval leaflets. The horn shaped velvety olive buds appear in upturned whorls at the branch tips. A few at a time, the buds of the lowest tier bend outward and open into big crinkled red orange tuliplike bells with red streaked gold throats, frilly yellow edges, and four brown-anthered stamens in the center. They are followed by 5-10 in green brown fingerlike pods pointing upwards and outwards above the foliage. Each of these pods contains about 500 tissue papery seeds. The tree flowers in spurts all through the growing season, but peak bloom is usually in the spring.

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Common name: Cathcart's Esmeralda
Botanical name: [Esmeralda cathcartii
Family: Orchidaceae (Orchid family)
Synonyms: Arachnanthe cathcartii, Arachnis cathcartii, Vanda cathcartii

Cathcart's Esmeralda is a giant sized, warm to cool growing, vanda-like epiphytic orchid with an elongate stem. Alternately arranged leaves are oblong, leathery. The plant blooms in the spring and summer on a stout, axillary, 18 cm long, pendulous or horizontal, 3-6 flowered inflorescence. Flowers are waxy, very fragrant, long-lived flowers. For cultivation, the plant needs a wood slat basket and cultural conditions similar to Vanda. Cathcart's Esmeralda is found in the NE India, eastern Himalayas, Nepal, Bhutan and Sikkim in tropical broadleaf forests near streams in cool shade at elevations of 600-2000 m.

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Common name: Balsam, Garden balsam, Rose balsam, Spotted snapweed
Botanical name: [Impatiens balsamina. L
Family: Balsaminaceae (Balsam family)

Native to Southeast Asia, this erect, sparsely-branched, tender annual plant is a species of impatiens. These plants which grows upto 18 inches tall have thick-juicy stems and medium spiky edged light green leaves. Flowers can be single or double around 2 inches diameter, bloom singly or in small clusters from the leaf axils, close to the stem and the colour ranges from white, pink, rose, red, violet, bicolour etc. Each blossom has a columbine-like spur on the back. Sometimes called Touch-Me-Not as seeds explode from ripe pods when touched.

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Common name: Delta-shaped Aloe
Botanical name: Aloe deltoideodonta
Family: Asphodelaceae (Aloe family)

Delta-shaped Aloe is considered a small clumping Aloe. When the plant becomes too large, it forms large clusters of new shoots or "pups" around its base. It has dark-green leaves with tiny white streaks and some spots. The short, triangular shaped leaves are lined with very small soft teeth. Flowers are pinkish-red.

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Common name: Chameleon Plant
Botanical name: Houttuynia cordata
Family: Saururaceae (lizard-tail family)

Chameleon Plant is a perennial ground cover plant. It is been marketed as a creeping ornamental garden plant, which has heart shaped leaves up to 75 mm long and almost as wide. The leaves are comprised of a mixture of colors from green through yellow to red, the brighter colors being more prominent when grown in full sunlight. The leaves are opposite along thin erect stems which arise from slender rhizomes. The minute flowers are densely clustered on short spikes. At the base of each spike are four white petal-like parts. The leaves of Chameleon Plant are heart-shaped, usually green, but take on various colors like variegated cream, bronze, scarlet, and have a peppery scent when crushed. The leaves make a marvelous flavoring in salads. In Manipur, people love it and consume it in various ways, as salad, also in pakodas.
Medicinal uses: [Warning: Unverified information] Leaf-extract is used in dysentry, rhizome is used i stomach ulcers. Boiled extract of rhizomes is taken for muscular pains due to overstrain.

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Common Name: Pelargonium zonale
Family: Geraniaceae.

Pelargonium is a genus of flowering plants which includes about 200 species of perennials, succulents, and shrubs, commonly known as geraniums (in the United States also storksbills). Confusingly, Geranium is the correct botanical name of a separate genus of related plants often called cranesbills or hardy geraniums. Both genera belong to the family Geraniaceae. Linnaeus originally included all the species in one genus, Geranium, but they were later separated into two genera by Charles L’Héritier in 1789.

Pelargonium species are evergreen perennials indigenous to Southern Africa, and are drought and heat tolerant, but can tolerate only minor frosts. They are extremely popular garden plants, grown as bedding plants in temperate regions.

Pelargonium leaves are usually alternate, and palmately lobed or pinnate, often on long stalks, and sometimes with light or dark patterns. The erect stems bear five-petaled flowers in umbel-like clusters called pseudoumbels. The flower has a single symmetry plane (zygomorphic), which distinguishes it from the Geranium flower, which has radial symmetry (actinomorphic).

Pelargonium species are native to southern Africa and Australia, and the north of New Zealand. Others are native to southern Madagascar, eastern Africa, Yemen, Asia Minor and two very isolated islands in the south Atlantic Ocean (Saint Helena and Tristan da Cunha). Most of the Pelargonium plants cultivated in Europe and North America have their origins in South Africa.

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Common Name: Pelargonium
Botanical Name: Pelargonium quercifolium
Family: Geraniaceae.

Pelargonium quercifolium is a species of geranium known by the common name oakleaf geranium. It is native to South Africa, and it is a commonly grown ornamental plant. This is a densely branching shrub easily exceeding one meter in height, taller than wide. The stems are soft and coated in green hairs when young and become woody with age. The glandular, sticky, aromatic leaves are divided into 5 or 7 stiff, coarsely toothed lobes. The inflorescence is an umbel of up to 10 flowers with five petals up to 2.5 centimeters long. The flowers are pink with darker pink markings.

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Common name: Magenta Storksbill
Botanical name: Pelargonium rodneyanum
Family: Geraniaceae (Geranium family)

Magenta Storksbill, is a member of Geranium family. Naturally occurring in fragmented populations within heathland, rocky outcrops, sclerophyll forest and woodland areas of South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria. P. rodneyanum is commercially cultivated for use as a colourful potted, rockery or bedding display plant. A herbaceous perennial, P. rodneyanum reaches 45 cm in height. The light to dark green leaves are ovate to narrow ovate with crenate, shallow lobes and a 3-10 cm long petiole. The umbel inflorescence usually consists of 7 flowers on slender pedicels 13-22 mm in length, which rise from a whorl of 6 bracts on a 5-12 cm long peduncle. It has five petals that are deep pink in colour and irregular in shape and size. The two larger petals are marked with deep magenta streaks and are positioned slightly separate from the lower petals. Of the ten stamens produced, 7-8 are fertile, slightly longer and bear anthers. The fruit forms on pilose mericarps which, when ripe, each contain a 1.5 mm long, dark grey seed.

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Common name: Ground Iris, Bowl tube iris
Botanical name: Iris macrosiphon
Family: Iridaceae (Iris family)

Ground Iris is a flowering plant endemic to California, where it occurs in sunny grasslands, meadows, and open woodlands. In India it has been introduced as a garden plant. The leaves are very slender, 2.5-5 mm wide, and blue-green in color. The flower is variable, golden yellow to cream or pale lavender to deep blue-purple, generally with darker veins. The flower stems are usually short, less than 25 cm, which distinguishes it from other species. Flowers in spring.

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Common name: Leopard Flower, Blackberry lily
Botanical name: Iris domestica
Family: Iridaceae (Iris family)
Synonyms: Belamcanda chinensis

Leopard Flower is an perennial herb, with leaves in fans on branching stems. Lance-shaped leaves will reach 2 to 3 feet. Flowers are 5 cm across, borne on long, slender stalks, at the end of stems. They have 6 petals, yellow to orange-red, spotted with maroon or purple, which is what gave it the name leopard flower. Fruit is a black berry. The name Blackberry Lily derives from the clusters of shiny black seeds exposed when seed capsules split open. In India, Leopard Flower is found in the Himalayas at altitudes of 1000-2300 m. Flowering: July-August.

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Common name: Coral Jasmine, Tree of Sorrow, Queen of the night
Botanical name: [Nyctanthes arbor-tristis L.] Nyctanthes arbor-tristis
Family: Oleaceae (Jasmine family)

Coral Jasmine should not be confused with the West Indian shrub Cestrum nocturnum, also called queen of the night. Nyctanthes arbortristis literally means, night-blooming sad tree. Grows as large shrub or small tree depending on how it is trained. The large attractive leaves are rough and hairy. The sweet scented flowers are small, attractive with white petals and an orange-red tube in center and bloom profusely, opening at night and drop off in the morning, thus making a carpet of flowers in the morning. Used for worship. Needs warmth during winter months. Use well drained soil and fertilize once a month.

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Common name: Glossy Abelia
Botanical name: Abelia X grandiflora
Family: Caprifoliaceae (Honeysorryle family)

Glossy abelia is an evergreen shrub with arching branches and a rounded shape, which can grow up to 10 ft tall, and as wide as 12 ft. In reality the garden specimens are about 3-5 ft tall. Oppositely arranged glossy, dark green leaves are about 1-2 in long and half as wide. The fragrant, funnel shaped flowers are white, tinged with pink, and about an inch long. The long lasting sepals are rose pink in color, spreading. There are several named cultivars in the trade, including some with darker pink flowers, some with yellow or variegated leaves, some with a creeping habit, and some that stay small. Glossy abelia is a hybrid species that resulted from a cross between the deciduous Chinese abelia (Abelia chinensis) and an evergreen species A. uniflora, also from China.

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Common name: Petunia
Botanical name: Petunia hybrida
Family: Solanaceae (potato family)

Petunias are one of the best summer flowering annuals for massed display, and they also look good in pots and hanging baskets. The color range is huge, with varieties available in every color except orange. You can expect blooms throughout the summer and into autumn if faded flowers are removed regularly. Plants quickly grow to a height of 10-16 inches. The basic petunia flower is funnel shape, but hybridizers have created many variations including singles and doubles with petals that have wavy or fringed margins. Many patterns are available in stripes, speckles and borders in an extensive color palette that includes purple, mauve, lavender, pink, red, white and yellow. Leaves and stems are sticky to the touch and have a distinctive odor.

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Common name: Purple Petunia
Botanical name: Petunia hybrida
Family: Solanaceae (potato family)

Petunias are one of the best summer flowering annuals for massed display, and they also look good in pots and hanging baskets. The color range is huge, with varieties available in every color except orange. You can expect blooms throughout the summer and into autumn if faded flowers are removed regularly. Plants quickly grow to a height of 10-16 inches. The basic petunia flower is funnel shape, but hybridizers have created many variations including singles and doubles with petals that have wavy or fringed margins. Many patterns are available in stripes, speckles and borders in an extensive color palette that includes purple, mauve, lavender, pink, red, white and yellow. Leaves and stems are sticky to the touch and have a distinctive odor.

(https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/384325_159827990828666_1833717472_n.jpg) (http://www.friendstamilchat.com)

Common name: Pink and White Petunia
Botanical name: Petunia hybrida
Family: Solanaceae (potato family)

Petunias are one of the best summer flowering annuals for massed display, and they also look good in pots and hanging baskets. The color range is huge, with varieties available in every color except orange. You can expect blooms throughout the summer and into autumn if faded flowers are removed regularly. Plants quickly grow to a height of 10-16 inches. The basic petunia flower is funnel shape, but hybridizers have created many variations including singles and doubles with petals that have wavy or fringed margins. Many patterns are available in stripes, speckles and borders in an extensive color palette that includes purple, mauve, lavender, pink, red, white and yellow. Leaves and stems are sticky to the touch and have a distinctive odor.

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Common name: Pink and White Petunia
Botanical name: Petunia hybrida
Family: Solanaceae (potato family)

Petunias are one of the best summer flowering annuals for massed display, and they also look good in pots and hanging baskets. The color range is huge, with varieties available in every color except orange. You can expect blooms throughout the summer and into autumn if faded flowers are removed regularly. Plants quickly grow to a height of 10-16 inches. The basic petunia flower is funnel shape, but hybridizers have created many variations including singles and doubles with petals that have wavy or fringed margins. Many patterns are available in stripes, speckles and borders in an extensive color palette that includes purple, mauve, lavender, pink, red, white and yellow. Leaves and stems are sticky to the touch and have a distinctive odor.

(https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/576367_183105221834276_641694058_n.jpg) (http://www.friendstamilchat.com)

Common name: Pink Petunia
Botanical name: Petunia hybrida
Family: Solanaceae (potato family)

Petunias are one of the best summer flowering annuals for massed display, and they also look good in pots and hanging baskets. The color range is huge, with varieties available in every color except orange. You can expect blooms throughout the summer and into autumn if faded flowers are removed regularly. Plants quickly grow to a height of 10-16 inches. The basic petunia flower is funnel shape, but hybridizers have created many variations including singles and doubles with petals that have wavy or fringed margins. Many patterns are available in stripes, speckles and borders in an extensive color palette that includes purple, mauve, lavender, pink, red, white and yellow. Leaves and stems are sticky to the touch and have a distinctive odor.

(https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/430830_192401617571303_2036101258_n.jpg) (http://www.friendstamilchat.com)

Common name: Purple Petunia
Botanical name: Petunia hybrida
Family: Solanaceae (potato family)

Petunias are one of the best summer flowering annuals for massed display, and they also look good in pots and hanging baskets. The color range is huge, with varieties available in every color except orange. You can expect blooms throughout the summer and into autumn if faded flowers are removed regularly. Plants quickly grow to a height of 10-16 inches. The basic petunia flower is funnel shape, but hybridizers have created many variations including singles and doubles with petals that have wavy or fringed margins. Many patterns are available in stripes, speckles and borders in an extensive color palette that includes purple, mauve, lavender, pink, red, white and yellow. Leaves and stems are sticky to the touch and have a distinctive odor.

(https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/945205_318700304941433_1887771997_n.jpg) (http://www.friendstamilchat.com)

Common name: Pink and White Petunia
Botanical name: Petunia hybrida
Family: Solanaceae (potato family)

Petunias are one of the best summer flowering annuals for massed display, and they also look good in pots and hanging baskets. The color range is huge, with varieties available in every color except orange. You can expect blooms throughout the summer and into autumn if faded flowers are removed regularly. Plants quickly grow to a height of 10-16 inches. The basic petunia flower is funnel shape, but hybridizers have created many variations including singles and doubles with petals that have wavy or fringed margins. Many patterns are available in stripes, speckles and borders in an extensive color palette that includes purple, mauve, lavender, pink, red, white and yellow. Leaves and stems are sticky to the touch and have a distinctive odor.

FTC Forum

ENGLISH => GENERAL => Topic started by: MysteRy on March 13, 2013, 08:55:46 PM