~ World Of Flowers ~

[MysteRy]

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.

[MysteRy]

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.

[MysteRy]

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.

[MysteRy]

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.

[MysteRy]

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.

[MysteRy]

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.

[MysteRy]

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.

[MysteRy]

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.

[MysteRy]

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.

[MysteRy]

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.

[MysteRy]

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.

[MysteRy]

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.

[MysteRy]

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.

[MysteRy]

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.