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[MysteRy]

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.

[MysteRy]

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.

[MysteRy]

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.

[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: 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

[MysteRy]

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.

[MysteRy]

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."

[MysteRy]

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.

[MysteRy]

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.

[MysteRy]

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.

[MysteRy]

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.

[MysteRy]

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.

[MysteRy]

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.

[MysteRy]

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.

[MysteRy]

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