Yellow Cosmos

Yellow Cosmos, originally uploaded by kadavoor.

Cosmos sulphureus

Cosmos sulphureus is also known as Sulfur Cosmos and Yellow Cosmos. Its native habitat is Central America. This species of Cosmos is considered a half-hardy annual, although plants may re-appear via self-sowing for several years. Its foliage is opposite and pinnately divided. The original and its cultivars appear in shades of yellow, orange, and red. It is especially popular in Korea and Japan, where it is often seen in mass plantings along roadsides.

Plants of yellow cosmos can range in height from 4 to 7 feet but the cultivated varieties such as 'Crest Red', 'Ladybird Dwarf Red', 'Ladybird Dwarf Gold', 'Ladybird Dwarf Orange', 'Ladybird Dwarf Lemon', and Yellow Cosmos - Klondyke Mix are not as tall. The flower heads are composed of disc and ray flowers. The disc or center flowers are yellow: the ray, or outer petals range from pale yellow or mustard to orange-scarlet. Red is a relatively recent addition to the color range of C. sulphureus. The native species is golden-yellow to orange.

Taken at Kadavoor, Kerala, India

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmos_sulphureus

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/archives/parsons/flowers/cosmos/cosmos.html

www.missouriplants.com/Others/Cosmos_sulphureus_page.html

www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Cosmos orange.html

Black Marsh Trotter again...

Black Marsh Trotter again..., originally uploaded by kadavoor.

Tramea Limbata Male

I wonder the way he perches. He just used his middle legs; the long back legs are dropped like anchors and the folded front ones look more like arms.

Taken at Kadavoor, Kerala, India

Bauhinia acuminata

Bauhinia acuminata, originally uploaded by kadavoor.

Bauhinia acuminata

Common: Dwarf White Orchid Tree, White Bauhinia, Kaa-long, Snowy Orchid.

Malayalam: Mandaaram

Bauhinia acuminata is a species of flowering shrub native to tropical southeastern Asia. Common names include: Dwarf White Bauhinia, White Orchid-tree and Snowy Orchid-tree.

It grows two to three meters tall. Like the other Bauhinia species, the leaves are bilobed, shaped like an ox hoof; they are 6 to 15 centimeters long and broad, with the apical cleft up to 5 cm deep; the petiole is 1.5 to 4 centimeters long. The flowers are fragrant, 8 to 12 centimeters in diameter, with five white petals, ten yellow-tipped stamens and a green stigma. The fruit is a pod 7.5 to 15 centimeters long and 1.5 to 1.8 centimeters broad. The species occurs in deciduous forests and scrub.

It is widely cultivated throughout the tropics as an ornamental plant. It may be found as an escape from cultivation in some areas, and has become naturalised.

Medical Uses: Root-decoction: boiled with oil and applied to burns; Stem-bark: antidote to poison; Decoction of bark of leaf: in biliousness, bladder stone, leprosy and asthma.

Taken at Kadavoor, Kerala, India

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bauhinia_acuminata

http://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Dwarf%20White%20Orchid%20Tree.html

www.hear.org/pier/species/bauhinia_acuminata.htm

Crane flies in love

Crane flies in love, originally uploaded by kadavoor.

Common Names: Daddy long legs, Mosquito hawks, Gallinipper, Gollywhopper

Crane flies are insects in the family Tipulidae. Despite their common names, as adults, crane flies do not prey on mosquitoes, nor do they bite humans. Some larval crane flies are predatory and may eat mosquito larvae. Adult crane flies feed on nectar or they do not feed at all; once they become adults, most crane fly species exist as adults only to mate and die.

Taken at Kadavoor, Kerala, India

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crane_fly

Grape-leaf Wood Rose

Grape-leaf Wood Rose, originally uploaded by kadavoor.

Merremia vitifolia

Synonyms: Convolvulus vitifolius, Ipomoea vitifolia

Grape-leaf Wood Rose is large twinning or prostrate herb. The stems are purplish when old, and grow to 4 m long. Leaf blade is circular in outline, 5-18 by 5-16 cm, cordate at the base, palmately 5-7-lobed. Flower-buds narrow-ovoid, acute. Flower tube is funnel shaped -6 cm long, glabrous, bright yellow, paler towards the base. Anthers spirally twisted. Found both in regions with a feeble and in those with a rather strong dry season, in open grasslands, thickets, and hedges, along fields, in teak-forests, along edges of secondary forests, on river-banks and waysides. Grape-leaf Wood Rose is native to India and Ceylon to Indo-China and the Andamans, throughout Malaysia.

Taken at Anakulam, Kerala, India

www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Grape-leaf Wood Rose.html

Tapeworm Plant

Tapeworm Plant, originally uploaded by kadavoor.

This is a medical plant uses as a remedy for poisonous intake by animals.

Homalocladium platycladum

Syn: Muehlenbeckia platyclada

Common: Tapeworm Plant, Ribbon bush, Centipede plant

This plant from the Polygonaceae familly has ornamental flattened stems that look like ribbons or tapeworms. They will reach 3-4 feet in pots, but in nature they will reach up to 12 feet. They are short-lived, and some plants are even leafless. This plant has small green-white flowers that appear in group in spring. It can be propagated with seeds or cuttings. It is a native to the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea.

Taken at Anakulam, Kerala, India

[Thanks Tony Rodd for the details.]

toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/Homalocladium_platycladum.htm

I love trees

I love trees, originally uploaded by kadavoor.

For tree lovers

Taken at Anakulam, Kerala, India