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

spidy

, originally uploaded by kadavoor.

I saw this spidy with her web weaved just over a water stream. I think her plan is to trap the dragonflies and other little bugs visiting the stream.

Taken at Anakulam, Kerala, India

Probably Orthetrum Pruinosum Female

, originally uploaded by kadavoor.

Orthetrum Pruinosum and Orthetrum Chrysis females look similar, so it is very difficult for me to distinguish them.

Taken at Kadavoor, Kerala, India

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthetrum

Patience and intelligence beat the strength

Patience and intelligence beat the strength, originally uploaded by kadavoor.

This little spidy is waiting patiently for his dinner. We can see how intelligent and talented he is.

Taken at Kadavoor, Kerala, India

Short-horned rice grasshopper

, originally uploaded by kadavoor.

Playing with short-horned rice grasshoppers in our paddy field

Taken at Kadavoor, Kerala, India

False Daisy

False Daisy, originally uploaded by kadavoor.

Eclipta prostrata

Synonyms: Eclipta erecta, Eclipta alba, Eclipta punctata, Verbesina prostrate

Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

Eclipta alba (L.) Hassk. (syn. Eclipta prostrata L.), commonly known as False Daisy , yerba de tago, andbhringraj, is a plant belonging to the family Asteraceae. Root well developed, cylindrical, greyish. Floral heads 6-8 mm in diameter, solitary, white, achene compressed and narrowly winged. It grows commonly in moist places as a weed all over the world. It is widely distributed throughout India, China, Thailand, and Brazil. In ayurvedic medicine, the leaf extract is considered a powerful liver tonic, rejuvenative, and especially good for the hair. A black dye obtained fromEclipta alba is used for dyeing hair and tattooing. Eclipta alba also has traditional external uses, like athlete foot, eczema and dermatitis, on the scalp to address hair loss and the leaves have been used in the treatment of scorpion stings. It is used as anti-venom against snakebite in China and Brazil (Mors, 1991). It is reported to improve hair growth and colour
Taken at Kadavoor, Kerala, India

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eclipta_alba

www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/False%20Daisy.html

www.missouriplants.com/Whiteopp/Eclipta_alba_page.html

Trumpet Tail

Trumpet Tail, originally uploaded by kadavoor.

He was sitting on ground level in a bumpy area so it is difficult for me to lower the camera to capture him.

Acisoma panorpoides, male

Common Names: Grizzled Pintail, Pintail, Trumpet Tail

A small blue dragonfly with bulged abdomen, closely associated with water, commonly found among reeds in ponds and tanks. The species has a very weak and short flight. Breeds in marshes associated with tanks and ponds.

Taken at Kadavoor, Kerala, India

http://www.ias.ac.in/initiat/sci_ed/lifescape/odonates-dragonflies.pdf

http://odonata-malaysia.blogspot.com/2009/05/libellulidae-acisoma-panorpoides.html

www.greglasley.net/pintail.html

www.asia-dragonfly.net/globalResults.php?Species=1289

Rice flowers in the paddy field

Rice flowers in the paddy field, originally uploaded by kadavoor.

Rice is the seed of a monocot plant Oryza sativa. As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East, South, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and the West Indies. It is the grain with the second highest worldwide production, after maize ("corn").

Since a large portion of maize crops are grown for purposes other than human consumption, rice is probably the most important grain with regards to human nutrition and caloric intake, providing more than one fifth of the calories consumed worldwide by the human species.

Rice takes 150–200 days to mature in warm, wet conditions. During its growing period, it needs to be flooded either by the heavy monsoon rains or by irrigation. This restricts the cultivation of swamp rice, the usual kind, to level land and terraces. Outside Asia, centres of rice production include the Po Valley in Italy, and Louisiana, the Carolinas, and California in the USA.

The rice plant is unique among cereal crops in that it is grown standing in water. The rice stem is adapted to allow oxygen to pass downwards to the waterlogged roots. The grain is usually white, but there are red, brown, and black varieties. The thin skin of the grain is rich in oils, minerals, and vitamins.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_production_in_India

Taken at Kadavoor, Kerala, India

Nut Sedge

Nut Sedge, originally uploaded by kadavoor.

Botanical name: Cyperus rotundus

Common names: Common Nut Sedge, coco grass, nutgrass, purple nutsedge

Family: Cyperaceae (Sedge family)

Nutsedges are perennial weeds in the sedge family that superficially resemble grasses. Nutsedges grow mainly from tubers or "nutlets" formed on rhizomes, mostly in the upper foot of soil. Leaves are V-shaped in cross section and arranged in sets of three at the base. Stems are triangular in cross section. Tubers of yellow nutsedge are produced singly while purple nutsedge tubers are produced in chains, several on a single rhizome.

Taken at Kadavoor, Kerala, India

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyperus_rotundus

http://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Common%20Nut%20Sedge.html

www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/WEEDS/nutsedge.html

Stonebreaker

Stonebreaker, originally uploaded by kadavoor.

Phyllanthus niruri

Malayalam: Keezhanelli

The annual herb Phyllanthus niruri is best known by the common names Stonebreaker(Eng.), Chanca Piedra(Sp.) and Quebra Pedra(Port.), Seed-Under-Leaf(Eng.) but has many other common names in assorted languages, including dukong anak, dukong-dukong anak, amin buah, rami buah, turi hutan, and bhuiaonla. The herb is known as Nela Nelli in Kannada. It is a widespread tropical plant commonly found in coastal areas. It is a relative of the spurges, belonging to the leafflower genus of Family Phyllanthaceae.

Extracts of this herb have shown promise in treating a wide range of human diseases. Some of the medicinal properties suggested by numerous preclinical trials are anti-hepatotoxic, anti-lithic, anti-hypertensive, anti-HIV and anti-hepatitis B.

It blocks DNA polymerase, the enzyme needed for the hepatitis B virus to reproduce. It also prevent from jaundice,diabetes, dyspepsia, ulcers, sores, swellings, ophthalmia and chronic dysentery. Whole plant is useful for the treatment of some forms of gonorrhea, menorrhagia, dropsy, menorrhagia and other genito- urinary affections of a similar type. A poultice of the leaves mixed with salt cures itch and other skin affections. It is bitter, astringent, cold, anti-inflammatory, hepatoprotective and useful in liver disorders, cough, asthma, jaundice, spleen disorders. Phyllanthus may help decrease the amount of hepatitis B virus found in the blood stream.

Taken at Kadavoor, Kerala, India

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phyllanthus_niruri

www.rain-tree.com/chanca.htm

www.motherherbs.com/phyllanthus-niruri.html

Ground Skimmer

Ground Skimmer, originally uploaded by kadavoor.

Ground Skimmer (Diplacodes trivialis) Female

Other names: Chalky percher, Blue percher

A small greenish yellow or blue dragonfly with black markings. One of the commonest dragonflies in gardens, fields and playgrounds. This dragonfly usually perches on the ground and rarely flies above 1m. Breeds in muddy puddles, tanks and pond edges. Flight throughout the year. Distribute throughout Oriental region and Pacific islands.

http://www.asia-dragonfly.net/globalResults.php?Species=1349

http://www.nerdybirders.com/html/dragonflies/groundskimmer.html

http://www.ias.ac.in/initiat/sci_ed/lifescape/odonates-dragonflies.pdf

http://cms.jcu.edu.au/discovernature/misc/JCUDEV_015397

I love you

I love you, originally uploaded by kadavoor.

“I came down from heaven out of love for you; I lived for you, I died for you, and I created the heaven for you.”

Jesus to us through St. Maria Faustina Kowalska (Diary: 853)

May you experience the unfathomable love and mercy of our Lord personally in this holy week. Have a most hopeful Easter.

-Jee & his little friends.

I’m successful in my life.

, originally uploaded by kadavoor.

I’m successful in my life.

Taken at Kadavoor, Kerala, India

It’s too cold

It’s too cold, originally uploaded by kadavoor.

Two Fulvous Forest Skimmers (Neurothemis fulvia) are basking in the morning. We can see many of them sitting together at that time.

Taken at Kadavoor, Kerala, India

Do you think...

, originally uploaded by kadavoor.

I’ve a few friendly caterpillars? No; have a lot. :)

Taken at Kadavoor, Kerala, India

I’ve a new friend...

I’ve a new friend..., originally uploaded by kadavoor.

Do you want to chat with him?

[Dedicated to my new friend William and his grammy Billie (from the beach) who celebrates his 9th birthday on this 28. Will, have a great week with B.]


Taken at Kadavoor, Kerala, India