Floral Friday Photography - Flora at Kshemavana

Floral Friday Photography - Brahma Kamala

I have been lucky enough to have a south facing balcony which gets bright sunlight throughout the year. That make the balcony compatible to grow succulents like Brahma kamala. We had almost 40 blooms this year through out the season, which varies from summer to mid of rainy season. Here are few of the clicks.

Brahma kamala also called queen of night or lady of night blooms only in the night, fades away by early morning. The bud starts to bloom by 7 in the evening and blooms completely by 9 or 10PM. The flower is palm size and has a very mild fragrance which smells heavenly especially when many of them bloom at a time. Its a pleasure to watch them bloom year after year. The plant is quite hardy, like any other succulent and grows well when neglected. Less is more when it comes to watering this plant. Pruning the plant at the end of the season helps it to come up with more shoots and blooms the next season. 

Birds and Wildlife of Kutch!!!

Kutch is well known for its wild life and immigrant birds. Our first encounter with the wild in Kutch was a jackal while driving back from White Rann at the night, though I couldn't click it. Its said that Kalo Dungar is the only place where you can find jackals feeding on vegetarian food. People from Kalo Dungar and around feed jackals before having their meal.

Though the immigrant Flamingos attracts most of the tourists to Little Rann for bird watching, every lake and river in Kutch can give you a glimpse of these winged beauties. The Hamirsar lake in Bhuj and Rukmavati river in Mandvi are places where you can find Flamingos and other immigrant birds.

The Sharad Baug garden, being very close to Hamirsar lake, too attracts birds, we found so many bats hanging down the trees at sharad Baug

We found these white browed bushchat or Stoliczka's bushchat at Toran resort on the way to Kalo Dungar and the other at the Kalo Dungar hills, they look very much like sparrows and are of same size,

The dense forest surrounding Vijay Vilas palace too offer you with bird watching and wild life, we encountered with a jackal, few wild asses and few peafowls.

How I wish I had better lenses to capture them better.  

Finally I wind up my posts from our weekend trip to Kutch, Gujarat. Do have a look at the complete tour here.

Sky Watch Friday

A scavenger on a tree at Firoz Shah Kotla.

 

And the beautiful tree against blue sky.

 

 Happy Skywatching!!

Floral Friday Photography

Floral photographs from the garden at Agra Fort.

 

 

Floral Friday Photography- Water Lilies

Water lilies from the Japanese Garden at Rani Bagh Botanical Garden

Happy Floral Friday!!!

Rani Bagh Botanical Garden Tree Trail - Part 2

Going on with Rani Bagh Botanical Garden Tree Trail, here are more trees,

Elephant Apple(Dillenia indica) is so called as its eaten by elephants. The bitter-sour fruit pulp is also used in India cuisines.

Elephant Apple

Elephant Apple

Divi Divi(Botanical name: Caesalpinia coriaria, native West Indies and Central America), grows as a large shrub.

Divi Divi

Cocoa tree(Botanical name: Theobroma cacao, native of Brazil) is an evergreen tree. The fruit contains seed(which is used to make dark cocoa powder) and a significant amount of fat, cocoa butter. The proportion of seed and cocoa butter is accordingly varied to form the dark and white chocolates. Cocoa bean was also used as currency system in pre-columbian Mesoamerican civilization.

Cocoa tree

Cocoa tree

Garlic Pear(Botanical name: Crataeva religiosa), the nectar filled flowers attracts many insects and birds. At the flowering season, its said to be flooded with butterflies.

Garlic Pear

Shivan(Botanical Name: Gmelina arborea Roxb, native to India, Myanmar) is also called poor-man's teak.

Lemon Scented Gum Tree(Botanical name: Corymbia citriodora, native to Australia), is also called Lemon eucalyptus. The tree resembles the Eucalyptus tree. Refined essential oil from the Lemon Scented gum tree is used in insent repellents. This tree can be easily recognised by smelling its leaf, which smells, lemon.

Lemon Scented Gum Tree

Bamboo(Botanical name: Dendrocalamus strictus Nees, native to India): We were narrated with great facts about bamboo. Bamboo is one of the fastest growing plants and the air flow through the hollow plant makes an unusual sound, which keeps the Bamboo forests misterious. Most Bamboo species flower once in 40years or 100years. All plants of the same stock flower at same time, the flowering is followed by death of the plants. Its so said that in North East India, the flowering of Bamboo plants is said to be a sign of bad time, the flowering of the plants increases the rat population, which after Bamboo, feed on the cultivated farms.

Bamboo

Gustavia(Botanical name: Gustavia augusta, native to Tropical and South America): The fruit is drum(tabla) shaped with seeds inside, when shaken makes a tender sound.

Gustavia

Gustavia Fruit

Bottle Brush Tree(Botanical name: Callistemon citratus (Curtis) Skeels (syn. C. lanceolatus Sw.), native to Australia): This gets its name from its flowers which resemble bottle brush.

Bottle Brush Tree

Bottle Brush Flower

Wild Almonds, which are said to be natives of Middle East and South Asia, look similar to Almonds, but taste bitter.

Ficus Krishnae(Botanical name: Ficus benghalensis L. var. krishnae Almeida, native to India) is also called Krishna's Butter cup. The leaves of the tree have pocket like fold at the base. As per mythology, Lord Krishna who was fond of butter, rolled the stolen butter it this leaf to hide from his mother Yashoda. Since then it retains its pocket like shape.

Ficus Krishnae

The final trees where the Three Sister Trees. These trees are called three sisters because of their similar shaped leaves,

• Sita Ashoka(Botanical name: Saraca arborescens Burm. f. [S.asoka (Roxb.) de Willde;S.indica auct. non L.], native to India): There is interesting story behind Sita Ashoka.  Sasoka and Nisoka were two cannibal demons. They get blessed by Matara Swamiji to be born as trees in their next birth. Sasoka, who was born as Ashoka( a-shok, meaning without sorrow) gives shelter to Mother Sita, during her stay in Lanka. His brother Nisoka also reborn as a tall tree, stand outside the graden, gaurding it. Matara Swami will reborn as Sitaphal and mother Sita will eat fruits of this tree, during her stay in Ashokawan.
  

  

  Sita Ashoka

Rose of Venezuala(Botanical name: Brownea grandiceps) called as Laal Jumar(red chandelier) in Hindi, flower red coloured flowers, which resemble chandelier.

Tree of heaven(Botanical name: Amherstia nobilis Wall, Native to Tenasserim) is said to be the most beautiful tree of all flowering trees. Its also called the Queen of flowering plant. Its one of the only five trees of the specie left in Mumbai.

Tree of heaven

The session ended, with a group photo of the attendees along with Save Rani Bagh Botanical Garden Foundation and Sanctuary Asia teams, near the Sita Ashok tree.

Rani Bagh Botanical Garden Tree Trail - Part 1

Rani Bagh Botanical Garden was in my to visit list since many a days. Though I had visited Bhau Dhaji Lad Museum, had missed the Botanical Garden. When I received an e-mail from Sanctuary Asia for a guided nature trail, I didn't want to miss the opportunity.

We joined the Sanctuary Asia team and other attendees of the trail at Botanical Garden by 7:30AM. One of the members of Save Rani Bagh Botanical Garden Foundation introduced us to Rani Bagh and Save Rani Bagh Botanical Garden Foundation.

Rani Bagh: Formerly called Victoria Garden, Rani Bagh was laid out in 1861 The garden houses the Jijamata Udyaan(also known as Byculla Zoo/Mumbai), Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Gaint staue of Elephant from Elephanta Caves and the Clock Tower. The Fort area, reflects the British rule, every building and monument here is inter related. Its said that the Flora Fountain, was proposed for Rani Bagh, which was later laid at its present location. The statue of King Edward VII(Kala Ghoda), from Kala Ghoda was removed and mounted here in Rani Bagh in 1965.

Rani Bagh is a 53-acre heritage botanical park (over 150 years old) in the heart of the city. Its the city’s largest green open public space and much needed green lung which is home to over 3,213 trees and a total of 853 plant species, providing a verdant habitat for thousands of birds, insects and bats.

Save Rani Bagh Botanical Garden Foundation: Unfortunately, in 2007, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) announced its plan of setting up a zoo to international standards at a cost of Rs. 433 crore. Realising that such a huge expense would entail construction activity on an enormous scale and that was no treeless space available in the botanical garden for further construction, a group of friends formed the Save Rani Bagh Botanical Garden Committee and set about gathering information and marshalling public support to oppose the BMC’s plan. Their main focus was to protect for posterity the existing 150-year-old botanical garden in the heart of the city with huge age-old majestic trees. After a five year struggle, the Save Rani Bagh Committee was able to convince the Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee to reject the BMC’s international zoo proposal. Thereafter, the BMC was ordered to make a smaller plan only for the renovation of existing animal enclosures. In 2012, they founded a Public Charitable Trust - Save Rani Bagh Botanical Garden Foundation - to generate greater awareness about the botanical garden and to strive to enhance its many features.

After the brief introduction to the Botanical Garden, the team was divided into two groups and our group, headed by Katie Bagli started off with the trail. The park has trees from around the world, planted during British rule.

As we entered the zoo, we were asked to collect the fallen crunchy seeds spread over the ground. The seeds of Chilbil/Cork Tree(Botanical name: Millingtonia hortensis L.f, native to Myanmar, Malaya), also gets its name Monkey chips, as they are favourites of monkeys. A thin papery layer holds the seeds with-in and helps in dispersal, as blown away by wind due to its light weight. 

The two gaint Baobab trees(Botanical name: Adansonia digitata L., native to Tropical Africa) on the either side of the entrance path of the park, stood as, huge gaurds welcoming us. The truck of the tree is hollow. Its said, a large, hollow baobab was used  as a prison for convicts in south of Derby, Western Australia, in the 1890s.

Baobab Tree

Baobab Tree

Next was the Guest tree(Botanical name: Kleinhovia hospita, native to Archipelago, Malaya), which produces star shaped flowers. Its also called Jewel Box, because of the bead shaped seed it holds in its shallow chest.

Cajeput(Botanical name: Melaleuca cajuputi Powel, native to Australia), is known for its soft/spongy bark, which easily flakes of the trunk. Its also called paperbark tree or punk tree).

Cajeput Tree

Feeling the spongy texture of Cajeput tree

Tad(Botanical name: Borassus flabellifer, native to India, Srilanka, Myanmar), from the palm family, called as Taati Nungu in Kannada and Tadgola in Marathi, produces a coconut like fruit when cut off reveals three sweet jelly seed sockets.

Tad Tree

Beheda(Botanical name: Terminalia bellerica, native to India) and Hirda(Botanical name: Terminalia chebula, native to India), are the two of the three medicinal plants, which constitute Triphala churna(the third being Amla). These have digestive and anti-inflammatory properties and hence useful in constipation.

Hirda and Beheda Trees

Kailashpati/Connonball Tree(Botanical name: Couroupta guianensis Aubl., native to South America), the fruit resembles cannonball, and the flower resembles snake and grown in Shiva temples, hence the name Kailashpati.

Cannonball Tree

Oil palm(Botanical name: Elaias guineensis Jacq, native to Tropical Africa), its fruit is used to extract oil(palm oil).

Oil Palm Tree

Indian Rubber Tree(Bonatical name: Ficus elastica, native to Assam, Burma): The original rubber tree was native to Brazil and till many years Brazil had the monopoly of producing rubber. British commercialised the cultivation of the Indian rubber to have their supremacy in rubber production.

Indian Rubber Tree

Samudra Phal(Botanical name: Barringtonia asiatica, native to Andaman, Manmar), its grown along the street for decorative and shade purpose in some parts of India. The fruit is extremely water resistant and survive a float upto 15years. So, its said to be dispersed from Andaman to reach coastal India, hence introduced in India.

Samudra Phal

Samudra Phal Flower (Photo credit Wikipedia)

More on this tree trail in the following post.