Saturday, October 16, 2010

Sickle Bush

The dense forests of the Papanasam Tiger Reserve were dotted with the beautiful Sickle Bushes in full bloom. The Mimosa like tree is short, and its flowers are half pink and half yellow. The tree is quite small and the flowers attract small birds and butterflies.
The Sickle Bush Dichrostachys cinerea would look well in a garden, but for some reason, it has not attracted nurserymen. It is known locally as khairi.
Like all Indian native plants, it is used in Ayurveda, the Indian medicine system.

9 comments:

  1. That's a stunning shrub - what a pity it isn't available as a garden plant - I'd love to grow one in my conservatory..

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  2. The flowers look so pretty in pink and yellow but too big a plant for a small garden..too bad!

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  3. That's a very interesting looking flowers!

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  4. That's a neat one. I love that color.

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  5. I have seen the bottlebrush, never this sickle brush. Looks lovely

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  6. Dichrostachys cinerea can be propagated by seed very easily. Tropical tree like shurb. Veluturu chettu (light plant) in Telugu. Can be made pretty well bonsai. Medicinal plant too.

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