Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Green Ice Crossandra

The rare aquamarine flowers of the Green Ice Crossandra Ecbolium ligustrium are called Neelambari in Kannada. It is also known as the Green Shrimp Plant. This wild flower is found in the slopes of the Western Ghats. I found this rare plant in the Campus of IIT Bombay, in Mumbai, which still boasts of some wild patches of forestland.
Tribal medicine men use theleaves of this plant to make a decoction for alleviating fever. The root is used in rheumatism.

6 comments:

  1. Unusual flower on that plant. The more i read about the Western Ghats, the more fascinating I find it. From your posts, mainly. I don't think I have seen it here.

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  2. nice picture. we usually tend to think only of the orange variety of the crossandra. this one here is a rather unusual color.

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  3. When I was young, we used to have these dry roses as part of flower arrangement. Now I do not see anybody planting this vine anymore. I wish I can get hold of some of these seeds to cultivate.

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  4. Lovely! There is so much traditional healing knowledge in most ancient civilisations. I am glad that all of this plant lore is being rediscovered and used.

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  5. That's a rare & exotic plant with curative powers.

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