Sunday, February 24, 2013

A Black Beauty- Bat Flower

 The Bat Flower Tacca chantrieri belongs to the family Dioscoreaceae (Yam). It is native to India and Southeast Asia. The unusual black flower has long whiskers and looks like a bat.
Only diehard gardeners seem to like its outlandish beauty. The plant itself is attractive with bright green leaves, but it is hardly seen in any garden.

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Gmelina asiatica

Gmelina is a small tree or bush, sometimes with thorns, which is found in scrub jungles. It belongs to the family Lamiaceae. It has attractive, large yellow flowers.The plant is called Gopabhadra in Sanskrit.
The plant is widely used in making Ayurvedic medicine to combat asthma, bronchitis and other lung diseases.