The Indian Laburnum Tree

Flowers of the Indian Laburnum tree, Cassia fistula

The Indian Laburnum tree, Cassia fistula photographed near Leadbeater Chambers in Adyar Theosophical Gardens. This is another favourite from my childhood days in Delhi. This tree belonging to Family Caesalpiniaceae is native to India. It is one of the most beautiful of all tropical trees when it sheds most of its leaves and bursts into a mass of long, pendent bunches of yellow gold flowers. These flowers are attractive to bees and butterflies. The fruits when ripe are dark brown cylindrical pods about 2 feet long which hold the flat, brown seeds (up to 100 in a pod).

This lovely flower is the national flower of Thailand. In the state of Kerala, the flowers are of ritual importance while celebrating the Vishu festival. A commemorative stamp was issued by the Indian Postal Department in 1981. It is also known as the Golden Shower tree, Amaltaas (Hindi) Vishukonna (Malayalam).

African Tulip Tree

Showy reddish-orange flowers of the African Tulip Tree, Spathodea campanulata

The African Tulip tree, Spathodea campanulata (belonging to the Jacaranda family,Bignoniaceae) photographed near the Hussain Sagar lake in Hyderabad. This tree is planted extensively as an ornamental tree throughout the tropics. It is commonly planted as a street tree in India. There are a few specimens of this spectacular flowering tree in the Adyar Theosophical gardens.

African Tulip tree is a large upright tree with glossy deep green pinnate leaves. It is a tree that grows between 7-25 metres tall and is native to tropical Africa. The tree has a stout, tapering, somewhat buttressed trunk covered in warty light gray bark. The 1-2 feet long opposite leaves, which emerge a bronzy color, are massed at the ends of the branches. They are composed of 5-19 deeply veined oval leaflets.

The horn shaped velvety olive flower buds appear in upturned whorls at the branch tips. A few at a time, the buds of the lowest tier bend outward and open into the distinctive crinkled reddish-orange tuliplike bellshaped flowers.

Queen’s Crape-myrtle

Queen’s Crape-myrtle, Lagerstroemia speciosa

A very handsome flowering tree growing near the Blavatsky House in Adyar Theosophical Society gardens. This is closely related to the more common Crape myrtle, L. indica. It is called the Queen’s Crape-myrtle because of its larger, crinkled flowers which look as if they are made from delicate crape paper. This is a large tree with smooth, flaky bark growing up to 15 m but can be kept smaller by constant pruning.

The leaves are deciduous, oval to elliptic, 8-15 cm long and 3-7 cm broad, with an acute apex. The flowers are produced in erect panicles 20-40 cm long, each flower with six white to purple petals 2-3.5 cm long. In 1993, the Indian Postal Department issued a stamp to commemorate this strikingly beautiful flower which is so evocative of Indian summer season.

Peach Angel’s Trumpets

Another beautiful flower from the Adyar Theosophical Gardens. The Peach Angel’s Trumpets, Brugmansia versicolor belongs to the Solanaceae family and is closely related to Datura. These plants are native subtropical regions of South America. Brugmansia spp. are long-lived, woody trees or bushes, with pendulous, not erect, flowers, that have no spines on their fruit. Datura species are herbaceous bushes with erect (not pendulous) flowers, and most species have spines on their fruit.

The name Angel’s Trumpet refers to the large, very dramatic, pendulous trumpet-shaped flowers. Flowers are 5-toothed, funnel- shaped, up to 30 cm long with long, curved teeth. They change colour from a salmon-tinged white at the beginning to a peach colour at the end. Several cultivars and hybrids are popular as garden plants.

Hedge Cactus

Flowering Hedge Cactus, Cereus hildmannianus

This lovely cactus flower was photographed in early morning light when out walking in Adyar Theosophical Gardens. This is a tall columnar cactus (up to 10 metres height) branching from the base, native to South America. Stems have 5 to 8 ribs. The cactus blooms at night and its large (12 to 15 cm diameter) showy flowers, closes up swiftly once the sun rises. The flower is typical of the Cactaceae family.

Several tall specimens can be spotted in IIT Madras campus also.

Rain Lilies

This photograph of Rain Lilies was taken in the Dune, Eco Village & Spa, Pondicherry. The flower is native to Americas but is quite common in cultivated garden areas. In Tamil Nadu, I have seen these pretty flowers in the wild (probably a garden escape) in Yercaud, Salem. It is a bulbous plant belonging to the Amaryllidaceae family. It bears linear, hollow, strap-shaped or grass-like leaves. The solitary flowers consisting of 6 pointed petals are borne on a short scape. The delicate flowers flourish throughout the rainy season, especially after heavy showers.

Rusty Shield Bearer

Peltophorum pterocarpum — Flowers and pods

The Rusty Shield Bearer or the Copper Pod is a strikingly handsome and visible tree in Chennai because of its beautiful display of yellow flowers and rust-red pods. It is a generous tree which blooms profusely. While the tree is in bloom, the ground under the tree is strewn with a veritable carpet of golden yellow petals. If you stand still for a moment, you can hear the buzz and hum of hundreds of bees and other insects hard at work gathering nectar and pollen. I have been photographing the tree quite often but was able to get a satisfactory shot showing the typical foliage, flowers and pods only today.

This tree, which belongs to the Leguminosae family, is tall and straight and often reaches a height of 24 metres. It has a smooth and grey bark with a spreading crown. Young green leaves quickly mature to a dark green and the overall appearance of the tree is dark, sombre and solid-looking.

This is another tree where the scientific nomenclature has undergone some change. It used to be known earlier as Peltophorum ferrugineum. This was a more apt name as it literally means ‘rusty shield bearer’. The new specific name pterocarpum means that the fruit i.e. pod is winged.

Though the timber of the tree is light and not very durable, it is often used to make cheap furniture.

Mickey Mouse Plant

Mickey Mouse plant showing fruit, Ochna serrulata

A weird looking flower from our neighbourhood! A closer examination revealed that I was looking at berry-like fruits attached to persistent bright red sepals. I was able to identify the plant after a few pleasant hours spent researching on the internet. This plant, commonly known as the Mickey Mouse plant or Ochna serrulata belongs to the family, Ochnaceae. The common name refers to the way that the shiny black berries suspended below the bright-red sepals resemble the face of Mickey Mouse. This showy plant is becoming quite popular in many gardens in South India, especially in Kerala.

Ochna serrulata is a small shrub of 1 to 2 metres height. It has a slender stem with smooth, brown bark. The branches are covered with small, raised, light-coloured dots.

Mickey Mouse plant, Flower

The leaves are elliptic, 1.5-5.0 cm long, but occasionally narrow with blunt or rounded tips and a rounded base. The leaf margins are toothed with upright pointed teeth, hence the specific name serrulata. The generic name Ochna comes from Ochne, the ancient Greek name for the wild pear, because the leaves of this genus were thought to resemble those of the wild pear. The shrub is covered with fragrant yellow blossoms in spring. Each flower is about 2 cm in diameter. The petals drop off soon and are followed by the berry-like fruits, pale green at first, and shiny black when mature.

The plant is native to subtropical (East) coast of southern Africa, where it is widely distributed.

Swiss Cheese Plant

The Swiss Cheese plant is popular foliage houseplant easily identified by its large glossy leaves that are deeply dissected and perforated with oblong holes. It is the only plant I know which has naturally occurring holes in the leaf lamina. In the wild, it is an evergreen epiphytic liana that belongs to the Arum family, Araceae. It has aerial roots and is able to grow up to a height of 20 metres. Young plants have leaves that are smaller and entire with no lobes or holes, but soon produce lobed and holed leaves.

Wild seedlings grow towards the darkest area (negative phototropism) they can find until they find a tree trunk, then start to grow up towards the light (positive phototropism), creeping up the tree. Another name for this plant is the split-leaf philodendron. The word philodendron means lover of trees, indiciating that this plant is an avid tree climber.

In ideal conditions the plant flowers about three years after it is planted. Flowering is rare when grown indoors. The plant can be transplanted by taking cuttings of a mature plant or by air layering.The flowers which look like huge arum lilies, appear on short thick stems during the summer if the humidity conditions are good. The central spadix develops into a cylindrical dark green fruit 20 cm to 25 cm long and 5 cm to 7.5 cm in diameter. The edible fruit ripens one year after blooming. It is important to wait until the fruit is ripe as the young fruit contains significant amounts of oxalic acid and calcium oxalate which can cause severe irritation. The calcium oxalate is present as needle-like structures called raphides and trichosclereids.

Black-Eyed Susan

Black-Eyed Susan, Thunbergia alata is a perennial vine which is native to East Africa belonging to the Acanthaceae family. It is grown as an ornamental plant in gardens and in hanging baskets. In Auckland, I found this growing luxuriantly on fences around housing plots.

The vine bears a profusion of orange or yellow flowers with striking dark chocolate-purple centers. The flowers are produced in mid-summer until autumn. The plant has fuzzy wrinkled heart-shaped leaves and tendrils.

The name ‘Black-eyed Susan’ is thought to have come from a character that figures in the Ballad of ‘Black-eyed Susan’ by John Gay. In the ballad, Susan goes aboard a ship in port to ask the sailors, where her lover Sweet William has gone.