eChapters

Common name    :    English- Wild cucumber
        Hindi- Khira
        Odia- Pita kakudi

Family    :    Cucurbitaceae
 
Habit & Distribution
It is a herbaceous climber (Fig. 39a) apparently wild in open waste lands and distributed all over India.

General Characters
The plant is a herbaceous climber with simple tendrils. Leaves are entire or shallowly 5 lobed with 12 cm across and 15 cm petiole. Flowers are yellow in colour, 1.7-2.5cm across. The fruits are oblong, yellowish-green, glabrous and covered with rigid hairs or soft spines. Flowering and fruiting occur during September-November.

Common name    :    English- Rattle pods
        Hindi- San 
        Odia- Junujhunuka

Family    :    Fabaceae

Habit & Distribution: 
It is a shrub (Fig. 38 a), common in waste places, roadsides and river banks. It is widely distributed in India.

General Characters
The plant is a perennial shrub, with stems ascending or erect, 1-2 m tall. Leaves are trifoliate, leaflets elliptic, ovate, 2.8-9.5 cm long and 1.2-4.5 cm wide. Flowers are yellow, 1-1.5 cm long, somewhat long inflorescence about 15-40 cm long. Pods brown at maturity, 3.5-3.8 cm long. The plant flowers and bears fruits during April.

Common name    :    English- Indian cherry
        Hindi- Lasora 
        Odia- Ambota/Gualikoli

Family    :    Boraginaceae

Habit & Distribution 
The plant is a small tree (Fig. 37a), found frequently in mixed forests and distributed throughout India.

General Characters
The plant is a small tree with ususaly drooping branches and spreading crown. The stem bark is grayish brown, smooth or longitudinally wrinkled. Leaves are orbicular, elliptic-oblong, entire with 6-12.5 cm long. Flowers are white, pinkish white, fragrant, short stalked. The fruit is a yellow shining globose or ovoid drupe seated in a saucer like enlarged calyx and it turns black on ripening and the pulp gets viscoid. The plant flowers during March-April and bears fruits during July-September.

Common name    :    English- White jute
        Hindi- Titapat 
        Odia- Jhota

Family    :    Tiliaceae

Habit & Distribution
It is a herb (Fig. 36 a), commonly cultivated throughout India for fiber purpose.

General Charcaters
The plant is an erect, annual herb reaching up to 1-2 m height. The stems are usually purplish white. Leaves are ovate-lanceolate, 5-12 cm long, pointed at the tip and rounded at the base. The flowers are borne in small groups in the axils of the leaves about 4 mm long. The capsules are round to ovoid and about 1 cm in diameter. The plant flowers and bears fruits during July-November.

Common name    :    English- Elephant ear taro
        Hindi- Kachu/Kachlu
        Odia- Saru

Family    :    Araceae

Habit & Distribution
It is a herb (Fig. 35 a), commonly found in damp, shady places and also cultivated. The plant is widely distributed throughout the hotter parts of India.

General Characters
The plant is a tuberous bulb plant growing about 3-5 ft in height. The plant has large leaves. The leaves are heart shapes, 2-3 ft long with a long stalk of about 3 ft height. The flowers are yellowish-white spathes and spadixes are frequently produced. It bears flowers and fruits during June-November. 

Common name    :    English- Adlay/Job’s tear
        Hindi- Gurlu 
        Odia- Garagada

Family    :    Poaceae

Habit & Distribution
The plant is a herb (Fig. 34 a), usually found near water bodies, way sides of agricultural lands etc. It is widely distributed throughout the hot and damp parts of India and commonly seen in tropics.

General Characters
The plant is an annual grass rooting at the lower nodes, spongy, glabarous and grows up to 0.9-2 m in height. The leaves are flat, linear, and acuminate with a strong midrib and 10-40 cm long and 205-4 cm in width. The spikes are 6-10 cm long, erect and penduncled. The fruits are hard, bony, ovoid, shining white or nearly black in colour. It bears flowers during September to November and carries fruits during December to February.

Common name    :    English- Croton
        Hindi- Croton 
        Odia- Baska

Family    :    Euphorbiaceae

Habit & Distribution
It is an evergreen shrub (Fig. 33 a) widely planted in gardens and also cultivated. It is distributed throughout tropical region.

General Characters
The plant is a shrub which grows up to 10 ft in height and having large, leathery and shiny leaves. Depending on the cultivar, the leaves may be ovate to linear, entire to deeply lobed and variegated with green, white, purple, orange, yellow, red or pink colours. It bears long clusters of small inconspicuous white or yellow flowers. The plant bears flowers and fruits during dry seasons (March-June).

Common name    :    English- Coconut
        Hindi- Nariyal
        Odia- Nadia

Family    :    Arecaceae

Habit & Distribution
The plant is a large palm (Fig. 32 a), commonly cultivated, especially in the coastal belts. It is cultivated in the hot and damp regions of India mostly near the sea.

General Characters
It is a large palm reaching up to 30 m in height with pinnate leaves, 4-6 m long and with pinnae 60-90 cm long. The fruit of the plant is a drup and it carries 3 layers; the exocarp, mesocarp and endocarp. The plant has fibrous root system. The tree bears both male and female flowers on the same inflorescence, thus the plant is monoecious. It bears flowers and fruits throughout the year.

Common name    :    English- Hill glory bower
        Hindi- Bhant
        Odia- Genguti

Family    :    Verbenaceae

Habit & Distribution
The plant is a shrub (Fig. 31a), common in shady waste places, edges of forests, waysides etc. It is distributed throughout India.

General Characters
It grows up to 1-2 m high, with quadrangular branches covered with silky hairs. Leaves are oval, hairy and oppositely arranged with 10-20 cm long. The base of leaves is heart shaped. Flowers are white, tinged with pink, occur in large panicles. The 5 white petals are tinged pink at base. Four long stamens, 3 cm in size, protrude out of the flower. The plant flowers during January-March and bears fruits during April-July.

Common name    :    English- Orange
        Hindi- Santra 
        Odia- Kamala

Family    :    Rutaceae

Habit & Distribution 
The plant is a small tree (Fig.30a), commonly cultivated in hilly areas and widely seen in India and other subtropical countries.

General Characters
It is a small tree of moderate size, and grows up to 15-20 ft in height. The branches are slender, erect or spreading and spinous. The leaves of the plants are shiny and leathery, oblong to elliptic and grow up to 10 cm long having narrow wings in their petioles. The flowers are white in colour and are seen arranged in clusters of 1-6. Fruits are variable in size and shape, oblate and 7.5 cm in diameter ripen to light or deep yellow in colour. The plant flowers during January to June and bears fruits during November and December. 

Common name    :    English- Golden shower
        Hindi- Sundaraj 
        Odia- Sunari

Family    :    Fabaceae

Habit & Distribution 
The plant is a medium sized tree (Fig. 29 a), fairly common in forests and often also planted. It is widely distributed throughout India.

General Character
It is a medium sized tree having smooth bark. The leaflets are up to 4-8 pairs, ovate and oblong. Flowers of the plant are light yellow, and at least 30-60 cm long. The fruits are dark brown, long and cylindrical pods. Plants do flower during April and June, and fruiting occurs during March.

Common name    :    English- Papaya
        Hindi- Papaya/Papeeta
        Odia- Amruta bhanda

Family    :    Caricaceae

Habit & Distribution
The plant is a small tree (Fig. 28 a), commonly cultivated throughout India. The plant is widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions.

General Characters
It is a soft tree. The leaves are large, palmately lobed, long petiole with hollow and swollen base. Sepals and petals are in alternate whorls. The flowers are yellowish-white in colour, and fruits are large and 1 celled. It bears flowers and fruits throughout the year.

Common name    :    English- Rubber bush
        Hindi- Akada
        Odia- Arakha

Family    :    Asclepiadaceae
 
Habit & Distribution
It is a shrub (Fig. 27 a), common weed, mostly found in disturbed sites, roadsides, and wastelands and roadsides. It is widely distributed in hot and dry areas of India.

General Characters
The plant is a shrub that grows up to 4 m in height. Leaves of the plant are opposite, gray green, broadky elliptic, large upto 15 cm long and 10 cm broad with a pointed tip. Flowers are waxy white, 5 petals, purple tipped inside and with a central purplish crown. Fruits are gray-green, inflated 8-12 cm long and contain numerous seeds. Flowering and fruiting occur during December and July. 

Common name    :    English- Gaint milk weed
        Hindi- Akoa
        Odia- Arakha

Family    :    Asclepiadaceae 

Habit & Distribution
The plant is a shrub. (Fig. 26 a) The plant is frequently found in waste grounds and roadsides. It is widely distributed throughout India.

General Characters
The plant is a stout-tomentose shrub. Leaves of the plant are 10-16×8-10 cm size, smaller in branchlets with elliptic-ovate to obovate in shape. The fowers are pale purple or greenish white in colour, 3 cm across having 5 pointed petals. The fruit is saccate, 6×3 cm ovoid, inflated and boat shaped. The plant flowers during December and July and bears fruits during February and June.

Common name    :    English- Peacock flower
        Hindi- Guletura
        Odia- Godibana

Family    :    Caesalpiniaceae

Habit & Distribution 
The plant is a shrub (Fig. 25a), commonly found in gardens and sometimes in wild. It is cultivated throughout India and probably native to tropical America, now widely cultivated in the tropics.

General Characters
The plant is a branched shrub or small tree that reaches up to 3-4 m in height. The leaves of the plants are bipinnate, 20-40 cm long, bearing 3-10 pairs of pinnae, each with 6-10 pairs of leaflets. The flowers are yellow or red in colour and borne in racemes up to 20 cm long. Petals are four in number, subequal and transversely oblong above the long claw. The plant flowers and fruits during most parts of the year.

Common name    :    English- Fever nut/Grey Nicker
        Hindi- Kat-karanj 
        Odia- Gila

Family    :    Caesalpiniaceae

Habit & Distribution
The plant is a herb (Fig. 24 a), commonly found in hedges, thickets, scrub forests etc. and is distributed throughout India.

General Characters
It is a large climber with staright or recurved prickles. The branchlets are hairy and leaflets are 8 pairs with elliptic and lanceolate shape. Flowers are yellow, simple and usually supra-axillary. The pods are broadly oblong with 5-7.5×4 cm in size. It is 1-2 seeded and the seeds are large and round, 1-8cm diameter. The testa is very hard. The flowering time for the plant is August to October and it bears fruits during December to April.

Common name    :    English- Bastard teak
        Hindi- Palash
        Odia- Palash

Family    :    Fabaceae 

Habit & Distribution
The plant is a tree distributed throughout India, fairly common especially in the drier parts of north-west odisha.

General Characters 
It is a small or medium sized dry deciduous tree, reaching to 15 m. in height. It is a slow growing tree. The leaves are pinnate, with about 8-12 cm long petiole and three leaflets, each leaflets of about 10-20 cm long. The flowers are 2.5 cm long, bright orange red, and produced in racemes up to 15 cm long (Fig. 23a). The fruit is a pod. The plant flowers during February and April, and bears fruits during May-July. The plant is popularly known as flame of the forest.

Common name    :    English- Miracle leaf
        Hindi- Zakhm-haiyal 
        Odia- Amarpoi

Family    :    Crassulaceae

Habit & Distribution 
The plant is a herb (Fig. 22 a), mostly found in rocky areas and also in plains. It is widely distributed in tropical area.

General Characters
It is a succulent herb, grows upto 1-2m in height. The leaves of the plant are simple, opposite, 3-5 lobed, thick and fleshy with crenate margins. Flowers are pink, or purple in colour. The plant has thick, flexible and short stems. The plant flowers during November to March. Fruiting occurs between January and February.

Common name    :    English- Palm
        Hindi- Taad
        Odia- Tala
Family    :    Arecaceae

Habit & Distribution 
It is a large tree and widely planted crop (Fig. 21a). The plant is native to tropical Africa but cultivated and naturalized throughout india.

General Character
The plant is a large tree and grows upto 30-40 m. in height. The trunk may have a circumference of 1.7 m at the base. The leaves are palmate, leathery, gray green and 1-3 m in wide with folded along at the midrib. Inflorescences are 90-150 cm long and branched. Fruits are ovoid, 15-20 cm in diameter with fibrous and fleshy mesocarp. The plant flowers during February to March and bears fruits during April to August.

Common name    :    English- Red silk cotton
        Hindi- Shalmali 
        Odia- Simili
Family    :    Bombacaceae 

Habit & Distribution: 
It is a tree (Fig. 20 a), fairly common throughout India. It is found in hot, dry river valleys, and the deciduous belt of the hills.

General Characters
The plant is a tree with prickly trunk and branches when young and grows up to a height of 25 meters with a spreading crown. Leaves are compound, stipulate, and clustered at twig ends with 12-25 cm long. Flowers are bright red in colour, 10-12 cm across, solitary or in fascicles and usually on leafless branches. Fruits are woody capsule, 5-valved with many seeds. The plant flowers during January-March and bears fruits during March to May.