eChapters

Common name    :    English- Percupine Flower
        Hindi- Jhinti 
        Odia- Daskaranta

Family    :    Acanthaceae 

Habit & Distribution
The plant is a shrub (Fig. 16 a), common in waste places, roadsides and dry places. It is distributed throughout India.

Common name    :    English- Indian spinach
        Hindi- Poi 
        Odia- Poi
Family    :    Basellaceae

Habit & Distribution 
The plant is a twining herb (Fig. 17 a), commonly cultivated and often found in wild state on rocky grassy hill sides. Also widely cultivated throughout India.

General Characters
It is a twining succulent herb with green stem and petioles. Leaves of the plant are broadly ovate and green to purplish in colour. Flowers are pinkish or purple in colour. Fruits are berries, ovoid or depressed-globose, turns black after ripening with deep purple juice.

Family: Basillaceae

Flowering: May-September

Fruiting: October-February

Botanical description: The plant is a twining succulent herb with green stem and petioles. Leaves of the plant are broadly ovate and green to purplish in colour. Flowers are pinkish or purple in colour. Fruits are berries, ovoid or depressed-globose, turns black after ripening with deep purple juice.

Family: Caesalpiniaceae

Flowering: September-February

Fruiting: February-March

Botanical description: The plant is a moderate sized tree with ashy or dark brown bark. Leaves are often oblong, about 5-18cm, deeply lobed from one third way down to nearly the base with scarcely overlapping. Flowers are purple and large on terminal panicled racemes. Pods are 15-30×18-25 cm long, narrow below, somewhat broadening upwards.

Common name    :    English- Butterfly tree
        Hindi- Khairwal
        Odia- Kuilari          
Family    :    Caesalpiniaceae

Habit & Distribution 
It is a moderate sized tree (Fig. 18a), seen frequently in forests and often planted. It is distributed in foothill areas also and cultivated throughout India.

General Characters
The plant is a moderate sized tree with ashy or dark brown bark color. Leaves are often oblong, about 5-18, deeply lobed from one third way down to nearly the base with scarcely overlapping. Flowers are purple, large on terminal panicled racemes. Pods are 15-30×18-25 cm long, narrow below, somewhat broadening upwards. The plant flowers during September-February and bears fruits during February-March.

Family: Caesalpiniaceae

Flowering: April-June

Fruiting: December-March

Botanical description: The plant is a climber growing up to 10-30 m long. The woody stem can get as thick as 20 cm. The spreading tout branches are covered with rusty fine hairs. The stout tendrils are coiling and occur in pairs. Large leaves are 10-45 cm, 2-lobed with a broad cut. The flowers are white, 2-3 cm across, turn yellow when old and borne in rounded clusters. Fruit is a flat woody pod with fine rusty hairs, 20-30 cm long.

Family: Caesalpiniaceae

Flowering: February-March

Fruiting: April-May

Botanical description: The plant is a moderate sized tree growing up to 20-40 ft tall and 10-20 ft wide with a spreading crown of briefly deciduous leaves which are 10-15 cm across and rounded with lobed ends and heart shaped bases. The leaves are shaped like a cow’s hoof. The flowers are white or purple in colour with one petal variegated yellow, 5-10 cm across and carried in clusters at the branch tips. The flowers often make their first appearance in late winter while the tree is bare of leaves. Seeds of the plant are sub-orbicular in shape.

Family: Cucurbitaceae

Flowering: October-November

Fruiting: December-January

Botanical description: The plant is a annual climbing herb, having stems up to 6 metres long that scramble over the ground or climb on other plants, supporting themselves by means of tendrils. Leaves are roundish, kidney-shaped, base deeply heart-shaped. Upper surface is rough, lower surface shortly bristly, 5-7-lobed, with long and hairy stalk. Tendrils are slender and rarely simple. Flowers are yellow in colour, calyx tube 10-15 mm long with spreading petals ending in a short point. Fruits large, succulent, densely hairy when young, with a thick waxy deposit when mature.

1. Botanical name : Berberis aristata DC

2. Family : Berberidaceae

3. Common Name : Indian barberry

4. Name in Indian languages

Darhaldi (Bengali), Kilmora (Kumaoni), Daru-haldi (Hindi), Maradarisina, Maramanjal (Malyalam), Daruhald (Marathi), Chitra, Chutro (Nepali), Mullukala, Usikkala (Tamil), Daruharidra (Sanskrit).

Common name    :    English- Annatto
        Hindi- Latkan/Kumkum 
        Odia- Kumkuma

Family    :    Bixaceae

Habit & Distribution 
The plant is a shrub (Fig. 19 a), cultivated and naturalized, also planted in gardens. It is frequently cultivated throughout India.

Family: Nyctaginaceae

Flowering & Fruiting: Most parts of the year, mostly dry winter season

Botanical description: The plant is a prostrate herb with diffuse inflorescences. The stem of the plant is glabrous or minutely pubescent and often purplish. The leaves are in unequal pairs, broadly ovate with obtuse or rounded apex. Flowers are very small, purplish red to reddish pink or nearly white, bell-shaped beyond the constriction.

Ecology: It is a common weed found near dry and warm river valleys; along roadsides, near habitations, in and along cultivated fields and in open cleared patches in forests. It is distributed throughout India.

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.

Family : Arecaceae

Flowering: February - March

Fruiting April - August

Botanical Description: The plant is a large tree and grows upto 30-40m. 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. Flowers are 90-150 cm long and branched. Fruits are ovoid, 15-20 cm in diameter with fibrous and fleshy mesocarp.

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.

1. Botanical Name : Borassus flabellifer L

2. Family : Palmae (araeceae)

3. Common Name : Mukkana, Palmyra Palm, toddy palm

4. Name in Indian languages

Taad, Tal, Trinaraaj (Hindi), Taad (Marathi), Talam (Tamil), Karimpana (Malayalam), Tatichettu (Telugu), Olegari, Taalegari, Taatinimgu (Kannada), Taala (Bengali), Sanskrit: Taalah

Guillame de Baillou (1673), a physician, described an outbreak of recurrent severe cough that could induce vomition and suffocation in human in Paris. The infection was described as ‘Quintan^tussis which was later confirmed as ‘whooping cough’. The causative agent Bordetella pertussis was discovered by Jules Bordet and Octave Gengou in 1906 in Paris. The Gram-negative bacilli were isolated from sputum of Jules Bordet’s son. Bordetella bronchiseptica was first isolated by Ferry (1911) and M’Gowan (1911) who considered the bacteria as the cause of distemper in dogs. Later B. bronchiseptica was known as primary cause of ‘kennel cough’ infection along with the Canine Adenovirus and Canine Parainfluenza virus. Moreno- Lopez named the bacteria B. bronchiseptica.

The genus Moraxella was named after Morax who first isolated the bacteria from human conjunctivitis in 1896.

Family: Brassicaceae

Flowering: September-November

Fruiting: December-February

Botanical description: The plant is an annual herb with stems reaching up to 1.5 m tall. Stems are erect, reddish-purple below, greenish-red above, hairless, arising from large thickened taproot up to 10 cm in diameter. Leaves are large alternately arranged and hairless, upper smaller. Lower leaves are up to 25 cm long, pinnately cut, with small prickles above and below. Flowers are yellow in colour, borne in racemes at the end of branches with 2 cm across. The pods are stout, 5-9 cm long bearing 30-80 seeds with whitish, yellow or brownish in colour.

Use: Leaves are fried with oil then eaten and also chopped leaves and stems are dried in shade, stored in an earthen pot for consumption.

Family: Brassicaseae

Flowering: November-February Fruiting: February-March

Botanical description: The plant is a herb with white edible mass of abortive flowers aggregated on thick branches of the inflorescence.

Ecology: It is widely cultivated as vegetable in the tropical countries including India. The plant grows in winter season.

Use: Leaves are fried or made into curry and consumed. Inflorescence is used in various types of preparations.

Family: Brassicaseae

Botanical description: The leaves of the plant is having stout nerves, densely congested into a subglobose or ellipsoid head which is edible.

Ecology: The plant is a herb, widely cultivated as vegetable in the tropical countries including India.

Use: Leaves are fried separately or with other vegetables, and then eaten

Nutritional Value: The plant is rich in vitamin B and minerals.The nutritional value of the plant is presented below. 100g of the plant leaves carries:

Family: Brassicaseae

Flowering & Fruiting: August-March

Botanical description: The plant is having a short stem, enlarging into a spherical edible tuber. Basal cauline leaves are broadly ovate, not overlapping on globose stem, about 10-45 x 3-25 cm across with cuneate base.

Ecology: The plant is a herb, widely cultivated as vegetable in the tropical countries including India. The plant loves to grow in late winter season.

Clinical conditions similar to brucellosis have been described since the time of Hippocrates (450 BC). J. A. Marston (1861) first described brucellosis as gastric remittent fever in Malta, the Southern European island country. Sir David Bruce (1886) first isolated small coccobacilli from an infected soldier’s spleen and purified the culture in 1887, and named Micrococcus melitensis. Later the genus was renamed as Brucella in his honour. Similarly, Bang and Stribolg (1897) first isolated Brucella abortus from abortion material of a cow. Traum in 1914 isolated Bacillus abortus suis, currently known as Brucella suis. In 1953, Brucella ovis was firs isolated in New Zealand by Budlle and Boyes from the aborted material of sheep. Carmichael and Bruner (1968) first isolated B. canis from the aborted placenta of a dog.

In India first report of ‘contagious abortion’ associated with Brucella was found in annual report (1918) of imperial veterinary research institute (presently Indian veterinary research institute), Mukteswar, Uttarakhand and later in 1942 by Polding.

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.

1. Botanical name: Buchanania lanzan spreng.

2. Family: Anacardiaceae

3. Common Name: Cuddapah almond , Chironji

4. Name in Indian languages: Chironji (Hindi), Piyal (Assami), Chironji (Bengali), Kole Maavu (Kannada), Charam (Tamil), Mungapera (Malayalam).

5. Description

It is an excellent fruit tree for agro forestry and social forestry. This species is found in dry deciduous forest throughout the country excluding eastern Himalayan forests . The flesh of ripe fruit is very palatable and is largely eaten raw or roasted and the oily kernels are the most important part and are used in preparation of puddings. Mesocarp of fruit is edible and cherished by children. Very good juice may be prepared from the pulp of chironji fruits.

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- 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- 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.

1. Botanical name : Calligonum polygonoides L.

2. Family : Polygonaceae

3. Common Name : Phog

4. Name in Indian languages: Phog (Hindi), Phog(Punjabi), Balanja, Berwaja (Afghanistan).

5. Description

Phog (Calligonum polygonoides L.) is a under-utilized shrub, dominantly found in arid and semi-arid region of Thar Desert. It is a typical sand dune plant, found in whole of arid zone. It is a slow growing, branching shrub. It has a massive network of underground root which works as effective ‘sand binder’ and thus preventing erosion and stabilizing sand dunes. It grows well in absence of any type of vegetation and dominant biomass producer of the sandy areas of the desert. It is very hardy and being capable of growing under adverse conditions of soil and moisture. It is frost hardy. It is becoming increasingly rare due to the demand for its roots, overgrazing and sand mining.

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- 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. 

1. Botanical Name : Canthium dicoccum var. umbellatum syn. Pelectronia parviflora Gaertn.) Merr

2. Family : Rubiaceae

3. Common Name : Ceylon Boxwood, Malakafe

4. Name in Indian languages

Amme pannu (Kodwa), Hanage (Kannada), Nanyul (Malayalam), Arsul, Tupa (Marathi), Nanjul, Nallamandharam (Tamil), Nalla balasu, Balasu naikinna (Telugu).

1. Botanical name : Canthium parviflora Lamk syn

2. Family : Rubiaceae

3. Common Name : Wild jessamine, Carray cheddie

4. Name in Indian languages

Kare pan (Kodwa), Karemull (Kannada), Kayil (Konkani), Madhakara, (Malayalam), Kirma (Marathi), Tutidi (Oriya), Sinnabalusu, (Telugu), Mullukaara (Tamil), Nagabala (Sanskrit).

1. Botanical Name :Capparis decidua (Forssk.) Edgew.

2. Family : Capparaceae

3. Common Name : Caper berry, Bare Caper, Kair

4. Name in Indian languages

Dela (Delhi and Punjab), Karir, Karil (Uttar Pradesh), Kair (Hindi), Nepati (Marathi), Sirakkali (Tamil), Karimullu (Malayalam), Kariramu (Telugu), Chippuri (Kannada), Khirar(Urdu), Kera (Gujarati).

In spite of late introduction, different forms of chilli (Capsicum spp.) did spread throughout the length and breadth of India. Diverse soil and climatic conditions prevailing in different parts of Kerala have contributed to the development of different ecotypes in chilli. Warm humid climate in the coastal belts, dry and arid climate in the central eastern parts and mild subtropical to temperate climate in the high ranges provide ideal condition for development, maintenance and spread of different ecotypes in the crop. Plethora of chilli varieties capturing the markets of Kerala comprise of different species.

Capsicum chinense commonly known as Ney Mulaku, Karanampotti Mulaku is gaining popularity in the state due to increasing demand from Maldives during Ramzan period. Hence the crop is also known in yet another name Mali Mulaku. This species is characterized by perennial and spreading nature with medium sized oblong to round, fleshy and highly pungent fruits. It  yields substantially higher under shaded condition and there is less incidence of diseases like bacterial wilt and collar rot. Hence the species is ideal for homestead cultivation. Due to its tolerance to shade, the species can be successfully grown as an inter crop in coconut, rubber, pepper and banana plantations.

1. Botanical Name : Careya arborea Roxb.

2. Family : Lecythidaceae

3. Common Name : Wild Guava, Ceylon Oak

4. Name in Indian languages

Kumbhi (Hindi), Kumbha (Marathi), Aima (Tamil), Peelam, Pela (Malayalam), Araya, Buddaburija (Telugu), Alagavvele, Daddal (Kannada), Kumbhi (Bengali), Kumbh(Oriya), Godhajam, Kumbhi (Assamese), Girikarrnika (Sanskrit).

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.

1. Botanical name : Carissa spinarum L.

2. Family : Apocynaceae

3. Common Name : Wild Karonda

4. Name in Indian languages

Jungli Karonda, Karunda (Hindi), Karamacha (Bengali), Karmarda (Gujarati), Karmanji, Kavali (Karnataka), Karavada, Karanda, Karwant (Marathi), Vaka, Kalivi, Kavali Kalli (Telugu), Chirukila, Karvand, Kalakkay, Kalachedi (Tamilnadu), Karamdika (Oriya), Karamarda, Avighna (Sanskrit).

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.

Family: Amaranthaceae

Flowering: August-October

Fruiting: November-January

Botanical description: The plant is a herb, growing up to 60-75cm height, erect, branching with oval or lanceo-shaped, with hundreds of tiny flowers packed in dense spikes of silver- white flowers which usually stand above the foliage. They are beautiful plants with soft, dense feathery spikes, produced in profusion. Leaves are lanceolate, linear, acute to acuminate tapering into slender petiole. Seeds are several, black in colour and shining.

Family: Apiaceae

Flowering: August-October

Fruiting: November-January

Botanical description: The plant is a small creeping herb with shovel shaped leaves emerging alternately in clusters at the stem nodes. The runners lie along the ground and the inch long leaves with their scalloped edges rise above on long reddish petioles. The insignificant greenish- to pinkish-white flowers are borne in dense umbels (clusters in which all the flower stalks arise from the same point) on separate stems in the summer. The seeds are pumpkin-shaped nutlets 0.1-0.2 cm long.

Ecology: It is commonly seen in shady, damp and wet places such as paddy fields and in grass thickets and distributed throughout India.

Use: Leaves and young shoots are collected, roasted then eaten

Family: Chenopodiaceae

Flowering: November-January Fruiting: February-April

Botanical description: The plant is a fast-growing, upright and weedy annual herb. The leaves are variables in appearance. The first leaves, near the base of the plant, are toothed and 3-7 cm long and 3-6 cm broad. The leaves on the upper part of the flowering stems are entire and lanceolate-rhomboid with 1-5 cm long and 0.4-2 cm broad. The flowers of the plant are 1-1.2 mm across, in short axillary spikes and often forming a terminal thyrse. Seeds are black, depressed with an obscure horizontal keel.

The word ‘chlamydia’ comes from the Greek word ‘chlamys’ means ‘cloak draped around the shoulder’. It describes how the intracytoplasmic inclusions produced by the bacterium appear under the microscope(‘draped’ around the host cell nucleus). Chlamydia was first discovered by a Czech zoologist and parasitologist, Stanislaus von Prowazek in 1907 in Berlin. Originally because of its structure it was thought to be a virus. In 1963 it was recognized as a bacterium rather than a virus.

Properties of genus

1. Morphology: Chlamydia are Gram-negative, non-motile, pleomorphic and obligate intracellular bacteria. The Gram-negative cell wall consists of cytoplasmic and outer membrane. However, they lack peptidoglycan layer. Moreover, they also encode major outer membrane protein (MOMP), the key antigenic determinant used for serological differentiation of chlamydiae.

They are poorly stained by Gram’s stain. Chlamydiae are readily stained by Castaneda (blue in appearance), Giemnez and Macchiavello (red in appearance) methods. However, Giemsa staining is preferable to stain the inclusions (chlamydial micro colony) in the cell culture. Inclusion bodies of the Chlamydiae are basophilic in nature. The staining of the inclusion bodies may differ depending on the species. In C. trachomatis, the inclusion bodies contain glycogen matrix and can be easily stained with iodine solution.

1. Botanical name : Choerospondias axillaris Roxb.

2. Family: Anacardiaceae

3. Common Name : Nepalese Hog plum

4. Name in Indian languages : Lupsi (Sikkim), Lapsi (Nepali)

5. Description

Nepalese Hog plum is a evergreen tree that can grow up to 10 metres tall, though is usually smaller. The bole is buttressed and about 30 - 40cm in diameter. The plant is especially valued for its edible fruit and is being increasingly cultivated for this purpose, the fruit being used locally and traded internationally. It is also used as a pioneer fruit tree in reforestation projects. Currently products of Lapsi fruit are mostly consumed locally. Lapsi fruit tree possess immense potential for income generation for hill farming communities. In Nepal, the tree is known for its delicious fruit. The Lapsi fruit tree which produces pistillate flowers are locally called as “pothi lapsi” which is a female tree and the other which produces staminate flowers is known as bhale lapsi which is a male tree. In Vietnam it is known for medicinal importance and in China for timber usage.

1. Botanical Name : Chrysophyllum roxburghii G.Don

2. Family: Sapotaceae

3. Common Name : Indian star apple

4. Name in Indian languages

Pale pan (Kodwa), Bon-pitha (Assamese), Pulichakka, Noolambazham, Athappala, Mannanchakka, Aatha, Kappalam, Athapala (Malayalam).

5. Description

Chrysophyllum roxburghii is an evergreen tree with a dense crown. It can grow 10 - 20 metres tall, occasionally reaching 30 metres. The trunk diameter may be up to 40 cm. The tree is harvested from the wild for local use as of its edible fruit, for medicinal purposes and for timber. It is occasionally cultivated for its fruit and the wood is sometimes traded.

Family: Fabaceae

Flowering: December-February

Fruiting: February-April

Botanical description: The plant is an annual herb, much branched and viscous hairy. The plant grows up to 20-50 cm high and has small feathery leaves on either side of the stem. The flowers are bluish purple in colour, 6-7 mm long on slender peduncles. Pods oblong, one seedpod contains two or three peas.

Family: Lauraceae

Flowering: January Fruiting: February

Botanical description: The plant is a moderate sized tree growing up to 10-20 metres. Leaves are mostely oblong, usually 10-12.5 cm long, acuminate or acute, glabrous with shining above and acute base. The flowers are 5-6 mm long with pubescent pedicel. The tepals are pubescent, deciduous in fruits.

Ecology: The plant is occasionally planted and commonly cultivated as vegetable in the tropical countries including India.

Use: Leaves are used in different curries and recipes for special aroma.

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. 

Family: Cleomaceae

Flowering: July-October

Fruiting: December-February

Botanical description: The plant is an erect herbaceous annual herb growing up to 1.5 m in height. Leaves are alternately arranged and stalked. Each leaf has 3-7 leaflets, which are pinnately dissected and stalkless. Inflorescence is quite showy, and is usually up to 30 cm in length. The flowers have long stalks, ovate or elliptic petals either purplish or white in colour. The fruit is a long-stalked, dry, spindle-shaped capsule. Seeds are many, 1.5 mm across, with a shallow and narrow cleft.

Cleome gynandra is one of the most underutilised crops in the world. It is the best known by rural and urban communities of Africa. The plant is well distributed in parts of South Africa, C. gynandra is indigenous to the country and evenly spread throughout Africa. Many people use it in their daily diets but it is not yet found on formal commercial markets. It is still regarded as a weed by commercial farmers. The nutritional value of the leaves is totally underestimated. The plant is known for the treatment of various ailments originated from epilepsy to headaches. The crop is harvested mainly from the wild and only cultivated in certain areas. The germination of the seeds can be a problem especially if the seeds are harvested simultaneously. The seeds must be harvested as it gets matured not all at once. Most consumers harvest the plant as needed. The more the leaves are picked the more growth is stimulated. A general harvesting method is not worked out yet, as this will differ from area to area.

Family: Cleomaceae

Flowering: May-July

Fruiting: August-October

Botanical description: The plant is a tall annual herb growing up to a meter high, more or less hairy with glandular hairs. The leaves are compound, with 3-5 leaflets. Leaflets are obovate, elliptic-oblong, very variable in size. Flowers are yellow in colour, 10-15 mm across with 6-20 mm long pedicels. Fruits are 30-75 mm long, 3-5 mm broad, linear-oblong, erect, with tapering at both ends. Seeds many, 1.25mm across with dark brown colour.

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.