eChapters

The genus Clostridium belongs to the family Clostridiaceae. The genus name was originated from the Greek word ‘klo ster’, which means ‘spindle’ referring to their individual rod shape. Clostridia are gram positive, large, sporulating anaerobic rods (except C. piliforme which is gram negative). At present, there are more than 200 numbers of species under the genus Clostridium. Among them, 15 species can produce potent toxins and are considered as pathogenic for animals and human. The animal pathogenic clostridia can be classified as neurotoxic, histotoxic and enteric.

Family : Cucurbitaceae

Flowering & Fruiting: Most part of the year

Botanical Description: The plant is a climbing herb with angular stem and long tuberous root. The leaves are classified as palmately simple with five lobes while the shape varies from the heart to pentagon form. The size of the leaves is approximately 5-10 cm in width and length. The tendrils are long, elastic with coil-like springy character that can wrap around the host to the entire length. The flower is large and white about 4 cm in diameter and contains five long tubular petals. The fruit is oblong, narrowed apically or at both ends. The raw fruit is green in color and turns bright red when ripened. The seeds of the plant are oblong and compressed.

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- 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- 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.

Family : Araceae

Flowering: The plants flowers in Late wet season (September-October)

Botanical description: The plant is a tuberous bulb, herbaceous 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.

Ecology: It is commonly found in damp, shady places and also cultivated. The plant is widely distributed throughout the hotter parts of India.

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- Rangoon creeper
        Hindi- Madhumalti
        Odia- Madhumalati

Family    :    Combretaceae
 
Habit & Distribution
It is a climbing shrub (Fig. 89 a), cultivated widely in gardens and distributed throughout India.

General Characters
The plant is a twining climber blooming profusely throughout summer and can reach up to 70 feet in tropical climate. The leaves are elliptic-oblong and 7-15 cm long. Flowers are scented, pink-white to reddish-white in colour and grow in pendent racemes with a very fast rate. The plant flowers and bears fruits in most parts of the year.

Family: Commelinaceae

Flowering: August-September

Fruiting: September-October

Botanical description: The plant is a small diffused or straggling herb. Stem usually with a line of pubescence. Leaves are linear, 3.7-7.5 cm long, acute or acuminate, glabrous with prominent midrib and acute-obtuse at apex. Flowers are blue in colour and very small. Capsules are oblong and 4.3 mm long. The capsule is having 2 seeds, 2.5 mm long, ellipsoid, cylindrical with white appendage at each end.

Family: Commelinaceae

Flowering: July-October

Fruiting: November-January

Botanical description: The plant is a diffuse, branched, sub-succulent herb growing upto 30-60 cm. Leaves are 3-5 x 2-3.5 cm in size, ovate or elliptic-ovate, base rounded or almost flat with blunt or pointed tip. Spathe is about 1.5 cm across, funnel-shaped, flat at apex and velvet-hairy. Sepals are nearly equal, about 2.5 mm long, outer ones linear, inner ones orbicular. Flowers are small, petals are blue in colour, larger ones about 4 x 4.5 mm with broadly ovate. The seeds are 5 and closely pitted.

Family: Tiliaceae

Flowering: July-September

Fruiting: October-November

Botanical description: 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.

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- 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.

1. Botanical Name : Cordia myxa Roxb.

2. Family : Boranginaceae

3. Common Name : Indian cherry, Lasoda , Goonda

4. Name in Indian languages

Lasoda (Hindi ), Chalhanu (Kannada), Bahubara, Bohari(Bengali), Gundomoto (Gujrati ), Aruvili (Tamil), Cheruviri (Malyalam), Bhokar (Marathi), Bahuvaraka (Sanskrit), Gondi (odiya), Chinnabotuku(Telugu).

5. Description

Cordia myxa is a medium size tree with a dense crown, that can grow up to 12 metres. The stem is stout. It is a multi-purpose tree and use as a food, medicine and source of wood, fibre etc. It is originated in Indian subcontinent but cultivated in western African countries for it’s edible and medicinal fruits.

Family: Apiaceae

Flowering: December-January

Fruiting: February-March

Botanical description: The plant is a herb, growing to a height of about 2 feet with a spread of 9 inches. The leaves are bright green in colour, fan shaped and become more feathery towards the top of the plant. The flowers are small and white, formed in umbel-like clusters. Fruit is globose, glabrous and seeds are flattened dorsally in transaction.

1. Botanical name : Corylus jacquemontii Decne

2. Family : Betulaceae

3. Common Name : Indian Hazelnut

4. Name in Indian languages

Bhotiya badam, Kabasi (Hindi), Thangi, Thankoli, Shalodi, Urmuni, Sharoli and Sharod (Himachali).

5. Description

Indian Hazelnut is a wild plant of the mid and high hills of the Himalayas. The tree is small or medium-sized and deciduous. Leaves are ovate or obovate, irregularly lobed or toothed, silky pubescent on nerves beneath. Flowers emerge before the leaves. Male flowers are arranged in drooping spikes while female flowers are cone-like, small, ovoid produced in pairs.

Corynebacterium diptheriae was first observed by Klebs in 1883 and was described in details by Loeffler in 1884. So it is also known as ‘Klebs- Loeffler bacillus’. In 1888, Nocard isolated a similar type of bacteria from cases of bovine farcy. In 1894, Preisz described it completely and revealed its similarities with the diphtheria bacilli. Later it was named as Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis (Preisz-Nocard bacillus). Bollinger (1890) first reported C. renale from the cases of pyelonephritis in cows.

The genus Trueperella was proposed by Yassin and others (2011) to describe T. pyogenes previously known as Arcanobacterium pyogenes or Actinomyces pyogenes or Corynebacterium pyogenes. The genus Arcanobacterium was first described (Collins and others, 1982) to include the bacteria originally isolated as Corynebacterium haemolyticum from the wounds of American soldiers. On the basis of 16S rRNA comparisons and menaquinone and phospholipid compositions it is proposed that the species Arcanobacterium pyogenes should be reclassified as members of the new genus Trueperella.

The genus Rhodococcus was first introduced by Zopf (1891) as a soil bacterium used in horticulture. Magnusson (1923) described C. equi (Rhodococcus equi) from suppurative pneumonia of a foal.

1. Botanical name : Crataegus oxyacantha L.

2. Family : Rosaceae

3. Common Name : English Hawthorn

4. Name in Indian languages

Bansangli (Hindi), Ghingharoo (Kumaoni).

5. Description

Hawthorn is a thorny shrub commonly found in abundance in forests and open places in Himalayan regions at an altitude of 1500- 2500 m above msl. It is an aggressive settler and difficult to remove. The stem is grayish to purple brown in colour and hard. Hawthorn has been used in folk medicine for the treatment of diarrhea, gall bladder disease, insomnia, and as an antispasmodic agent in the treatment of asthma.

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.

Family : Cucurbitaceae

Flowering: September-October

Fruiting: October-November

Botanical Description: The plant is an procumbent annual climber growing to 1.5m. The leaves are oval to kidney shaped with five to seven shallow lobes. Plants produce trailing vines and yellow flowers similar to cucumbers, but flowers may be male, female, or perfect. Fruit is spherical or ovoid, large, and can reach the size of a football, although it is generally more flattened. It is striped green or pale green in colour, ultimately turning yellow.

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.

Family: Cucurbitaceae

Flowering: March-June

Fruiting: May-August

Botanical description: The plant generally spreads on the ground with cylindric and grooved stem. The leaves are rounded to reniform, 6-25cm in diameter with 5 rounded shallow lobes and coarsely hairly. The flowers are monoecious and yellow in colour. Fruits usually lagre, oblong, oval, flattened or globular in size. Seeds are ovate, obscurely margined with white or yellow in colour.

Common name    :    English- Giant dodder
        Hindi- Amar bel
        Odia- Nirmuli
 
Family    :    Cuscutaceae
 
Habit & Distribution
It is a parasitic plant (Fig. 40 a) that usually grows in a profilic manner over other plants as support. It is widely distributed throughout India. 

General Characters
The plant is a creeper with yellowish-green or yellow stem and often in dense mass. The flowers of the plant are white or pinkish and almost 6-7.5 mm long. The corolla of the flower is tubular with short reflected lobes. The fruits are fleshy and globose with conical in shape. It bears flowers during October to December and bears fruits during December-Jnauary.

Common name    :    English- Bermuda grass
        Hindi- Dub
        Odia- Duba ghasa

Family    :    Poaceae

Habit & Distribution
The plant is fairly common in lawns, roadsides, cultivated lands, damp grounds, wastelands etc. It is widely distributed throughout India. (Fig. 41 a)

General Characters
It is a variable perennial creeper with hairy leaves, 3-7 spikes (rarely 2) together at the top of the stem. The stem is erect and often grows 1-30 cm in height. It has a deep root system that grows to over 2 m deep in to the soil. It flowers and bears fruits throughout the year.

Common name    :    English- Rose wood
        Hindi- Shisham
        Odia- Sissoo

Family    :    Fabaceae

Habit & Distribution
It is a tree (Fig. 43 a), commonly planted along roadsides. The plant is widely distributed throughout India.
 
General Characters
The plant is a medium sized tree with thick, gery or pale brown bark. It reaches up to a maximum of 25m in height and 2-3 m in diameter. The leaves are leathery, alternate and about 15 cm long. The flowers are yellowish in colour and 1.5 cm in long. The pods are oblong, flat, thin and 2.5-7.5 cm long with 3-4 seeds in it. The plant flowers during March-June and bears fruits during November-February.

Common name    :    English- Thron apple
        Hindi- Dhatura
        Odia- Duddura

Family    :    Solanaceae

Habit & Distribution 
The plant is a shrub (Fig. 42 a), commonly found in road sides, waste lands, damp grounds and also in forests. It is widely distributed throughout India and is of cosmopolitan nature.

General Characters
It is an annual shrub growing up to a height of 8 ft. The stem is green or purple in colour and leaves are ovate and irregularly lobed about 5-12.5 cm long. Flowers of the plant are white or purple in colour and 6.2-12.5 cm in size. The fruit is an egg shaped spiny capsule almost 5 cm in diameter. The plant flowers and bears fruits in the month of November.

1. Botanical Name : Debregeasia velutina Gaud

2. Family : Urticaceae

3. Common Name : Wild Rhea

4. Name in Indian languages

Syaru (Kumoani), Poonoolmaram, Neeranji, Narambili, (Malayalam), Kaattu, Nochchi, Katunochchi, (Tamil), Sansaru (Hindi), Garuga (Kannada), Tussare (Nepali), Khargul(Marathi), Syaru (Garhwali).

Common name    :    English - Gold mohar
        Hindi - Gul mohar
        Odia - Krusnachuda

Family    :    Fabaceae

Habit & Distribution 
The plant is a tree (Fig. 44 a), commonly planted in gardens and avenues. It is widely planted throughout India as a street tree.

General Characters
The plant reaches up to 30-40 ft in height. Leaves are feathery and grow up to 60 cm long with 11-18 pinnae pairs and many leaflets. The flowers are orange or red in color and more than 10 cm across and appear in corymbs along and at the ends of branches. Pods are 30-60 cm long, green and flaccid when young and turn dark-brown later. The plant bears flowers in the month April-June.

Family : Gramineae (Poaceae)

Flowering: November

Botanical description: The plant is a perennial tree that grows up to 20-53 m in height and 8-18 cm in diameter. There are 1-3 spines at each branch node. Leaves are thin, linear, up to 20 cm long, 1-1.8 cm wide with a long pointed tip. The branches of the plant spread out from the base and areal roots reaching up to nodes. The length of the internodes is about 15-46 cm and is hollow.

Ecology: It is fairly common in mixed forests or dry hills, often found in hills and shady slopes and alluvial plains.

Common name    :    English- Bamboo
        Hindi- Bans
        Odia- Baunsa
Family    :    Gramineae (Poaceae)

Habit & Distribution
It is a perennial tree (Fig. 15a), family common in mixed forest or dry hills, and often found in shady slopes and allovial plains.

Family : Dilleniaceae

Flowering: May- June

Fruiting: September-February

Botanical Description: The plant is a moderate sized evergreen tree growing up to 15m tall. The leaves are deep green in colour, oblong to lanceolate and 15-36 cm in long. The flowers are white, large, up to 5 inches across. The fruit is rounded, 5-12 cm in diameter aggregate of 15 carpels with each carpel containing 5 seeds embedded in the pulp.

Common name    :    English- Elephant apple
        Hindi- Cwhalta
        Odia- Awoo

Family    :    Dilleniaceae
 
Habit & Distribution: 
It is a tree (Fig. 45 a) which is frequently planted and often grown in gardens. The plant is widely distributed in evergreen forests throughout India.

General Characters
The plant is a moderate sized evergreen tree growing up to 15 in tall. The leaves are deep green in colour, oblong to lanceolate and 15-36 cm in long. The flowers are white, large, up to 5 inches across/ the fruit is rounded, 5-12 cm in diameter aggregate of 15 carpels and each carpel containing 5 seeds embedded in the pulp. The plant flowers during May- June and bears fruits in September-February.

1. Botanical name : Dillenia indica L.

2. Family : Dilleniaceae

3. Common Name : Elephant Apple, Indian catmon

4. Name in Indian languages

Chalta, Karambel (Hindi), Paanca phal, Panca kule, Ram phal, Thulo tatri (Nepali), Avartaki (Sanskrit).

Family : Dioscoreaceae

Flowering & Fruiting: Throughout the year

Botanical description: The plant is a vigorous, perennial, climbing plant, producing annual stems up to 15 metres long from a very large tuberous rootstock. Tubers of the plant are one to several, polymorphic, variously branched or lobed and hairy with small rootlets. The stems scramble over the ground, or twine into the surrounding vegetation. The stem is quadrangular, winged, and twines right-handed. Leaves are opposite, 7-18 x 4-10 cm, broadly ovate, base cordate with acuminate apex. Flowers are laxly arranged, sessile with 1-1.5 mm long and ovate bracts and fleshy tepals.

Family : Dioscoreaceae

Flowering & Fruiting: September-October

Botanical description: Aerial yam is a glabrous-leafed, non-spiny, perennial climbing plant producing annual stems up to 10 metres long from a woody, tuberous rootstock. These stems scramble over the ground, or twine into the surrounding vegetation. The stems twine left-handed and produce aerial axillary bulbils. The plant produces tubers; however the bulbils which grow at the base of its leaves are more important food products. They are about the size of potatoes (hence the name air potato) weighing from 0.5 to 2 kg. The flowers are whitish or pinkish in colour.

Family : Dioscoreaceae

Flowering & Fruiting: August-October

Botanical description: Stem twining to the left, terete, tomentose. Leaves 3-foliolate, palmately divided into 3-5 subequal leaflets, broadly ovate, oblique at base, abruptly acuminate; petiole 15-18 cm long. Spikes are 30 cm long, densely tomentose, distantly flowered fascicles at nodes on long peduncle. Female flowers sessile; bracts 4 mm long, ovate; tepals 2 x 1 mm, oblong, acute, hairy. Capsule 25 x 15 mm, oblong, tomentose. Male flowers not seen.

Family : Dioscoreaceae

Flowering & Fruiting: July-December

Botanical description: The plant is a perennial climbing plant. Tubers are irregular, usually long ovoid, transverse section white when fresh, becoming brown. Roots fibrous. Leaves are compound, palmately divided into 3-5 leaflets, and alternately arranged on the twining stems. Male flowers are nearly stalkless and Female spikes are simple or branched. Capsules are thinly leathery, sparsely hairy and turns black at maturity.

Family : Ebenaceae

Flowering: March-April

Fruiting: March-April (Next Year)

Botanical Description: The plant is an evergreen tree with a spreading crown. It can grow up to 37 m tall, with a trunk girth of 2 m. The bark is black, smooth, and the inner bark turns bluish on exposure to sunlight. Leaves are oblong and glossy. The male flowers are formed in 3-5 flowered cymes in leaf axils. Female flowers are solitary. Fruits are round, up to 3.5 cm in diameter, yellow when ripe with a juicy pulp.

Family : Ebenaceae

Flowering: April-May

Fruiting: (Next Year) March-April

Botanical Description: The plant is a medium-sized tree growing up to 25 m, height and 1.9 m girth. The bark is black in colour, peeling in rectangular scales, which is an identifying feature. The leaves are eliptic-oblong, opposite or alternate, leathery, up to 35 cm long, velvety on both sides when young, becoming smooth above when fully grown. Male flowers are mauve in colour, sessile or nearly sessile in short peduncles, mostly 3-flowered. Female flowers mauve, mostly extra-axillary or sometimes solitary, axillary, opposite to each other, larger than the male flowers. Fruits olive green in colour, ovoid or globose 3-4 cm across, 1-8 seeded berries. Seeds are compressed, oblong and shiny.

1. Botanical Name: Diospyros melanoxylon Roxb.

2. Family: Ebenaceae

3. Common Name: East Indian ebony, Tendu

4. Name in Indian languages

Tendu, Timburni (Hindi), Kend, Kendu (Bengali), Abanasi, Balai (Kannada), Kari (Malayalam), Tendu, Temru, Timburni (Marathi), Dirghapatraka (Sanskrit), Karai, Karundumbi, Tumbi (Tamil), Tuniki, Beedi, Aaku (Telugu).

1. Botanical Name : Docynia indica Syn. Docynia hookeriana, Syn. Docynia rufifolia, Syn. Malus docynioides, Syn. Pyrus indica, Syn. Pyrus rufifolia

2. Family : Rosaceae (Pomeae)

3. Common Name : Mehal

4. Name in Indian languages

Sohphoh (Khasi), Mel, Mehal (Nepali), Tong, Thung kakpa (Bhutan).

5. Description

Docynia indica is deciduous tree found in India and South East Asia. The trees are medium to tall in height. It requires a well-drained soil in a sunny position. This species can tolerate temperatures down to about -5 to -10°C. Fruits are acidic and greenish with red tinged. Fruits are eaten as fresh or pickles as well used in jelly preparation. It is also used as rootstock for imparting semi-dwarf in apple.

Common name    :    English- Lucky bean tree 
        Hindi- Putija/Putranjiva
        Odia- Poitundia/Poichandia

Family    :    Euphorbiaceae

Habit & Distribution 
It is a tree (Fig. 46 a), growing in hills, in wild often planted and self shown. It is distributed throughout tropical India.

General Characters
The plant is a moderate sized evergreen tree growing up to 12 meter in height. Leaves are simple, alternately arranged, dark green and shiny in colour. There are two types of flowers with short stalk, in rounded axillary clusters; females are green and 4 mm across. Fruits are ellipsoid or rounded drupes, white velvetly, seed normally one, stone pointed and very hard. The plant flowers during March-April and bears fruits during January-March.

1. Botanical Name: Elaegnus parviflora Wall. Ex. Royle

2. Family: Elaeagnaceae

3. Common Name: Autumn Olive

4. Name in Indian languages

Giwain, Kankal (Hindi, Kumoani), Heiyai (Manipuri), Guenlee (Nepali).

5. Description

Autumn olive is a small tree or shrub, often spiny. The small white (fading to yellow) flowers have a sickly-sweet aroma.

6. Origin and distribution

Autumn olive is found in the Himalayas, from Kashmir to Bhutan, Assam and western China, at altitudes of 1300-3000 m.

1. Botanical Name : Elaeocarpus munronii (Wt.) mast)

2. Family : Elaeocarpaceae

3. Common Name : Kalarudraksha

4. Name in Indian languages

Idanji pan (Koodwa), Nari Bikki, Kal Bikki (Kannada), Rudraksham (Tamil), Kalarudraksham, Shirukodala (Malayalam).

5. Description

Elaeocarpus munronii is plant in the Elaeocarpaceae family. It is found only in India. It is threatened by habitat loss. Trees grows up to 15 m tall.Trunk is greyish, smooth and blaze cream. Leaves are simple, alternate, 4-9 cm long , ovate Flowers axillary in racemes, white. Fruit is Drupe, elliptic and 2 cm long, smooth with single seed

1. Botanical Name : Elaeocarpus tuberculatus Roxb.

2. Family : Elaeocarpaceae

3. Common Name : Warty Marble Tree

4. Name in Indian languages

Kooge pan (Kodwa), Dandale Mara, Kadambola, Kunge Mara (Kannada), Badraksham, Rudraksham, Pahumban, Kara, Ammakorum, Adraksham, Mukkanni, Vellathaanni, Thodayam (Malayalam), Malampinnai, Pathrachi, Ruthraksham (Tamil).

Family: Compositae

Flowering: Aug-December

Fruiting: January-April

Botanical description: The plant is an annual herb. The stems are weak, erect or often branched at the base, smooth or sparingly hairy with 10 to 60 cm tall. This species is recognized by the sow-thistle like leaves.

The family Enterobacteriaceae belongs to the order Enterobacterial. The family comprises 25 genera such as Escherichia, Salmonella, Klebsiella, Yersinia, Proteus, Providencia, Shigella, Enterobacter, Morganella, Edwardsiella, Budvicia, Cedecea, Citrobacter, Ewingella, Hafnia, Kluyvera, Leclercia, Leminorella, Moellerella, Pantoea, Rahnella, Tatumella, Trabulsiella, Serratia and Yokenella, out of which the first 10 genera are consistent pathogenic in humans, animals and birds.

Escherichia coli

Escherichia coli were first isolated by Theodor Escherich in 1885 from the faeces of infants. It was named in honour of the German pediatrician and its major natural habitat (colon). Previously it was also known as Bacillus coli or Bacterium coli (B. coli).

Family: Asteraceae

Flowering: December-January

Fruiting: January-February

Botanical description: The plant is a prostrate herb. The stem of the plant is succulent, with short ascending flowering hairy branches. The leaves are narrowly linear-oblong, acute or obtuse, entire or subcrenate with 2-5cm long. Heads yellow in colour, axillary and terminal, sessile with 7-18mm diameter.

8.1 The purpose of erosion research

The need for research

A soil conservation programme needs to be based on factual information about rates and quantities of erosion. For example some land obviously needs to be protected by mechanical works such as channel terraces, some land equally obviously does not need any protection, and a great deal of land lies somewhere between the two extremes. At some point the terraces become unnecessary or uneconomic, but a logical decision on where to draw the line can only be made if data are available on how much soil erosion is occurring and how much it would be reduced by terraces. Similarly, the effect of channel terraces should be compared with the effect of alternative measures, and the effect should also be measured on the different soils and crops which are likely to be encountered.

Nowadays there are excellent opportunities for research workers to exchange the results of their work. The national and iniernational journals are packed with accounts and results of research reports in their proceedings (as listed in Further reading). Some of the reported research results can be usefully applied in countries other than where the research was done, but care is required in any transfer of technology. If the local conditions of soil, climate, or land use, are different, the results may not apply. However, research in other situations can often serve as a pilot trial to show which factors should be studied locally. Even when local conditions are so different that the results do not apply at all, the techniques and apparatus developed by other workers can still be helpful.

Family: Apiaceae

Flowering: April-June

Fruiting: July-August

Botanical description: The plant is an perennial, erect, dichotomously branched, aromatic herb, growing up to 15-45 cm high. Leaves are sessile, oblanceolate-oblong, spinosely- serrate and glabrous. Inflorescence heads numerous, cylindric, about 10 x 5 mm with the involucral bracts exceeding the heads. Petals are white or greenish in colour. Fruits are greenish, subspherical and about 1.5 mm in diameter.