eChapters

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.

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.

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.

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- 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.

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. 

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- 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.