eChapters

Family : Oxalidaceae

Flowering: July-September

Fruiting: October-December

Botanical Description: The plant is a small evergreen tropical tree that grows upto 25 feet in height. The compound leaves are soft, medium green, spirally arranged around the branches in an alternate fashion. The leaflets are sensitive to light and fold inward at night. The flowers are small and bell shaped, with five petals that have whitish edges. The fruit is fleshy, have a thin and waxy skin, five lobbed, ovate to ellipsoid with attractive yellow-orange in colour.

Family: Meliaceae

Flowering: February-May

Fruiting: June-July

Botanical description: The plant is a tree. The leaf of the plant is about 20-38 cm in length, leaflets 5-9 pairs and obliquely lanceolate. Flower is white in colour and fragrant. The plant bark, leaves and flowers are bitter in taste.

Family: Poaceae

Flowering & Fruiting: The plant flowers after about 90-100 years. Flowering and fruting occurs in wet season

Botanical description: The plant is a perennial tree growing 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 cultivated and naturalized throughout India. Plant loves to grow in moist soils.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Family : Moraceae

Flowering: Round the year

Fruiting April - June

Botanical Description: The tree is very large, growing up to 30 m tall, with many aerial roots that develop in to new trunks, so that the tree goes on spreading laterally. Indefinitely a single tree can cover a very wide area. The leaves are leathery, entire, ovate or elliptic, which grow up to 20-30 cm long with prominent lateral veins. The fruits are 1 to 2 cm in diameter, rounded in shape, without stalks arranged in pairs at leaf axils and it changes to bright red colour when ripens. The plant flowers round the year and bears fruits during April-June.

Family : Moraceae

Flowering: March-June

Fruiting June-July

Botanical Description: It is a large sized tree with few short areal roots. Leaves are ovate or elliptic with 7-20×3.5-9 cm in size. The most distinctive aspect of this tree is the red, furry figs in short clusters, that grows directly out of the trunk of tree. The figs do carry hundred of flowers in it.

Family: Asparagaceae

Flowering: October-January

Botanical description: The plant is an evergreen perennial shrub. It is stemless or with a short stem up to 1 m tall, producing a rosette of leaves of about 40 - 180cm long. The leaves are sword-shaped, 1-1.8 m long and 10-15 cm broad at their widest point, narrowing to 6-7 cm broad at the leaf base, and to a sharp spine tip at the apex. The flowers are greenish to creamy white, 4 cm long, and strongly scented.

Family: Molluginaceae

Flowering: March-June

Fruiting: July-October

Botanical description: The plant is a prostrate annual herb, growing upto to 50 cm long. Leaves are in pseudo-whorls of 3-6 or opposite; leaf blade is spoon-shaped or elliptic, obtuse or acute apex with short leaf stalks. Flowers are greenish white in colour and about 5mm to 8mm across. Capsule is ellipsoid, shorter than the sepals. Seeds are brown and finely granulate.

Ecology: It is commonly found in sandy soil, especially alone river banks, occasionally found in swampy localities, in dried-up pools and ditches and in rice-fields. The plant loves to grow on sandy soil.

Family: Malvaceae

Flowering: July-October

Fruiting: October-February

Botanical description: The plant is a robust branched, annual herb that grows 4-7 ft tall and almost as broad. Leaves are dark green in colour, about 6 in across, deeply dissected into 3-5 narrow lobes. The stems, branches, leaf veins, and leaf stalks are reddish purple. The flowers of the plant are yellow with deep purple centre and about 3 inches across. The sepals of the flowers are prominent, fleshy, bright red in colour. Capsule is ovoid, 1.5 cm across with brownish seeds.

Family: Violaceae

Flowering: Round the year

Fruiting: Round the year

Botanical description: The plant is a perennial herb The plant grows upto to 60 cm high, often branched and spreading. Leaves are sub-sessile, linear to lanceolate, 1-5 cm long with recurved to revolute margins or occasionally flat. The flowers are pink in colour with 5 petals. Capsule is subglobose, 4-9mm long with 5-12 seeds pitted between ribs.

Family: Hydroleaceae

Flowering: November-January

Fruiting: February-April

Botanical description: The plant is an annual, aquatic, ascending or prostrate herb, sparingly branched growing up to 1.2 meters in length, and rooting at the lower nodes. The leaves are lanceolate, 4-10 mm long, and pointed at both ends. The flowers are very numerous, bright blue in colour, 8-10 mm across and borne in racemes. The sepals are hairy, green, oblong-linear, and about 5 mm long. The capsule is ovoid, surrounded by the persistent sepals, and contains numerous, minute, oblong seeds.

Family: Acanthaceae

Flowering: October-December

Fruiting: January-February

Botanical description: The plant is a stout aquatic perennial herb growing up to 1-2 m high. The stems are erect, unbranched and hairy near swollen nodes. The leaves are sessile, linear- oblong, stalkless, 10-15 cm long, occur in whorls of 6 at each node on the stem. Straight, yellow, 4 cm long spines are present in the axil of each leaf. Flowers are purple in colour, occur in 4 pairs at each node and open in opposite pair.

Family: Convolvulaceae

Flowering: Most part of the year

Fruiting: Most part of the year

Botanical description: The plant is a semi-aquatic tropical herbaceous plant. The stem of the plant is thick, fistular or spongy, rooting at the nodes trailing on moist soil or mud, or floating on water. Leaves are variable in shape and size,such as ovate-oblong, ovate- triangular, lanceolate, elliptic-oblong.The flowers are trumpet-shaped, 3-5 cm diameter, usually white in colour with a purple center.Capsule ovoid, glabrous and 2-4 seeded.

Family: Cucurbitaceae

Flowering: July-October

Fruiting: November-January

Botanical description: The plant is a vigorous, annual, climbing herb. It grows fast and may begin to flower only two months after seeding. The vine is branched and climbs by means of tendrils along the stem. The foliage is covered with soft hairs and has a foul musky odor when crushed. The leaves of the plant are up to 15 inches wide, circular in overall shape, with smooth margins, a few broad lobes, or with undulate margins. Leaves have a velvety texture because of the fine hairs, especially on the undersurface. The flowers are white in colour and borne singly on the axils of the leaves, the males on long peduncles and the females on short peduncles. Fruits are of various shapes like bottle or dumb bell-shaped, rounded or elongated.