Sweeter but a sticky fruit, Lasura!

In my childhood days, I had wondered about a nut that remained stuck on the eaves tiles. How had it gone there? Crow had swallowed it and ejected it in its droppings on to the tiles! Is it not digested? It is a hardy nut and hence it is not digested! What is the name of the fruit that contained this nut and was tasty to the crow?

Green seed pod? No, Green Vine Snake!

In childhood, we used to talk about the exciting stories that we heard - like that of snakes and ghosts. Out of the snake stories there was one that of a green snake that strikes at eyes when one approaches it! It is the Green Vine Snake (Ahaetulla nasuta, Green whip snake, 'Patcha paamboo' or 'Kankotthi paamboo' in Tamil).

Sweetish sour wonder in Tamarind tree!

Nowadays, whenever I look at a particular tree species my mouth waters - the past experience with tasting of its fruits influences me like this! But in my childhood days I used to look at these trees with fear - as the elders had told stories about ghosts that hang upside down on them! This tree is nothing but our Tamarind tree (Tamarindus indica, 'Pulia maram' in Tamil). Though it is native to Africa it is found in many countries from Asia to America. Here in Tamil Nadu, India, it is found as avenue trees and all along the state roadways.

Trees with different responses!

In my childhood, I have been shown the plant, ' Touch-me-not' as a wonder, whenever our family visited Courtallam (the hilly and holly tourist centre, The Spa of Southern India). Now I am able to see that the tropical trees too exhibit such response to environmental stimuli! See here how this Mesquite (Prosopis juliflora) responds to the touch by rain drops:

Garden Wonders!

Though some plants are thorny, they bear beautiful flowers and have also medicinal properties; you see a flower of Tack weed (Tribulus terrestris, 'Nerunji' in Tamil).A blue flower with thin petals from a weed that has also tinnier leaves:

Another visual treat from garden!

If we get something unusual we are amazed. You see here the flowers of hybrid Cluster beans that were robust and grew up tall over a meter!

Garden has often winged visitors that it invites with its plants. Here are the pictures of a Locust:

Appealing wonders - Garden pictures!

An unusual colour excites and sticks well to your mind - a Yellow Shoe flower shows itself here:

Delicious fruits that were offered by my tree (that was uprooted by a downburst) - Guava fruits invite you here:

Downburst - a mighty nature of Nature!

On one of the days in June 2010, the Guava tree in my garden was uprooted by the windy rains. That tree yielded delicious fruits twice each year; it gave me the fruits through the window of my house - I plucked them through the window itself! The tree was a wonderful place to both birds and animals that I used to click many pictures and posted them in this blog. It was a tall tree that had grown up for almost eight years then. I was sorrowful about the incident. How could it have been uprooted on a single day?

Leaf-drinkers in water scarcity!

In school class room it was taught that transpiration is one of the plant's physiological functions. But do we know that 'reverse transpiration' is also a physiological function? Yes, it is so - in certain plants! In them leaf takes in water and sends it to the stem - reverse of what we learnt and expect - root takes in water and sends it to leaves via stem. These plants are described as 'Leaf - drinkers,' as their leaves are 'drinking' water.

The munificent tree - Palmyrah Tree!

Each year in summer we expect the arrival of a delicacy in the market. It takes the heat off our head and cools down the whole body. In my childhood I had also relished on a sweet drink related to that delicacy. These two products are from our Palmyrah tree (Borassus flabellifer, Double palm, Lontar palm, 'Panai maram' in Tamil). The tree has multiple uses from making huts to making palm sugar and what else not? Its black fruits contain the soft, jelly-like delicacy (that I mentioned earlier here) called 'Nuongu' in Tamil (Ice-apple).

A wonder herb, called Banana!

I had wondered in my younger days that how banana leaves are seen coming out of wayside dunes. In closer view I found out that they grew out of corms that were disposed off from the nearby plantations. This Banana tree (Musa paradisiaca, Sweet banana, Dessert banana, 'Vazhlaippazhlam' in Tamil) yields the fruits that we, the humans, apes, elephants and many other animals relish on. It is not a tree but a herbaceous plant!

Elephant Apple, the wonder fruit!

I had wondered in my childhood how an elephant could digest the contents of a fruit without breaking its hard shell. My sisters had informed me about this that elephant swallows the entire fruit, and after digestion we could see the whole fruit intact in its dung - but without its contents! It explains well about the great digestive power of the animal but it may be an exaggeration. OK. What is that fruit?

Purple Orchid Tree, the most sought!

Orchid flowers are very beautiful. But the orchids are difficult to grow and have these flowers. There is an easily grown tropical tree that bears flowers resembling Orchid flowers! It is the Purple Orchid Tree (Bauhnia purpurea, Butterfly Tree, Purple Camel's foot, 'Iruvaatchi' in Tamil). Its flowers are pink and fragrant.

Busy worker, the Black carpenter ant!

Every day we have this visitor from the animal kingdom into our household. It searches here and there for small food particles. If it finds out something attractive, it hurries out and returns with a flotilla of its companions following in a line, one after the other: it is nothing but our active Black Carpenter Ant (Worker) (Camponotus pennsylvanicus, 'Katterumbu' in Tamil)!

Garden in glass jar - Silica Garden!

Whatever present in the Nature is mimicked, it will wonder us, is it not? A garden with colorful trees present inside a glass jar(!) is the wonder here - the Chemical garden or the Silica garden! This jar contains a solution of Sodium silicate (common name: Water glass). Inside it small crystals of various metallic salts are placed. Then the colorful trees start to grow instantly and visibly in minutes!

An evening wonder - Night Heron!

As a little boy I was shown some flying birds that flew past on the sky at dusk. (By doing this my sisters were clever in diverting my attention while they were on babysitting duty!). Those birds make sounds all through such flights as 'qwakgaa, qwakgaa'! I know now what is this bird, that made me curious and wondering, and also introduced me to the hobby, Bird-watching!

Candle Bush having worthy medicines!

I found one day a plant among bushes on the wayside, becoming prominent by popping up by itself with its bright yellow heads. It had large leaves and had grown profusely within a shorter period of time. It was exactly like a robust Senna plant, as if it was from the era of Dinosaurs! I also found grannies picking up its leaves for preparing home remedies for illnesses (Granny's medical treatment, 'Paati Vaithyam' in Tamil!).

Twittering about a tree, bug and a mite!

After an event in life other events follow. The question that arises within us after knowing about that prime event is: What happened next? I had informed about the unexpected cutting down of my Indian Coral Tree in one of my previous posts (Read it here). Now the tree has grown up and bloomed!

Common Tailorbird cobbling its nest!

One bird that I watched and wondered in my childhood made me to continue Bird-watching as a hobby. It is the Common Tailorbird (Orthotonus sutorius, 'Thaiyal kuruvi' in Tamil). What attracted me to it so much? It is its tiny size compared to that of a hen, its incessant calls, its upright moving tail and its amazing behavior of nest - building!

Cooling under Indian Almond Tree!

Then, in 1960s, here in my home town a lane was called after a tree that had been grown along its side. It was called as 'Vaadhaankottaimara Theru' (in Tamil). That tree's common English name is Indian Almond Tree ('Terminalia cattappa', Tropical Almond, ' Vadhaankottai maram' in Tamil)! The tree is characteristic with all its broad, large and deep greenish leaves that turn bright red before they fall down.