This is a beautiful wild flower of the ginger family. You can see it has a hook at one end. Since our guide knew nothing about wild flowers, we called it Captain Hook ginger.
This wild flower grows only in that region of the Western Ghats. It is called Carnatic Curcuma, or Karnataka Turmeric. This flower was 'discovered' by the botanists only in 1990.It is white, with a yellow line down its lower lip.
This is a clerodendron,Clerodendrum paniculatum seen at the edge of the forest. The villagers in the periphery of the forest grow it as a hedge.
This pretty white flower, Great Fringed -flower Vine Trichosanthes tricuspidata, is an endangered species, belonging to the cucurbit family. It had oval shaped fruit. Grows on a vine.
We encountered the very rare wild begonia deep inside the forest. Most of the wild flowers in the forest in this season were white or pale coloured.I think it is to reflect the maximum amount of light, because it is quite dark deep inside the forest. I have more pictures which I'll be posting soon.
We have a variety around these parts like the Carnatic cucurma which is edible. At least the blooms look similar. The other blooms are pretty too. That clerodendron looks exactly like the edible one I'd posted sometime back. These blooms are striking because of the colour. Great shots of the begonia too!
ReplyDeleteThat's a beautiful flower, and your nickname for it, Captain Hook ginger, sounds so full of adventure!
ReplyDeleteKanak, it is rare for a clerodendron to be edible.But their flowers look similar.
ReplyDeleteShailaja, we all fell in love with that flower.
What a lovely blog - and some fascinating flowers. I just love that little white curcubit ....but I don't think it would grow in the UK!
ReplyDeleteThank you for a great read :)
What pretty wildflowers. The all look so exotic to me. What a pretty begonia!
ReplyDeleteNutty Gnome: Thanks for visiting my blog.Please do visit again.
ReplyDeleteCatherine: The wild flowers looked exotic to me too.
Funny that your guide knew nothing about wild flowers. da
ReplyDeleteFun trip. So many different kinds of wildflowers...isn't it wonderful?