The Cinderella flower

This flower's fairy godmother allows her to come out once a year for a couple of hours around midnight. The flower uses this time well and comes out in full glory to literally cast a shadow on pretty much any flower. This is what 'we' call the Brahma Kamal. It took me a while to find an authoritative link on the details of this flower because the real Brahma Kamal is a Himalayan flower that grows at a height of 4500m. The two flowers clearly look different but share the same characteristics with regards to the way they bloom and in size.

It is a rare flower in many aspects. Unlike most plants this one doesn't have a stem - the leaves stem out from other leaves and so does the flower. A leaf can be planted and it will multiply and you will be able to see it bloom the following Jun-Jul (if you are lucky!). The petals do look like the lotus flower and probably the origin of common name. It is a compound flower and seems to contain a flower inside a flower.
An interesting blog post on the flower.

We were lucky to see 5 flowers bloom, 2 on one night and 3 on the following night (even the buds awaiting their night out look fantastic). A sweet fragrance lingered in the room. I spent several minutes (if not hours) staring at the flower :-).

Name: Epiphyllum Oxypetalum, folks closer to sea level call it Brahmakamal
When: Jul - August (just one night, for a few hours)
Where: At home, Pune

Circle of Life

On Saturday afternoon as I was walking on a footpath in Pune I saw Buch flowers at my feet and I said to myself,  "It is that time of the year again!". This morning with my non-spectacled vision I spotted the first two Palash flowers on the tree outside our house - two bright orange flowers against the grey monsoon sky, spectacular.

Going to be an year on my blog. I may neglect my blog but I don't ever not exclaim every time I see a flower - just how wonderful it is.

Have you seen me?

Anybody who is even a mild observer would have seen these tiny flowers. One of the most common wild flowers of India.There are several species of  Lantana. It is known as Raimuniya in hindi. If you know the common name for this flower in other languages, let me know.

Name: Lantana Camara

When: Perennial flower

Where: Everywhere?! (This picture was taken in Bangalore) 

Purple Haze

Name: Jacaranda

A lovely mauv-purple flower tree from Brazil. A tall tree that spreads wide.
Trivia: Pretoria in South Africa is known as the Jacaranda City due to the enormous number of Jacaranda trees planted as street trees and in parks and gardens. These flowers appear in bunches and each flower is oblong.
There are over 40 varieties of the Jacaranda species. The picture above is of  Jacaranda Mimosifolia

When:  March - April (the flowers are in bloom for about a month)
Where: Bangalore, parks and sidewalks

Blushing White

While on the topic of summer and Tabebuias I thought I will finish the trinity. The white flower with a drop of pink in it just fading away.  The flowers like in Tabebuia Rosea have yellow throats. Popularly also known as the White Trumpet Tree or White Ipê or ipê-branco

Name: Tabebuia roseo-alba

Where: Bangalore

When: March  - April

And it was all Yellow!

The colour just speaks for itself - the perfect way to start the summer. Again a South American tree which is in bloom for just about two weeks. Everything looks drab in front of the tree.

Name: Tabebuia chrysantha/ Yellow Ipê

Where: Seen in Bangalore (again almost everywhere)
When: Februrary - March (by march end the flower season ends)

Pink Blossoms

Beautiful pink bunches belonging to the Tabebuia family. 18 and I fondly refer to them as blossoms. If you see one in full bloom you will know why, instantly. Flowers of this family appear in colonies. A single flower (right) never appears alone  - they appear in a bunch to give the view of a larger flower (pic on the left). The tree looks amazing.
This is a South American tree and every summer all the newspapers carry a story about them without fail. Even with all the digging, metro construction, dust and traffic the Bangalore trees just continue to grow and spread their cheer all around.

Name: Tabebuia rosea .The wiki on Tabebuia also calls it Tabebuia impetiginosa or Pink Ipê. I think it refers to a similar tree (tabebuia with pink flowers) that blooms during the winter months. Will try and confirm this.

Where: Bangalore - roads, parks, footpaths. Krishna Rao park has at least 3 of the tabebuia family trees  with yellow, pink and white flowers.

When: February - March. By beginning of April the flowering season ends.

The Colour of Summer

When: February onwards
Where: Bangalore  - footpaths, roadsides, parks and everywhere.

The colours I see around make me giddy with awe. Will soon post about each of the trees. Do have a look at Karthik's Journal a great blog on flowering trees, many of which are seen in Bangalore.

Palash

Name: Palash
Flaming orange, standing upright flowers and for obvious reasons is popularly known as the flame of the forest. Feels like the Gulmohar of late monsoons and early winters.
Trivia: The place Plassey known for the Battle of Plassey gets its name from this flower.

Description: Deep orange flowers found in a bunch on large trees. The tree never sheds all it's leaves like the gulmohar but during the peak blooming one can see a lot of orange.

Where: Bangalore, India

When: Seen from September onwards, peaks in Oct. Seen through spring and summer as well.