Known plants of Tamil Nadu

  Botanical Name : Syzygium cumini (L.) Skeels Family: Myrtaceae Common Name : Jamun tree English Name : Black plum, Jambu, Jaman Description : It is an evergreen plant. At the base, the bark is rough and dark colour but becoming lighter grey and smoother higher up. The 1889 book 'The Useful Native Plants of Australia’ records that the plant was referred to as "durobbi" by Indigenous Australians, and that "The fruit is much eaten by the natives of India; in appearance it resembles a damson. Leaves to 18 x 8 cm, ovate, oblong, long – acminate at apex, acute at base ; nerves many, close, shining above; petiole 1.5-2cm long. Panicles to 10cm across, on leatless branchlets. Flowers 6-9 mm across, subsesile; calyx tube. 3 mm broad, turbinate; filaments 7 mm long. Berry 10 x7mm, oboroid, deep blue. During maturity of the fruit the colour turning fremm green dark purple or nearly black. Flowering & Fruiting : December to April Distribution : The native of In

Botanical Name :  Bougainvillea glabra  Choisy Family : Nyctaginaceae Common Name : Bougainvillea, Lesser Bougainvillea, Paper Flower Description : It is the lesser bougainvillea or paperflower, is the most common species of bougainvillea used for bonsai. The epithet 'glabra' comes from Latin and means "bald". spiny, evergreen plant, varying in habit from a shrub to a tree, or becoming a climbing shrub producing stems up to 7 metres. Bougainvillea is often grown as an annual or container plant. The actual flower is small and insignificant, it is the colorful bracts, or modified leaves, which can be seen in all shades of pink, purple, and red that attract attention. Bougainvillea is best suited to a hot, dry climate and should be watered deeply but allowed to dry out between watering. Once established, they are drought resistant.   It is a woody climber with curved thorns that sprawls and needs to be tied or have a structure such as a fence, wall, or pergola for

Botanical name: Ceiba pentandra (L.) Gaertn., Family: Bombacaceae Common name : Kapok Tree English name: Kapok tree, with cotton tree, silk cotton tree Description: It is a deciduous tree with a pagoda-shaped, thin crown. It can become a very large tree, capable of reaching a height of 70 metres, buttressed trunk with a high canopy that can grow up to 70 metres (230 feet) in height. Three versions of the tree are found on our planet: that grown in tropical rainforests is a massive tree with spiny thorns protruding from its trunk. A second form grows in West African savannas, and it is a smaller tree with a smooth trunk. The third form is deliberately cultivated, with low branches and a smooth trunk. Its fruits are harvested for their kapok fibers, used to stuff mattresses, pillows and life preservers: it is the tree that envelops some of the buildings of Cambodia's Angkor Wat. The version cherished by the Maya is the rainforest version, which colonizes riverbanks and grows

Botanical Name: Areca catechu L. Family: Arecaceae Common Name: Betel Palm, Pakku English Name: Areca palm, pinang Description: It is an evergreen single-stemmed palm tree that can grow up to 30 metres tall but is more commonly around 15 metres. Arecanut is an erect, unbranched palm reaching heights of 12-30 m, depending upon the environmental conditions. The stem, marked with scars of fallen leaves in a regular annulated form, becomes visible only when the palm is about 3 years old. Girth depends on genetic variation and soil conditions. Root system adventitious, typical of monocots. The adult palm has 7-12 open leaves, each with a sheath, a rachis and leaflets. The leaf stalk extends as the midrib until the end of the leaf and ends as leaflets. Male flowers very numerous, sessile, without bracts; calyx 1-leaved, small, 3-cornered, 3-parted; petals 3, oblong, rigid striated; stamens 6, anthers sagittate. Female flowers solitary or 2 or 3 at or near the base of each ramificatio

  Botanical Name:  Saraca asoca (Roxb.) W.J.de Wilde Family: Fabaceae Common Name: Ashokam, Vanjuulam English Name: Ashok tree Description : A middle sized handsome tree. Leaves paripinnate, glabrous, leaflets 4-5 pairs, 10- 20 cm long, margin slightly wavy. Flowers are fragrant, orange scarlet in terminal or axillary racemes. Pods are 5 - 10 inch compresed, tapering at the both ends. Very beautiful tree when flowers. The purplish pink new leaves appear at the intervals. Leaves  paripinnate, alternate; leaflets 6-12, opposite, 7-28.5x 2-8.5 cm, narrowly  oblong, oblong-ovate or ovate- lanceolate, round, cuneate or acute, apex acute or acuminate, base obtuse, margin entire, glabrous, coriaceous; stipules 7-20 mm long, intra petiolar, scarious, ovate, connate;rachis 4-25 cm long, slender,, pulvinate, glabrous; petiolule 2-10 mm long, stout, glabrous; lateral nerves 10-15 pairs, pinnate, arched towards the margin, slender, faint, intercostae reticulate,faint. Flowers bisexual, yell

  Botanical Name: Cocos nucifera L. Family: Arecaceae Common Name : Coconut English Name: Coconut Distribution: C. nucifera palms are unbranched, monoecious trees with smooth, columnar, light grey-brown trunk, usually 9-18 m height and sometimes taller (up to 30 m); dwarf selections also exist. Leaves pinnate, feather shaped, 4-7 m long and 1-1.5 m wide at the broadest part. Leaf stalks 1-2 cm in length and thorn-less. Inflorescence consists of female and male axillary flowers. Flowers are small and light yellow, in clusters that emerge from canoe-shaped sheaths among the leaves. Male flowers are small and more numerous. Female flowers 1 or fewer than male flowers; larger, spherical structures, about 25 mm in diameter. Fruit a drupe, roughly ovoid, up to 30 cm long and 20 cm wide, composed of a thick, fibrous husk surrounding a somewhat spherical nut with a hard, brittle, hairy shell. The fruit consists of (from the outside to in) a thin hard skin (exocarp), a thicker layer of f

Botanical Name: Ixora coccinea L. Family: Rubiaceae Common Name:   Flame-of-the-woods English Name : Flame of the woods, jungle flame, needle flower, Description : This woody, evergreen, flowering shrub native of southeast Asia has become popular in Florida, but does not tolerate temperatures below 50 degrees and may die back in other zones.   It can regenerate in the spring or be grown in containers and brought indoors in the winter.   However, it may become susceptible to indoor problems such as scale, thrips and mealybugs. It grows in a bushy, rounded form with 4" long, glossy, dark evergreen leaves and summer blooms of 4 petaled red flowers in 5" wide cymes. The fruits are round and dark purple to black.   Ixora prefers full sun in moist, well-drained, acidic but organically rich soils.   It can tolerate small amounts of shade in the afternoon hea Flowering & Fruiting : Throughout the year Distribution : E. Asia - India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam IU

Botanical Name: Senna siamea (Lam.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby Family : Fabaceae Common Name : Pheasantwood English Name : Ironwood tree, Siamese senna Description : It is a medium-size tree, to 12m high, evergreen tree with a crown that is usually dense and rounded when young, later becoming irregular and spreading with drooping branches. It grows up to 18 metres tall, with a short, straight bole that is up to 30cm in diameter. Young parts puberulent. Leaves paripinnate, alternate, stipules small,subulate, cauducous, rachis 30-35cm long, slender, pubescent, grooved above, pulvinate, leaflets 18-30, opposite, estipellate, petiolule 3-4mm, slender, pubescent, lamina 4-7 x 1.8-2.8cm, oblong elliptic-oblong or ovate-oblong, base obtuse or round, apex obtuse, mucronate or retuse, margin entire, glabrous above, glabrous or minutely pubescent and glaucous beneath, lateral nerves 6-10 pairs, pinnate, faint, intercostae reticulate, obscure.   Flowers 2.5-3.5cm long, bisexual, yellow, in

Botanical Name: Ficus Racemosa L. Family : Moraceae Common Name : Cluster Fig English Name : Cluster fig, Gular fig, Country fig Description : It is an evergreen or, in drier areas, deciduous tree, often with an irregular crown; it can grow 20 - 30 metres tall. The bole becomes deeply buttressed as the tree grows older and can be 36 - 90cm in diameter. Surface reddish-brown or yellowish-brown smooth, coarsely flaky, fibrous, latex milky, young shoots and twigs finely white hairy, soon glabrous, branchlets 1.5-3mm thick, puberulous.   The leaves are alternate and lanceolate, linear-lanceolate in shape, around 4 to 6 inches long, and 2 to 3 inches broad. The old leaves of the tree tend to fall all year round and the new leaves start appearing generally around the month of March. The figs appear directly on the trunk or branches of the tree in the following months of April to May. The bark of the tree is grayish-white on colour and has a smooth texture. flowers of unisexual, 4 k

Botanical Name : Pithecellobium dulce (Roxb.) Benth. Family : Fabaceae Common Name : Kodakapuli; Manila Tamarind English Name : Blackbead, Monkeypod. Description : It is a tree that reaches a height of about 10 to 15 m (33 to 49 ft). Its trunk is spiny and its leaves are bipinnate. Each pinna has a single pair of ovate-oblong leaflets that are about 2 to 4 cm (0.79 to 1.57 in) long. The flowers are greenish-white, fragrant, sessile and reach about 12 cm (4.7 in) in length, though appear shorter due to coiling. Leaves bi-pinnate, alternate, stipular spines to 2cm erect rachis 1-3cm long slender pubescent grooved above pulvinate a solitary gland at te top on upper side pinnae 2.14-10mm long slender pubescent grooved above a solitary gland at the top on upperside. Leaflets 2 opposite stipels 1mm linear petiolute to 1mm lamina 1.5-3.5 x 0.5-1.5cm oblong oblanceolate inequilaferal base and apex obtuse margin entire glabrous chartaceous lateral nerves 5-7 pairs pinnate slender faint

Botanical Name : Musa x paradisiaca L. Family :  Musaceae Common Name : Vazha English Name : Banana, kodali, plantain, Description : a large, perennial plant growing around 8 metres tall.   Looking somewhat like a tree, it is a herbaceous plant whose top growth dies after flowering, to be replaced by new growth from the rootstock. Leaves simple large with a thick midnerve and pinnately paraled herve. Inflorescence terminal spicate bracts spathaceous large flowers bisexual sepals and petals connate. Lip free transparent stamens 5 tertile with a sterile staminode ovary inferiory 3-celled ovules many axile style filiform with a lobulate stigma fruit fleshy oblong. Bananas are a staple food and one of the most prolific of all food cropsStout herbs, root stock large stem formed by the imbricate base of petioles. Flowering & Fruiting : Throughout the year Distribution : Cultivated throughout the tropics. IUCN : No District : All District of Tamil Nadu Uses : Dessert f

Botanical Name : Moringa Pterygosperma Gaertn. Synonym : Moringa oleifera Lam. Family : Moringaceae Common Name : Muringa English Name : Ben oil tree, drumstick trees. Description : Tree, 5-10 m high, trunk brittle, root with taste and odour of horseraddish. Leaves deciduous, alternate, 30-60cm long, compound 3-pinnate, leaflets opposite, numerous, short-petiolate, 1-2.5 cm x 0.6-1.5 cm, variable in shape; inflorescence a panicle, axillary, flowers fragrant numerous, petals white,14-18 mm x 6-8 mm; fruit a linear capsule, triquetrous, 20- 45 cm long, 2 cm thick, usually pendulous tan; seeds globular 10 mm in diameter usually winged. Flowering & Fruiting : November-March Distribution : E. Asia - Indian subcontinent. Cultivated throughout India IUCN : unknown: Least Concern. Moringa oleifera (Drumstick Tree) (iucnredlist.org) District : All District Uses : Young leaves and shoots - raw or cooked, added to salads, cooked as a potherb and added to soups and curr

  Botanical Name :  Ficus Religiosa  L. Family : Moraceae Common Name : Sacred Fig English Name : peepal trees, pipul, sacred botree Description : is an evergreen tree with a wide-spreading crown; it can grow 15 - 30 metres tall. In older trees the bole can become buttressed and as much as 270cm in diameter. The tree often starts life as an epiphyte in the branch of a tree; as it grows older it sends down aerial roots which, when they reach the ground quickly form roots and become much thicker and more vigorous. They supply nutrients to the fig, allowing it to grow faster than the host tree. The aerial roots gradually encircle the host tree, preventing its main trunk from expanding, whilst at the same time the foliage smothers the foliage of the host. Eventually the host dies, leaving the fig to carry on growing without competition. Leaves pink stipules 1-1.5cm long lateral ovate-lanceolate puberulous petiole 60-120mm long stout, glabrous articulated a gland at the apex ablow l

  Botanical Name : Hibiscus rosa-sinensis L. Family : Malvaceae Common Name : Hibiscus English Name : Chinese hibiscus, rose of china shoe flower. Description : Stems woody, branches densely or sparsely pubescent or tomentose with simple, scarbid or stellate hairs or glabrous. Shrubs to 4m high stems, woody and glabrous leaves alternate ovate to ovate lanceolate. truncate or somewhat tapering at base, serrate, crenate or entire, sometimes dentate towards apex acute to acuminate at apex 5-11 x 3-6cm 3-5 nerved at base glabrous to sparsely stellate-hairy on nerves beneath petioles 1.5-4cm long simple-hairy stipules lanceolate or subulate 3-11mm long glabrous flower axillary solitary pedicels  2-8cm long jointed above middle glabrous or pubescent epicalyx lobes 5-8cm connate at base lanceolate 5-15mm long sparsely stellate-pubescent calyx campanulate 1-3cm long lobes connate to middle anceloate 1.5-2cm long stellate and glandular-poilose outside corolla infundibular, 6-12cm across

Botanical Name : Delonix Regia (Hook.) Raf. Family : Fabaceae Common Name : Flame Tree English Name : Royal Poinciana, peacock flower Description : It is a fast-growing tree with an umbrella shaped, spreading crown with the long, nearly horizontal branches forming a diameter that is wider than the tree’s height. Usually evergreen, the trees are deciduous in areas where the dry season is long and pronounced. The tree grows 10 - 18 metres tall, with a large, buttressed bole that can attain a girth of up to 2 metres. Tree to 15m high, branchlets warty puberulous. Leaves bi-pinnate alternate, stipules small lateral, rachis 15-20cm long   slender pulvinate, puberulent pinnal 8-20 pairs opposite or subopposite 2.7-10cm slender pulvinate puberulent, a sessile gland seen between each pinnae on upper side leaflets 18-50 sessile opposite, laming 0.4-0.8 x 0.2-0.35cm oblong or linear-oblong base oblique, apex obtuse margin entire puberulent above and pubescent beneath membranous, nerves an