Known plants of Tamil Nadu

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...

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,...

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 : ...

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 th...

  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, 6-12...