Lessons on life

-Silence is the best answer for all stupid questions..Smile is the best reaction in all critical situations..

-A single lovable smile is a proper key for many solutions and many confusions..So express your cute smile every moment..

-Mixed of everything is life,we cant expect happiness every moment...Try to be happy at all times,even if you are alone...

-Give your love to all,as the rose spreads its fragrance..But share your heart to one who knows the symphony of your heart beats...

-Whenever you share the goodness in your heart,you always end up winning hearts because life is an echo-it gives back what you have given!!

-Relationships are like a stapler:It's easy to attach but hard to detach and worst is when you are able to detach it,it still leaves the paper it's mark to make us remember the lost relationship...

-Hard work is like a cup of milk and luck is like a spoon of sugar..God gives sugar to those who have a cup of milk!

-You are alive..That means you have infinite potential...You can do anything,make anything,dream anything..

-Hard words cant touch any soft heart..But soft words can touch any hard heart,so speak in a soft way with a cute smile...

-Many times in life,realization is not worth because it comes after we loose something...

-Change the texture of your thoughts and your life will change!!The future is not something we create!!

-Never choose someone without understanding and never loose someone because of misunderstanding...

-The most difficult phase of life is not when noone understands you...It is when you dont understand yourself...

-Dont waste your affection to a wrong person who is not responding,but dont miss to keep your affection to the right person who respects it...

-The true test of character is not how much we know how to do,but how we behave when we dont know what to do...

-Care and love is not a business where you give when you get...It is a beautiful feeling for someone where you love to give even if you dont get...

-Stay commited to your decisions but stay flexible in your approach...

Thevetia nerifolia - Yellow oleander - Thanga arali - Lucky nut

Thevetia nerifolia is commonly known as yellow oleander and Lucky nut...In tamil it is known as thanga arali or pachai arali...

Class: Dicotyledons

Sub-class: Gamopetalae

Series: Bicarpellatae

Order: Gentianales

Family: Apocynaceae

Distribution:

Thevetia nerifolia is commonly found in the tropical regions...They are common in gardens..They run wild in towns and villages...

Description:

Thevetia nerifolia is a large shrub...The stem is erect,solid,woody,smooth...Milky latex is present..The leaves are spiral,linear,lanceolate,entire,glaborous and latex is also present..Inflorescence is axillary dichasial cyme..Flowers are yellow and bell shaped...Fringed coronary outgrowth is present..Stamens are inserted at the throat of the corolla...

Uses:

The plants are grown as ornamental...They are also grown as hedge plants...The latex is highly poisonous...The bark is bitter,cathartic,febrifuge and is useful in the treatment of different kinds of intermittent fevers...

Clerodendron infortunatum - Peruvalam -Perugilai

Clerodendron infortunatum is commonly known as Perugilai in tamil...


Class: Docotyledons

Sub-class: Gamopetalae

Series: Bicarpellatae

Order: Lamiales

Family: Verbenaceae

Distribution:

Clerodendron infortunatum is distributed in tropical and sub-tropical regions...It is seen especially in places of moisture and in places over 600 feet in the hills and in villages..

Description:

Clerodendron infortunatum is a large shrub..It is used as a medicinal shrub..The stem is woody,quadrangular,green in colour,branched and has silky hairs..Leaves are simple,opposite,decussate,exstipulate,petiolate,hairy,cordate,tormentose and entire acuminate..Venation is unicostate reticulate..Flowers are white in colour,salver shaped tube usually long and slender..

Uses:

Cleodendron infortunatum is used in indian homeopathy..It is used as a remedy for diarrhoea..Peruvalam is used in postnatal care..It is also used to dress fresh wounds..It is ued as an ayurvedic shrub in Kerala..Dried leaves are used as tonic..They are antipyretic,antihelminthic,bitter but efficient..It is used externally for tumours and in skin diseases..Fresh juice of leaves is a bitter tonic and is used in the treatment of malaria,especially for children...Leaves and flowers are used as a cure for scorpion sting...The sprouts are used in snake bite...

 

Rhinacanthus communis - Rhina canthus - Snake jasmine - Naga malli

Rhinacanthus communis is commonly known as Rhina canthus and snake jasmine...It is known as Nagamalli in tamil...


Class: Dicotyledons

Sub-class: Gamopetalae

Series: Bicarpellatae

Order: Personales

Family: Acanthaceae

Distribution:

Rhinacanthus communis is distributed in tropical and subtropical region,Madagascar,India,Srilanka and Java..It is a common shrub in partial shades along hedges of villages..It runs wild and is common on road sides..

Description:

Rhinacanthus communis is an erect,branched shrub...The stem is aerial,erect,branched,cylindrical,hairy...Leaves are simple,exstipulate,opposite,decussate,entire,elliptic...The inflorescence is cymose and has divaricate panicles..The flowers are bisexual,zygomorphic and usually are associated with conspicuous,often brightly coloured bracts..The calyx is usually deeply 4 or 5 lobed...The corolla is bilipped with lower broad 3 lobes...

Uses:

It possesses antiseptic properties..Root boiled with milk is used as aphroidisiac..Roots powdered and made in to a paste with lime juice is useful for eczema,ring worm and dhobi itch..Juice of leaves is effacious when applied to eczema...Leaves crushed with salt is externally applied for ring worm...Leaves when chewed have a pungent taste and are used againnst cancer..Roots,leaves and seeds are useful remedies of ring worm and other skin diseases...

Eranthemum albo-marginatum

Eranthemum albo-marginatum


Class: Dicotyledons

Sub-class: Gamopetalae

Series: Bicarpellatae

Order: Personales

Family: Acanthaceae

Distribution:

Eranthemum albo-marginatum is mostly distributed in the tropical and sub-tropical regions..

Description:

Eranthemum albo-marginatum is a bushy shrub..It grows up tp 1.5 metres high..The stem is square,green and glaborous...The leaves are large,8 to 12 cm long,wide,upper surface green with irregularly suffused grey,margin very irregular or coarsely toothed,green under the surface...Flowers are tubular,1.5 cm long,white with four lobes,upper one notched with crimson spots..

Uses:

Eranthemum albo-marginatum is grown as an ornamental plant...Roots are used for jaundice and rheumatism..
 

Barleria prionitis - Porcupine flower - Manjal kanagambaram

Barleria prionitis is commonly known as porcupine flower and manjal kanagambaram in tamil...


Class: Dicotyledons

Sub-class: Gamopetalae

Series: Bicarpellatae

Order: Personales

Family: Acanthaceae

Distribution:

Barleria prionitis is distributed in tropical and sub-tropical regions..It is common in wasteland in dry localities and also planted in hedges...

Description:

Barleria prionitis is a prickly bushy shrub...The stem is erect,branched,woody,cylindrical,green,slightly angular,solid and glaborous...Leaves are simple,exstipulate,opposite,decussate,entire...Leaves have axillary spines...Leaves of axillary bud are modified in to spines..Leaves are lanceolate,petiolate,lower leaves are long and the venation is reticulate..Inflorescence is a terminal spike,lower flower are arranged in cymes...The flowers are yellow in colour..The corolla is bilabiate upper lip consists of 4 lobes and lower of single lobe..Corolla tube is no longer than lobes..

Uses:

All parts of Barleria prionitis have medicinal values,especially leaves...It has antiseptic properties...Its decoction is used in dropsy to wash the body...It is especially for children...Leaves are chewed to relieve toothache...Leaf juice is used in urinary and paralytic affections and stomach disorders...Applied to lacerated sole...Crushed fresh leaves are applied to wounds,also used for rheumatic pain and itch..Juice with coconut oil is applied on pimples...Dried bark powder with honey is used in cough and whooping cough...

Barleria cristata - December flower - Kanagambaram

Barleria cristata is commonly known as december flower...It is known as Kanagambaram in tamil..


Class: Dicotyledons

Sub-class: Gamopetalae

Series: Bicarpellatae

Order: Personales

Family: Acanthaceae

Distribution:

The plants are common in tropics,sub-tropics and mediterranean region with chief centres of distribution in Central America,Brazil,Indo Malaysia and Africa...In India,the plant grows all over but are more common in Sub-Himalayan tracts and plains of North India...

Description:

Barleria cristata is a dwarf,bushy,much branched shrub indigenous to India reaching a height of 0.75 to 1.5 metres...The stem is angular ,hairy and green...Leaves are opposite,ovate,lanceolate or elliptic,entire,3.8 to 7 cm long,green above and very pale beneath and hairy on both surface...Flowers are violet in colour...The flowers are solitary or in short axillary or terminal spike...Their occurrence varies with the variety..The corolla tube is bilipped,2.5 cm long and the five lobes present are about 2 cm wide..Fruit is an ovoid capsule..

Uses:

Barleria cristata has medicinal and ornamental value...It is used as a remedy for cough...They have beautiful large and variously coloured flowers..Sometimes these bracts are also petaloid and conspicuous and attract insects...These plants are cultivated in gardens...

Adhatoda vasica - Malabar nut tree

Adhatoda vasica is commonly known as Malabar nut tree...It is known as Adathodai in tamil..


Class: Dicotyledons

Sub-class: Gamopetalae

Series: Bicarpellatae

Order: Personales

Family: Acanthaceae

Distribution:

Adhatoda vasica grows throughout the plains of india and in the sub-himalayan tracts up to 4000 feet..In many places it is cultivated as a hedge plant..

Description:

Adhatoda vasica is a perennial evergreen shrub...It grows up to 4 to 8 feet in height...The leaves are lanceolate,acuminate at both the ends,20 cm long and 8 cm broad..The flowers are sub-sessile in the axils of opposite bracts in dense axillary and terminal spikes...Bracts are herbaceous...Bracteoles are similar but narrower...The flowers are bilipped and white...The throat of the corolla tube has red or yellow bars..

Uses:

Adhatoda vasica is cultivated as a hedge plant...The leaves are expectorant and antispasmodic and hence are used to treat chest disorders...A warm decoction of the leaves is useful to treat scabies,neuralgic pains,various skin diseases and nose bleeding..Dried leaves when smoked relieves asthma..
 

Russelia juncea - Snap dragon

Russelia juncea is commonly known as snap dragon...


Class: Dicotyledons

Sub-class: Gamopetalae

Series: Bicarpellatae

Order: Personales

Family: Scrophulariaceae

Distribution:

Russelia juncea is distributed in tropical and sub-tropical region...It is a garden plant..

Description:

Russelia juncea has 75 to 100 cm long,ribbed,multi branched,green stems..The small pendulous branches are thin and on them numerous flowers are produced..Leaves are lance shaped and dentate on the edges...The become smaller towards the tip of the stems and are reduced to small scales...Flowers are about 3 cms long,tubular with five petals and are double lipped..The plant flowers continuously for a long period in the summer and are scarlet in colour...

Uses:

Russelia juncea is an important ornamental plant..It grows well in all types of soils and is a useful plant in a shrubbery and rock gardens...
 

Solanum torvum - sundaikai

Solanum torvum is commonly known as Sundaikai in tamil...


Class: Dicotyledons

Sub-class: Gamopetalae

Series: Bicarpellatae

Order: Polemoniales

Family: Solanaceae

Distribution:

Solanum torvum is distributed in the tropical and temperate regions of the world with chief centres of distribution in central and South America...It is found in Orissa,Bengal,Bihar,Manipur and Tamil Nadu...This is common in waste places and on road sides...

Description:

Solanum torvum is a tormentose shrub with few prickles...The leaves are alternate or sub-opposed and appear in unequal pairs..Also exstipulate and either lobed or pinnatifid..Flowers appear in dense dichotomous cymes..Petals are white and attractive and scented in some cases..The fruit is globose or elongated berry with a persistent calyx...

Uses:

The plants are cultivated for their great economic and medicinal values...The fruits are used as vegetable..Flowers are attractive and highly scented...
 

Nerium indicum - Oleander

Nerium indicum is commonly known as oleander...


Class: Dicotyledons

Sub-class: Gamopetalae

Series: Bicarpellatae

Order: Gentianales

Family: Apocynaceae

In tamil it is known as alari...

Distribution:

Nerium indicum plants are found in tropical and sub-tropical regions...It is cultivated throughout the country as garden ornamentals...

Description:

Nerium indicum is a shrub..The stem is erect..Leaves are simple,entire,petiolate,exstipulate and venation is reticulate and has whorled arrangement...Flowers are sweet sscented,white,rose or red in colour...seen in clusters on terminal cymes and are well shaped...

Uses:

Nerium indicum is an evergreen shrub with white grey or pink bark and is cultivated for its beautiful flowers,grown as a hedge plant...The barks and roots are poisonous and the leaves are used in native medicine..Decoction of the leaves is used to reduce swellings..The root is a powerful resolvent and attentuant used externally...Oil prepared from root and bark is used in skin diseases of a scaly nature and in leprosy...It is also grown as a screen or a hedge and even as a border for lawns...
 

Cryptostegia grandiflora - Rubber vine

Cryptostegia grandiflora is commonly known as rubber vine...


Class: Dicotyledons

Sub-class: Gamopetalae

Series: Bicarpellatae

Order: Gentianales

Family: Asclepiadaceae

Distribution:

Cryptostegia grandiflora is distributed in the tropical and sub-tropical regions..Some species are found even in the temperate regions...Native of Africa,this is much grown in gardens and has become more or less naturalised...

Description:

Cryptostegia grandiflora is a perennial twiner..The stem is herbaceous,lower part woody,aerial,weak,climbing,branched,twiner,solid,cylindrical,rough,green and latex is also present..Nodes and internodes are prominent..The leaf are ramal and cauline,opposite,decussate,exstipulate,simple,petiolate,elliptic ovate,entire,acute,coriaceous,glaucous,unicostate reticulate...Flowers are gamopetalous,twisted,violet in colour...Coronary outgrowths are seen...Inflorescence is dichasial cyme..

Uses:

Crytostegia grandiflora is a beautiful climbing shrub with pinkish violet flowers and is grown as an ornamental plant..From the milky latex,rubber is manufactured...

Jasminum officinale - Jasmine - Mallikai

Jasminum officinale is commonly known as jasmine..In tamil it is known as mallikai...

Class: Dicotyledons

Sub-class: Polypetalae

Series: Bicarpellatae

Order: Gentianales

Family: Oleaceae

Distribution:

Jasminum officinale are centred around the area comprising of Himalayas,China,Malaysia and India..It is cultivated everywhere and it is a common garden plant..

Description:

Jasminum officinale is a twinin shrub with striate branches..Leaves are compound,impari pinnate,leaflets three to six,the terminal one longer,3 to 5 cm long,ovate or lanceolate...Flowers are white,scented on few-flowered terminal or axillary cymes or solitary...The corolla tube is 1.5 cm long cylindrical,five lobed about 2 cm in diameter..

Uses:

Jasminum officinale are very rich in the essential oil content and producing oil by solvent extraction method ranges from 0.40 to 0.45%..The jasmine oil are composed of terpenes,alcohols,aldehydes,ketones,esters,ethers,phenols,acids,nitrogenous and sulphur compounds which are glycerides of higher fatty acids...The oils are extensively used in the manufacture of cosmetics,soaps,confectionary,perfumes,perfumed tobacco,syrups,aerated water,ointments,disinfectants and detergents...The different plant part like leaf,stem,bark,root,seed and fruit are very useful and most important in the pharmaceutical beverages..Jasminum officinale are said to be used in the treatment of ringworms...It is used against head ache and eye troubles as well...

Jasminum grandiflorum - Jasmine - Pitchi

Jasminum grandiflorum is commonly known an jasmine...It is known as Pitchi in tamil...


Class: Dicotyledons

Sub-class: Gamopetalae

Series:Bicarpellate

Order: Gentianales

Family: Oleaceae

Distribution:

Jasminum grandiflorum are distributed in temperate and pale tropical regions of asia and east indies...

Description:

Jasminum grandiflorum is a large shrub with straight branches...Leaves are opposite compound,7 to 12 cm long...Leaflets are five to seven in number,glabrous,dark green,entire and vary in shape and size...Flowers are in terminal or axillary cymes,white,very fragrant,the corolla tube is cylindrical ,2.5 cm long with five lobes,elliptic,obtuse about 3 cm across...

Uses:

The flowers of jasminum grandiflorum are very rich in the essential oil content..The different plant part like leaf,stem,bark and root are very useful and are most important in the pharmaceutical beverages...It is an ornamental garden plant...

Allamanda nerifolia - Allamanda

Allamanda nerifolia is commonly known as allamanda


Class: Dicotyledons

Sub-class: Gamopetalae

Series: Bicarpellatae

Order: Gentianales

Family: Apocynaceae

Distribution:

Allamanda nerifolia is distributed in the tropical and sub-tropical regions...Some species are found even in temperate regions..It is being grown popularly in gardens now..

Description:

Allamanda nerifolia is an ever green ,sub-scandent shrub...The stem is woody below,terete and covered with minute hair,when young...Leaves are whorls of three to five,elliptic,dark green,about 7.6 to 10 cm long,2.5 to 3.8 cm wide...Flowers are large,showy,rich yellow on a terminal panicle..The corolla tube is about 5 cm long,base swollen ,green,the upper part is cup shaped and golden yellow dividing in to five orbicular spreading lobes,about 4 cm across...

Uses:

Allamanda nerifolia grow as an annual shrub for filler in beds or borders...It is a beautiful climbing shrub grown as an ornamental plant in the gardens...
 

Mussaenda luteola - Mussaenda

Mussaenda luteola is commonly known as mussaenda


Class: Dicotyledons

Sub-class:Gamopetalae

Series: Inferae

Order: Rubiales

Family: Rubiaceae

Distribution:

Mussaenda luteola is widely distributed in the tropical and subtropical regions...It is popular in gardens..

Description:

Mussaenda luteola is an erect,slender shrub grows up to 2.5 metres..The branches are brown,pubescent..Leaves are opposite,oblong,lanceolate 3.5 to 5 cm long,green above and pale below..Flowers are tubular and yellow in a few flowered terminal cyme...It has one sepal petaloid,yellow in colour with elliptic shape about 4 cm long...The plant bears flowers and showy sepals from may to september..

Uses:

Being small and even blooming dwarf,mussaenda are excellent for container gardening or planted en masse in a border or used as hedges..They are great for landscaping as a single decorative specimen or in a group of low growing plants in home gardens or plants...The plants are attractive to butterflies,bees,humming birds and insect pollinators as a nectar plant...

Caesalpinia pulcherrima - Peacock flower

Caesalpinia pulcherrima is commonly known as peacock flower...

Class: Dicotyledons

Sub-class: Polypetalae

Series: Calyciflorae

Order: Rosalaes

Family: Leguminosae

Sub-family: Caesalpinaceae

Tamil name:Rajamalli

Distribution:

Caesalpinia pulcherrima is tropical in distribution..It is commonly cultivated in gardens..

Description:

It is a beautiful bushy shrub with few prickles and about 2.5 to 3 m high...The stem is erect,woody,cylindrical,solid,branched and sometimes herbaceous...The leaves are bi-pinnately compound..Inflorescence is corymb...Flowers are large,20-35 cm long,orange or bright yellow in colour..Fruits are pods or lomentum..

Uses:

Caesalpinia pulcherrima are grown as garden plants..They are cultivated as ornamental plants...