Tamil name: Chentam Beach Launaea is a perennial, procumbent plant of African origin. The plant leaves are oblong in shape and have pinnately lobed margin. The creeping stem roots at nodes and this helps the plant to spread around in the sandy beach areas. Flowers are attractive and are yellow color. The fruit is in … Read More “Launaea sarmentosa (Asteraceae- Sunflower family)” »
Common name: Ravan’s moustache. Tamil Name: Iravanan-pul. This perennial plant is commonly seen in sand dunes near beaches. The plant can be spotted in coastal beach areas in Tamilnadu, Goa and Konkan. These plants aggregate into large clumps on beach sand dunes. They continuously colonize new areas by deploying their horizontally branching stems which root … Read More “Spinflex littoreus (Family: Poaceae (grass family)” »
Tamil name: Thurai Poondu. The plant is often seen near damp sandy soil areas. It is a much branched prostrate herb. It forms extensive mats on the floor which extend to more than 40 cm. The plant is glabrous with leaves seen in whorls of 3-5 numbers (of differing sizes) arranged in opposite manner. The … Read More “Glinus oppositifolius (Family-Mulluginaceae-Carpetweed family” »
This plant is seen in both Western and Eastern Ghats regions. It is a small shrub growing to a height of about two feet. The stem and branches are terete (cylindrical), the plant is mostly glabrous. The leaf arrangement is alternate simple. Leaves have an elliptical shape; tip is pointed; base cuneate. Flowers are pea … Read More “Crotalaria heyneana (Fabaceae family-pea family)” »
Endemic to South Western Ghats this plant is a shrub growing to a height of about 2 meters. It has an angular stem which is often seen in green color. Unique features of this plant are the palmately compound leaf: about 5-7 foliate. Crotalarias belong to the pea family and are one of the important … Read More “Crotalaria grahamiana (Fabaceae family-pea family).” »
