Flowers and Flower-Gardens eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 407 pages of information about Flowers and Flower-Gardens.

Flowers and Flower-Gardens eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 407 pages of information about Flowers and Flower-Gardens.

BA’KASHA (Justicia Adhatoda).—­A white flower, having a slight smell.  It is used in certain native medicines.

BELA (Jasminum Zambac).—­A fragrant small white flower, in common use among native females, who make garlands of it to wear in their braids of hair.  A kind of uttar is extracted from this flower, which is much esteemed by natives.  It is supposed to form one of the darts of Kama Deva or the God of Love.  European Botanists seem to have confounded this flower with the Monika, which they also call the Jasminum Zambac.

BHU’MI CHAMPAKA.—­An oblong variegated flower, which shoots out from the ground at the approach of spring.  It has a slight smell, and is considered to possess medicinal properties.  The great peculiarity of this flower is that it blooms when there is not apparently the slightest trace of the existence of the shrub above ground.  When the flower dies away, the leaves make their appearance.

CHAMPA’ (Michelia Champaka).—­A tulip shaped yellow flower possessing a very strong smell.[102] It forms one of the darts of Kama Deva, the Indian Cupid.  It is particularly sacred to Krishna.

CHUNDRA MALLIKA’ (Chrysanthemum Indiana).—­A pretty round yellow flower which blooms in winter.  The plant is used in making hedges in gardens and presents a beautiful appearance in the cold weather when the blossoms appear.

DHASTU’RA (Datura Fastuosa).—­A large tulip shaped white flower, sacred to Mahadeva, the third Godhead of the Hindu Trinity.  The seeds of this flower have narcotic properties.[103]

DRONA.—­A white flower with a very slight smell.

DOPATI (Impatiens Balsamina).—­A small flower having a slight smell.  There are several varieties of this flower.  Some are red and some white, while others are both white and red.

GA’NDA’ (Tagetes erecta).—­A handsome yellow flower, which sometimes grows very large.  It is commonly used in making garlands, with which the natives decorate their idols, and the Europeans in India their churches and gates on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.

GANDHA RA’J (Gardenia Florida).—­A strongly scented white flower, which blooms at night.

GOLANCHA (Menispermum Glabrum).—­A white flower.  The plant is already well known to Europeans as a febrifuge.

JAVA’ (Hibiscus Rosa Sinensis).—­A large blood coloured flower held to be especially sacred to Kali.  There are two species of it, viz. the ordinary Java commonly seen in our gardens and parterres, and the Pancha Mukhi, which, as its name imports, has five compartments and is the largest of the two.[104]

JAYANTI (Aeschynomene Sesban).—­A small yellowish flower, held to be sacred to Shiva.

JHA’NTI.—­A small white flower possessing medicinal properties.  The leaves of the plants are used in curing certain ulcers.

JA’NTI (Jasminum Grandiflorum).—­Also a small white flower having a sweet smell.  The uttar called Chumeli is extracted from it.

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Flowers and Flower-Gardens from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.