Tag: Around the city in a MH-12…

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Cannon Ball Tree (ThursdayTreeLove)

Kailaspati, Lecyhidaceae, Couroupita

This beautiful tree with glorious fragrant flowers growing out of its main trunk goes by the unlikely common name “Cannon Ball Tree”. This is due to its large round fruit resembling cannon balls.  Its botanical name is Couroupita guianensis and the species has been introduced in India. The tree belongs to the Lecythidaceae family. 

The flowers are uniquely shaped almost like a Shivalinga. Hence the tree also goes by the common name Kailaspati. When plucked, the highly fragrant pretty flower stays fresh in a bowl of water for a day. 




In sharp contrast, the fruit is filled with a foul smelling substance. If you look closely, some fruit are visible and seem to be strung on the trunk. If one of them falls on someone’s head, it can cause an injury! 

Kailaspati is native to the Amazon rainforest but seems to be happy in India considering its gregarious flowering and fruiting! It grows to be quite tall and is an imposing sight!


I am joining Parul‘s #ThursdayTreeLove blog hop. Do head over to see some wonderful trees from around the world!

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Curves and Lines (ThursdayTreeLove)

Palm, Unusual tree, Pune

This tree has literally got my attention each and every time I pass by. So much so that I have to be cautioned to pay attention to traffic as it is located on my cycle route! 


It is a Palm and quite and old one I think. For some reason, it has this twisted trunk. I can only speculate why this may have happened. Some storm perhaps. Or maybe there used to be some other structure there and the tree for some reason chose to grow around it…


Whatever maybe the case, its curves and lines are striking! Agree?


I am joining Parul in her #ThursdayTreeLove38 blog hop. Do head over to see some amazing trees from around the world. Better still, join in! 

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G for Grass



Welcome! 
We are with the 2018 April AtoZ Blogging challenge and its my fifth attempt. For those who missed it, here is the link to my Theme Reveal post. Do the alphabets still stand for the same things we learnt about in Nursery school? 

Its day seven and the alphabet is G.


G is for Goat. That is what I distinctly remember being taught. 
But then, goats eat grass. 
And grass was one of my theme ideas. So I sort of took the liberty and replaced the goat with grass.
🙂


Grasses belong the Poaceae family which a very large and very economically important family of the plant kingdom. Important because this family provides the staple foods that we eat, material for construction etc. Grasses are found almost everywhere and are generally annual or perennial in nature. My teacher cautioned me that grasses can be properly identified only when they grow flowers and that too using a hand lens or under a microscope. Which means, many of the grasses I have seen will remain unnamed.. 


Not to worry folks, this will not be a botanical post.
Here are some of the beautiful grass flowers. 


And do watch out for them the next time you go out for your walk!

Oplismenes 



Lophopogon sp







Chloris sp
Chrysopogon sp
Apluda sp



Themeda sp



Pennisetum sp
Setaria sp

This is just a glimpse into the great world of grasses.. 


Tomorrow is our first holiday of the blogathon. We return on the 9th with the alphabet H.

Cheers!
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B for Ball

Welcome! 
We are with the 2018 April AtoZ Blogging challenge and its my fifth attempt. For those who missed it, here is the link to my Theme Reveal post. Do the alphabets still stand for the same things we learnt about in Nursery school? 


Its day two and the alphabet is B


B is for Ball. 


That is the time honoured object that a child relates the second alphabet to. Possibly among her (used the feminine pronoun only for convenience – can just as well be him) first toys as well. As she grows up, the nature of earliest soft round colourful structure changes and possibly only the round shape remains. 


It can become either a football, cricket ball, tennis ball, table tennis ball and so on…


At my stage in life, ball only refers to a golf ball. Rather should I say, its the weird propensity crows on our golf course have found for golf balls. 


I am sure you are scratching your heads in confusion.


Let me clarify… Whenever someone hits a shot, no sooner than the ball lands on the fairway (or bunker) than a waiting crow swoops down and picks it up and flies away. All this happens as fast as one can blink their eyelids. Golf balls are not cheap and losing them on a regular basis can become stressful especially when the player may lose a stroke for the loss. To add insult to injury, the crows invariably steal the ball after a particularly good shot wherein it has landed in a wonderful position for a possible birdie. Suddenly, that word (birdie) doesnt sound funny!

A good shot lands on the green.. now possibly being eyed by a feathered foe sitting on a branch…


We first faced this in the North East many many years ago. However, I guess picking up golf balls from the course has become a very popular avian sport and its common in Pune now. Do the birds confuse the balls with eggs? But then these are pretty heavy and quite unbreakable. I wonder if they stash these in some convenient branch or trunk hollow but  we haven’t yet heard of the stolen balls being found. 

This is dear hubby’s stash of unopened new golf balls!

The above image is proof of the fear these birds have instilled in the hearts of golfers. They prefer to keep the brand new stuff at home …

So near yet so far..

Is this bird behaviour seen across India and maybe other parts of the world as well? 
Do share!!


The nasty me surfaces in the first question I ask hubby on returning, “how many pars for you and what’s the score for the crows?”


😉

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Its That Time Of The Year

Its that time of the year again… winter is almost forgotten as the burning sun makes its presence felt. Grass and herbs dried out from last year, crunch under the feet as one tries to keep a brisk pace on the morning walk on the tekdi. The eyes scan the usual favourites hoping to spot blooms and I am not disappointed.

Shirish beckons with its sweet fragrance and fresh foliage. Yellow rattling pods from last year still hang from the branches and the tree stands out from a distance. 

The Gardenia turgida is sprouting its first buds …

and the Neem is happy showing off its tiny flowers too…


These yellow flowers stand out on the bare plateau, amid the ashes of the burnt grass..

The small Capparis blossoms cloak the shrubby tree in a white coat!

The Ganer and Waras are still painting the tekdi golden and cream amid the fading pink of the Gliricidia. 

Waras flower

The white tufts of the Dregea volubilis line the pathways even as I wait for the Kusumb to blush red as it realises its branches are bare.

The lucky ones may even spot the Peacock!

Its March on the tekdi and the trees are beckoning…
Where are you??

Out on the streets, the trees are bedecked in their floral glory The golden blaze of the Tabebuia easily overshadows its pink cousin. This even as the Jacaranda casts a soothing blue haze over the horizon and blue carpet at your feet. New leaves of the Moha blush as its blossoms look down upon earthlings. The Mango is in full bloom … Does it foretell a sweet May? 


I wonder….

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Looking Up (ThursdayTreeLove)

Poona, Raintree, exotic, GPO



A Tree Walk is a wonderful experience especially when one is doing a recce walk to identify the species. On one such visit, we chanced to look up and were totally floored by this view… This is the canopy of a very old Rain Tree that was just bursting into leaf. The sunlight glittered on the tender shoots. This gave a glorious painting against the blue of the sky! 


Most big Rain Trees have such glorious canopies. If possible do look up whenever you happen to see one … There is much to be enjoyed when looking up from the humdrum…


I am joining Parul in her #ThursdayTreeLove35 blog hop. Head over for some amazing trees from around the world. 


PS: To complete this post, I have to add that the botanical name of the Rain Tree is Albizia saman. It is not native to India and belongs to the Mimosaceae family. In Pune it is extensively used as a roadside tree and easily identified by its massive furrowed trunk.

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