You are here: Home / Archives for plants

Commercial uses of Acacia trees

April 7, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Acacia implexa Lightwood tree Canberra

Acacia implexa (Lightwood tree), an Australian Acacia used for making furniture

Various trees and shrubs known as Acacias, including plants known by such names as Thorn Trees, Whistling Thorns, Wattles, Yellow-fever Acacia and Umbrella Acacia, belong to a genus of trees of the family Fabaceae. About 1300 species of acacias have been identified worldwide, out of which about 960 species are native to Australia.

Acacias grow in most of the tropical and temperate regions of the world. While some of them may be growing in the wild, acacias are also grown in commercial plantations for various purposes, including for use as timber, firewood, pulp for paper industries, cut flowers, medicines, etc.

As some species of acacias grow very fast even in very adverse climatic and environmental conditions, they are used to reclaim arid lands, to stop rapid expansion of deserts, to prevent soil erosion, reforestation, etc.

Since they are also an invasive species that can harm the native plants, growing acacias on a commercial scale are discouraged in some regions/ countries. Extensive cultivation of acacias by commercial plantations has also resulted in groundwater level depletion in some areas.

Acacia seeds and plant parts like shoots are used as food in countries such as Mexico, Burma, Laos and Thailand. Acacias are listed as ingredients in many soft drinks, root beers, energy drinks, candies, juices, chewing gum, food supplements, health foods, etc.

In ancient Egypt, Acacia extracts were used in paints. From the 16th century, Needle Bush trees (Acacia farnesiana) have been used in perfume industry because of the essential oil Cassie (obtained by distilling acacia flowers) which is used as a base for aromatherapy and perfumes.

In Ayurvedic medicines and other natural systems of medicine, the species Acacia nilotica is used for treating premature ejaculation. According to an Ethiopian medical text, a potion made from Acacia (grar) mixed with other herbal roots is used for curing rabies.

Catechu, an astringent rich in tannins is prepared from some species of acacias, mainly from Acacia catechu, by boiling the wood in water, and extracting the water-dissolved contents by evaporating the solution.

Some Acacia species are sources of timber for furniture, for instance, species such as the Blackwood trees. Also, the Lightwood trees (Acacia implexa), an Australian Acacia found near Canberra and elsewhere in Australia, are useful for making furniture and interior decoration woodwork.

Another Australian native species Myall Wood yields fragrant wood used for making ornaments. Acacia koa, a Hawaiian Islands species, and Acacia heterophylla found in the French Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean, are highly sources of timber, firewood, and pulpwood for the paper industry.

Some plant parts (like bark and roots) and resin of Acacia have been used for centuries to prepare incense for rituals in Asian countries such as India, Nepal and China. An alcoholic beverage is brewed from acacia pods in many areas where acacias have been traditionally grown.

Some species of acacia plants yield gum and glues. Many acacia species are used in traditional medicines, herbal medical preparations, etc. because some organic chemical compounds found in some species have medicinal properties.

Yellow Mimosa flowers Acacia dealbata Silver Wattle wallpaper 300x225

Acacia dealbata (Silver Wattle) tree, commonly known as Yellow Mimosa, popular with florists - wallpaper 1600x1200

The species Silver Wattle (Acacia dealbata) with beautiful silvery leaves and yellow flowers, are grown as ornamental plants in public gardens and home gardens (see the wallpaper and download it for free). This species, native to Australia, is now naturalized in several other regions of the world including Norfolk Island, California, the Mediterranean region and Chile. Though acacia timber can be used for furniture making, its flowers and apex shoots are very popular as cut flowers in florists’ trade, and known as ‘mimosa’.

Some homeowners and landscape architects grow the species of acacia with thorns for security reasons, as they can deter intruders.

The bark of some Australian species such as Wattles is rich in tannin, which is commercially produced and exported, apart from domestic consumption.

Filed Under: Flowers, Free Photos, Plants, Wallpapers Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Tommy Atkins, the most exported mangos in the world

April 1, 2011 by 3 Comments
Indian mango tree with Tommy Atkins mangoes in Rockledge Florida wallpaper 300x225By Asit K. Ghosh Thaumaturgist (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 or GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons

Indian mango (Mangifera indica) tree with Tommy Atkins unripe mangoes in Rockledge, Florida, USA: wallpaper 1600x1200

The very sight of mangoes, whether tender, unripe or ripe can be a mouth-watering experience for many people.

According to folklore in some Asian countries, pregnant women crave for tender or unripe mangos in the early stages of pregnancy, and they eat mangoes raw. Well, I don’t know the reason why, as neither I have any direct experience, nor have I read any scientific reports on this strange behavior of Asian pregnant women or their special affinity to unripe sour mangoes. Possibly in countries outside Asia too, there can be such folklore, or real stories.

Mangos are the fruits of perennial flowering plants indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. They belong to the genus Mangifera consisting of about 69 species of tropical trees of the cashew family Anacardiaceae. While some Mangifera species grow only in their original local habitats, the Common Mango or the Indian mango (Mangifera indica) is the only mango tree that is cultivated in almost all tropical and subtropical regions of the world.

Mangos are also the oldest cultivated fruit trees in the world, since they were domesticated about 4000 years ago. They were introduced from India to East Asia in the fifth century BC. In the 15th century CE, mangoes were introduced to the Philippines. Then the Portuguese introduced Indian mango to their colonies in Africa and South America (including Brazil) in the 16th century. From these countries Mangifera indica gradually spread to other regions of the world where they are now naturalized as much as other indigenous plants.

The name mango is believed to have originated from the word ‘manga’ in Malayalam, which is the language of Kerala in India, where the first European traders-turned-colonizers from Portugal settled, after Vasco da Gama’s arrival at Calicut (Kozhikode) in 1498.

The picture here features a mango tree laden with unripe Tommy Atkins mangoes in the Ghosh Grove in Rockledge, Florida, USA. It is a hybrid mango variety developed from the Haden mango, one of the most widely cultivated, exported and consumed mango cultivar in the world since the early 20th century.

Indian mangos Mangifera indica fruits at Petrolina Pernambuco Brazil wallpaper 300x225

Indian mangos (Mangifera indica): a large Tommy Atkins mango fruits bunch hanging from a tree at Petrolina-Pernambuco, Brazil - wallpaper 1280x960

The Haden mango itself is a hybrid variety developed by crossing Mulgoba and Turpentine mangoes. It is named after Captain John J. Haden who, in 1902, planted Mulgoba mangoes in Coconut Grove, Florida, USA.

After its initial success as a very popular commercial mango cultivar, the Haden mango lost its popularity because of poor resistance to fungus infections and other problems. However, most of other hybrid mango cultivars subsequently developed in Florida were descendants of Haden mangoes.

Some of the popular mango varieties developed from the Haden include Becky, Fascell, Hatcher, Kent, Sensation, Cushman, Southern Blush, Jacquelin, Bailey’s Marvel, Zill, Spirit of ’76, Anderson, Irwin, and Tommy Atkins.

Tommy Atkins mangos currently dominate the international export trade in mangoes because of their easy transportability, higher yield potential, disease resistance, longer shelf life and appealing color of the fruits.

According to published data, about 80 percent of mangoes sold in supermarkets in the U.K. are Tommy Atkins. It is predominant in the United States as well, although other mango varieties such as Champagne, Kent, and Madame Francis are also commonly available.

Now Tommy Atkins mangoes are the most extensively cultivated export mangoes in the New World. For instance, see the photo of mangoes from tropical Brazil, which are from an agricultural farm in Petrolina (in Pernambuco), which produces approximately 146, 000 tons of different varieties of mangos per year (as of 2007).

Mango also has medicinal qualities. For instance, Mangiferin, a natural xanthone C-glycoside, extracted from Mango leaves, unripe mango skin and bark is a very powerful antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic, and known for its anti-obesity and anticancer qualities. It is also known for health benefits such as its anti-diabetic, antifungal, antimicrobial and antiviral properties.

Filed Under: Free Photos, Fruits, Plants, Wallpapers Tagged With: , , , ,

Vincent van Gogh: Irises (Les Iris)

March 31, 2011 by 1 Comment
Vincent van Gogh Irises Les Iris 1889 300x236

Irises (Les Iris), oil painting of 1889 by Vincent van Gogh, 71 cm x 93 cm, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, California, USA

‘Irises’ (Les Iris) is an oil-on-canvas painting by the Dutch post-impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh. It is currently on display at J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Vincent van Gogh painted ‘Irises’ in May 1889, days after he was admitted at the psychiatric center at Monastery Saint-Paul de Mausole in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, southern France.

The French art critic and one of Van Gogh’s initial supporters Octave Mirbeau who paid 300 francs for Irises was the painting’s first owner.

In November 1987 it an auction at Sotheby’s in New York it was sold for $53.9 million ($102 million in Sep 2010, after adjusting for inflation based on wholesale price index) to Alan Bond, the debt-ridden Australian businessman known for his high-profile business deals and one of the largest corporate collapses in Australian history. The sale set a record for Irises as the most expensive painting in the world, and the record was unbeaten for nearly two and a half years.

Because Alan Bond did not have enough funds to pay for the painting, the auction house Sotheby’s lent him the money, keeping Irises as collateral, to pay the seller who was the heir of Joan Whitney Payson. Before the auction, the painting was at the Joan Whitney Payson Gallery of Art at Westbrook College in Portland, Me., USA.

In 1990, Irises was re-sold by Sotheby’s to J. Paul Getty Museum, one of the richest in the world and one of the most visited art museums in the United States.

According to van Gogh scholars, Irises, with its asymmetrical design and the strikingly odd depiction of a single large white iris flower among purple irises, is one of the finest works of the artist. Unlike his later works that show high emotional discontentment and high tension as if mirroring van Gogh’s own turbulent state of mind, Irises is painted in a relaxed mood, and it radiates pleasant positive emotions. Moreover, the painting gives the idea that van Gogh was reinventing himself with a radically different style, a style that is more realistic than impressionistic. It is also noted for the absence of circular patterns, swirls, etc. found in his paintings.

Vincent van Gogh was highly inspired by the Japanese art form ukiyo-e, a genre of woodblock prints and paintings, and its influence is pronounced in some of his works. Irises is a typical example of the ukiyo-e influence.

On May 8, 1889, van Gogh got himself admitted at the psychiatric center at Monastery Saint-Paul de Mausole in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France, for treatment. Some of his best works had been created while he was there, including ‘The Starry Night’ (1889), which is considered as his magnum opus by art historians and art writers.

After his release from the asylum in May 1890, van Gogh lived at Auvers-sur-Oise, near Dr. Paul Gachet, who treated him during the last months of his life. The portrait of this doctor painted by him, ‘Portrait of Dr. Gachet’ (June 1890), was sold in a 1990 auction for a record price of $82.5 million ($75 million plus 10% commission), which adjusted for inflation as on Sep 2010is equivalent to $139.5 million. His ‘Self-portrait without beard’ (1889) was sold for $71.5 million in 1998 (inflation adjusted price as on Sep 2010: $95.3 million).

Incidentally these are some of the paintings created by van Gogh when he was the most unstable mentally, and strangely, these paintings are in the list of the most expensive paintings ever sold in the world.

He had been a victim of mental troubles throughout his life. It was acute during his last years, making him incapable of work as an artist and subjecting him to frequent severe bouts of depression. On 27 July 1890, at the age of 37, he shot himself in the chest with a revolver and died two days later.

Filed Under: Art, Flowers, Free Photos, Landscapes, Plants Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Mrs. Herbert Stevens: Hybrid Tea Rose Flower

March 20, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Mrs. Herbert Stevens Tea Rose free wallpapers 300x225

Mrs. Herbert Stevens, hybrid tea rose flower, free wallpaper size 1600x1200. CLICK on the image for full view

Perhaps you know Mrs. Herbert Stevens.

For those who do not know Mrs. Herbert Stevens, it is one of the most loved Hybrid Tea Roses, a white variety that can be found in most home gardens because it has a high stamina to grow even when it is not cared for much. These hybrid roses generally grow to a height of 3.5 m (11.5 feet) and the spread of the foliage can be up to 2.5 m (8.2ft). By color, and sometimes from the floral patterns, it may look like Frau Karl Druschki and Mme. Alfred Carrière.

The white or creamy white Mrs. Herbert Stevens, as it is typical of most white roses, is a symbol of peace, love and friendship. As it belongs to Hybrid Tea Roses, it is a modern rose developed from hybrid perpetuals and traditional tea roses.

It is also a sweetly scented variety of cultivar of tea roses that is a favorite of many commercial gardens and rose plant nurseries around the world, because of its vigorous growth, lovely shades of white or white cream color, and its ability to flower almost throughout the year in most climate conditions, a typical repeat flowering variety with large blooms.

It can be grown even in shady gardens with large trees, as this hybrid rose cultivar tolerates small to medium amounts of shades, and its disease resistance level is average.

Mrs. Herbert Stevens is loved by most gardeners because it produces only one flower on the apex of each stem, and do not produce flower clusters. So, it is easy to cut in the desired length of stalk and market the cut flowers.

Typically most types of Hybrid Tea Roses can produce flowers of any shade or range colors, with the exception of blue. The blue color roses you see at florists shops are either artificially colored or spray-painted.

Filed Under: Flowers, Free Photos, Plants, Wallpapers Tagged With: , , , , ,

Theobroma cacao: trees that provide chocolates

March 18, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Theobroma cacao cocoa pods free hand colored photo 178x300

Pods (fruits) of Theobroma cacao trees, free hand-colored photo

Cocoa trees (or cacao trees) of the species Theobroma cacao are medium-sized evergreen trees of Sterculiaceae family, native to the Americas. The famous products of the Sterculiaceae family are chocolate and cocoa powder (from Theobroma cacao) and cola nuts, though some of species of this family may also be used for timber.

Cocoa plants have their origins in the Amazon region where they have been growing from around 1900 BC, from where they were initially taken to other regions in the Americas by the original inhabitants.

Cocoa plants grow well in humid tropical type of climate in which rainfall is abundant, and in fertile soil conditions in which the trees can grow without much human attention. It is ideal for shady places, and for cultivation among tall trees, as they can grow even under the shadow of other trees.

The cocoa leaves can be 10 to 40 cm long and 5 to 20 cm wide. They are alternate leaves and produce very thick foliage. The leaves are toxic, and contain a milky unpleasant liquid.

The cocoa tree will generally produce flowers when it is about five years old, producing thousands of flowers a year, but it may yield only about 50 cocoa pods per tree. The flowers bloom as clusters on tree trunks and older branches, and not on the apex. The flowers are usually 1 to 2 cm in diameter, off-white, with slightly yellow or pink calyxes. Cocoa flowers are pollinated by tiny flies, unlike other flowers pollinated by bees and butterflies.

Cocoa fruits (cacao pod) are 10 to 25 cm long and 5 to 10 cm across, and somewhat ovoid. They are green to dark green when tender, and when ripe they turn yellow, orange, or brown in color, weighing about 500 g. A pod may have 30 to 50 cocoa seeds (beans) surrounded by white pulp. The seeds are used for processing food products like chocolate commercially. Each seed can contain 40% to 50% cocoa butter in which the active constituent is theobromine (also known as xantheose), a bitter alkaloid compound, just like coffee beans have caffeine.

As the percentage of theobromine content of chocolate is very small by volume, it can be safely consumed as a food item. But on a large scale, it can cause theobromine poisoning for chocolate-addicts who consume large quantities of chocolates, especially for elderly people. Also, theobromine is one of the compounds responsible for chocolate’s so-called role as an aphrodisiac.

There are three main cultivar groups of cocoa. About 80% to 90% of all commercial cocoa comes from Forastero, which is not a ‘fine grade’. The Crillo, the Venezuelan variety with higher theobromine content, is the rarest and the most sought-after cacao variety, accounting for about 5% to 10% of total global production. The Trinitero, a hybrid of Forastero and Crillo, grown mostly in the Antilles, has some of the best qualities of both and it accounts for the rest of the world production of cocoa.

It is believed that the first Europeans to come across cacao were Christopher Columbus and his companions (1502) after which cacao along with other new agricultural crop finds from the New World were brought to Spain.

In about a century, news about the culinary and medical uses of cocoa and chocolate had spread to France, England and other European countries. Later, colonial powers like France and Spain started commercial cultivation of cocoa in their overseas colonies in the Caribbean, Philippines, etc.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) some of the top cocoa-producing countries in 2005 were Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Indonesia, Nigeria, Brazil, Cameroon, Ecuador, Colombia, Mexico, Malaysia, Dominican Republic, Peru, Venezuela, Sierra Leone, Togo, India, Philippines, and Solomon Islands.

From the 1980s, cocoa consumption has increased considerably, and it brought more cultivable land under cocoa cultivation. This has helped many underdeveloped and developing countries to start cocoa cultivation to provide employment and better incomes to rural populations, especially in countries of Africa and Asia, where cacao is grown both by small village farmers and large agro-commercial plantation companies.

Filed Under: Free Photos, Fruits, Plants Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Clitoria ternatea: medicinal garden plant

March 16, 2011 by 2 Comments
Flower Clitoria ternatea butterfly pea Burkina Faso wallpaper 300x225

Flower of Clitoria ternatea (butterfly pea) found in a garden in Burkina Faso, with croton leaves with reddish veins in the background

Clitoria ternatea, also known as butterfly pea, is a leguminous vine plant belonging to the Fabaceae family.

Clitoria ternatea is native to several countries in Southeast Asia and Australasia where tropical or equatorial type of climate is predominant. The plant can be found in Malaysia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, Burma (Myanmar), Indonesia, Maldives, etc.

Later, it has also been introduced to Australia and Africa. Similar looking other species of the genus Clitoria can be found in Brazil (Clitoria fairchildiana), Ecuador (Clitoria brachystegia), United States (Clitoria fragrans and Clitoria mariana), and Peru (Clitoria moyobambensis and Clitoria woytkowskii).

Clitoria ternatea, an herbaceous perennial plant, grows as a vine or creeper, and flourishes in moist neutral soil. Its solitary flowers are generally deep blue in color, mostly with a white patch towards the center. Some varieties of Clitoria ternatea produce white, pink or violet flowers. The flowers can measure about 4 cm long and 3 cm wide, and yield flat, beans-like seed pods, about 5 cm to 7 cm long, with 6 to 10 seeds in each seed pod.

Clitoria ternatea is grown as an ornamental plant or as a home garden plant that needs very little care. Being a leguminous plant, its roots have root nodules capable of nitrogen fixation. A genus of gram-negative soil bacteria Rhizobium, attached to the root nodules of Clitoria ternatea in an endosymbiotic association, converts atmospheric nitrogen to ammonia and adds nitrogenous compounds to the soil, and improves soil fertility.

In Southeast Asia, the flowers of this blue pea vine are used as an ingredient to color food items. The young or tender beans (seed pods) are edible and used in various cuisines, and medicinal preparations.

According to the ancient texts on traditional and herbal medicines, especially in Ayurveda and other Indian and Asian systems of natural medicines, various parts of Clitoria have therapeutic value.

Tests conducted on animals showed that methanolic extract of Clitoria ternatea roots have properties of nootropics, which are memory enhancers and cognitive enhancers. Therefore root extracts of this mussel-shell climber are used as food supplements, nutraceuticals, and functional foods to improve mental functions such as concentration, memory power, motivation, cognition, etc.

Another property of the extracts of the roots of Clitoria ternatea is it is an herbal medicine with anxiolytic properties. So it can be used as an antipanic or antianxiety agent for the treatment of anxiety and related psychological and other symptoms.

Some other uses of the root extracts of Clitoria ternatea are their utility as an antidepressant, and as an anticonvulsant that can be used for the treatment of epileptic seizures.

Clitoria ternatea root extracts are also reported to have been used for treatment of whooping coughs, and the extracts from the white-flowered plants are used for the treatment of goiter.

According to the Doctrine of Signatures, a common philosophy of the herbalists from ancient times, herbs that resemble human body organs can be used to cure diseases affecting such organs (though modern science treats it as a superstition). Based on this doctrine, and because of the resemblance of Clitoria ternatea flowers to the human female vulva, it has been used to cure sexual problems like infertility, sexually transmitted diseases like gonorrhea, to control menstrual discharge, and also as an aphrodisiac.

The shape of Clitoria ternatea flowers and its resemblance to the human female body part has inspired some of its names, including the generic part of the name ‘Clitoria’. In some Indian languages, it is named after a seashell, for instance it is called Sankhupushpam in Malayalam, and Sangu Pu in Tamil.

Some of the commonly used names of Clitoria ternatea are: blue pea vine, butterfly pea, mussel-shell climber, and pigeon wings in English; fula criqua in Portuguese; bunga telang in Malay; dok anchan in Thai; bunga telang and bunga biru in Bahasa Indonesia; aparajita in Hindi and Bengali; gokarna in Marathi; nagar hedi in Kannada; and sankhapushpi, mohanasini, vishadoshaghni, aparajita, shwetanama, Vishnukranta, ashwakhura, etc. in Sanskrit.

Photo by Marco Schmidt (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-2.5], via Wikimedia Commons. If you use this image for your blog, site, etc. it is available under the same licence.

Filed Under: Amazing photos, Flowers, Plants, Wallpapers Tagged With: , , , , ,

Rosa Barkarole: Free red rose flower wallpaper

March 14, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Rosa Barkarole free red rose flower wallpaper 1600x1200 300x225

Rosa Barkarole: free red rose flower wallpaper, size 1600 x 1200

For those who love red rose flowers, and especially those who are looking for beautiful desktop wallpapers featuring red roses, here is a beautiful flower of the variety Rosa Barkarole.

Rosa Barkarole is developed by cross-breeding Hybrid Tea Roses with Hybrid Perpetual Roses. Rosa Barkarole is a hardy garden rose cultivar believed to have been developed in the second half of the nineteenth century by crossing Portland Roses with the two other popular varieties, the Bourbon Rose and the Gallica Rose.

Generally, the Hybrid Tea Roses bloom continuously and mostly produce very large, sweet-scented flowers in pink or red colors. Hybrid Perpetuals had about 4000 varieties around 1900, and even now Hybrid Perpetuals like ‘Mme Victor Verdier’ are still very popular. Similarly, Gallicas (sometimes known by their nickname Mad Gallicas) also, generally, have sweet fragrance, intense colors varying from rose, red, pink and maroon.

Bourbon Roses, from the Reunion Islands, are supposed to have originated from a natural cross between the China Pink or Red Perpetual Rose, having lush flowers and nice fragrance, and colors ranging from white, pink to deep reds.

So, naturally, Rosa Barkarole roses, developed from the above stocks are very popular as cut flowers and grown extensively on a commercial scale for local distribution as well as for exports.

Note: This is a free desktop wallpaper designed from public domain photo. I have already posted red rose flower wallpapers as well as yellow rose flower wallpapers. Click on the links and download them for free!

Filed Under: Flowers, Free Photos, Plants, Wallpapers Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Different species of rose flowers

March 13, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Yellow ochre hybrid rose flower free wallpaper 1600x1200 300x225

Ochre-yellow hybrid rose flower photo designed as free wallpaper, 1600 x 1200

How many species of rose flowers have you seen? Perhaps too many to remember!

As for me, I have seen several varieties of them that produce flowers of different shapes and colors that I simply cannot make out which is which. When I became convinced that there are too many to remember, I left the idea of learning more about them, and just started watching them only to enjoy their beauty. My knowledge about roses is just limited to identifying them as red roses, pink roses, or any such layman’s classifications.

These confusions about the true identity of the species of true roses were worse confounded when I watched that even in red roses, for example, there are so many variations not only in shades of red color, but in other aspects also.

Few other general things that I can identify are whether they are hybrid roses, natural true roses, etc.

Perhaps, rose plants are one of the species of plants that have such a wide variety of species in terms, mainly, of the colors of flowers, shapes, sizes, number of petals, etc., though there are many other notable variations in the sizes, branching patterns and shapes of plants, leaves, inflorescence, etc.

Well, can this inability to identify roses in terms of all their botanical and other specifications be a problem typical of me? I do not think so, as I have met many other rose-lovers who face the same dilemma.

Even among seasoned botanists there is ‘disagreement over the number of true rose species’, simply because some of these species appear so similar that they are easily confused to belong to the ‘same single species’, and sometimes the same species will appear to belong to different species.

Yet another interesting thing that you can watch is the difference these plants have from one generation to the next. You can easily test this by planting some stem cuttings of your favorite garden rose, or potted rose plants. You will be surprised to note the difference in the color of their flowers.

Soil conditions and climate also seem to have a significant effect on them. Roses of a particular species, color, etc., can be seen to vary significantly when baby plants are planted in different climates and soil conditions.

The lists of rose species available from many authentic sources may show 100 to 150 species. But mostly, accomplished botanists downsize the number down to around 100 rose species.

There are four subgenera of the genus Rosa, which are:

  1. Hulthemia from southwest Asia, which are the only roses without compound leaves or stipules
  2. Hesperrhodos (western rose) from southwestern North America
  3. Platyrhodon (flaky rose) from East Asia
  4. Rosa subgenus with eleven sections

The eleven sections of Rosa subgenus are:

  1. Synstylae (white, pink and crimson roses from all areas)
  2. Rosa (Cinnamomeae with many more sections producing lilac, mulberry, white, pink and red roses from everywhere but North Africa)
  3. Caninae (Asia, Europe and North Africa)
  4. Pimpinellifoliae (Asia and Europe)
  5. Gallicanae (Eastern Asia and Europe)
  6. Banksianae (China)
  7. Laevigatae (China)
  8. Bracteatae (China and India)
  9. Chinensis (China and Burma)
  10. Gymnocarpae (East Asia and North America)
  11. Carolinae (North America)

Apart from the above, there are several thousands of sub-species of Rose cultivar that are commercially developed, cultivated, sold locally and exported internationally by Botanists, horticulturists, rose plantation owners, and others. Every day or every moment a new cross bred or hybrid variety will be developed by budding healthy growing stocks with profusely and attractively flowering other hybrids used as scions.

Seen on the top of this post is a hybrid yellow rose flower photo that you can use as free desktop wallpaper, size 1600 x 1200. It is, again, not a real yellow rose, but it is a shade of ochre.

Filed Under: Flowers, Free Photos, Plants, Wallpapers Tagged With: , , , , ,

Pohutukawa trees: the New Zealand Christmas Trees

March 8, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Pohutukawa trees at Cornwallis Beach West Auckland 300x200

Pohutukawa trees (the New Zealand Christmas Tree) at Cornwallis Beach, West Auckland

Here is a beautiful photo of one of the most beautiful trees on Earth!

It is called Pōhutukawa (Metrosideros excelsa), one of the 12 Metrosideros species of trees endemic to New Zealand. It is an evergreen tree of the myrtle family.

Pohutukawa trees have their natural and endemic habitat in the coastal areas of the North Island of New Zealand. The Pohutukawa found inland near Rotorua and Lake Taupō might have been planted there by the Maori, the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand.

Pohutukawa can be seen as multi-trunked trees, growing up to 25 meters/ about 80 feet in height. Some of these can spread around up to 40 meters/ about 130 feet.

Pohutukawa trunks and branches may have hanging aerial roots, just like prop roots or stilt roots found on banyan trees. The leaves are dark green, oblong, leathery, and covered with white hairy structures underneath.

The flowering season is from November to January, peaking in December, when the crowns of Pohutukawa are thickly covered with clusters of bright red to brilliant crimson flowers. Maybe, for this reason, the tree has received the nickname ‘The New Zealand Christmas Tree’.

The New Zealand Christmas Tree is an important tree in the culture of New Zealand, and it is highly regarded as a chiefly tree by the Maori people.

Though the Pōhutukawa flowers are bright red to brilliant crimson in color, you can see many local variations. Some trees seen around the Rotorua lakes have pink flowers. There is a cultivar named ‘Aurea’ that blooms yellow flowers.

Interestingly, there is a Hawaiian relative of Pōhutukawa, the Ohi’a lehua (Metrosideros polymorpha), that produces flowers resembling Pōhutukawa flowers. Also, you may misjudge the Fish-poison tree (Barringtonia asiatica), which has flowers resembling Pōhutukawa flowers.

The Pōhutukawa tree is very popular as a garden tree or a decorative tree. Its popularity is not only because of its attractive canopy and its vibrant crimson red flowers, but also because it is a pioneer tree that can grow even on bare grounds, barren lands and in the toughest of terrains like vertical cliffs.

For the above reason, the Pōhutukawa has been introduced to several other countries, including Australia, where it can be seen on coastal cliffs near Sydney.

Because of its invading growth, in South Africa Pōhutukawa trees are considered as an invasive species harmful to the endemic vegetation.

Similarly, these trees have been reported to have caused concerns in San Francisco where their spreading roots were found to break sewer lines, footpaths and sidewalks.

But in coastal California, it is a very popular tree on streets, parks and lawns. The city of La Coruña in Spain has adopted Pōhutukawa as its floral emblem.

Its native land, New Zealand had dense forest-like population of Pohutukawa till the 1990s. Since then, according to reports, aggressive farming activities and induced pests had reduced Pōhutukawa forests by about 90%.

Also, the common brush tail possum, an arboreal marsupial endemic to Australia, but introduced to New Zealand, have become a big threat to Pohutukawa, because they eat up all its foliage.

As the declining number of the New Zealand Christmas Tree became a cause for worry, Project Crimson, a conservation trust, was formed to protect Pohutukawa and Rata trees. Since then, their committed volunteers have planted several hundreds of thousands of these beautiful trees.

Filed Under: Flowers, Free Photos, Plants Tagged With: , , , ,

Hybrid Tea Rose Flower: Free Wallpaper-size Photo

March 5, 2011 by 1 Comment
Hybrid Tea Rose Flower Free Wallpaper size Photo 300x225

Hybrid Tea Rose Flower: Free photo of wallpaper-size 1280 x 960

At one time or the other in your life you must have fallen in love with Rose. If you are so hard-hearted to say, “No”, you are most probably lying.

OK, let us believe that there are some people who just do not love roses, no need to tell others why. But even to that person there might have had one occasion or the other to go back to the ‘hated rose’ just because his new date, girlfriend, boyfriend, lover, or anyone he loves just loved rose flowers and to win that person’s heart (shamelessly) had to offer a rose flower, or bud, or a bunch of roses. And he or she just rushed to the florists, or even had stolen a rose flower from someone’s garden or even a public park.

So, I say, there WILL be no one to TRUTHFULLY say that she or he did not DEPEND on the grace and the magic of rose, if not loved it. Right? Or wrong?

Now tell me frankly, do you love this rose flower on this post? No problem, if you don’t love it. But I love it, and my love too loves it!

Here is a brief intro on this rose.

First of all it is FREE image. That means, you can download it, and use it for any purpose. The most appropriate use of it is as computer desktop wallpaper (size: 1280 x 960). It is a public domain photo and copy right-free. CLICK on the photo to enlarge, enjoy its beauty, and save it to your computer’s hard disk.

Second, it is a hybrid rose flower, more precisely, a hybrid tea rose flower.

Long back, but not in the ancient Rome or Greece, nor in the more romantic Berlusconi Land, but in France a French nurseryman Jean-Baptiste Guillot did an unnatural act. He arranged for the mating (read: hybridizing) of ‘Madame Bravy’ with ‘Madame Victor Verdier’ of the race (read: species) Hybrid Perpetual. This unnatural union (Charles Darwin might be turning in his grave) gave birth to the world’s first Hybrid Tea Rose, a ‘La France’ in 1867.

Now it is a common cultivar rose grown commercially, or in home gardens, and sold by florists. For those who want to make money, commercially growing roses for export and local sales to florists is a big business. Try it, and make some money from rose cultivation.

The other early rose cultivars of fame around the period were ‘Lady Mary Fitzwilliam’ (1883), ‘Souvenir of Wootton’ (1888) and ‘Mme. Caroline Testout’ (1890).

Visit again; I will tell to you more Rose love stories!

Filed Under: Flowers, Free Photos, Plants, Wallpapers Tagged With: , , , , , ,