Anthogonium gracile ( Slender Anthogonium) - Sikkim Flora

Scientific classification

Kingdom:       Plantae

Order:             Asparagales

Family:           Orchidaceae

Genus:            Anthogonium

Species:           A. gracile

Binomial name: Anthogonium gracile Wall. ex Lindl. (1836).

Other Names:  Slender Anthogonium, Anthogonium griffithii, Anthogonium corydaloides

Special feature: Anthogonium is a genus of orchids. At the present time (May 2014), only one species is recognized, i.e., Anthogonium gracile found in India, Assam, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Guangxi, Guizhou, Tibet, and Yunnan.(Source: Wikipedia)

Slender Anthogonium is a deciduous, miniature to medium sized terrestrial orchid found in eastern Himalayas in semi-deciduous and deciduous dry lowland forests. The plants have ovoid pseudobulbs carrying 1-3, deciduous, stalked, narrowly lance-shaped leaves. The plant blooms in fall season on an erect, slender, very long (up to 45 cm), branched or simple, raceme with 10-12 flowers that do not open well. The flowers are pink-purple in color and a strongly remind of Corydalis.

Flower Identified by: Mita Aich

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Senna Alata (candle bush) - Sikkim Flora

Sakyong Chisopani JHS (12.09.22)

Scientific classification

Kingdom:       Plantae

Order:            Fabales

Family:           Fabaceae

Genus:            Senna

Species:           S. Alata

Binomial name : Kalanchoe blossfeldiana Poelln.

Other Names:  Cassia alata, Emperor's candlesticks, candle bush, candelabra bush, Christmas candles, empress candle plant, ringworm shrub

Special feature: S. alata is native to most of the Neotropics (from Mexico and the West Indies to Paraguay), and can be found in diverse habitats. In the tropics, it grows up to an altitude of 1,200 metres (3,900 ft). It is an invasive species in Austronesia.

The shrub stands 3–4 metres (9.8–13.1 ft) tall, with leaves 50–80 centimetres (20–31 in) long. The leaves close in the dark. The inflorescence looks like a yellow candle. The fruit, shaped like a straight pod, is up to 25 cm long. Its seeds are distributed by water or animals. The seed pods are nearly straight, dark brown or nearly black, about 15 centimetres (5.9 in) long, and 15 millimetres (0.59 in) wide. On both sides of the pods is a wing that runs the length of the pod. Pods contain 50 to 60 flattened, triangular seeds.

Senna alata (also known as Cassia alata) is often called the ringworm bush because of its very effective fungicidal properties, for treating ringworm and other fungal infections of the skin. The leaves are ground in a mortar to obtain a kind of "green cotton wool". This is mixed with the same amount of vegetable oil and rubbed on the affected area two or three times a day. A fresh preparation is made every day. Its active ingredients include yellow chrysophanic acid.

Its laxative effect, due to its anthraquinone content, is also well-proven. Senna alata is locally known as akapulko in the Philippines where it is used as both an ornamental and medicinal plant due to its laxative, purgative and anti-fungal properties. In Sri Lanka, known as Ath-thora, it is used as an ingredient in Sinhala traditional medicine.  (Source: Wikipedia)

Christmas kalanchoe (Kalanchoe blossfeldiana) – Sikkim Flora

Scientific classification

Kingdom:       Plantae

Order:            Saxifragales

Family:           Crassulaceae

Genus:            Kalanchoe

Species:          K. blossfeldiana

Binomial name : Kalanchoe blossfeldiana Poelln.

Other Names:  Flaming Katy, Christmas kalanchoe and Madagascar widow's-thrill

Special feature: Kalanchoe blossfeldiana is a herbaceous and commonly cultivated house plant of the genus Kalanchoe native to Madagascar.

Kalanchoe blossfeldiana is a glabrous, bushy, evergreen and perennial succulent plant which (in 2–5 years) can reach an ultimate height of between 30–45 cm (12-18 in.) and an ultimate spread of between 10–50 cm (4-20 in.). K. blossfeldiana has a round habit and a moderate plant density; its growth rate has been described as 'slow'. The plant has green, shiny and textured glossy foliage which stays green all year round. The scallop-edged and ovate leaves are arranged in an opposite/subopposite fashion, are simple in type with crenate margins and an oblong shape. The arrangement of the veins in a leaf (venation) can be absent or very hard to see; the leaf blades are 5–10 cm (2-4 in.) long.

K. blossfeldiana flowers in late autumn to early winter; each flower has four petals and can be one of a wide variety of colours, from the dark reds and pinks to oranges, golds and whites. The ovary is tetracarpellary and apocarpous while stamens are four in number and are epipetalous. The inflorescences are born by peduncles which are higher up than the leaves and are terminal in nature. Parts of Kalanchoe blossfeldiana are poisonous if ingested.. (Source: Wikipedia)

Identified by: Debasis Chattopadhyay

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Perfumed Passionflower ( Passiflora vitifolia) - Sikkim Flora

Scientific classification

Kingdom:       Plantae

Order:            Malpighiales

Family:           Passifloraceae

Genus:            Passiflora

Species:          P. vitifolia

Binomial name : Passiflora vitifolia Kunth.

Other Names:  Perfumed Passion flower

Special feature: Passiflora vitifolia is a species of Passiflora, native to southern Central America (Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama) and northwestern South America (Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru).

It is a vine with cylindric stems covered in red-brown hairs when young. The leaves are serrate, three-lobed, up to 15 cm long and 18 cm broad. The lobed leaves' resemblance to grape leaves gives this passionflower its specific epithet, "vitifolia," meaning "grape leaves" after the Latin for grape "vitis." The flowers are bright red, up to 9 cm diameter.

The fruit is a berry 5 cm long and 3 cm broad, with green flesh speckled with white, slight downy hairs, containing numerous seeds. The fruit is quite sour when it falls off the plant and can take a month to ripen to its full flavor of sour strawberries. Due to the fragrant fruit, it is in small-scale cultivation in the Caribbean. (Source: Wikipedia)