The lime tree is a spiny evergreen shrub found in plenty in the Western Ghats of India. Limes are typically round, green, with leathery leaves and fragrant white flowers. They are rich in vitamin C and often used to add more taste to the flavors of Indian food and beverages like lime water, lime juice, etc.
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Beeville, TX
Milk weed is a herbaceous, perennial, nectar-rich plant growing up to 3-5 m tall. These can be found in old fields, roadsides, meadows and thorn forests. The oval leaves are velvety on their upper surface and downy underneath. Continue reading
Coffee plantations are found in the Western Ghats of Southern India on hills and misty mountains ranging from an elevation of 800m – 1500m above sea level. The coffee flowering season is a spectacle to be experienced. It looks like a pale jewel glittering in the crown of the coffee plant. The white blossoms have a beautiful scent which attracts honeybees, butterflies and other pollinators.
From The New Yorker‘s website, a slide show on the recent article about last year’s discovery of gold buried in a temple in south Kerala, and a remarkable set of observations from the photographer assigned to that story:
In India, deities can own property, and this temple, dedicated to Vishnu, has been accumulating gold for centuries. “I was asked to photograph it from the outside; it is strictly forbidden to take photos inside,” Goia said. “Jake and I found ourselves jumping from office to office calling whatever number possible to try to get permission to access the security area.”
Cape May, NJ
When I stepped into the cool morning air outside Amman’s airport two weeks ago, I knew I was in for an interesting time. For the next seven weeks I would be staying at Feynan Ecolodge as a live-in writer and photographer, spending time with Bedouin locals, adventuring through the Dana Biosphere Reserve, which was established as a protected area in 1989 by Jordan’s Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature, and experiencing Feynan in a way few people are able to. I hope to become familiar with both the magnificently diverse geological and biological features of the area, as well as the Bedouin culture, which is as steeped in mystery to me as their chai is with sugar. Traditions and rituals, beliefs and taboos which seem impractical or unsophisticated to the Western world all have significance which might not be superficially visible. Continue reading
The Periyar Nature Walk gives visitors the opportunity to explore the dense Periyar wilderness, enjoying nature, sighting wildlife, hearing the rustle of wind and smelling the wild blossoms. The trek often passes through evergreen and moist deciduous forest interspersed with marshy grasslands. Continue reading
Red Star Glory is an annual twining plant with bright scarlet flowers found in the Western Ghats of India that appears as the monsoon trails off. Its scientific name is Ipomoea hederifolia but it is also known by the names Scarlet creeper, Scarlet Morning Glory and Star Ipomea. The plant grows vigorously to a height of 10 ft. with elongated heart shaped leaves with pointed tips. Continue reading
I went birding yesterday. For a rookie like me, that means taking a walk somewhere scenic with my camera, aiming and shooting (the lens) at birds, hoping my amateur work churns out something recognizable, then researching and identifying the species.
Bee in action on Palo Verde tree
As I moved along from tree to tree and bush to bush, detecting movements and sounds, I felt myself identifying a couple of birds by their calls, and hunting them out in that way. Suddenly it felt as if the volume was turned up – I tuned into the busy conversation that was going on above my head. Continue reading
Barnegat Bay, NJ
The 1000 year old Mangala Devi Temple is a good example of the traditional architectural style of South India. It is situated on the northern boundary of the Periyar Tiger Reserve 1400m above sea level. Continue reading
The ever clever science writer, Carl Zimmer, has an item in the new issue of National Geographic, accompanied by a lovely short video illustration, which you can see by clicking the image above (also see a sample of the opening below):
The Common Hand
Humans, of course, have them. So do bats, cats, dolphins, elephants, and frogs. Our artwork takes you inside these useful appendages.
By Carl ZimmerIllustration by Bryan Christie Continue reading
Ixora coccinea is an ornamental, multi-branched, evergreen shrub found in the Western ghats of India which grows 4-5 ft tall and can reach the height of 12 ft. It is also known by the names Flame of the woods and Jungle flame. The plant has oblong glossy leaves and small bright orange to scarlet flowers that grow in dense rounded clusters 2-5 in in size. Continue reading
Photo: Mr. Manoj Vasudeva
Man reading, Chania, Crete, 1962 (Costa Manos/Magnum Photos)
Click the photo to go to the recent post titled “Do We Need Stories?” in the blog site of the New York Review of Books. It starts out:
Let’s tackle one of the literary set’s favorite orthodoxies head on: that the world “needs stories.” There is an enormous need,” Jonathan Franzen declares in an interview with Corriere della Sera (there’s no escape these days), “for long, elaborate, complex stories, such as can only be written by an author concentrating alone, free from the deafening chatter of Twitter.”
Oranges are one of the most popular of the world’s fruit. It flourishes in warm climates across the globe and the many varieties of oranges vary from sweet to sour. The tree is a sub-tropical evergreen that can reach up to 30-40 ft tall with thorny shoots and waxy 2-4 inch long leaves . Continue reading
Bayonne, NJ
Salvia scarlet sage is a shrubby, ornamental plant with scarlet red flowers and symmetrical leaves growing commonly in India’s Western Ghats. It is widely cultivated as a bedding plant in many countries. Continue reading
