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The Crane flower

AGATI, Sesbania grandiflora, is also called Bakapushpa in Sanskrit. In the South Western parts of Maharashtra, Vandelia erecta is called Vaka pushpi. Baka and Vaka stand for a kind of heron or crane. These plants are so called probably because their flowers bring to mind the elegant birds either in flight or patiently waiting with their necks stretched to catch prey.

Another plant, a creeping annual herb, which is common in the wet regions of the plains and ghats fake van arpels and cleef necklace of Kerala is called Kaakkapoo in Malayalam though in some parts of Kerala it is called Ponnampoo. The stems, rooting at the nodes, are angled, glabrous and tinged purple. The leaves, about 4 cm by 2 cm are opposite, deltoid ovate, crenate serrate and green to dark green in colour. The base of the leaves are subcordate and the petioles are about 1cm long.

They usually flower between September to October. The corolla is about three to four centimetres long. The tube is yellow and attenuated at the base. The upper lip is rounded and is coloured dark purple. The lower lip is three lobbed and purplish white. There are four stamens in unequal pairs. The filaments are arching.

This creeper is described by Van Rheede in his Hortus Malabaricus (Vol. IX: Page 103: Tabula: LIII.) He gives the Malayalam name Kaka pu van cleef and arpels necklace alhambra knock off and mentions "Caela Dolo" as its name "in the language of the Brahmins". Did he mean Kaaladala or the black petal? In the old Malayalam script it is noted as the Kaakka pul. Some taxonomists had named this plant Torenia bicolour of the Scrophulariaceae family, may be because of the streak of purple on the stem. For some others it belonged to a different species. They named it Torenia travancorica as it was thought to be truly endemic to the region of Travancore in Kerala.

Kaakka is the Malayalam name for the crow, and is therefore suggestive of black colour, though the plant and its flowers are not even tinged black. The prefix Kaakka appears to have been a wrong choice. The plant was so named probably without considering its dissimilarities with another herb with which it is usually mistaken for even by biologists. It is an erect herb with the stems acutely quadrangular and pale green. The leaves are about 4 cm by 2 cm, opposite, subcordate lanceolate, serrate and pale green or green.

The warped upper lip is suggestive of a crane in flight. The deep and dark violet lower lips appear to be black at first sight. On closer examination, it turns out to be a saturated blotch of dark violet. The name Kaakkapoo is more appropriate to this flower. This variety may be exotic but it is the Crane Flower of Travancore.

Both the varieties of Torenia are used by Ayurvedic physicians for the treatment of gonorrhoea and for curing infection of the cornea. A paste made of the plant with cloves, sandalwood, musk and rose water is stated to be effective in curing exanthemata. Van Rheede also mentions these two treatments in his Hortus Malabaricus.

The plant can be grown easily from cuttings or from seeds which should be collected before the fruits dry up. The creeper is good for hanging baskets while the erect variety is best for borders around shrubs. Natural compost or dry cow dung makes good manure. The plant is normally resistant replica vintage alhambra necklace to pests. It likes plenty of sunlight and water but cannot tolerate clogging. Torenia grows pretty well in moist soil made of river sand, natural compost, dried and powdered cow dung and pieces of laterite rock. It flowers profusely between August and September.

Walking by the wet regions of the plains and the ghats, one suddenly comes across these flowers, the beauty and brilliance of which are indescribable. A keen observer can also find around the same area a tiny plant, almost a miniature of the creeper Torenia travancorica. The description of the latter suits the miniature well in many respects. But its tiny white flowers with a violet stripe across the lower middle lip are difficult to be seen. When viewed through a magnifying glass it astonishes you not only with its similarity with Torenia's flower sans the purple or violet luxury but also with its transcendent beauty. Vayal Kaanjiram or Ilysanthes serrata grows as a weed and is usually never observed except by students of biology and some ayurvedic physicians who use the plant for correcting certain mental disorders.

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