INDIAN HAWSSBEARD

Launea nudicaulis

This is one of the most charming wild flowers of the winter and has a nice fragrance too. It grows in parks,
verges, ditches and in places with strong sunlight.
The Indian hawksbeard is one of the earliest to flower in November and goes on well into April all over north
India to a height of 1000 m. Many similar composite plants are commonly known as hawksbeard, hawksbit, and
hawkweed.
The yellow flowers are somewhat like those of the dandelion but smaller and less dense. Sometimes the plant
flowers close to the ground at about 20 cm, but usually it grows to 40 cm or so. The leaves are pinnate with soft
white teeth at the edges. The upper stalks are slender and hardly have any leaves. When the flower withers away its
place is taken by a small, puff ball composed of seeds that float away in the breeze. When broken off the stalks
have yellow latex.
This flower is known as Gobi in north India. The name hawksbeard may have come from the small, white
feathery hair on the seed. These fluffy hairs act as a parachute and carry the seeds far and wide.
 BUTTERCUP
Ranunculus repens Ranunculaceae

There are several varieties of buttercups growing in the temperate Himalayas, from heights of 1500-5000 m.
They can be annual or perennial. In the summer if you see a meadow blanketed with yellow or a stream with
burnished yellow flowers along the edge, more likely than not, they will be buttercups. The golden yellow flowers
are about 1-2 cm across, with a mass of stamens in the centre.
The petals shaped like shallow cups, shine as though they are varnished; this is because of light reflecting from a
special layer of starch grains just below the surface. Children hold buttercups under one another’s chins, to see if the
chin takes on a yellow glow, and those whose chins shine are supposed to like butter.
The lower leaves are long stalked, palmate and deeply lobed with five to seven lobes, the upper leaves have
shorter stalks. The whole plant is covered with soft hair.
The buttercup fruit is a rounded head of many compressed seeds or achene’s‘.
There are more than half a dozen species of buttercups to be found in the Himalayas and one in the plains.
Buttercups contain ancmoine and protoanemoine and are somewhat poisonous and are avoided by grazing cattle.
This is one of the reasons that they grow in such profusion. Cows are commonly named Buttercup in Britain, though
they keep their distance from the plant when they are out at pasture!
This plant is used in fevers, asthma and gout. The celery-leaved crowfoot, another variety of the buttercup or R.
scdemtus, is used in homeopathic medicines for skin.
 COMMON PURSLANE
Portulaca oleracea Portulacaceae

This small five-petalled, bright yellow flower is a far cry from the garden variety of the ornamental portulaca. The
pinkish stem grows in a trailing fashion the ground.
The fleshy, wedge-shaped leaves are like those of succulent plants and grow opposite each other. At the top of
the stem they are almost whorled. The little flowers are set in the bark of the branches.
This wild flower is found growing in most of India at lower altitudes in weedy places and in fields all through the
summer and the rains. A warm and sunny location and a sandy soil is what it thrives on.
The common purslane is rich in vitamin C and has been used for scurvy, liver and spleen problems. The juice is
effective, both internally and externally in the treatment of skin diseases. Purslane is used as a blood purifier, chiefly
in homeopathy. The young tops have a very pleasant flavour and are used for salads, soups and vegetables.
Interestingly, the seeds of the plant are spread far and wide by ants. The little plant, which is easily grown from
seed is a great favourite with rabbits. The fruit is an oval capsule containing many dark, minute seeds.
This plant is the well-known wild Kulfa or Khursa which is used to make a vegetable all over India. It is found in
the Far East and Africa. In fact it was probably introduced from India into Europe in the Middle Ages.
 ST. JOHN’S WORT
Hypericum cernuum Hypericaceae

One can’t help but notice this beautiful, yellow flower blooming in the hills. The yellow is actually a deep gold
when the sun shines on it. The golden stamens grow in a multitude and if you brush against a flower, you collect a
generous dusting of pollen on your clothes. The smooth stems are greenish-red and cylindrical.
St. John’s Wort is a shrubby plant about 1-2 m. tall; old plants are more bushy and taller. The long oval leaves
grow opposite each other and are dotted with red if you look closely.
This striking flower grows at heights of 800-2500 m. in the western Himalayas. It is in flower from April to
September, though the odd flower can be seen almost throughout the year. There are several varieties found all over
the Himalayas. H. mysorense grows in the Nilgiris and looks quite similar.
In Europe the flowers of H. perforatum come out on around the 24th of June, which is St. John’s day and that is
how the flower gets the name of the Common St. John’s Wort. Here it is commonly known as Basant, because it is
yellow. In Europe, in times gone by, people would gather the flower on St. John’s eve and hang it on doors and
windows as a safeguard against thunder and evil spirits. Some believed that on this night the soul had the power to
leave the body and visit the spot from where it would be summoned on its last journey. The crushed flowers acquire
a reddish hue, a symbol of blood, according to superstitious folklore.
Hypericine is a red pigment found in these flowers and causes an illness in animals that graze on the plant. The
odd thing is that those animals that browse on the plant in the shade escape the ill-effects. The leaves have ethereal
oil which is used as a solvent and anaesthetic. The flowers are used in an ointment to cure wounds. The plant is also
called Fuga daemonum, as it was once considered a remedy for melancholia. Homeopathically, bruises and nerve
injuries are treated with Hypericum.
 WILD PEA OR THE YELLOW VETCHLING
Lathyrus aphaca Papilionaceae

These are delicate and graceful wild flowers that bloom in the plains in the winter months, at the same time when
their cousins, the sweet peas are blooming in cultivated gardens.
The little yellow flowers are solitary and are miniature versions of pea flowers. They grow on long climbing stems
of about 15 -30 cms. The leaves of the wild pea are either oval with pointed tips or heart-shaped and grow
opposite each other. Long tendrils curve out from between the leaves. The leaves and the stem are of a delicate
grey-green colour. After the plant has finished flowering, small pods with seeds which are smaller than mustard
seeds, appear on the plant. The seeds are actually minute peas.
The wild pea grows in cornfields, weedy places gardens and wastelands from December to early April. In the
hills it grows to about 2500 m. from April to June. It is found in West Asia, North Africa and Europe as well.
The yellow vetchling likes a chalky, loamy soil.
The wild pea is used as a fodder plant and is known as patteil in Hindi. Sparrows and other seed-eating birds
are fond of eating the seeds when ripe.
 SOW THISTLE
Sonchus oleraceus Compositae

At first glance the sow-thistle looks rather thistle-like with its dense, yellow flower heads which are about 1.5 cm
across, and its large leaves armed with small, spiky thorns. The lower leaves clasp the stem at the base and are large
and sagittate with noticeable veins. The whole plant is covered with short hairs and if you break off a hollow stem, a
milky juice comes out.
When the flower dies, a fluffy rounded bunch of seed heads takes its place. The sow-thistle is 60-100 cm tall and
the flower opens only in sunny weather.
The sow-thistle is a wild flower of the winter and spring and is found all over north India to a height of 2000 m.
In the plains it flowers in the cold season and in the hills it flowers in the summer. It flourishes in vegetable fields,
gardens, roadside verges and wasteland. It prefers nitrogenous soil. The sow-thistle is found all over the temperate
areas of Europe and Asia.
During the Middle Ages it was eaten as a vegetable in Europe. However, they may not have thought too highly of
it, since they called it sow-thistle. Perhaps pigs were fed on it and that is how it got its name.
The French feed this plant to edible snails, whilst in Greece and elsewhere it is eaten as a winter salad. The first
half of the scientific name derives from Sonchus, the ancient Greek name for this plant.
In Hindi this plant is known as Pili Dhudhi.