Sweetsop (Annona squamosa)

Srikaya or sweetsop (Annona squamosa) is a plant species in the Annonaceae, a small tree or shrub, branched, 3-8 meters high, highly adaptive to soil type and elevation, producing edible fruit with sweet, whitish and watery flesh.

A. squamosa has light brown branches with leaf scars and a bright yellow interior. Twigs turn brown with light brown lenticels.

Leaves are thin, simple, alternate, 5-17 cm long, 2-6 cm wide, rounded base and tapered tip. Pale green on both surfaces. The leaf stalks are 0.4-2.2 cm long and green in color.

Flowers solitary or in short lateral clusters, 2.5 cm long, yellow-green on peduncles 2 cm long. The three outer petals are green, purplish at the base, oval, 1.6-2.5 cm long and 0.6-0.75 cm wide.

The stamens are numerous, white, less than 1.6 cm long and the ovaries are light green. Each pistil forms a separate tubercle, generally 1.3-1.9 cm long and 0.6-1.3 cm wide.

Soft fruit aggregates formed from many carpels, loose and almost free. grow and mature. The fruit is heart-shaped, yellow-green, 5-10 cm in diameter with many rounded protrusions and covered with flour.

The flesh is yellowish-white, edible and sweet-scented. Each carpel contains an oval seed, shiny and smooth, dark brown to black and 1.3-1.6 cm long.

Srikaya requires a tropical or subtropical climate with summer temperatures of 25-41C, moderate drought tolerance, 700 millimeters (28 inches) of annual rainfall and will not produce well during droughts. It grows at elevations of 0-2000 meters and does well in hot dry climates.

The leaves are boiled to treat dysentery and urinary tract infections. The leaves are pounded as a poultice and rubbed on the wound. The leaves were rubbed on the floor and placed in the hens' nests to keep fleas away. The fruit is eaten fresh or processed into juice.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Magnoliales
Family: Annonaceae
Genus: Annona
Species: Annona squamosa

Guinea grass (Panicum maximum)

Guinea grass or buffalo grass or green panic ( Panicum maximum ) is a plant species in Poaceae, annual grasses, growing upright to form clumps, strong, cultivated in all tropical and subtropical regions for very high value as fodder. P. maximum reproduces in very large pols, fibrous roots penetrate into the soil, upright stems, green, 1-1.5 m tall and have smooth cavities for diameters up to 2.5 mm. Propagation is done vegetatively and generatively. Ribbon-shaped leaves with a pointed tip, very many, built in lines, green, 40-105 cm long, 10-30 mm wide, erect, branched, a white linear bone, often covered with a layer of white wax, rough surface by hair short, dense and spread. The flower grows at the end of a long and upright stalk, open with the main axis length to more than 25 cm and the length of the bunches down to 20 cm. Grains have a size of 3x4 mm and oval. Seeds have a length of 2.25-2.50 mm and each 1 kg contains 1.2 - 1.5 million seeds. Guinea grass has two varieties. P...

Blood lily (Scadoxus multiflorus)

Blood lily or Haemanthus multiflorus ( Scadoxus multiflorus ) is a species of plant in the Amaryllidaceae, a bulbous shrub that produces rhizomes. Leaves and flowers may appear together or leaves may be produced later. The base of the leaves and stems are tightly wrapped to form a pseudo-stem or false stem, 5-60 cm long. Flowers in umbels at the top of the stem, leafless, 12-75 cm long. Pseudostems and scapes are often covered with reddish brown to dark purple spots. The flower umbel is in the shape of a globe with 10-200 individual flowers. Each flower has a stalk, 15-45 mm long. The tepals and filaments of the stamens are red. The base of the tepals is fused to form a cylindrical tube, 4-26 mm long, the free end of the tepals 12-32 mm long, narrow and spreading. The fruit is a berry having a diameter of 5-10 mm. Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiospermae Class: Liliopsida Order: Asparagales Family: Amaryllidaceae Subfamily: Amaryllidoideae Tribe: Haemantheae Ge...

Indian shot (Canna indica)

Puspa midra or Indian shot ( Canna indica ) is is plant species in Cannaceae, annual, shrub 0.5-2.5 meters high, depending on variety, erect stems, unbranched and leaf midrib arranged overlapping to form pseudostems and hermaphrodite flowers. C. indica forms a branched rhizome, 60 cm long which is divided into rounded segments and is covered in two stripes by pale green or purple scaly leaves. The rhizome has tubers that contain very large starch grains. The surface has transverse furrows, the underside appears white roots and numerous shoots. The leaves sit alternate and spiral or arranged in two rows, very large and divided into a leaf midrib, short stalk and blade. The strands are 30-60 cm long, 10-20 cm wide and have linear veins, green or purple-green, the base blunt or narrowly pointed and the apex immediately tapering or sharp. Hermaphrodite flowers, pedicels 0.2-1 cm long and red or yellow-orange, except in some cultivars 4.5-7.5 cm long. The sepals are triangular in shape a...

Dlium