flora of Nagarjunakonda

Nagarjunakonda gives a warm flowery welcome to tourists. Landscaping around the museum is maintained by the gardening team. Nothing exotic, just the local plants which thrive with little care.

This is my childhood favorite.. yellow bells. I think its a wild plant. Its flowers don't have any aroma as such but they have bright and warm.

Then there are periwinkles. I consider this wild since it grows anywhere on its own. Its flowers are used for Hindu rituals. I'm not sure if white periwinkles were there as well.

Few cedars along the footpath near the museum. If you crush a leaf between your fingers, it leaves a pleasant smell. Never tried smelling its pods, must check it out once.

Close to the museum is the fort wall. Once we cross over, except for the path and monuments everything is wild. Survival of the fittest. The cactus has to compete with grass.. look I'm taller. When the grass is green it stand 3 to 4 feet high. Its quite dense, hardly any dirt seen where there;s grass.

This cactus is completely new to me. I don't recall seeing it elsewhere. Probably I'd not noticed. Anyway, the unique characteristic is its scaly skin and lack of particular shape. They grow in clumps, can't say if its one plant or several plants. I found this particular plant artistic. There's some method to madness in this cactus.

Chaotic! Isn't it? Wish I'd brought one leaf and planted it in a pot.

Like a bunch of banana. Its mostly green or brown. I think the older leaves turn brown.

Its thorns ensures good protection. No animal will dare touch this cactus, leave alone eat it.

This plant is slightly different, smaller in size and has more thorns. Even the thorns are of two colors- white and red.

This is a zoomed out view of the plant above. The bulbs are smaller in size, thorns are longer. I did not try feeling the thorn tips.. should've done that. I'll call this porcupine cactus.

I was wrong about anything touching these plants. A spiders has woven its web on it. So that means insects thrive on these cactus. Also, notice the small grass on the side. The soil type is different here, its kind of sandy.

Closer look at the plant and cobweb. The scales are same as the larger plants but the bulb sizes are smaller.

This too is a wild cactus but this one has been planted by gardeners. Its like a domesticated leopard.

Coming to the last picture. This is a Peepul tree with celebrity status. This was planted by Dalai Lama during this visit to this island in 2006. The plant is revered by tourists, especially the Buddhist tourists. This is situated about 40m from the Maha Chaitya, the largest Stupa on this island and most revered monument because of its connection to Gautama Buddha himself. There are several pillars on the Stupa, one of the pillar carries an inscription in Pali stating that a fragment of Buddha's bone was found in this Stupa. Check out Mahachaitya in this post- Nagarjunasagar and Nagarjunakonda - part 3.

Plant life is truly amazing. They are better than animals when it comes to survival. Currently man is on a rampage, destroying plant life. There might be a day when Nature will end human madness and let plants rule the Earth. I just wish it happens.
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