Nature's Carpet

A photo feature on the valley of flowers in Kaas, Maharashtra

By: Kedar Bhat

Published:
06/09/2011 12:00 AM

Image by : Kedar Bhat

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Image by : Kedar Bhat

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Scientific Name: Drosera Burmanni • Common Name: Tropical Sundew or Burmann’s Sundew • Marathi Name: Davbindu • This small flower, spanning 2 cm, is a carnivore. The tentacle tips have sticky glands; the leaves can curl around an insect stuck on the tentacles in only a few seconds

Image by : Kedar Bhat

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Image by : Kedar Bhat

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Scientific Name: Eriocaulon Sedgwickii • Common Name: Spherical Pipewort • Marathi Name: Gend • Tall (it grows to 15–20 cm) but with small flowers (7–9 mm diameter), the gend is actually an aquatic herb that requires shallow, flowing water to thrive

Image by : Kedar Bhat

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Image by : Kedar Bhat

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Scientific Name: Senecio Bombayensis • Common Name: Graham’s Groundsel • Marathi Name: Sonki • Only a single flower in this picture, but this annual herb sees mass flowering from the start of the rains, on hill-slopes and tree forks, even on roofs

Image by : Kedar Bhat

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Image by : Kedar Bhat

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Scientific Name: Pleocaulus Ritchei • Common Name: Mal Karvy or Acanthus • Marathi Name: Topli Karvi or Mal Karvi • A small shrub, usually 50 cm tall, it grows to around two metres in a flowering year. Which happens only once in seven years! Given that the last major bloom was in 2008, the next is expected in 2015

Image by : Kedar Bhat

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Image by : Kedar Bhat

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A closer look at the Pipewort, which perhaps demonstrates why it’s called by that name

Image by : Kedar Bhat

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Image by : Kedar Bhat

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Another view of a field of Impatiens (Lal Terda)

Image by : Kedar Bhat

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Image by : Kedar Bhat

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Many of the nature lovers who have ‘discovered’ Kaas tread on the flowers and leave behind litter. But a recent forest department move to declare a 7-km stretch of the plateau as ‘no parking zone’ brings hope

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