Rain forest.............

Rain forest.............

                 
                   Rain-forests are very dense, hot and humid forests and are home to millions of the earth’s plants and animals.  More species are found in rain-forests than any other habitat in the world.The word rain forest was first used at the end of the 19th Century to describe forests that grow in constantly wet conditions. Today, scientists define rain forests as forests that receive more than 2,000 mm of rain evenly spread throughout the year. Rain forests are the Earth's oldest living ecosystems. They are so amazing and beautiful.These incredible places cover only 6 %of the Earth's surface but yet they contain MORE THAN 1/2 of the world's plant and animal species!.

               A Rain-forest can be described as a tall, dense jungle.  The reason it is called a "rain" forest is because of the high amount of rainfall it gets per year.  The climate of a rain forest is very hot and humid so the animals and plants that exist there must learn to adapt to this climate. Rain-forests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm (68-78 inches). The monsoon trough, alternatively known as the intertropical convergence zone, plays a significant role in creating the climatic conditions necessary for the Earth's tropical rain-forests.

    Around 40% to 75% of all biotic species are indigenous to the rainforests. It has been estimated that there may be many millions of species of plants, insects and microorganisms still undiscovered in tropical rainforests. Tropical rainforests have been called the "jewels of the Earth" and the "world's largest pharmacy", because over one quarter of natural medicines have been discovered there. Rainforests are also responsible for 28% of the world's oxygen turnover, sometimes misnamed oxygen production,processing it through photosynthesis from carbon dioxide and consuming it through respiration.

                  The undergrowth in a rainforest is restricted in many areas by the poor penetration of sunlight to ground level. This makes it easy to walk through undisturbed, mature rainforest. If the leaf canopy is destroyed or thinned, the ground beneath is soon colonized by a dense, tangled growth of vines, shrubs and small trees, called a jungle. There are two types of rainforest, tropical rainforest and temperate rainforest.

                  There are actually two types of rainforest. Tropical and Temperate. When most people refer to rainforests they are talking about tropical rainforests.

Tropical

                   Tropical rainforests are found around the Equator. There is very little variation between the seasons. Can you think of a reason why? They have an even distribution of rainfall annually and are warm and hot all year round.

                Tropical rainforests are characterized in two words: warm and wet. Mean monthly temperatures exceed 18 °C (64 °F) during all months of the year. Average annual rainfall is no less than 168 cm (66 in) and can exceed 1,000 cm (390 in) although it typically lies between 175 cm (69 in) and 200 cm (79 in).

                 Many of the world's rainforests are associated with the location of the monsoon trough, also known as the intertropical convergence zone. Tropical rainforests are rainforests in the tropics, found in the equatorial zone (between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn). Tropical rainforest is present in Southeast Asia (from Myanmar (Burma) to Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and northeastern Australia), Sri Lanka, sub-Saharan Africa from Cameroon to the Congo (Congo Rainforest), South America (e.g. the Amazon Rainforest), Central America (e.g. Bosawás, southern Yucatán Peninsula-El Peten-Belize-Calakmul), and on many of the Pacific Islands (such as Hawaiʻi). Tropical rainforests have been called the "Earth's lungs", although it is now known that rainforests contribute little net oxygen addition to the atmosphere through photosynthesis.

Temperate

                   Temperate rainforests are found further away from the equator. They have two seasons: a wet season and a dry season. The temperature varies much more than a tropical rainforest.

                   Temperate forests cover a large part of the globe, but temperate rainforests only occur in few regions around the world. Temperate rainforests are rainforests in temperate regions. 

                   They occur in North America (in the Pacific Northwest, the British Columbia Coast and in the inland rainforest of the Rocky Mountain Trench east of Prince George), in Europe (parts of the British Isles such as the coastal areas of Ireland and Scotland, southern Norway, parts of the western Balkans along the Adriatic coast, as well as in the North West of Spainand coastal areas of the eastern Black Sea, including Georgia and coastal Turkey), in East Asia (in southern China, Taiwan, much ofJapan and Korea, and on Sakhalin Island and the adjacent Russian Far East coast), in South America (southern Chile) and also inAustralia and New Zealand.

More Rainforest Facts!

• The Amazon Rainforest is the largest rainforest in the world, It covers an area of about 3 million square miles – that’s about 60 times bigger than the whole of England!

• Although they cover less than 2 percent of the Earth’s total surface area, the world’s rainforests are estimated to be home to half of the Earth’s plants and animals.

• Rainforests are the “lungs of our planet”. It is estimated that more than 20 percent of Earth’s oxygen is produced in the Amazon Rainforest.

• Because there is so much sunlight, heat and water – trees have the resources to grow to tremendous heights, and they live for hundreds, even thousands, of years.

Rain...........Rain.........Rain.........

                 

Rain...........Rain.........Rain.........

                  Rain is liquid water in the form of droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then precipitated—that is, become heavy enough to fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the planet. It provides suitable conditions for many types of ecosystem, as well as water for hydroelectric power plants and crop irrigation.The major cause of rain production is moisture moving along three-dimensional zones of temperature and moisture contrasts known as weather fronts.

                  If enough moisture and upward motion is present, precipitation falls from convective clouds (those with strong upward vertical motion) such as cumulonimbus (thunder clouds) which can organize into narrow rainbands. In mountainous areas, heavy precipitation is possible where upslope flow is maximized within windward sides of the terrain at elevation which forces moist air to condense and fall out as rainfall along the sides of mountains. On the leeward side of mountains, desert climates can exist due to the dry air caused by downslope flow which causes heating and drying of the air mass. The movement of the monsoon trough, or intertropical convergence zone, brings rainy seasons to savannah climes.

                  The urban heat island effect leads to increased rainfall, both in amounts and intensity, downwind of cities. Global warming is also causing changes in the precipitation pattern globally, including wetter conditions across eastern North America and drier conditions in the tropics.[citation needed] Antarctica is the driest continent. The globally averaged annual precipitation over land is 715 millimetres (28.1 in), but over the whole Earth is it much higher at 990 millimetres (39 in). Climate classification systems such as the Köppen climate classification system use average annual rainfall to help differentiate between differing climate regimes. Rainfall is measured using rain gauges. Rainfall amounts can be estimated by weather radar.
Rain is also known or suspected on other planets, where it may be composed of methane, neon, sulfuric acid or even iron rather than water.

Water-saturated air

             Air contains water vapor and the amount of water in a given mass of dry air, known as the mixing ratio, is measured in grams of water per kilogram of dry air (g/kg). The amount of moisture in air is also commonly reported as relative humidity; which is the percentage of the total water vapor air can hold at a particular air temperature. How much water vapor a parcel of air can contain before it becomes saturated (100% relative humidity) and forms into a cloud (a group of visible and tiny water and ice particles suspended above the Earth's surface) depends on its temperature. Warmer air can contain more water vapor than cooler air before becoming saturated. Therefore, one way to saturate a parcel of air is to cool it. The dew point is the temperature to which a parcel must be cooled in order to become saturated.

                There are four main mechanisms for cooling the air to its dew point: adiabatic cooling, conductive cooling, radiational cooling, and evaporative cooling. Adiabatic cooling occurs when air rises and expands. The air can rise due to convection, large-scale atmospheric motions, or a physical barrier such as a mountain (orographic lift). Conductive cooling occurs when the air comes into contact with a colder surface,usually by being blown from one surface to another, for example from a liquid water surface to colder land. Radiational cooling occurs due to the emission of infrared radiation, either by the air or by the surface underneath.Evaporative cooling occurs when moisture is added to the air through evaporation, which forces the air temperature to cool to its wet-bulb temperature, or until it reaches saturation.

              The main ways water vapor is added to the air are: wind convergence into areas of upward motion, precipitation or virga falling from above, daytime heating evaporating water from the surface of oceans, water bodies or wet land,transpiration from plants, cool or dry air moving over warmer water, and lifting air over mountains. Water vapor normally begins to condense on condensation nuclei such as dust, ice, and salt in order to form clouds. Elevated portions of weather fronts (which are three-dimensional in nature) force broad areas of upward motion within the Earth's atmosphere which form clouds decks such as altostratus or cirrostratus. Stratus is a stable cloud deck which tends to form when a cool, stable air mass is trapped underneath a warm air mass. It can also form due to the lifting of advection fog during breezy conditions.

Coalescence

                 Coalescence occurs when water droplets fuse to create larger water droplets, or when water droplets freeze onto an ice crystal, which is known as the Bergeron process. Air resistance typically causes the water droplets in a cloud to remain stationary. When air turbulence occurs, water droplets collide, producing larger droplets. As these larger water droplets descend, coalescence continues, so that drops become heavy enough to overcome air resistance and fall as rain. Coalescence generally happens most often in clouds above freezing, and is also known as the warm rain process.In clouds below freezing, when ice crystals gain enough mass they begin to fall. This generally requires more mass than coalescence when occurring between the crystal and neighboring water droplets. This process is temperature dependent, as supercooled water droplets only exist in a cloud that is below freezing. In addition, because of the great temperature difference between cloud and ground level, these ice crystals may melt as they fall and become rain.

                

                  

                 Raindrops have sizes ranging from 0.1 to 9 millimetres (0.0039 to 0.35 in) mean diameter, above which they tend to break up. Smaller drops are called cloud droplets, and their shape is spherical. As a raindrop increases in size, its shape becomes more oblate, with its largest cross-section facing the oncoming airflow. Large rain drops become increasingly flattened on the bottom, like hamburger buns; very large ones are shaped like parachutes.Contrary to popular belief, their shape does not resemble a teardrop. The biggest raindrops on Earth were recorded over Brazil and the Marshall Islands in 2004 — some of them were as large as 10 millimetres (0.39 in). The large size is explained by condensation on large smoke particles or by collisions between drops in small regions with particularly high content of liquid water. 

                 Intensity and duration of rainfall are usually inversely related, i.e., high intensity storms are likely to be of short duration and low intensity storms can have a long duration.Rain drops associated with melting hail tend to be larger than other rain drops. Raindrops impact at their terminal velocity, which is greater for larger drops due to their larger mass to drag ratio. At sea level and without wind, 0.5 millimetres (0.020 in) drizzle impacts at 2 metres per second (4.5 mph) (2 m/s or 6.6 ft/s), while large 5 millimetres (0.20 in) drops impact at around 9 metres per second (20 mph) (9 m/s or 30 ft/s). The sound of raindrops hitting water is caused by bubbles of air oscillating underwater. The METAR code for rain is RA, while the coding for rain showers is SHRA.

Plant Roots

Roots are the principal water-absorbing organs of a plant. They are present on essentially all vascular plants, although roots are never formed on the primitive-looking whisk fern (Psilotum) and its closest relatives (Order Psilotales), on Wolfiella (the tiniest duckweed), and on the plant body of certain atmospheric epiphytes, such as Spanish moss (Tillandsia). In fact, a root, by definition, must have vascular tissues, i.e., water conduits in xylem and sugar conduits in phloem, arranged in a particular way ("exarch"). Much thinner, threadlike rhizoids (means "root-like") are present on the nonvascular plants, such as mosses and liverworts, and on gametophytes of vascular plants without seeds, such as ferns, horsetails, and club mosses. Rhizoids also absorb water but totally lack vascular tissues.

The first root that comes from a plant is called the radicle. The four major functions of roots are 1) absorption of water and inorganic nutrients, 2) anchoring of the plant body to the ground, and supporting it, 3) storage of food and nutrients, 4) vegetative reproduction. Roots may be assisted in their function by other organisms living in the substrate. Many plants, including the majority of vascular plants and even the free-living gamatophytes, are involved in symbiotic relationships with fungi, called mycorrhizae.

Particular soil fungi grow either on the outside or on the inside of a root. This mycorrhizal association improves water absorption and the uptake of certain minerals from the soil. Certain genera of plants have roots that are inoculated with colonies of nitrogen-fixing microorganisms, especially legumes and their associated nitrogen-fixing bacteria (rhizobial bacteria). Living in tumor-like root nodules, nitrogen-fixing bacteria are able to convert atmosphere nitrogen gas to ammonia, under anaerobic conditions produced by the plant cells, and then use this fixed nitrogen to make amino acids. So, it this regard, root physiology may be involved in a very special way to deliver nutrients to the shoot.

TYPES OF ROOTS

A true root system consists of a primary root and secondary roots.

There are several possible fates of the primary root. In gymnosperms and dicotyledons, the primary root commonly grows to become a thick central root, the taproot, which may or may not have thick lateral roots (branches). This structural organization is frequently termed a taproot system, although in many old woody plants there may be many roots that are essentially the same diameter. The easiest designation of taproot is for something like a carrot (Daucus carota), where the lateral (secondary) roots are very thin, so that plant indeed has a single, thick central root. What may appear to be a taproot can also include enlarged portions of the hypocotyl (of the seedling) or even tissues of the lower stem.

 In monocotyledons, the radicle is very short-lived, and before it dies other adventitious roots have already originated from shoot or mesocotyl tissue to become the new root system, called a fibrous root system. Fibrous roots are typically thought of as slender, often with few or no lateral roots. However, many monocotyledons have below-ground adventitious roots that are thicker than a pencil, and in some the fibrous roots above-ground, such as the prop or stilt roots of screwpines (Pandanus) and certain palms (Family Arecaceae), can be as thick as an arm.

Adventitious roots are the ones that form from shoot tissues, not from another (parent) root. Most commonly, adventitious roots arise out of stems, originating via cell divisions of the stem cortex or less often from axillary buds hidden in the bark. In some plants leaves can also be encouraged to form adventitious roots. The field of horticulture is based in large part on cloning plants from cuttings of stems or leaves that form adventitious roots. [More examples: adventitious roots of a palm; of a Canary Island date palm; specialized adventitious roots of an epiphytic orchid; of an aquatic plant that has unattached roots in moving water] 

Certain "root crops" that botanically are below-ground shoots, such as tubers, bulbs, rhizomes, and corms, form adventitious roots when planted in soil. Vegetative reproduction (apomixis) of cacti and other succulent plants is also achieved largely by rooting either stems or leaves using methods to stimulate adventitious root formation.

Specialized roots

The roots, or parts of roots, of many plant species have become specialized to serve adaptive purposes besides the two primary functions described in the introduction.

Aerating roots (or knee root or knee or pneumatophores or Cypress knee): roots rising above the ground, especially above water such as in some mangrove genera (Avicennia, Sonneratia). In some plants like Avicennia the erect roots have a large number of breathing pores for exchange of gases.

Aerial roots: roots entirely above the ground, such as in ivy (Hedera) or in epiphytic orchids. They function as prop roots, as in maize or anchor roots or as the trunk in strangler fig.

ontractile roots: they pull bulbs or corms of monocots, such as hyacinth and lily, and some taproots, such as dandelion, deeper in the soil through expanding radially and contracting longitudinally. They have a wrinkled surface.

Coarse roots: Roots that have undergone secondary thickening and have a woody structure. These roots have some ability to absorb water and nutrients, but their main function is transport and to provide a structure to connect the smaller diameter, fine roots to the rest of the plant.

Fine roots: Primary roots usually <2 mm diameter that have the function of water and nutrient uptake. They are often heavily branched and support mycorrhizas. These roots may be short lived, but are replaced by the plant in an ongoing process of root 'turnover'.

Haustorial roots: roots of parasitic plants that can absorb water and nutrients from another plant, such as in mistletoe (Viscum album) and dodder.

Propagative roots: roots that form adventitious buds that develop into aboveground shoots, termed suckers, which form new plants, as in Canada thistle, cherry and many others.

Proteoid roots or cluster roots: dense clusters of rootlets of limited growth that develop under low phosphate or low iron conditions in Proteaceae and some plants from the following families Betulaceae, Casuarinaceae, Elaeagnaceae, Moraceae, Fabaceae and Myricaceae.

Stilt roots: these are adventitious support roots, common among mangroves. They grow down from lateral branches, branching in the soil.

Storage roots: these roots are modified for storage of food or water, such as carrots and beets. They include some taproots and tuberous roots.

Structural roots: large roots that have undergone considerable secondary thickening and provide mechanical support to woody plants and trees.

Surface roots: These proliferate close below the soil surface, exploiting water and easily available nutrients. Where conditions are close to optimum in the surface layers of soil, the growth of surface roots is encouraged and they commonly become the dominant roots.

Tuberous roots: A portion of a root swells for food or water storage, e.g. sweet potato. A type of storage root distinct from taproot.

Rooting Depths

The distribution of vascular plant roots within soil depends on plant form, the spatial and temporal availability of water and nutrients, and the physical properties of the soil. The deepest roots are generally found in deserts and temperate coniferous forests; the shallowest in tundra, boreal forest and temperate grasslands.

                                           

The deepest observed living root, at least 60 m below the ground surface, was observed during the excavation of an open-pit mine in Arizona, USA. Some roots can grow as deep as the tree is high. The majority of roots on most plants are however found relatively close to the surface where nutrient availability and aeration are more favourable for growth. Rooting depth may be physically restricted by rock or compacted soil close below the surface, or by anaerobic soil conditions.

Specialized Variations of Roots

Nodal roots: adventitious roots that form characteristically in rings from stem tissues around a node.

Prop or stilt roots: adventitious roots that develop on a trunk or lower branch that begin as aerial roots (another example; reaching for the water) but eventually grow into a substrate of some type; these roots in some cases seem to provide mechanical support, having either good compression or tensile properties to help support trees at their bases.

Buttress or tabular roots: vertically flattened roots that project out of the ground and lower trunk at the base of large trees. Models have suggested how these buttresses provide additional tensile forces to resist uprooting of large tropical trees.

Contractile roots: roots that become shortened in length (shrivel or shrink in length) and thereby draw the plant or plant part downward into the soil profile; many examples can be found among bulbous plants.

Pneumatophores: spongy, aerial roots of marsh or swamps, such as in mangal (mangroves), where roots are present in waterlogged soils and cannot obtain enough oxygen for maintaining healthy tissues. Here, pneumatophores are "breathing roots" that are emergent, and they have special air channels (lenticels) for gas exchange in the atmosphere (air enters at zones called "pneumathodes") and there is an internal pathway for getting O2 into the root and to supply submerged roots. The aerial loop of a mangrove root is sometimes called a "knee" or "peg root," but it is not clear that knees are necessarily breathing roots.

Caudex or lignotuber: a taproot that has fused with the stem may become woody. Lignotubers often occur in seasonally dry or fire-prone habitats, and the plants appear to use this strategy to recover from dormancy or fire.

Haustorial root: the root of particular parasitic plants that become cemented to the host axis via a sticky attachment disc before the root or sinker intrudes into the tissues of the host.

Strangling roots: the special name for roots of strangling figs (Ficus), which are primary hemiepiphytes that begin life as tropical epiphytes in trees and send down adventitious roots that become rooted in the soil. The roots surround the host trunk, eventually strangling the bark and killing the host tree.

Root tubers: swollen portions of a root that can have buds to produce new shoots; when broken off, these can grow into a new plant, so this is a form of cloning. In the older literature, these were sometimes referred to as fascicled roots.

Plants and its five kingdom classifications

           Plants, also called green plants ,are living organisms of the kingdom Plantae including such multicellular groups as flowering plants, conifers, ferns and mosses, as well as, depending on definition, the green algae, but not red or brown seaweeds like kelp, nor fungi or bacteria.

          Green plants have cell walls with cellulose and characteristically obtain most of their energy from sunlight via photosynthesis usingchlorophyll contained in chloroplasts, which gives them their green color. Some plants are parasitic and may not produce normal amounts of chlorophyll or photosynthesize. Plants are also characterized by sexual reproduction, modular and indeterminate growth, and an alteration of generations, although asexual reproduction is common, and some plants bloom only once while others bear only one bloom.

          Most plants grow in the ground, with stems above, and roots below. Water and some nutrients come from the roots. The evaporation of water from pores in the leaves pulls water through the plant. This is called transpiration.

          A plant needs sunlight, carbon dioxide, minerals and water to make food. A green substance in plants called chlorophyll traps theenergy from the Sun needed to make food. Chlorophyll is mostly found in leaves, inside plastids, which are inside the leaf cells. The leaf can be thought of as a food factory. Leaves of plants vary in shape and size, but they are always the plant organ best suited to capture solar energy. Once the food is made in the leaf, it is transported to the other parts of the plant such as stems and roots.

          Plants are one of five big groups (kingdoms) of living things. They are autotrophic eukaryotes, which means they have complexcells, and make their own food. Usually they cannot move (not counting growth).
Plants include familiar types such as trees, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The scientific study of plants, known as botany, has identified about 350,000 extant (living) species of plants. Fungi and non-green algae are not classed as plants.

Five Kingdom Classification

1.Protista (the single-celled eukaryotes)

               Protists are single-celled and usually move by cilia, flagella, or by amoeboid   mechanisms. There is usually no cell wall, although some forms may have a cell wall. They have organelles including a nucleus and may have chloroplasts, so some will be green and others won't be. They are small, although many are big enough to be recognized in a dissecting microscope or even with a magnifying glass. Nutrients are acquired by photosynthesis, ingestion of other organisms, or both.

2. Fungi (fungus and related organisms)

                      Fungi are multicellular, with a cell wall, organelles including a nucleus, but no chloroplasts. They have no mechanisms for locomotion. Fungi range in size from microscopic to very large ( such as mushrooms). Nutrients are acquired by absorption. For the most part, fungi acquire nutrients from decaying material.

3. Plantae (the plants)

                    Plants are multicellular and most don't move, although gametes of some plants move using cilia or flagella. Organelles including nucleus, chloroplasts are present, and cell walls are present. Nutrients are acquired by photosynthesis (they all require sunlight).

4. Animalia (the animals)

                        Animals are multicellular, and move with the aid of cilia, flagella, or muscular organs based on contractile proteins. They have organelles including a nucleus, but no chloroplasts or cell walls. Animals acquire nutrients by ingestion.

5. Monera (the prokaryotes)

                      Individuals are single-celled, may or may not move, have a cell wall, have no chloroplasts or other organelles, and have no nucleus. Monera are usually very tiny, although one type, namely the blue-green bacteria, look like algae. They are filamentous and quite long, green, but have no visible structure inside the cells. No visible feeding mechanism. They absorb nutrients through the cell wall or produce their own by photosynthesis.

Flowers..............

                  A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants(plants of the division Magnoliophyta, also called angiosperms).Flowers may facilitate outcrossing (fusion of sperm and eggs from different individuals in a population) or allow selfing (fusion of sperm and egg from the same flower). Some flowers produce diaspores without fertilization (parthenocarpy). Flowers contain sporangia and are the site where gametophytes develop. Flowers give rise to fruit and seeds. Many flowers have evolved to be attractive to animals, so as to cause them to be vectors for the transfer of pollen.

              Some flowers details are given below:
1.Dahlia

                   Dahlia is a genus of bushy, tuberous, herbaceous perennial plants native to Mexico, Central America, and Colombia. A member of the Asteraceae or Compositae, dicotyledonous plants, related species include the sunflower, daisy, chrysanthemum and zinnia. There are at least 36 species of dahlia, with hybrids commonly grown as garden plants. Flower forms are variable, with one head per stem; these can be as small as 2 in (5.1 cm) in diameter or up to 1 ft (30 cm) ("dinner plate"). This great variety results from dahlias being octoploids—that is, they have eight sets of homologous chromosomes, whereas most plants have only two. In addition, dahlias also contain many transposons - genetic pieces that move from place to place upon an allele - which contributes to their manifesting such great diversity.

2.Anthurium

                       Anthurium species, belonging to the arum family (Araceae). Anthurium can also be called "Flamingo Flower" or "Boy Flower", both referring to the structure of the spathe and spadix.TROPICOS lists 1901 types, although some of these are duplicates. It is one of the largest and probably the most complex genus of this family; certainly it is one of the most variable. Many species are undoubtedly not yet described and new ones are being found every year. The species has neotropical distribution; mostly in wet tropical mountain forest of Central America and South America, but some in semi-arid environments. Most species occur in Panama, Colombia, Brazil, the Guiana Shield and Ecuador. According to the work of noted aroid botanist Dr. Tom Croat of the Missouri Botanical Garden, no members of this genus are indigenous to Asia.

3.Hibiscus

                        Hibiscus is a genus of flowering plants in the mallow family, Malvaceae. It is quite large, containing several hundred species that are native to warm-temperate, subtropical and tropical regions throughout the world. Member species are often noted for their showy flowers and are commonly known as hibiscus, sorrel, and flor de Jamaica, or less widely known as rosemallow. The genus includes both annual and perennial herbaceous plants, as well as woody shrubs and small trees. The generic name is derived from the Greek word ἱβίσκος (hibískos), which was the name Pedanius Dioscorides (ca. 40-90) gave to Althaea.The leaves are alternate, ovate to lanceolate, often with a toothed or lobed margin.

4.lavender

                         The lavenders (botanic name Lavandula) is a genus of 39 species of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae. It is native to the Old World and is found from Cape Verde and Canary Islands, southern Europe across to northern and eastern Africa, the Mediterranean, south-west Asia to south-east India. Many members of the genus are cultivated extensively in temperate climates as ornamental plants for garden and landscape use, and also commercially for the extraction of essential oils.The genus includes herbaceous annual or short lived herbaceous perennial plants (the species from India), and suffruticose perennials, subshrubs or small shrubs across most of the rest of its distribution.Leaf shape is diverse across the genus.

5.Orkid

                      Orchidaceae - a plant family with an extraordinary diversity of species.Orchis, a genus of European Orchids, lent the name to the entire family.God's own flowers.The variety, rarity mysticism that surrounds the flower all contributes to the love, curiosity and love of people around the world.Perennial plants which are members of the largest family of plants - Orchidaceae are known as Orchids. It is estimated that there are about 25,000 species of orchids in the wild. Relatively young age of the genus can be the reason for this astonishingly high number of species.Loss of habitat has led to considerable decline of orchid population in the wild but fortunatly among plants Orchids in particular have become highly sought after flowers, gardeners and lay admirers cultivate them in greenhouses and households in cooler regions.

6.Michelia

                   Michelia is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the Magnolia family (Magnoliaceae). The genus includes about 50 species of evergreen trees and shrubs, native to tropical and subtropical south and southeast Asia (Indomalaya), including southern ChinaThe Magnoliaceae are an ancient family; fossil plants identifiably belonging to the Magnoliaceae back date back 95 million years. A primitive aspect of the Magnolia family is that their large, cup-shaped flowers lack distinct petals or sepals. The large non-specialized flower parts, resembling petals, are called tepals.The leaves, flowers, and form of Michelia resemble Magnolia, but the blossoms of Michelia generally form clusters among the leaves, rather than singly at the branch ends as Magnolia does.

7.Chendumally

                         The common Marigold is familiar to everyone, with its pale-green leaves and golden orange flowers. The color of Chendumally range from lemon, yellow, bright yellow, golden to orange. They are very much used in making garlands for temple decoration.Malli is best when it is worn in the evenings – that is the time when the buds open. If we are passionate about malli we have to follow its clock and not our own. I know many who put malli into plastic bags in the evenings and keep it in refrigerator. They take it out in the mornings and offer it to the gods or wear it on their hairs after the have their morning bath, just before going out for work. The mallis are dead by then, the stems shrink and the flowers fall away from the strand.

8.Bamboo

                  Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. In bamboo, the internodal regions of the stem are hollow and the vascular bundles in the cross section are scattered throughout the stem instead of in a cylindrical arrangement. The dicotyledonous woody xylem is also absent. The absence of secondary growth wood causes the stems of monocots, even of palms and large bamboosto be columnar rather than tapering.Bamboos are some of the fastest growing plants in the world, due to a unique rhizome-dependent system. Bamboos are of notable economic and cultural significance in South Asia, South East Asia and East Asia, being used for building materials, as a food source, and as a versatile raw product.

Plant seeds of happiness, hope, success, and love; it will all come back to you in abundance.

               Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general.Nature includes Earth, Geology, Atmosphere, Climate, Weather,Water, Life etc.The concept of nature as a whole, the physical universe, is one of several expansions of the original notion; it began with certain core applications of the word φύσις by pre-Socratic philosophers, and has steadily gained currency ever since. This usage was confirmed during the advent of modern scientific method in the last several centuries.