Dear Neil: Thanks for sharing... are these VINES volunteers or did you transplant/ plant 'em by design? I would not know which is which... could you tell me, please? DOES YOUR AIR POTATO PLANT DEVELOP the typical potaoes? Have ever eaten them?
I became interested in Dioscorea... as a tribe...while studying ethnobotany of ne states of india including Assam, Bengal, Tripura Nagaland etc...the genus is of utmost importance as food to natives of ne hill states of India....as tubers..leaves are all eaten, often as staples... But even before that, while studying western herbal medicine,. became interested in Dioscorea .as sources of steroid diosgenin... which in hands of industry is base for making synthetic hormones.... but of cource you knew that.. and that one leaf sort of reminded me of something I seen somewhere, there by that initial question.... THE MORE MORE I READ ABOUT BOTANY OF INDIA.. ITS BECOMING CLEARER BY THE DAY THAT THE WESTERN GHATS HAVE A VERY DIVERSE and .. HIGHLY EVOLVED BOTANICAL MIX... AND MANY THINGS NOT IN OUR COLLECTIVE HORTICULTURAL HABITS REMAIN TO BE " DISCOVERED" ANEW , ESP WHEN WE CAN ALL BE ARMED WITH RECORDERS AND DIGITAL CAMERAS...AND TALK TO EACH OTHER SO RAPIDLY..!!! EXPONENTIALLY INCREASING OUR COLLECTIVE KNOWLEDGE .... Regards, Usha di ========== On Sat, Jul 30, 2011 at 10:40 PM, Neil Soares <drneilsoa...@yahoo.com>wrote: > Hi, > The Dioscorea bulbifera was just an incidental finding. Please check these > photographs where there are at least 6 climbers per frame. They are all > taken at my farm at Shahapur. > With regards, > Neil Soares. > > --- On *Sat, 7/30/11, Smilax004 <giby.kuriak...@gmail.com>* wrote: > > > From: Smilax004 <giby.kuriak...@gmail.com> > Subject: [efloraofindia:75417] Re: Giant Jewel Beetle feeding on Tendu > leaves > To: "Geeta" <rgeet...@gmail.com> > Cc: "indiantreepix" <indiantreepix@googlegroups.com>, > microminipho...@gmail.com > Date: Saturday, July 30, 2011, 11:39 AM > > > Dear Geeta, > > There is only one leaf belong to Dioscorea that too only in the first > picture. The main plant in the pictures is Diospyros melanoxylon > leaves as Neil ji mentioned. > One more interesting point I would like to mention here that recently > a scientist in ATREE Bangalore fond out that leaves of Nothapodytes > nimmoniana is been eaten by a > > Dear Ushadi, > > That is their nature not only insects most of the animals do so. What > do a domestic cow do? Who cleans its surroundings? are they concerned > about the same? In forest/nature, animals move around and they don't > concerned about the cleanliness of the surroundings, caused by them. > But there is system that works on it, such as dung beetles on dungs of > mammals and in no time the area gets cleaned. Fungus degrades the > wastes or decaying/dead substances. Rain washes away the surroundings > of insects and any disturbance of the plant (as what you see in the > picture) would help to drop down all such kind of foreign materials. > > In nature there is a system (or several systems) that works well to > keep up the momentum. It is we who don't work as per the rules of > nature hence need to work on each and every thing that we do. > > > Regards, > Giby > > > > > > > > > > On Jul 30, 5:54 am, Geeta > <rgeet...@gmail.com<http://us.mc339.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=rgeet...@gmail.com>> > wrote: > > Looks like Dioscorea--possibly D. bulbifera. > > > > On Jul 30, 5:30 am, Ushadi micromini > > <microminipho...@gmail.com<http://us.mc339.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=microminipho...@gmail.com> > > > > wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > and in pic 1, what is the heart shaped leaf peering down at the top? > > > interesting venatiions... > > > seems to be a vine growing up on the tendu... > > > Udsha di > > > === > > > > > On Jul 29, 10:15 pm, Neil Soares > > > <drneilsoa...@yahoo.com<http://us.mc339.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=drneilsoa...@yahoo.com>> > wrote: > > > > > > Hi, > > > > Thought this might be interesting….. > > > > > > > > Photographed this Giant Jewel Beetle [a Sternocera sp. possibly > S.chrysis] at my farm last weekend gorging on Tendu [Diospyros melanoxylon] > leaves. After extracting the juices it would discard the fibrous pellets. > > > > Sending a few photographs. > > > > With regards, > > > > Neil Soares. > > > > > > Giant Jewel Beetle on Tendu 1.jpg > > > > 552KViewDownload > > > > > > Giant Jewel Beetle on Tendu 2.jpg > > > > 477KViewDownload > > > > > > Giant Jewel Beetle on Tendu 3.jpg > > > > 480KViewDownload > > > > > > Giant Jewel Beetle on Tendu 4.jpg > > > > 494KViewDownload > > > > > > Giant Jewel Beetle on Tendu 5.jpg > > > > 495KViewDownload > >
