eChapters

Common name    :    English- Banyan tree
        Hindi- Barh
        Odia- Baro

Family    :    Moraceae

Habit & Distribution
It is a tree (Fig. 49 a), fairly common, seen, in wild and sometimes planted. The plant is widely distributed throughout the plains of India.

General Characters
The tree is very large, growing up to 30 m tall, with many aerial roots that develop in to new trunks, so that the tree goes on spreading laterally, indefinitely. A single tree can cover a very wide area. The leaves are leathery, entire, ovate or elliptic, which grow up to 20-30 cm long with prominent lateral viens. The fruits are 1 to 2 cm in diameter, rounded in shape, without stalks arranged in pairs at leaf axils and it changes to bright red colour when ripens. The plant flowers round the year and bears fruits during April-June.

Common name    :    English- Cluster fig tree
        Hindi- Goolar
        Odia- Dimiri

Family    :    Moraceae

Habit & Distribution 
The plant is a tree (Fig. 50 a), fairly common in valleys and village surroundings. It is widely distributed throughout India.

General Characters
It is a large sized tree with few short areal roots. Leaves are ovate or elliptic with 7-20×3.5-9 cm in size. The most distinctive aspect of this tree is the red, furry figs in short clusters, which grow directly out of the trunk of tree. The figs do carry hundred of flowers in it. The plant flowers during the month March-June and bears fruits during July-September.

Common name    :    English- Pipal tree
        Hindi- Peepal 
        Odia- Aswatha

Family    :    Moraceae

Habit & Distribution 
The plant is a large tree (Fig. 51 a), found in common, wild or human setteled localities. The plant is widely distributed throughout India.

General Characters
It is a large tree with grey bark and numerous roots which have fused with stem. Leaves are leathery, 4-8 inches long by 3-5 inches width with tailed at the tip and heart shaped at the base. Fruit is a fig which is axilary, sessile, 1-1.5 cm diameter and turns into dark purple when ripens. The plant flowers during June to October.

Common name    :    English- Garden Balsam
        Hindi- Gul-mendi 
        Odia- Haragaura

Family    :    Balsaminaceae
 
Habit & Distribution
It is a herb (Fig. 52 a) commonly cultivated in gardens and also self-sown in waste lands, forest edges, roadsides. It is distributed throughout India.

General Characters
The plant is an erect annual herb, growing upto 30-80 cm in height with stilt roots from the lower nodes. The leaves are alternate, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate and 2.5-9 cm long and 1-2.5 cm broad. Flowers are pink, red and white in colour with 2.5-5 cm in diameter. Flower stalks are up to 1-5 cm long. Capsules are ovoid ellipsoid and 1.5-2.5 cm long. The plant flowers and bears fruits during August-December.

Common name    :    English- Scarlet morning glory         
        Hindi- Lalpungli
        Odia- Panikod

Family    :    Convolvulaceae
 
Habit & Distribution
The plant is (Fig. 53 a) a herbaceous climber, common in open forests and open places over hedges, bushes, fairly naturalized. It is naturalized throughout India.

General Characters
It is a twining, smooth to hairy annual plant. Leaves are ovate or broadly ovate, heart shaped having bases with pointed tips. The flowers are red in colour with a longer stalk than the leaves. Each flower stalk may bear a single flower or may have several flowers. The fruit is a round capsule up to 8 mm in diameter containing few seeds. Flowering and fruiting occurs during September-January.

Common name    :    English- Yellow-Throated Morning Glory     
        Hindi- Neelkalme
        Odia- Kaladana

Family    :    Convolvulaceae

Habit & Distribution
The plant is an ornamental climber (Fig. 54a), common in waste places and road sides. It is widely distributed throughout the tropical countries.

General Characters
It is a climber. Stems trail for several metres and climb over low bushes, reddish, muriculate, hairless or velvety. The Leaves are ovate, 5-15 × 5-15 cm, blunt or long-pointed at the tip and heart-shaped. Flowers are funnel-shaped, blue with purplish tinge, 3.5-4.5 cm long, with a yellow center and borne in several-flowered cymes. The cyme is carried on a stalk 5-25 cm long. Capsule is ovoid to globose, hairless. Seeds are trigonous, brownish, hairless or very shortly velvet-hairy.

Common name    :    English- Royal jasmin         
        Hindi- Chameli
        Odia- Niali/Banamali

Family    :    Oleaceae

Habit & Distribution 
It is a shrub (Fig. 55 a), commonly found in forests and distributed in Central and Southern India.

General Characters
The plant is nearly erect, not twining or climbing. Branchlets are hairy. Leaves are simple, opposite, variable in size up to 18 cm long and 10 cm broad with long pointed end. Flowers are white, fragrant, three forked clusters with flowers stalk of 5 mm long. Berry is mostly simple, 1-1.5 cm long, ellipsoid and black when ripe. The plant flowers during March-May and bears fruits during June-July.

Common name    :    English- Bellyache bush         
        Hindi- Ratanjoti 
        Odia- Baigoba/Baigewa

Family    :    Euphorbiaceae

Habit & Distribution
It is a shrub (Fig. 56 a), very commonly found in waste ground, village hedges, roadsides and scrub forests. The plant is cultivated and naturalized in several parts of India.

General Characters
The plant is a small dark colored glandular hairy shrub, 0.8-1.8 m in height. The leaves are 6-12 cm in diameter, palmatly 3-5 lobed, entire with 3-5 cm long petiole. Flowers are red with yellow centre. The petioles and stipules have glandular hairs. It flowers and bears fruits during July-October.

Common name    :    English- Peregrina/Spicy jatropha
     
Family    :    Euphorbiaceae

Habit & Distribution
The plant is a shrub, usually planted in gardens.

General Characters
It is a small erect and branched shrub (Fig. 57 a). The leaves are entire, elliptic-oval, may be fiddle shaped with 7 inches long. The flowers are red and pink and about 2.5 cm across and borne in many flowered clusters at branch end. Fruit is rounded-trigonous. The plant bears flowers and fruits in most parts of the year.

Common name    :    Odia- Laoo
        English-Calbash     
        Hindi- Lauki

Family    :    Cucurbitaceae

Habit & Distribution
The plant is a climber (Fig. 58 a), commonly cultivated and distributed throughout India.

General Characters
It is an annual vigorous herb, running or climbing vine with large leaves and with lush appearance. Leaves are simple, 17-20 cm diameter, short and softly hairy with kidney or heart shaped outlines. Flowers are white, up to 4 inches in diameter with spreading petals. Fruits are of various shapes, in different varieties, like bottole or dumbbell shaped, rounded or elongated. The plant flowers during July-January and bears fruits during cold season.

Common name    :    English- Wild sage 
        Hindi- Raimuniya 
        Odia- Naguari

Family    :    Verbenaceae
 
Habit & Distribution 
It is a shrub (Fig. 59 a), commonly found in roadsides, wasteland, damp site etc. It is distributed throughout India.

General Characters
The plant is an evergreen shrub grows up to 6 ft height and may spread 8 ft in width. The leaves are ovate-oblong, about 2-5 inches long with rounded tooth edges and a textured surface. Stem and leaves surfaces are covered with rough hairs and emit an unpleasant aroma when crushed. Flowers usually white-pink or orange-yellow in colour and are held in clusters that are typically 1-2 inches across. Fruits are small, globose, fleshy, purplish black berries after ripe. The plant bears flowers and fruits in all round the year.

Common name    :    English- Angled luffa
        Hindi- Karvitori
        Odia- Pita taradi

Family    :    Cucurbitaceae

Habit & Distribution 
The plant is a climber (Fig. 60 a), widely cultivated and also found in wild. It is cultivated throughout India.

General Characters
It is an annual climber with smooth and angled stem. The leaves are 5-7 lobed or angled, 7.5-15 cm across and covered with short hairs. Flowers are yellow in colour with male and female in the same axil. The fruits are ribbed and cylindricaly shaped and 1-2 feet in length. The plant bears flowers and fruits during August-November.

Common name    :    English- Mango
        Hindi- Aam
        Odia- Amba 
            
Family    :    Anacardiaceae

Habit & Distribution
It is a tree (Fig. 61 a) grows wild in valleys and widely cultivated throughout tropical India.

General Characters
The plant is a large, erect and ever green tree gowing up to 30-80 ft in height with a broad and rounded canopy. The leaves are variable in size and shape, usually lanceolate, entire, acute to acuminate with 10-20 cm in size. The flowers are greenish-yellow, small and polygamous with 5 lobed calyx which are ovate-oblong or elliptic in shape and remain spreading. There is a great variation in the size, colour and flavour of the fruits. They may be nearly round, oval, ovoid-oblong or somewhat kidney shaped and usually yellow in colour when ripe. The plant bears flowers during January-March and fruits during April-May.

Common name    :    English- Tiger’s claw/Devil’s claw
        Hindi- Ulat kanta
        Odia- Bagha nakhi

Family    :    Martyniaceae

Habit & Distribution
The plant is a herb (Fig. 62 a), commonly occur in roadsides, waste lands, and also naturalized. It is widely distributed in India.

General Characters
It is an erect, often branched herb that grows up to 2 m in height. Leaves are kidney shaped to circular, mostly 6-15 cm wide, both surfaces are equally hairy, margins with shallow lobes and leaf stalk is 9-14 cm long. Flowers are bell shaped purplish white with dark purple markings. Fruit is capsule, more or less ovoid, 2 valved, with the style splitting into 2 curved, lignified and spiny processes with curved claw of about 1 cm. The plant bears flowers and fruits during August-January.

Common name    :    English- Touch me not/sensitive plant
        Hindi- Lajwanti
        Odia- Lajakuli 
            
Family    :    Mimosaceae

Habit & Distribution
The plant is a common weed mostly found in roadsides, waste places, damp sites, agricultural lands etc. It is widely distributed throughout the better parts of India. (Fig. 63 a)

General Characters
It is a small prostrate or ascending herb with prickly stems and grows up to a height of 50 cm with a spread of 30 cm. The leaves are bipinnate, fern like and pale green, closing when disturbed. The flowers are pale pink or purple in colour, round to ovoid heads (8-10 mm in diameter) and the flower heads arise from the leaf axils. The plant bears flowers and fruits during August-May.

Common name    :    English- Spanish cherry
        Hindi- Maulsari
        Odia- Baula
        
Family    :    Sapotaceae 

Habit & Distribution
The plant is a small tree (Fig. 64 a), frequently planted elsewhere also in gardens. It is distributed throughout India.

General Characters
It is a small tree with small shiny thick narrow, pointed leaves, straight trunk and spreading branches. The leaves are elliptic or oblong, 6.2-10 cm long. Flowers are small star shaped, white, yellowish white in color with a crown rising from the centre. The fragrance of flowers is very graciously scented. The fruit turns yellow-orange when ripens and are eaten fresh. The plant flowers during April-May and bears fruits during August-September.

Common name    :    English - Banana
        Hindi - Kela
        Odia - Kadali

Family    :    Musaceae

Habit & Distribution
The plant is a large herb (Fig. 65 a), indigenous to Odisha, Bihar and Eastern Himalayas. The plant is cultivated throughout India.

General Characters
Banana is a tropical small size tree, with large leaves with overlapping bases from the trunk. The leaves are oblong and 1.2-1.5 m in length. The stem reaches a height of about 10-30 feet. Flower develop from the centre of crown. Only female flowers develop into a banana fruit that vary in length from 4 to12 inches. Each banana plant bears fruits only once. The plant bears flowers and fruits in most parts of the year.

Common name    :    English- Bur flower
        Hindi- Kadamb
        Odia- Kadamba

Family    :    Rubiaceae
 
Habit & Distribution
It is a tree (Fig. 66 a), seen growing widely in deep moist, alluvial sites and often in forests along river banks. It is widely distributed throughout India.

General Characters
The plant is a large straight deciduous tree that reaches to 45 m height. The leaves are large simple, elliptic-oblong, entire and 13-32 cm in length. Flowers are orange colored, small, in dense, globose heads that appear like solid, hairy orange balls. The fruits are small capsules, packed closely together. It bears flowers on May-July and fruits during August-October.

Common name    :    English- Shoo-fly plant
        Hindi- Popti

Family    :    Solanaceae
 
Habit & Distribution
The plant is a herb (Fig. 67 a), commonly found in fallow land, naturalized in waste places and near dwellings. It is distributed throughout India.

General Characters
It s an erect annual plant reaches up to 3-8 feet in height and are about half as wide. The leaves are large, alternate, reaching up to 1 feet long and somewhat resembles Datura leaves. Flowers are pale blue or blue purple with white centre. Fruits are berry, brown or yellow when matures, up to 2 cm in diameter. The plant flowers and bears fruits during October-February.

Common name    :    English- Water lily
        Hindi- Kanval
        Odia- Kain

Family    :    Nymphaeaceae
 
Habit & Distribution 
The plant (Fig. 68 a) is an aquatic perennial herb, commonly found in lakes and ponds. It is distributed throughout the warmer parts of India.

General Characters
It is an aquatic plant having erect perennial root stocks that anchor it to the mud in the bottom of the water bodies. Leaves vary from being elliptic-oval to almost circular 15-26 cm across, fine hairs on upper side and always remain at floating stage. Flowers are mostly white, occasionally pink or red reaching up to 15 cm in diameter. The plant flowers and bears fruits throughout the year.

Common name    :    English- Sage Leaved Alangium
        Hindi- Ankol
        Odia- Ankula/Dhalanga
Family    :    Cornaceae
Habit & Distribution 
The plant is a tree (Fig. 69 a), commonly found in dry regions in plains and low hills and also found on roadsides. The plant is widely distributed throughout India.
General Characters
The plant is a tall thorny tree native to India. It grows to a height of about 3 to 10 meters. The bark is ash colored, rough and faintly fissured. The leaves are elliptic oblong or elliptic lanceolate. The flowers are greenish white, fascicled, and axillary. The berries are ovoid, ellipsoid, glabrous, smooth and violet to purple in colour. The plant flowers and bears fruits during February -June.

Common name    :    English-Rice
        Hindi-Chawal
        Odia-Dhana
    
Family    :    Poaceae

Habit & Distribution 
The plant (Fig. 70 a) is a annual herb, and several varieties of this plant are largely cultivated all over the world, especially in Asian countries.

General Characters
It is a semi aquatic monocot plant. The plant grows up to 3-5 ft in height. It has long, slender leaves, 50-100 cm long and 2-2.5 cm broad. Flowers are produced in branches arching to pendulous inflorescence 30-50 long. The edible seed is a grain, 0.5-1.2 cm long and 2-3 mm thick. The plant flowers and bear fruits during September-January and also in April-May.

Common name    :    English- Kewda/Screw pine
        Hindi- Gagan dhul
        Odia- Kia

Family    :    Pandanaceae
 
Habit & Distribution 
It is a shrub (Fig. 71 a), wild in deltaic swamps of Mahanadi and other sandy coastal areas. Seen both in wild and cultivated in India.

General Characters
It is a bushy shrub, reaches up to 3-4 m in height. The leaves are closely spiral, spiny and leathery with fragrance. Flowers are pedicellate with stamens spirally arranged on the floral axis. Flowers have a sweet and perfumed odor.

Common name    :    English-Yellow flamebouyant
        Hindi- Peela gulmohar 
        Odia- Radhachuda

Family    :    Fabaceae

Habit & Distribution
It is a tree (Fig. 72 a), frequently planted in gardens, road sides etc. and widely distributed throughout India.

General Characters
The plant is a deciduous tree growing up to 15-25 m height with a trunk diameter of about 1m. The leaves are bipinnate, 30-60 cm long, with 16-20 pinnae, each pinna with 20-40 oval leaflets. The flowers are yellow, 2.5-4 cm diameter, produced in large compound racemes up to 5-10 cm long and 2.5 cm broad, red at first, ripening black and contain 1-4 seeds. The plant flowers during March-May and bears fruits during April-December.

Common name    :    English- Date palm 
        Hindi- Khajur
        Odia- Khajuri

Family    :    Arecaceae
 
Habit & Distribution 
The plant is a tree (Fig. 73 a). It is commonly, wild or cultivated throughout India. It thrives from the plains to the coast in low-laying waste lands, scrub forest and water logged areas.

General Characters
It is a moderate sized dioecious tree which grows up to 4-10 m. in height and 30 cm diameter with a large crown and rough trunk covered with persistent leaf bases. The leaves are 3 m. long, gently recurved on 1 m petioles with spines near the base. The leaf crown grows to 5 m wide and 7-10 m tall containing up to 100 leaves. The inflorescence grows to 1 m with white flowers. The single seeded fruit ripens to orange-yellow. The plant flowers and bears fruits during May-October.

Common name    :    English- Wild leadwort
        Hindi- Chitrak 
        Odia- Ogni 

Family    :    Plumbaginaceae 

Habit & Distribution
The plant is a shrub (Fig. 74 a), frequent in open places, scrub forests and among bushes. It is widely distributed throughout India.

Gerneral Characters
The plant is an evergreen shrub that reaches about 6 feet in native. The leaves are dark green, spreading and ovate in shape. Flowers are white, terminal, often panicled and grow as dense racemes. Individual flowers are up to ½ inch across. The plant flowers and bears fruits during September-April.

Common name    :    English- False Asoka 
        Hindi- Ashok 
        Odia- Debadaru

Family    :    Annonaceae
 
Habit & Distribution 
The plant (Fig. 75 a) is usually planted in gardens, roadside avenues and also cultivated throughout India.

General characters
The plant is a tall evergreen tree having slender and glabrous branches, growing up to a height of 25 feet. The leaves are narrowly lanceolate, glossy green, long with attractive wavy edges. Flowers are yellowish-green, star like structures that give the tree a peculiar hazy appearance. Seeds are smooth and shining. The plant flowers in March-April and bears fruits during July-August.

Common name    :    Shaving brush tree

Family    :    Malvaceae

Habit & Distribution 
The plant is a large tree (Fig. 76 a), usually seen in open forests often scattered through fields and over plains, besides on open rocky hillsides. It is distributed throughout Indian.

General characters
It is large deciduous tree, which grows up to 30-40 feet in height. The leaves at first are bright red turning fine green as they mature. Flowers are having silky rose-pink stamens topped with yellow pollen. The wood is interesting as well, showing strippings of greens, yellows, brown and white. The plant flowers during October-February.

        Odia- Jada/Gab

Common name    :    English- Castor bean
        Hindi- Arandi 
        Odia- Jada/Gab
        
Family    :    Euphorbiaceae
 
Habit & Distribution
The plant is a shrub or small tree (Fig. 77 a), often found in wastelands, fields, gardens and near villages. Also cultivated as a cash crop. It is widely distributed throughout the dry parts of India.
 
General Characters
The plant is a fast growing, sucking perennial tree that reaches the size up to 12 m. The leaves are 15-45 cm long, stalked, alternate and palmate with 5-12 deep lobes. The flowers are borne in terminal panicle like inflorescences of green or shades of red monoecious flowers without petals. The fruit is spiny, greenish capsule containing large and oval bean like seeds. The plant flowers and bears fruits during most parts of the year.

Common name    :    English- Rose
        Hindi-Gulab
        Odia- Golap

Family    :    Rosaceae
 
Habit & Distribution 
It is a shrub (Fig. 78 a), commonly planted in gardens and also cultivated.

General Characters
The plant is a woody, perennial shrub. The leaves are borne alternately on the stem. In most species, they are 5-15 cms long, elliptic-lanceolate, pinnate with 3-11 leaflets. Flowers are usually white or pink, though in a species yellow or red with 5 cm across. The aggregate fruit of the rose is a berry like structure called a rosehip. The plant flowers during February-March.

Common name    :    English- Fever root
        Hindi- Ruwel

Family    :    Acanthaceae
 
Habit & Distribution
It is a herb (fig. 79 a), often found in wastelands, cultivated land, waysides etc. sometimes in gardens also. The plant is widely naturalized in India.

General Characters
The plant is a tropical perennial herb, growing up to a height of 6.5 inches with hairy stem. The leaves are simple, opposite and elliptic-obovate with 4.10-1.8-4 cm in size. Flowers are blue or violet with 3-4 cm in long. The ripe fruits in a pod carry 7-8 seeds each in it. The plant flowers and bears fruits during June-February.

Common name    :    English- Sugarcane
        Hindi- Ganna
        Odia- Akho

Family    :    Poaceae

Habit & Distribution 
It is a tall herb (Fig. 80 a), widely cultivated in Odisha and also throughout the hotter parts of India.

General Characters
The plant is a giant grass. The stem is erect, jointed, 3-5 m tall, 2-3 cm thick with plenty of juice. Leaves are elongate, rigid, mostly 4-6 cm wide, with a very thick midrib. The flowers are white, appear in plume like panicles, 20-60 cm long. The plant flowers and bears fruits during November-January.

Common name    :    English- Tropical soda apple
        Odia- Denga bheji/Bheji baigana

Family    :    Solanaceae

Habit & Distribution
It is a perennial shrub (Fig. 81 a), is commonly found in grassland, thickets and disturbed places such as roadsides and river banks.

General Characters
The plant is an erect perennial shrub, reaches up to 50-150 cm high with shortly pubescent stems and branches with recurved prickles up to 5 mm long. The leaves are broadly ovate up to 20 cm long and 15 cm wide, generally dark green in colour, and glossy above. The flowers are white, 1.5 cm across arranged in clusters. The fruit is a globose berry, mottled green when young and yellow at maturity, with 2-3 cm across. The plant flowers and bears fruits throughout the year.

Common name    :    English- Marigold
        Hindi- Genda 
        Odia- Gendu

Family    :    Asteraceae

Habit & Distribution
It is a herb (Fig. 82 a) commonly cultivated in gardens. It is a very popular flowering plant commonly found in India and other countries.

General Characters
The plant is a very popular aromatic annual herb with 50-100 cm in height. The leaves are pinnately divided, in to oblong or lanceolate. Flowers are yellow, orange in colour, and large head with 3-5 inches across. The plant flowers mainly during cold season.

Common name    :    English- Tamarind
        Hindi- Imli 
        Odia- Tentuli

Family    :    Fabaceae

Habit & Distribution 
The plant is a large tree (Fig. 83 a), fairly common, planted or self sown. It is widely distributed throughout India, also cultivated and self-sown.

General Characters
It is a large tree which grows up to 30-50 m height with spreading crown up to 12 m in diameter. The leaves are up to 5 cm long and composed of numerous small leaflets. Leaflets are 10-20 pairs, small and close. The flowers are about 1 cm across, pale yellow with purple or red veins. Fruits are brown, short haired, sausage like, contain an acidic pulp that surrounds the seeds, extremely sour. The plant flowers during April-June and bears fruits during December-March.

Common name    :    English- Teak
        Hindi- Sagun
        Odia- Sagwan 

Family    :    Verbenaceae

Habit & Distribution 
The plant is a tree (Fig. 84 a), naturally confined to south-western part of Orissa, also widely planted all over the state. The plant commonly distributed in central India to Orissa, also widely planted.

General Characters
It is a large deciduous and very popular timber tree. Leaves of the tree are large, opposite with 30-60 cm long and 15-30 cm broad. The flowers appear in large numbers in lax clusters at the end of branches with white colour. The fruit is about 15 mm across, spongy and enclosed in persistent calyx. The plant flowers during July-August and bears fruit during December-April. 

Common name    :    English- Indian Tinospora
        Hindi- Gulbel
        Odia- Gulochi

Family    :    Menispermaceae
 
Habit & Distribution
It is a shrub/climber (Fig. 85 a), frequently found in forests and widely distributed throught tropical India.

General Characters
The plant is a climber, with stems about 5 cm diameters with light grey and papery bark. The leaves are about 7.5-14 cm long, broadly ovate or orbicular, deeply heart shaped at the base. Flowers are racemes which are 7-14 cm in long, greenish yellow in colour and arranged in 3+3 sepals in 2 layers, the outer one are small, the inner one are large. Fruits are red, globose to subglobose with 6-8 mm across. The plant flowers during August-December and bears fruits during March-May.

Common name    :    English- False white teak
        Hindi- Pindar
        Odia- Jandakhai

Family    :    Euphorbiaceae
 
Habit & Distribution 
The plant is a tree (Fig. 86 a), commonly found along riverbanks, evergreen and semi-evergreen forests. It is distributed throughout India.

General Characters
It is a large deciduous tree, growing up to 10-20 m tall, with a smooth grey bark. The leaves are oppositely arranged ovate, 7-17 cm long and are heart- shaped at the base and have tapering tips. Leaf-stalks are 3-7 cm long. Flowers are small and greenish. Male flowers are borne in 7-19 cm long racemes and are carried on slender stalks. Female flowers are borne singly on long stalks. Fruit is round, with 2-4 compartments, 2-4 cm in diameter, smooth or hairy, exocarp thick and fleshy. The plant flowers and bears fruits during December-March.

Common name    :    English- Coat buttons
        Hindi- Khal-Muriya
        Odia- Bisalya karani

Family    :    Asteraceae
 
Habit & Distribution
The plant is a herb (Fig. 87 a), usually found in dry locations, especially sandy and rocky sites like roadsides, railways, dunes and waste places. It is widely distributed throughout India.
 
General Characters
The plant is a perennial herb that stands about 30-60 cm in height and has slightly hairy stem. The leaves are ovate or lanceolate with toothed edges. Flowers are small, creamy or white in colour having 5 petals that are notched in the outer edges. The centre of the flower is yellow. The plant flowers and bears fruits all the year round.

Common name    :    English- Burr Bush
        Hindi- Chikti
        Odia- Badya chana pata/tatatatia

Family    :    Tiliaceae

Habit & Distribution
The plant is a herb (Fig. 88 a), fairly common weed, distributed throughout tropical and subtropical India.

General Characters
It is an erect woody herb, grows up to 30-90 cm. leaves are simple, alternate, broadly ovate to sub orbicular. Flowers are yellow, small and clustered on leaf axils. Fruit is a subglobose and about 3-4 mm in diameter, covered with 75-100 hooked spines of 1.0 to 1.5 mm long. The plant flowers and bears fruits during July-January.

Common name    :    English- Rangoon creeper
        Hindi- Madhumalti
        Odia- Madhumalati

Family    :    Combretaceae
 
Habit & Distribution
It is a climbing shrub (Fig. 89 a), cultivated widely in gardens and distributed throughout India.

General Characters
The plant is a twining climber blooming profusely throughout summer and can reach up to 70 feet in tropical climate. The leaves are elliptic-oblong and 7-15 cm long. Flowers are scented, pink-white to reddish-white in colour and grow in pendent racemes with a very fast rate. The plant flowers and bears fruits in most parts of the year.

Common name    :    English- Common Cocklebur
        Hindi- Chhota dhatura/Ghagra
        Odia- Mendhaguli

Family    :    Asteraceae

Habit & Distribution
The plant is a herb (Fig. 90 a), found in cultivated lands, coastal dunes, water resources, roadsides, waste places and field edges. It is distributed throughout India.

General Characters
The plant has large and broad leaves, light and bright green in colour in an alternate pattern with irregular lobes. Stem turns maroon to black when mature, with hairy appearance. The flowers are white or green, numerous and covered with hooked bristles. The fruit is obovoid, 1.5-2.5 cm long and covered with hooked spines of 2-4 mm long. The plant flowers and bears fruits during August-September.

Women are the backbone of rural economy. They play a significant role in domestic and socio-economic life of the society. National development is not possible without developing this important and substantial segment of any society. To achieve anything, women are obliged to surmount host of obstacles. The difficulty in gaining access to land, credit and agricultural inputs hampers their potential as producers who feed the world. Barriers of tradition and discrimination have limited their access towards technology, training and education. Moreover, the extension approaches and strategies usually followed for transfer of technology to women are not keeping match with their specific needs and problems. The World Food Summit convened by FAO in 1996 drew up a plan of action to address the major impediments to universal food security. It also called for the full and equal participation of both the genders so as to ensure gender equality and empowerment of women.

The interventions for women empowerment was perhaps started intensively since fourth plan period. Subsequently many more initiatives are taken for the total all round development of women in this country.

A. 4^TH FIVE YEAR PLAN (1969-1974)

Farmers Training and Education Programme

It was for the first time in the 4^th Five Year Plan that an effort was made by Ministry of Agriculture to address the training and extension needs of women farmers with new and improved technology through “Farmers Training and Education Programme”, in which a network of 150 Farmers Training Centers were established to close the visible gap between the recommended package of practices and the farm women’s knowledge and skills about them. In this programme, a linkage of the supply of production inputs with improved technical training, supported by Farm Radio Broadcast and Functional Literacy was provided. The unique feature of this programme was that for the first time, a cognizance of women’s participation in agriculture was taken. The experience of the programme had shown that the states which gave due importance to this programme, especially in terms of curriculum planning and syllabus formulation (based on true status and needs of women farmers), achieved very good results. It was, this programme, which focused many issues that had to be categorically considered while planning and implementing agriculture support programmes for women farmers.

1. Feminization of Agriculture

Almost all active women in rural India can be considered as ‘farmers’, in some sense – working as agricultural labourer, unpaid workers in the family farm enterprise, or combination of the two. Moreover, several farm activities traditionally carried out by men are also being undertaken by women as men are pulled away into higher paying employment. Thus rural India is witnessing a process which could be described as ‘feminization of agriculture’. The significantly high and growing population of female headed households has also highlighted women’s contribution to agriculture.

Both women and men play critical roles in agriculture throughout the world, producing, processing and providing the food we eat. Rural women in particular are responsible for half of the world’s food production and produce between 60 and 80 percent of the food in most developing countries. Yet, despite their contribution to global food security, women farmers are frequently underestimated and overlooked in development strategies.

Rural women are the main producers of the world’s staple crops – rice, wheat, maize – which provide up to 120 percent of the rural poor’s food intake. Women sow, weed, apply fertilizer and pesticides, harvest and thresh the crops. In the livestock sector, women feed and milk animals, while raising poultry and small animals such as sheep, goat, etc. Also, once the harvest is in, rural women provide most of the labour for post-harvest activities, taking responsibility for storage, handling, processing and marketing.

Since time immemorial, women have played and continued to play a key role in conservation of basic life support system, such as, land, water, flora and fauna. Women power at present constitutes nearly half of the global population and account one third of the total work force. They contribute more than half of duties and responsibilities but are not given proper rights. In India till now rural women continue to struggle with dual responsibilities of economic production and domestic labour, and most are confronted by poverty, illiteracy, high health risks, inadequate access to productive resources, and lack of credit/market access. The empowerment and autonomy of women and the improvement of women’s social, political, legal and economic status is essential for sustainable rural development

Commercial crops include a variety of high value plantation crops, which play a vital role in the agricultural economy and export trade of many developing and developed countries (Table 1). Tea, coffee, cocoa, rubber, coconut, arecanut, oil palm, cashew, palmyra and cardamom are the major crops grown on a plantation scale. These crops are perennial in nature and the cultivation is labour intensive, generating considerable employment opportunity during on farm operations and off farm processing activities. The most obvious characteristic is that plantations are monocultures; the same species occupying large contiguous area usually in even aged stands. Exceptions are coconut, arecanut, cocoa and coffee, which are grown either as mono crop or as multiple crops. These crops are grown in humid tropics, mainly between 20°N and 20°S of equator in an area of 35.7 million ha yielding about 74.4 million tonnes of produce and contributing US $ 11 billion to global trade during 2002.

Arecanut palm (Areca catechu L.) is the source of common masticatory nut, popularly known as arecanut, betelnut, or supari. It is used extensively in India by all sections of people as masticatory, and is an essential requisite for several religious and social ceremonies.

Cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.) is an export-oriented crop grown for its nuts, a true drupe. Often referred as ‘wonder nut’, it is highly delicious and nutritive. Its nutritional composition compares well with almond, hazel nut and walnut. It is a zero-cholesterol nut with high content of unsaturated fatty acids, proteins and carbohydrates with a right combination of amino acids, vitamins and minerals. Kernels extracted from nuts are often consumed as such or used in confectionery items and various kinds of dishes. Kernel oil of pale yellow colour is used in pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. Cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL) extracted from its shell has many industrial applications - for making paints, resins, flame-retardants, etc. Testa covering the kernel, rich in tannin, can be an acceptable substitute for wattle bark tannin in leather industry. Cashew apple, the pseudo-fruit, is rich in vitamin C. It is used to cure scurvy, diarrhea, uterine complaints and dropsy.