Me Sahyadri 082016

As the economic development has taken the center stage, the balance between the environmental sustenance and socio economic development will be under the scanner. As most experts with balanced views have proclaimed, Indian wildlife and ecological system sustenance will be under threat, unless precautions are taken with the help of appropriate research and long term national interests. As we encounter the economic development, many habitats which indirectly or directly help sustainable development will be damaged. The awareness to gauge the success by sustainable development and not by year to year growth is a distant dream any environmentalist will assume in current scenario.
Western ghats, or Sahyadri as we all call it as, is a treasure trove of spectacular landscapes, biodiversity, flora, fauna, some amazing geological wonders and man made monuments. With the increasing pressure from human encroachment, all these elements are under stress and in turn are under depletion. Western ghats should be left untouched by human beings, to protect their future generations from getting short of resources, such as water, energy and clean air. The important elements of western ghats, which need protection are highlighted in the new version of Photo journal, Me Sahyadri Magazine. The current issue has few of the lesser flora from the north Western Ghats.

Habenaria plantaginea / Plantaginorchis plantaginea , (कदली हबेअमरी ) is a small herb seen on the hill slopes in undergrowth in western ghats. The species is native to India. The plant is a about 20-30 cm in height. It is seen in September to December season. It is orchid, with a distinct spur.

Exacum lawii is a small herb seen on the lateritic or basalt plateaus in western ghats. The flowers are seen in August and September. The plant is very tiny with violet colored tiny flowers which have four petals.

Drosera burmannii ( दवबिंदूं ) is a small tropical sundew. It was first described by Johannes Burman 18th Century botanist, but the species was not formally published until 1794 when Martin Vahl named it in honor of Burman as Drosera burmanni. It is one of the compact species in the carnivorous plant genus Drosera of size, only 20-25 mm in diameter (roughly of the size of one Indian rupee coin). Drosera burmannii ( दवबिंदूं )traps the insects very fast and its leaves can curl around the prey insect in few seconds, compared to the minutes or hours it takes other sundews to trap the prey. Drosera burmannii is an herb that produces short stems and leaves in a rosette. (a rosette is a circular arrangement of leaves, with all the leaves at a particular height.) Tiny creamy white flowers are produced in groups on 6–15 cm tall racemose inflorescences, (An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch.).

The plant flowers in September to December duration. The plant has long tentacles on its leaves. These stalks are tipped with glands which are often brightly attractive red colored. The glands exude attractive nectar, adhesive compounds, and digestive enzymes. Insects that land on the leaves stick fast and are digested. Nearby glandular tentacles are stimulated and also adhere to the insect, the entire leaf coils around the prey. The tentacles can bend in any direction. But when a prey is caught on a leaf, all the tentacles know the direction to bend towards. In Drosera burmannii, the tentacle motion is faster. Some of the glands can bend 180 degree in just tens of seconds. The 'nectar' on the end of the glands is sticky liquid glue which is capable of ensnaring an insect larger than the leaf itself. Once prey becomes stuck on one of these blobs of glue, any frantic struggling will simply cause it to come into further contact with neighboring glands, pinning the animal to the leaf. The plant has retaining glands which fold from the outside of the leaf in towards the centre to help to restrain the insect.

The leaf itself curls around the victim, thus ensuring a meal. For most insects, death is caused by suffocation since the breathing holes on the side of the insect soon become clogged with mucilage. Once prey is pinned down, the leaf secretes digestive fluids from sessile glands along the body of the leaf. These work on reducing the fleshy internal part of the insect into a nutrient soup which is subsequently absorbed by the plant. Once digestion and absorption is complete, the leaf returns to its ready state, leaving to dried exoskeleton to be washed away by rainfall, or simply left as a macabre warning to other insects.Drosera burmannii cannot obtain nitrates from soil due to the absence of nitrate reeducates and other essential enzymes for absorbing them.It obtains nutrients solely from the capture of prey insects. Basically when it comes to carnivorous plants, the lower the quantity of soil nutrients and the higher the quotient of sunlight and rainfall, the greater their reliance on carnivory. Accordingly most carnivorous plants grow where sunlight and water are plentiful and nutrients such as nitrates and phosphates are low.