A village of Peacocks

Chincholi Morachi (चिंचोळी मोराची)

Chincholi Morachi means Chincholi village of peacocks. 55 km from Pune near Pune-Ahmednagar Highway is Chincholi Morachi. It is a small village where one can see many peafowl feeding on grain crops grown by the villagers. Though the peafowl eat the grain crops, the villagers do not mind it. Early mornings and late evenings is the best time to find these birds. Peacock is our National Bird.
On 23rd. and 24th. December we had a wonderful stay at Mayur Krushi Paryatan resort. The owner, Maruti Ukirde has also a farm, where he grows Pomegranates, some vegetables and Jowar. He said for last two years his Pomegranate crop was ruined because un-seasonal rains and he suffered a loss of more than 70 lakhs. Heaps of damaged pomegranate fruits were plucked and were discarded.

One evening at our evening walk, we saw an old woman groping in mass, which looked more as dried leaves. On inquiring, we found that she was collecting Horse gram from the harvested pods. Her task looked more like finding a needle from haystack. We also saw a boy of about 10 years of age, carrying water for the goats and cattle. He was wearing hearing aids in both his ears. He had his sister - who was perhaps 4 years elder also feeding the cattle. We found that the parents of the children were not alive and their grandmother- the old lady cleaning horse gram- was looking after them. We bought some horse grams , pigeon grams etc from them. I also gave some cash to the boy for his education.

We heard about Ranjan Kund (रांजणकुंड) - naturally made depressions in rocks along a river. It was near Nighoj (निघोज) about 20 km from Morachi Chincholi. We went there by a taxi. There were many cavities like pots (Ranjan=large water pots, kund=ponds) on the rocks on the side of the river Malaganga (मळगंगा). There was a small suspended bridge. The commemorative granite stone inscribed with details had already fallen down. Most of the Kunds (cavities) were filled with plastic garbage. There was temple too, around which lots of garbage was scattered. A drug addict was enjoying his drugs on a rock.

I was lucky to see Balanites aegyptiaca trees on the roadside. These are very drought resistant and their fruit have medicinal properties. In Marathi these are called as Hingota (हिंगणबेट), in Hindi- Hingota (हिंगोटा), or Ingudi (इंगुडी). I also saw Clerodendrum phlomidis shrubs in full bloom growing wild. They had nice mild perfume. I was lucky to get some saplings of it. Another wild plant was Cassia auriculata (तरवड), of which i collected a few seeds. Acacia farnesiana (देवबाभुळ), also known as Cassie Flower, Sweet Acacia) shrubs were also in full bloom. Tiny, marble size and shaped yellow flowers are highly scented. Wonderful flowers of Calotropis procera (रुई) were also in full bloom.

Balanitesaegyptiaca 

देवबाभुळ

Cassia auriculata (तरवड)

Clerodendrum phlomidis (टाकळी)

Insects and squirrel feeding on tree sap.

A few years ago I had seen various insects feeding on the sap oozing out of a trunk of Cassia roxburghii tree. I had posted these images earlier. Such occurrences are reported by some others also on various face book groups. In a farm, near Khopoli, Maharashtra, there was this tree of Cassia roxburghii. On the trunk of this tree gum-like sap was oozing. Everyday many insects, flies/wasps/butterflies/ants were observed feeding on this sap.

Oak leaf blue

But insects alone do not feed on the sap of the trees. I had observed a squirrel scarping the bark of Albizia procera (किनई) with her sharp teeth. This was in a farm in Panvel, Maharashtra. I also saw the squirrel feeding on the dried sap, which looked like gum on the tree trunk. I had shot a video of that squirrel feeding on gum but due to my negligence, the video was deleted. But I am lucky to still have the photographs. So here are some of them. I searched internet to find if such things were reported earlier or not. And I found a link on National Geographical News titled “No Nuts, No Problem: Squirrels Harvest Maple Syrup”. The link is given below.
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/02/0218_050218_squirrels.html

Black Turmeric (Curcuma caesia)

Rhizomes of this plant, which belongs to Haladi Family (Zingiberaceae) are used in medicines and cosmetics. They are also known as Black Zedoary, काली हलदी, काळी हळद. Rhizomes are modified stems which grow underground. They are not roots. Along with Rhizomes, these plants also produce some root tubers, which I believe do not have any known uses. When cut, the core of rhizome has bluish tinge, which quite often is very dark and looks blackish; hence the common names - काली हलदी, काळी हळद. Propagation of this plant is done by division of rhizomes.

I have planted Kali Haladi in a pot in my balcony also. On internet prices of these rhizomes are shown from Rs.10000/- to Rs.8000/- per kg. Amazon offers one plant at Rs.1499/-. Images of this Turmeric are from a farm, where we had grown it.

Siam Tulip (Curcuma alismatifolia)

This new plant recently introduced in many nurseries in India is Siam Tulip or scientifically known as Curcuma alismatifolia. The plant belongs to Haladi (Curcuma) family, i.e. Zingiberaceae. This plant has rhizomes like all other curcuma species. Rhizomes which remain dormant in winter to early summer start growing in late summer and start flowering in Monsoon. Inflorescence is borne on a tall stalk. They are also used in floral arrangements. The flowers are supposed to be edible, that is, they are cooked as vegetable. This plant is native to South Asia. The plant is easily propagated by division of rhizomes.

Palmyra Palm (Borassus flabellifer)

This palm is also known as Toddy palm, Sugar palm, ताडगोला (Tadgola)  and तालवृक्ष (Talvriksha) in Sanskrit. This palm is native to India and has several uses. Its references are available in ancient literature. In fact many ancient scriptures were written, and are still available, on leaves of the same tree. This palm is unisexual, that is a male and female flowers are found on separate individuals. Most parts of the tree are used. Leaves are used for making many useful and novelty items. In Tamilnadu I had seen the large leaf stalks being made in to brushes and brooms. Leaves are used to thatch the huts. Trunks of dead trees are used as columns for huts. Neera and Toddy are extracted from the inflorescence of this tree. Neera from the female tree is said to be sweeter than that of the male tree.

Male & female trees

Male inflorescence

Female inflorescence

Fruit seller in Mumbai

Unlike coconut palms, which tend to grow crooked trunks, this palm normally has absolutely erect stem. Its leaves are of fan shaped and the crown looks almost spherical. Tender fruits of this palm contain jelly-like kernel is 3 parts. Each individual section is covered with paper thin skin. Each section contains sweet nectar. If the fruits mature then the Kernels become rubbery and the nectar disappears. Absolutely ripe oozes yellow and stinking juice. The seeds of this mature fruit can be used to propagate new palms. Some years ago I had sown a seed of this palm which took more than a year to sprout.

Ripe fruit

Seed

It is a favourite tree of Baya birds to hang their nests from. In fact fibers of the leaves of this palm or of the coconut leaves are normally used by these birds to weave their wonderful nests. Earlier when vultures very in plenty, they used to roost on these trees. Due to their heavy weights and their droppings many Palmyra palms used to get deformed leaves.

Baya nests

http://mahaforest.gov.in/fieldoffice/internal.php?lang_eng_mar=Mar&MID=1&oid=34

As the old leaves wither, they remain stuck to the trunks for months together. Gaps between leaf stalks and the trunk collect a lot of debris. Many Ficus species are found to be growing in these pockets. These Ficus plants grow there as a result of the birds' dropping, which eat Ficus figs. The Palmyra trees shelter and nourish these Ficus babies but as these Ficus grow larger, they anchor their roots in the ground and gradually cover the palm and finally strangle the palms to death. Such fig plants are called as 'Strangler figs'.

Strangler fig

In Achrya Jagadish Chandra Bose Botanical Garden in Kolkata has a beautiful avenue made of these trees. Scientific name of the palm is Borassus flabellifer and it belongs to Arecaceae family, to which all palms belong.

Avenue

Miracle fruit (Synsepalum dulcificum)

This tiny fruit is not only edible & tasty but it has a miracle property. Miracle fruit-bearing plant is a large shrub, growing to about 5 meters in height. Though it is a large shrub, it can be planted in large pots. The plant needs bright sunlight. Tiny flowers are white and red berries are about 2cm long. Fruting takes place normally in monsoon and in winter. It is native to Tropical region of West Africa.

This miracle fruit is quite tasty. Each fruit has a single seed of which size is of about Custard apple seed. Now why this fruit is called as Miracle fruit is that, when eaten, the taste buds sensing sour taste get numb; thus any sour fruit like lemon, amla or imli eaten after eating this fruit very sweet. This miraculous effect can last for about 10 minutes. Saplings of this shrub are available in local nurseries also. The plant is easily propagated with seed. Plants grown from seeds may take about 3 to 4 years for fruiting.

Synsepalum dulcificum is scientific name of this plant and it belongs to Sapotaceae family, to which chikoo (Sapota) also belongs.