BLUE PIMPERNEL

Anagallis arvensis Primulaceae

Everyone is familiar with Baroness Orczy’s famous book,’ The Scarlet Pimpernel,’ but not everyone knows that
there is a wild flower known as the blue pimpernel. It is a beautiful clear blue with five petals and a throat stained
red.
The plant is about 10 -12 cm high, and grows in the winter over the cooler parts of India to about 2500 m. It has
a square stem, which lies along the ground, and sends up many erect branches. The oval- pointed leaves are
stalkless and they grow opposite each other. The fruit is shaped like a tiny closed urn, the upper half of which opens
like a lid to release its tiny seeds. The pimpernel is found in cornfields, ditches, flowerbeds and sometimes even
takes root in flower pots. There is a red variety which grows in the hills of the north. This form is found all over
Europe and as far as north America and the famous book takes its name from this scarlet pimpernel.
When cloudy weather threatens, the pimpernel closes up and acts as a barometer - for this reason it is sometimes
called the shepherd’s weather glass. At one time this plant was used in herbal medicine for epilepsy and rheumatism.
As a cosmetic, pimpernel water is good for freckles. Sometimes the tender leaves are eaten in a salad.
The botanical name of the genus, Anagallis, derives from the Greek word anagalein, to laugh. This stems from
an old saying that if chickens ate the plant they would cackle, or ‘laugh’. Birds like the seed. In Hindi, it is called,
Dharti-dhak or Buchbucha.

No ear hath heard, no tongue can tell

The dried, papery, inflated pods of this plant growing along a stem of about a metre high catch one’s attention
while walking in the hills from 800-2300 m. The apple of Peru, in spite of its name comes originally from Mexico but
has naturalised well all over the northern hills. It is found in the hilly tracts of the western Deccan peninsula also.
This plant has beautiful, bell-shaped blue flowers of about 2-4 cm across, with white centres. The flowers stay
open only for part of the day. The large stalked leaves are ovate with irregular lobes. The flowers have a five-lobed
calyx. which is very noticeable. This calyx grows into a papery, net-veined lantern to enclose the green berry of the
plant. The berry is like a round, green marble full of tiny seeds and is quite sour. Birds and other animals of the forest
eat it.
This plant can be seen growing along verges of roads, in cultivated areas and neglected corners of gardens. It is
quite striking when it is in bloom from May to November though it has a foetid smell.
The plant is reputed to have diuretic, antihelmintic and insecticidal properties. It is supposed to be used as a fly
poison in some parts of the United States.
 KASHMIR GENTIAN
Gentiana cochemirica Gentianaceae

There are many varieties of gentians growing in the Himalayas. This intensely blue flower ranges from sapphire to
sky blue and cerulean to a deep purple-blue. It is a family of flowers that is spread widely across the cooler parts of
the world.
Gentians grow close to the ground and have flowers that are trumpet-shaped. One of the more easily seen
gentians is the Kashmir gentian which grows at heights of about 2500-4000 m. in the western part of the Himalayas.
This flower likes rocky, exposed slopes. The small ovate leaves grow on spreading stems. The flowers are funnel-
shaped. Gentians open their blue faces to the sun from about the end of July and stay in flower till autumn.
At the end of the last century many plant collectors took seeds of different gentians from the Himalayas and
introduced them as
garden varieties; of these, one of the best is the G. sino-ornata with its astonishing shade of deep blue. Gentians are
easy to recognise on account of their general appearance being the same.
Many gentians share similar properties and are used in herbal medicine in the hills. The roots of G. kurmo,
known as Kam are used for stomach problems and urinary infections.
Thoreau, the nature writer wrote that gentians were, ‘Bluer than the bluest sky’. While describing the colour of a
particular gentian that grows in America, he wrote, ‘such a dark blue! surpassing that of the male bluebird’s back!’
And finally another poet wrote.
Blue-blue- as if that sky let fall
A flower from its cerulean wall
 CRANESBILL
Geranium wallichianum Geraniaceae

The cranesbill or the wild geranium, blooms just before the rains in the north Indian hills from 2400-3600 m. and
continues to be in flower right up to September. This is a perennial that grows from 30 -120 cm tall. The purple-blue
flowers are about 3-4 cm across.
The leaves are palmately divided into 3-5 lobes and toothed around the outer edges. The stems are slightly hairy
and the plant has large, ovate, coloured stipules. When one comes across a whole bank of cranesbill, some of the
flowers are a deep pink and the others are blue-purple and veined with a deep purple; the newly opened blooms are
the ones with the pink flush.
The name cranesbill comes from the long, beaked fruit which resembles a crane’s bill. The fruit is full of seeds.
When the seeds are ripe they are thrown out with great force when the outer covering bursts. The seeds are ejected
to a distance of about several
metres away, and so the plant spreads if the conditions are favourable. The wild geranium is known as Ratijari in
Hindi and is used in herbal medicine for rheumatism and to cure headaches.
There are roughly about ten different types of geraniums found in our hills. The name Geranium is derived from
the Greek, geranos, a crane, referring to the long-beaked fruit.
 BUTTERFLY BUSH
Buddleja crispa Loganiaceae

As the name suggests, the butterfly bush is a great favourite with butterflies in the temperate Himalayas. It grows
from about 900-2400 m. and flowers from February to June. Butterflies such as, Tortoiseshells, Painted Ladies and
Red Admirals flock around the tiny flowers which grow densely in spikes.
The fragrant flowers are a pale mauve and about 8 mm long. The corolla tube opens out into four lobes. The
throat of each flower is orangey-yellow. The leaves are oblong lances with toothed edges. The young leaves and
branches are covered with rusty hairs. The bush has a peeling bark.
The wild buddleia was taken from the Himalayas to the gardens of Britain where many garden varieties were
developed. These were then brought back and now they can be seen growing in many hill gardens.
Another type of pleasantly scented buddleia called B. asiatica with white flowers grows over a greater part of
India. This is not a very spectacular bush and blooms from spring to summer. The buddleia bush was named after
the Rev. Adam Buddle, a British botanical author of the eighteenth century.
 WILD PRIMULA
Primula denticulate Primulaceae

If all the wildflowers in the hills, primulas are among the first to bloom. They flower as early as April and continue
well into July. They are found all over the Himalayas at heights of 1500-4500 m. Primulas are very easy to spot in
meadows, slopes and shrubberies, on account of the rounded flowering tops.
From a distance a meadow of primulas looks as though it is carpeted with purple, lilac and sometimes white golf
balls fluttering in the mountain breeze. Come closer and you see that each flower head is composed of many small,
five-petalled flowers, each petal is heart-shaped and each flower has a long corolla tube.
The leaves of the primula grow in a rosette at the base of the stalk. They are oblong, narrowing at the base, with
toothed edges. The texture of the leaves is wavy and wrinkled and slightly mealy with veining. The flower grows on
a single stalk that is not branched. It is about 18-20 cm high.
The name, primula comes from the Latin primus, first, referring to the early flowering of many species. In fact,
the greatest concentration of primula species is found in the Himalayas. The seeds of some primulas were taken by
plant collectors to the west at the end of the last century, and developed into beautiful cultivars for gardens.