Week and Your Plants – December 25 to December 31
Zodiac Sign : Sagittarius / Dhanu
Ficus religiosa (അരയാൽ) – Moraceae
It is often called as sacred fig, an evergreen tree with a wide-spreading crown and caudate leaves. The older tree may buttressed. The tree often starts life as an epiphyte in the branch of a tree. The tree is harvested for food, medicines and various other usesalso spiritually important. This is the species under which the Buddha sat when he achieved Realisation. As such it is a holy tree for Buddhists. It is also a sacred tree for Hindus.It yiledsyields fodder and food for birds and arboreal animals.
December 25, Monday : Rohini : Syzygium cumini (ഞാവൽ) – Myrtaceae
Large evergreen trees with greyish bark and lanky branchlets having opposite glabrous leaves which are slightly thick. The fruits are purplish when ripe fleshy and having a hard seed. They are often cultivated for its edible fruits and also planted as shade tree. Both the seeds and the fruit are diuretic and the seeds also reduce blood sugar levels and are useful in the treatment of diabetes. A good firewood too.
December 26, Tuesday : Makayiram : Acacia catechu (കരിങ്ങാലി) - Fabaceae
It is a medium sized thorny tree with peeling dark grey bark and a pair of recurved prickles at the base of the leaf stalk. Flowers yellowish white in elongate spikes. Pods flat brown when ripe having flat seeds. Bark and heartwood are very useful. It is used for skin care, gastric issues, colic diseases, cough, diarrhoea, diabetes etc. It is a source of Katha, which is used in north Indian paan and as mouth freshner.
December 27, Wednesday: Thiruvathira : Diospyros ebenum (കരിമരം) – Ebenaceae
It is a slow growing, medium sized, evergreen tree valued for its black wood for thousands of years often exported as fancy wood. The leaves are coriaceous. Male flowers greenish yellow in axillary clusters. Female flowers solitary with four lobes calyx and persistent in fruits as cups with recurved lobes. Fruits subglobose with short beak. It is an IUCN Red Listed plant. Since it is endangered its trade is now banned. Used in medicine as blistering plaster and also in fever etc.
December 28, Thursday : Punartham : Bambusa bambos (മുള) – Poaceae
It is a huge clump forming, thorny evergreen, perennial grassbamboo with spiny stems that can be 30 metres or more tall. The variety of purposes to which the bamboo is known for multipurpose utility. is applied is almost endless. It isThe used in many parts of Asiarange vary from for food, medicines, timber etc and a huge range of commodities. The thorny branches find place in making fences. It is widely harvested from the wild and but is also often cultivated. It is, arguably, the most important single species on Earth for human use. The young shoots are edible.
December 29, Friday : Pooyam : Ficus religiosa (അരയാൽ) – Moraceae
It is often called as sacred fig, an evergreen tree with a wide-spreading crown and caudate leaves. The older tree may buttressed. The tree often starts life as an epiphyte in the branch of a tree. The tree is harvested for food, medicines and various other usesalso spiritually important. This is the species under which the Buddha sat when he achieved Realisation. As such it is a holy tree for Buddhists. It is also a sacred tree for Hindus.It yiledsyields fodder and food for birds and arboreal animals.
December 30, Saturday : Ayilyam : mesua Mesua ferrea ( നാഗപ്പൂവ് )- Calophyllaceae
Mesua ferrea which is known as Indian iron wood is a slow-growing, handsome evergreen tree with a dense conical crown. Bark brown with irregularly large flaky peelings.The tree exudes an aromatic white resin when it is woundedThe foliage appears reddish twice a year when the leaves are very young. It is an attractive lawn tree with vivid green leaves and showy, fragrant flowers with white petals and numerous orange yellow stamens. The stamens are used as Nag kesar and used in medicine manufacturing. It is also a sacred tree in India. It is also harvested for its wood and, oil-rich seed. and aromatic flowers. It is an attractive lawn tree with vivid green leaves and showy, fragrant flowers.
December 31, Sunday : Makam : Ficus benghalensis (പേരാൽ) – Moraceae
It is an evergreen tree withthis is the popular Banyan tree a wide,with spreading crown. The plant usually begins life as an epiphyte. The tree produces aerial roots from the spreading branches that eventually become new trunks and allow the crown to spread even further. The fruits are edibleeaten by birds and arboreal animals. They have medicinal importance too as Nalpamaram. It also supplies yieldsa timber and a material for tyingfodder. The tree is considered sacred by Hindusdifferent religions. The fruit is tonic and has a cooling effect.