Coquelicot Flowers

This is the Coquelicot Flower which I happen to fall in love while in Paris in the last week of June 2009. The French pronounce it as Ko-kli-ko. It looks like a poppy flower with red and a tinge of orange and is seen growing wild all over the railway tracks and country side. The lighting was not good and I could manage only this photo.

Rangoon Creeper

This is Rangoon Creeper or Quisqualis indica. We used to have this in our ancestral house and one portion of our Mangalore tiled portico was completely covered with this plant like a curtain! I dont know what is the local name of this plant, but we used to call it Madras Mulla then.

The flowers change their colours from white to pink and then red and has a nice fragrance too.

Apparently this plant has some medicinal properties too which I learnt only now. The plant is used for traditional medicine like Decoctions of the root, seed or fruit can be used as anti-helmintic or for alleviating diarrhea. Fruit decoction can also be used for gargling. The fruits are also used to combat nephritis. Leaves can be used to relieve pain caused by fever. The roots are used to treat rheumatism. But be careful before you try anything of these, as dosages, concentrations are very important for ayurvedic or plant based medicines.