Dear Kumarji, It's indeed the queen of ceropegias and thanks for sharing a wonderful story.
I hope you would locate all of them one day and share with us. Narendra joshi On 2 Jan 2016 7:58 pm, "tsp kumar" <[email protected]> wrote: > Dear friends, > > > My tryst with the Queen……………*Ceropegia elegans.* > > > The genus Ceropegia has always been an enigma. The different floral shapes > and colours have fascinated me. I had read that about 43 of the 53 species > that are known to occur in India are threatened and have become rare and > genetically depleted. I always searched for them, when on field duty, with > no success whatsoever. They remained as elusive as quicksilver. > > > 24-06-2014 was another day that I could not keep indoors. It was > mid-monsoon. The call of the Giris, my favorite “beckoning hills,” was > irresistible. The imposing cliffs, winding roads, mesmerizing mist, > blinding rains and its orchid perfume always beckoned me. Unmindful of my > nemesis, those cold, slithery, and bloodthirsty leeches, I set out with my > team hoping to find some orchids. The day was fruitful as we could find > quite a few orchids, terrestrial and epiphytic as well. > > > The climb was arduous and my nemesis had its fair share of my > blood. The sun was already behind the western hills and the light was > falling rapidly. We hastened our descent hoping to get into the safety of > my Bolero before it got too dark. Before getting into the vehicle, I > stopped for a while to fill my lungs and to examine my shoes and socks, > Bent a little, kick-dropped a couple of leeches and looked over my > shoulders…! I thought that a pair of small, greenish, serpent-like eyes was > watching me from among the thickets a few feet away. I stared for a while, > eye-to-eye, and blinked first. Spellbound for a few seconds, I went closer. > My heart missed a few beats as I realized that it was not a serpent, but an > alien looking flower….! Yes. She was a *Ceropegia*….my Queen…! *I had > inadvertently stumbled upon the ‘Queen of Ceropegias’ that was later > identified as Ceropegia elegans by that master explorer of Ceropegias, > Mr.Sushant More. * > > > She has been a lucky mascot for me because later on I could meet > her mates as well during the year. *Ceropegia juncea, Ceropegia biflora, > Ceropegia candelabrum and the *King himself,* Ceropegia gardneri…!* I > have been recapitulating 24-06-2014 every now and then ever since. > > The images I took that day, in the falling light, are my treasure and > occupy a prime place in my heart and archives as well. Hence she is my > 'Flora picture of the year' > > Regards > > tspkumar > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "efloraofindia" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/indiantreepix. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "efloraofindia" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/indiantreepix. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
