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Semester Plants

Do you guys remember the plants I told you about tin the beginning? Well guess what if not then I’m going to refresh your memory. The plants I chose were Tereminalia Bellerica, Adhatoda Vesica, Castor Bean Plant, Ocimum Santum, and Tinospora Cordifoliafam. I picked the plants at random but two “Terminalia Bellerica” and “Tinospra Cordifoliafam”. So I am supposed to tell you about what these plant have in common and what these plants don’t have in common.  I think I pick a good range of plants and honestly the main things that my plants have in common is where they come from and that they all have medical uses. A lot of my plants com e from the same area, the common area was India, Southeast Asia and Sir Lanka. Now the biggest similarity was the medical uses besides my poisonous plant they all are used for medical purpose in places where they don’t have much of a medical use like we do. They are used for many home remedies and many are good for eye sight and for helping Brest feeding mothers. Two of my plants help mothers who wants to Brest feed and their milk has dried up. Now the differences in my plants is that I have plants that have fruits a plants that has nuts a plant that doesn’t flower at all and a plant with leaves like thorns. Essentially the look of my five plants are all different. These plants look so pretty and everyone but the castor bean plant you can eat the leaves actually though the holy basil leaf is very bitter tasting, the leaf is good for your health. So if you ever seem to come across one of these plants that I have told you about, don’t forget eat the leaves! You’ll live longer.

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UU Inventory!

I’m back just when I thought I was done with this blog my teacher add more to blog! Just great right? So today I’m going to talk to you about tree inventory on our campus, Urbana University. One of the actives we have done long ago in our class was counting how many trees we saw on campus, we had to go around the entire campus and them up. If I remember correctly, Elm took the first place in most trees on campus with a whopping number of 13 trees around us. White pine had like 6, maple have 5, the beech tree only had one, and of course it was like 8 apple trees. I was surprised it wasn’t more of these on campus because that’s all you see on campus in the back near Barkley and bailey. This activity and lab is very important to know what’s surrounding you areas because then you can know what tree and plants survive better in your climate and what tree better to put if you want to add more trees around you. Knowing the trees in your area can cause many benefits maybe all of a sudden of the trees or plants around you starts to die off and you can now look into the soil and the trees around it and figure it out what caused this issues, not knowing what trees you have can also be an issue because you certain animals an insects are attracted to tree and plants and if you don’t know what or how many trees of a certain type then you don’t know what type of animals are going to in your area. That in in itself one is not safe for the other plants you can have this one invasive tree that is stopping the rest of your plants to grow but if you don’t know the inventory of your plants you can’t prevent this from happening.

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Its been well!

Today we had another lab where we had to measure trees around our campus today, it was very cold and rainy. I actually tried to get out of doing it because of the weather and myself being under the weather. Turns out that didn’t happen and I still had to do the lab! So Basically, the lab was to measure the trees and to get the circumference and then divide to get the diameter at the breast height of the tree and tell rather the tree was in poor, fair, or good condition. So, the first tree was an oak tree, this tree is located Moore math and science building which is located south on the campus; the circumference is 7.3ft and the diameter breast height is 2.32ft and tree was in fair condition. The second tree was a locust tree located at grimes on the south side of the campus, the circumference was 9.3ft and the diameter 2.96ft and the tree was on good condition. The third tree was a dogwood located at sycamore hall, southeast of the campus the circumference 5.2ft and the diameter was 3.98ft and the tree was in very poor condition. The fourth tree was a white pine, it was located near hazard hall and the tree circumference was 8.8ft and the diameter was 2.8ft and the tree was in good condtion. The fourth tree was located in the library which is east on the campus and the tree was a shag bark hickory, this tree was massive it was 16.3ft in circumference and the diameter is 5.19 this tree was in good condition. The last tree was in located in McConnell hall, this tree was a maple and was east west on the campus. This tree was an even 7ft in circumference and 2.22 in diameter, and it was in good condition. That is all I have for you folks! No i have to go on and make an excel sheet for my teacher and turn it! Have reached my 20 blogs and that I have enjoyed typing my everyday adventure of my botany 208 class for you guys but this is where we meet our end! It's been fun my friends!

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Gut Bacteria

Today in class we learn about gut bacteria and learned more on microorganisms and what they do for your body. 

Microorganism are found all around us even In our body, sometimes microorganism are called “mictobes”. The category ‘Microbes’ includes a massive range of organisms including bacteria, fungi, viruses, algae, archaea and protozoa. Some of these, such as bacteria and fungi, are well known, but others such as archaea much less so. The vast majority of microbes on the earth pose no real threat to humans, plants or animals; in fact they actually work alongside humans to make world go round, aiding decomposition, decay and even helping us to digest our food. However, there are some microorganisms which negatively impact our lives, causing illness, bad odours and damaging products and surfaces. Bacteria are extremely diverse and in terms of number are by far the most successful organism on Earth. Bacteria are the only microorganisms which can live harmlessly within the human body, often aiding bodily functions such as digestion. In fact there are more bacterial cells within the human body than humans cells, albeit much smaller in size.

Now as far as “"Gut bacteria” let's get down to that. 

Gut flora, gut microbiota or gastrointestinal microbiota is the complex community of microorganisms that live in the digestive tracts of humans and other animals, including insects. The gut metagenome is the aggregate of all the genomes of gut microbiota. In humans, the gut microbiota has the largest numbers of bacteria and the greatest number of species compared to other areas of the body. The composition of human gut microbiota changes over time, when the diet changes, and as overall health changes. The microbial composition of the gut microbiota varies across the digestive tract. In the stomach and small intestine, relatively few species of bacteria are generally present. 

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UU Tree’s/Fruit’s

Today in class we went outside to enjoy the cold weather and view fruit trees. Before going outside, we talked about the many different types off fruit trees and the seeds these trees make. There are fruits such as pomme’s and drupe seeds. Drupe seeds are like the peaches of fruit or mangos also, it just has to have a seed in the middle of the fruit. Drupe and pomme are also called fleshy fruits. Strawberries are achenes, even oak trees are consider fruit trees because the make acorns which are cypsala just like buckeye trees and sun flowers. These are also consider dry fruit. Catalpa, honey locusts, and eastern red woods are are legume. But a honey locusts is special it is, a legume with two sides. Today class was very interesting Because certain trees I didn’t-even know you could consider fruit trees really are fruit trees, like a buck eye tree? Isn’t that consider a nut? Nope, my teacher say other wise it is consider a fruit trees also it gores very tiny berries just like the dog wood tree which I also was surprised is also consider a fruit tree too. Can. You believe it? Me either, but I seen the little berries  myself, it is true. They are fruit trees. Another one I was shocked about was the sunflower, it is so many plants that we have already learned that we are still learning new things about. It’s amazing how much plant knowledge you can really have. Just when you think you have learned it all, botany is like the gift that keeps on giving.

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Breeding, Reproducing, and Corn Mazes?

Plant breeding is the process by which humans change the characteristics of plants over time to make them better crops and more nourishing food. In its most simple form, breeding consists of selecting the best plants in a given field, growing them to full seed and then using that seed to grow further generations. Such selective breeding changes the genetic composition of the plants over time. For example, a farmer who wants to select a plant with resistance to an insect pest will watch for the plants that survive an insect attack. Another farmer wanting larger fruits will save seeds from plants yielding the biggest fruits in the field. The most important factor for basic selective breeding is to start with plenty of genetic variation and to select and multiply the characteristic of interest. As a result from breeding, most of the species we rely on for food are very different from their wild relatives. The  most important factor for basic selective breeding is genetic variation in the characteristic of interest. The most common form of reproduction in some plants is asexual, by runners, side shoots, bulbs or tubers. Asexual reproduction generates individuals that are genetically identical to the mother plant.

Now to explain why farmers use these methods, one of the main reasons is the cost. Maize is one of the most important sources of food in the African continent: in 2010 production in Africa was worth over $US 6 billion Where does maize come from? Maize was domesticated over 6000 years ago in what is now Mexico, from a wild grass called teosinte.  The two plants look very different, maize plants having a single tall stalk with multiple leaves while teosinte being a short, bushy plant. The kernels are also very distinct: maize has several rows of soft, starchy kernels arranged along a cob, while teosinte kernels are enclosed in a thick, hard case, and are arranged on only two sides of a cob that falls apart at maturity. However, at the DNA level, the two are surprisingly alike: only about 5 genes were responsible for the most notable differences between teosinte and a primitive strain of maize. Why do they look so different? Teosinte evolved to maximize its reproductive success in natural habitats, not its food value for humans!

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Classification

Here's a quick explanation of how plants are classified from Kingdom, the highest division, all the way to Variety, the lowest. Remember, a common wildflower like Black-eyed Susan is called Rudbeckia hirta. Rudbeckia is the Genus name. Hirta is the Species. You’ll find these two sub-divisions way down on this list.

I. Class

Class divides plants into the two large groups, Dicots and Monocots.

A. Dicotyledons Dicots are plants with two seed leaves. This huge group, with approximately 2/3 of all flowering plants, includes most all wildflowers. Dicots have "net-veined" leaves, which means they have the familiar leaves with center vein plus branching veins running from it.

B. Monocotyledons Monocots, plants with one seed leaf, are the grasses and other simpler plants, and make up about 1/3 of all flowering plants. Monocots have parallel-veined leaves.

II. Subclass

A group of related plant families classified in the order in which they are believed to have developed their differences from a common ancestor. There are six "superorders" with each one’s name ending in "idae."

III. Order

The classes are further sub-divided into "orders" whose names end in "ales."

IV. Family

Each order is divided into families. Each member of a plant family shares many botanical features. This is the highest classification group normally referred to. Modern classification assigns a type of plant to each family as an example of that family’s characteristics as distinguishable from other families. The names of families end in "aceae."

V. Sub-Family 

A sub-division of a family in which plants are grouped according to botanical differences within the same family. Sub-families end in "oideae."

VI. Tribe 

A further family division based on less significant botanical differences. Tribes end in "eae."

VII. Sub-Tribe 

A further division based on even smaller botanical differences, usually only recognizable by professional botanists.

VIII. Genus

This is the part of plant nomenclature that is the most familiar. For example, Papaver is the genus for Poppy. Plants in a genus are easily recognizable as belonging to the same group. The name of the genus should always be capitalized. Example: Red Poppy is Papaver rhoeas.

IX. Species

This is the level of classification that defines the individual plant. Here some aspects of the plant are more specifically defined — color, leaf shape, or place where or by whom it was discovered. The use of the genus and species names together always refer to only one plant. The species name is written after the genus and is never capitalized. Example: Rudbeckia hirta

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Beekeeper

Today we had a lecture about bees, Dr. W talked about these honey bees for a whole hour. It was so interesting, male bee’s are called dornes’. He talked about how when the male bees have sex they explode, they explode as a way to control incest inside of the hive. He talked about if the male bee’s was to mate with multiple queen bees in the same area, it could cause cross breading and start spreading dieses. It was very weird, now if your not above the age of 15. Stop, don’t pass go, don’t collect 200. Stop reading! When male bee’s have sex their penis gets stuck in the queen bee till another male bee comes along and so on and so forth. A queen bee mates with are 15 male bees at a time. So basically bout 15 male bees are exploding a day. Crazy right? He also talked about the many different type of bees’s my favorite was the fat bee these bee’s main time Is during march- April, they have a lot of protein on their bodies and during cold weather they keep the hive warm. They keep the hive warm by forming this cluster with the queen bee in the middle they fat bee surround the cluster to keep it warm.  The skinny bees come right before the fat bees so before march but they just die off they have much protein on them and they pretty much don’t last long. Now one plant that stood out to me was the Silva plant, bee’s are attracted to these plants during December.

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Kiser Lake

Today we went on field trip to Kiser Lake, it was very cold but Kiser lake was very pretty and breathtaking. Kiser lake it a wetland, an area with no trees is a wetland. Wetlands are naturally treeless because trees can’t really plant their roots. On the tour through Kiser lake we saw many plants like paulpauls, they are a great food source for humans. We also saw a lot of dog wood trees with red leaves, leaves red or turning red means, the plant made a lot of sugar. Though it has much sugar in it, don’t eat it. In Ohio we have lost 90% of wetlands, back in history we got rid of a lot of wetlands to start farming. Black was a wetland that is no longer there but now the town that is there floods a lot because they got rid of a naturally screaming system when it rains. Wetlands are good for the water, it naturally cleans the water, iron fixing bacteria looks orange in the water and you typically see it when the water is naturally cleaning itself. On this tour we saw angelica, pioneers used it to cure many things but if you used to much it can be deadly. Hazelnut tree/bush leaves are a very unique shape. You can smell wild ginger and know what the pioneers used it for, pumpkin! Pumpkin pies and anything pumpkin. Honeysuckle bush, birds love to eat it but you should get rid of it if you ever see it in your plants, it spreads very easy and if you don’t get rid of it from the roots the poison can spread. Snakeroot is special in a bad way, it’s the plant that kill one of our president mother, can you guess it? If you guess Lincoln then your right. From poison milk, actually.

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Oak Dale Cemetery

Sadly, I wasn’t able to go with my class to the oak dale cemetery but I was able to take a trip over there myself. The cemetery is a beautiful place, with is huge oak trees. The cemetery is defiantly home to a lot of beautiful trees. One thing I thought was a very neat idea is the memorial tree program, The City of Urbana is pleased to offer a memorial tree program for individuals or organizations desiring to create a lasting remembrance of a loved one, commemorate a special achievement, or honor a deserving person or organization through the planting of memorial trees at Oak Dale Cemetery, Melvin Miller Park, or other city parkland.  All memorial trees will be planted in the fall, and select tree species are available. I’ll give you a little background on the cemetery that has called Urbana its home since 1856. n 1856 the City of Urbana purchased a little over 25 acres of land for use as a cemetery. A dedication was held on July 19, 1856, and the cemetery, under the jurisdiction of seven appointed trustees, officially was opened for public use. Since 1903 the cemetery has been under the management of the Urbana City Council. Initially christened "Greenwood", the name soon was changed to Oak Dale principally because of the luxuriant stand of magnificent oak trees on the grounds. Prior to the creation of Oak Dale Cemetery, burials were made in what today is referred to as the "Old graveyard" located at the northeast corner of N. Kenton and E. Ward streets. Most bodies were re-interred at Oak Dale and the old cemetery was used as a pasture field and in more recent years as a playground. The cemetery was a beautiful place to visit and see, I would suggest if ever in the area, stop by and visit.

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Leaf Matching?

During this class we had an activity to match leaves with the correct trees. Sounds fun right? I was very surprised I knew way more trees then I had originally thought. It was a very interesting process to know how many ways you can identify a leaf. Elm Trees leaves are Ovate, an Oak tree leaves are pinnately lobed, an Beech tree leaves are crenate elliptic, and a sycamore tree leaves are arcuate palmate. There are 15 different type of leaf shapes. Here they are;

Ovate

·         An Ovate leaf is described as being broadest below the middle, and roughly 2x as long as it is wide.

·         A way to remember this leaf is that it is "egg-shaped.

 Obovate

·         An Obovate leaf is described as being broadest above the middle, and roughly 2x as long as it is wide.

·         An Obovate leaf is the reverse of Ovate.

 Lanceolate

·         A Lanceolate leaf is at least 3x longer than wide, and broadest below middle.

 Oblanceolate

·         Oblanceolate leaves are at least 3x longer than wide, but broadest above middle.

·         An Oblanceolate leaf is the reverse of a Lanceolate leaf.

Cordate

·         Leaves that are Cordate-shaped have leaves that are broad to the point and then turn upwards at the base, forming a notch.

·         Cordate leaves are "heart-shaped."

Obcordate

·         Obcordate leaves are the reverse of Cordate leaves. They start at a point and then widen until they form a notch at the apex.

Elliptical

·         Elliptical leaves have the broadest width in the middle and then taper off at the ends.

·         Another way to remember this leaf shape is to think of it as "football-shaped."

Oblong

·         Oblong leaves are 2-3x as long as wide and have parallel sides

Cuneate

·         Cuneate leaves have a small width at base, but then a broad width near the top before the apex.

·         Cuneate leaves are "wedge-shaped."

Linear

·         Linear leaves are narrow, are at least 4x longer than wide, and have the same width throughout

Peltate

·         Peltate leaves are rounded with the petiole attached underneath the base of the leaf.

·         Peltate leaves are shaped like little shields.

·         Peltate leaves are shaped like kidneys.

Spatulate

·         Spatulate leaves are narrow for almost the entire leaf, but then have an abrupt round structure at the apex.

·         Spatulate leaves have a similar shape to a spatula.

Reniform

·         Reniform leaves are broad and wider than they are high.

Hastate

·         Hastate leaves are very recognizable. They are taper off at three apexes and are arrowhead-shaped.

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urban forest

Today our guest speaker Jim Lemon talk to us about urban forest. Today I’m going to give you a lot of information so get ready! Trees ae ecological bankers, they transform sunlight and Co2 into complex organic compounds. They shelter and nourish a diverse ecosystem. 120 species of native Ohio trees, but we have introduced over 500 additional tree species. Plant determine animal life. Geology and climate determine plant communities. Ohio eastern deciduous forest over the years we’ve cleared lots of trees from Ohio during settlement because of this plants and animal life have co-evolved, native tree support thousands of spices of animal, and urban areas are increasing percentage of land area. The impacts in the environment are improve health, reduce water run-off, lower cooling and heating cost, 2,700 plant species in Ohio. Ok now that we have finished the information I’m going to tell you about the trees that we looked at during the lecture

White Mulberry

·         Silk worms feed off it

·         Brought from china

·         Fruit on the tree, some brides eat them

Tree of heaven

·         This is an invasive tree that once had to pull them out

Bush Honeysuckle

·         Another invasive tree

·         Lots growing in our area

·         Seeds dispersed by birds

·         Hard to control

Olives

·         Beautiful plant flowers

·         Another invasive tree

·         Frosted looked

·         Fast growing

·         You must hand pull them

·         Birds eat them

Buckthorns

·         Have thorns on them

·         Grow quickly

·         Very hardy

·         Difficult to control

Roses

·         Seed are spread by birds

·         One of the trees we looked at had many seeds

In the past few tree tours we have come across “invasive trees”, so I’m going to explain what an “invasive plant” is. A “invasive plant” is a name for a species that have become a pest plant, a plant which grows aggressively, spreads, and displaces other plants. So in small terms a tree becomes an invasive tree when it produces lots of seeds and grows rapidly.

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Hunting for UU Trees

As I told you in my last blog, we have been doing so many actives lately. This time we went hunting for trees in our backyard! This activity wasn’t that fun for me but very informational! I’ll tell you about some of the trees we looked at. First the Eastern Redbud, one key feature about this tree is the height. It is a large deciduous shrub or small tree, native to eastern North America from southern Ontario, Canada south to northern Florida but which can thrive as far west as California. It is the state tree of Oklahoma. The bark is dark in color, smooth, later scaly with ridges somewhat apparent, sometimes with maroon patches. The twigs are slender and zigzag, nearly black in color, spotted with lighter lenticels. The winter buds are tiny, rounded and dark red to chestnut in color. The next tree is Shagbark hickory, it is a common hickory in the Eastern United States and southeast Canada. It is a large, deciduous tree, growing well over 100 ft tall, and can live more than 350 years. The tallest measured shagbark, located in Savage Gulf, Tennessee, is over 150 ft tall. Mature shagbarks are easy to recognize because, as their name implies, they have shaggy bark. This characteristic is, however, only found on mature trees; young specimens have smooth bark. The shagbark hickory's nut is edible and has a very sweet taste. The next is Cypress, one key feature about this tree is it has alternating leaves and white pine coming from the tree. The last tree is Copper beech, one key feature is the leaves. The leaves are alternate, simple, and entire or with a slightly crenate margin, 5–10 cm long and 3–7 cm broad, with 6–7 veins on each side of the leaf.

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Biodiversity?

Last few days of class we have been doing a lot of activity’s, I’m really liking that. Some of the activities I don’t care too much for but I like that we are getting out of the class room and doing hands on learning, I feel it is easier to retain the information that way. This day, we learned how to calculate biodiversity! Sounds fun, right? Ok so first we had to throw a square with 10 little squares within it, where ever the square fell, we then must count what was in those squares, so in my square it with 37 grass blades and 6 four leaf clovers, then you count more than one cube and add them all up. I ended up with 65 grass blades and like 13 four leaf clovers. The second time I did it, it was the golden sunflower and little blue stem. I ended up with 23 little blue stem, and 8 golden sunflowers. With that you then must use a formula to calculate biodiversity, it’s called the Shannon Index. I thought this was a very stupid idea, but let’s say you have 30 acres of land. Who wants to count that many trees? I know I don’t, but the formula saves you some time. You only must county one or two squares of that land multiply those numbers by the other squares and add them all. Then bam! There you go, you have counted all 30 areas of your land. Once you think about it, it’s a cool idea and who knew you could even count biodiversity? I think from this activity my professor was trying to show the importance of biodiversity and a neat way to save time but also to learn. It’s cool to be able to say I can count biodiversity, can you say that?

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Guest Speaker Who?

During class, we had a guest speaker, during the guest speaker she went on to explain a few of the plants we walk by as we went on a walk through the prairie. The prairie was in the back of the school, I was very confused and felt as if I was in the scary movie “Jeeper creepers”. I wasn’t too happy about digging up trees but I understood the importance of it. The activity was to dig up invasive trees that was preventing the prairie to grow. We had to put water on the soil to make it soft and easier to dig out of the ground. Digging was hard because of the other plants around was poking you every which way, but my group could pull up about three trees, these trees was called “tree of heaven”. The tree of heaven was huge, but the stand out feature was the lobes on the leaves of the tree. Before digging up the tree of heaven we viewed some of the plants. To name a few of the plants, one was the Big bluestem, these where very tall and towered almost every other plant it stood by, what I noticed the most about the big bluestem was the plant was starting to flower and the flowers on the plant had little tails coming out of it. The next plant sounds the very similar, it the little bluestem. Contrary to the name, it doesn’t look like the big bluestem. It kind of looks like weeds to me and it doesn’t have seeds. The next plant was the golden rod, this plant was very pretty. It branched out, and was a golden color as the name says. Another plant was the grey-headed coneflower, it’s an amazing source of food for pollinators. It’s also really good use for medical use. This plant is kind of like the grey-headed coneflower, but instead it’s the purple coneflower. The purple coneflower was my favorite, it was pretty.

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Heart-Leaved Moonseed

Tinospora cordifolia, which is known by the common names heart-leaved moonseed, guduchi and giloy, is an herbaceous vine of the family Menispermaceae indigenous to the tropical areas of India, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. It is a large, deciduous extensively spreading climbing shrub with several elongated twining branches. Leaves simple, alternate, exstipulate, long petioles up to 15 cm long, roundish, pulvinate, both at the base and apex with the basal one longer and twisted partially and half way around. Lamina broadly ovate or ovate cordate, 10–20 cm long or 8– 15 cm broad, 7 nerved and deeply cordate at base, membranous, pubescent above, whitish tomentose with a prominent reticulum beneath. Flowers unisexual, small on separate plants and appearing when plant is leafless, greenish yellow on axillary and terminal racemes. Male flowers clustered, female usually solitary. Sepals 6, free in two series of three each, the outer ones are smaller than the inner. Petals 6 free smaller than sepals, obovate and membranous. Fruits aggregate of 1-3, ovoid smooth drupelets on thick stalk with sub terminal style scars, scarlet or orange coloured. In Ayurvedic medicine, T. cordifolia is known as “Guduchi” and is considered to be one of the most divine herbs. But there are some reports where the herb was associated with some adverse effects related to pregnancy, breastfeeding, blood sugar levels etc. The plant extract have shown to have anti-lipoxygenase activity. Endophytic fungi regarded as a fascinating group of organisms colonize the living, internal tissues of their host without causing any harmful effects. A recent study has shown that 29 endophytes belonging to different taxa were present in the samples collected from T. cordifolia. Extracts of the endophytic fungus Nigrospora sphaerica obtained from T. cordifolia were found to have insecticidal properties against the Oriental leafworm moth, a polyphagous pest.

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Holy Basil!

Ocimum tenuiflorum , commonly known as holy basil, tulasi  sometimes spelled thulasi or tulsi, is an aromatic perennial plant in the family Lamiaceae which is native to the Indian subcontinent and widespread as a cultivated plant throughout the Southeast Asian tropics. Holy basil is an erect, many-branched subshrub, 30–60 cm (12–24 in) tall with hairy stems. Leaves are green or purple; they are simple, petioled, with an ovate, up to 5 cm (2.0 in)-long blade which usually has a slightly toothed margin; they are strongly scented and have a decussate phyllotaxy. The purplish flowers are placed in close whorls on elongate racemes . The two main morphotypes cultivated in India and Nepal are green-leaved  and purple-leaved. Tulsi leaves are an essential part in the worship of Vishnu and his avatars, including Krishna and Ram, and other male Vaishnava deities such as Hanuman, Balarama, Garuda and many others. Tulsi is a sacred plant for Hindus and is worshipped as the avatar of Lakshmi.It is believed that water mixed with the petals given to the dying raises their departing souls to heaven.Tulsi, which is Sanskritfor "the incomparable one", is most often regarded as a consort of Krishna in the form of Lakshmi. According to the Brahma Vaivarta Purana, tulsi is an expression of Sita. There are two types of tulsi worshipped in Hinduism: "Rama tulsi" has light green leaves and is larger in size; "Shyama tulsi" has dark green leaves and is important for the worship of Hanuman. Many Hindus have tulasi plants growing in front of or near their home, often in special pots. Traditionally, tulsi is planted in the centre of the central courtyard of Hindu houses. It is also frequently grown next to Hanuman temples, especially in Varanasi.