N Arun Kumar

Witnessed these incredibly coloured iridescent clouds in the Bangalore sky yesterday evening #iridescentclouds #sunset #sky

Chlorophytum kolhapurense, A beautiful endemic Chlorophytum, described in 2006 from Maharashtra #botany #imabotanist #indianflora #chlorophytum #asparagales

Summer colours at the FRLHT garden, truly amazing how many plants choose this season to bloom #frlht #botany #iamabotanist #summer

Seed pods of Barleria exploding in water, Acanthaceae have incredible explosive seed dispersal mechanisms! Turn the sound on hear the pops go off #Barleria #botany #iamabotanist #science #plants #seeddispersal

Some southern Indian species blooming in the garden now - Ceropegia juncea, Coleus strobilifer, Eulophia epidendraea and Barleria tomentosa #botany #iamabotanist #indianflora #Ceropegia #apocynaceae #coleus #lamiaceae #eulophia #orchidaceae #barleria #acanthaceae

#Monotropahypopitys Dutchman's Pipe/Pinesap A bizarre plant that doesn't photosynthesize its food, instead gets it by parasitising fungi associated with roots of Pine trees around. So it's Mycoheterotrophic plant. Species etymology - hypo "under" and pitys "pine" = (Under Pine)

Provocative questions: Is explorative science bad science? Do we always need hypotheses when asking questions or exploring data & patterns? Observations/patterns can be new without having a pre-formulated hypothesis. Thoughts?

@Ashutosh_05sn Magnificent bird!

Who needs mobile alarm when your home is in a biodiversity rich village! Here's a Great Barbet (Psilopogon virens) who came next to my sleeping room at 7am, just five minutes after I switched off my alarm thinking of sleeping again. Fortunately there's no way to switch it off!

This ball of flowers is a succulent native to India, they have leafless quadrangular stems and grow this bouquet like arrangement of flowers during this time. The flowers have a rotting smell and attract flies, who are the pollinators. #carallumaumbellata #stapeliad #iamabotanist

#insectivorousplant Utricularia graminifolia Vahl Bladderworts (Utricularia spp.) are the carnivorous plants having most sophisticated trapping mechanism to be found anywhere in the plant kingdom, they use highly specialised vacuum driven bladder traps to feed on tiny insects.

In this dry season when most things are in shades of grey and brown, signs of life can still be found. Shorea roxburghii, Ardisia solanacea, Phyllanthus emblica, Ochna gamblei, Phyllanthus polyphyllus and Combretum albidum @FRLH_Herbarium #botany #iamabotanist #nature #karnataka

Massive land clearing happening in North Bangalore for the proposed "Shivaram Karanth Layout" spread over Ramagondanahalli and surrounding areas. Lands used for agriculture and plantations, all gone in 2 weeks. #destruction #treecutting #landclearing #bangalore

Amla flowers! Male and female flowers are produced separately on amla trees and here you can see the pistillate (female) and staminate (male) flowers. The entire tree is busy with pollinator activity. #phyllanthus #phyllanthusemblica #botany #iamabotanist #phyllanthaceae #amla

@gauravSharma26_ It's usually found wild, but here it's growing in a garden.

@Xyris901 Sir , is it a wild plant or Ornamental

Balloon pods of Cardiospermum halicacabum and their seeds with the white hearts. Always a fun plant :) #cardiospermum #botany #balloonvine

Some early January plants from a dry deciduous forest near Bangalore. Kalanchoe bhidei, Rotala illecebroides, Memecylon umbellatum and Caralluma umbellata. The start of the dry season. #botany #iamabotanist #caralluma #kalanchoe #memecylon #rotala #bannerghatta #indianplants

I was walking to the shop this morning and heard a loud thud near the compound wall. I went there and saw a big dry coconut had fallen from the tree. Dehusked it and got this beautiful coconut :) #coconut #cocosnucifera #palm

Beautiful flowers of a plant in the mint and tulsi family, Anisochilus - from the Greek Anisos, meaning unequal and cheîlos, meaning “lip.” This whole genus though has been transferred to Coleus, based on molecular evidence. #anisochilus #lamiaceae #botany #coleus #iamabotanist

Upcoming webinars! #ethnobotany #anthropology #botany #webinar