Hi, can you help me to identify this flower? The photo was taken in Pondicherry. I was told it is a waterplant. I must be quite common, but I don't remember to see it before.
http://picasaweb.google.com/kalavatidevi/Flower/photo#5188049113858938274
Sorry for not being able to show the photo direcly, if someone would explain me I'll try to change it later.

This looks like Eichhornia crassipes, commonly known as water hyacinth.

Click on photo for more info.

Hi Kalávati,

The best explanation regarding putting an image/hyperlink in the post is provided in the "Help" link.

Regards.

Hi, Dinesh, thank you very much. This really looks like it. It is interesting that I checked all blue flowers on this page, but was not able to recognize it .
I was told that this flower is called kuvalai (there is no Latin name in the Sanskrit-English dictionary for kuvalaya, nor any in the Tamil Lexicon), and in the litarature is compared to the eyes of women. I suppose this is because of the eye-like spot and the colour of the flower combined. It was bought to me in order to illustrate the eyes of Damayanti, wife of Nala; her eyes were told to be like the kuvalaya in the Tamil version of the Nala story called NaLaveNpA. I don't know if this is true or not, but if it is, here is another nice flower for your "Flowers in Ancient Literature" page. And being a student of Classical Tamil: so should be: kurinji, punnai and fragrant screwpine (tAzhai)...    

--Last edited by Kalávati on 2008-04-12 13:07:23 --

Oops, just checked, tAzhai as ketaki is on the "Flowers in Ancient Literature" page, sorry. Nevertheless, in the Old Tamil literature girls attach swings to the tAzhai trees, and ketaki is a shrub (this plant I have seen in reality), not really good for hanging swings. So maybe the tAzhai of the literature is not the same as the tAzhai (or tAzham) today...

SANSKRIT:


At MPCP Database
जलकुम्भी (jalakumbhi)
वारीयपर्णी (variyaparni ... not too sure)


At A practical Sanskrit dictionary
कुवलय (kuvalaya) : blue lotus, which opens at night
कुवलयनयना (kuvalaya-nayana) : lotus-eyed woman


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TAMIL:


At Tamil and English dictionary

குவலயம் (kuvalayam)
white Indian water-lily;
blue nelumbo, நீலோத்பலம் (nilotpalam);
purple Indian waterlily, செங்குவளை (cengkuvalai);

குவளை (kuvalai)
the water-lily blue nelumbo;



At A comprehensive Tamil and English dictionary

குவளை (kuvalai)
the water-lily, Pontederia, L.
--of two kinds, கருங்குவளை (krungkuvlai) and செங்குவளை (cengkuvlai)


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Eichhornia crassipes belongs to Pontederiaceae, the Pontederia family, as such I think, the common name கருங்குவளை (krungkuvlai) could refer to this common water hyacinth.

Dinesh:   and  

Of course I found those entries in the dictionaries, I just said, there is no Latin name listed there. Thanks for the additional info!
Apropos, do you know this list of plant names:
Pandanus Database ?

Oh ok, I missed.

That the botanical name not put in the dictionaries, makes me wonder; usually most of the native plants are covered.

I did not get your last question ... I visit Pandanus Database when Google leads me.

Regards.  

--Last edited by dinesh valke on 2008-04-12 17:12:21 --