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Namah Principles of plant taxonomy
Rape seed or raktasarśapa, being small in 5. Flowers
size, has the name annu which means small a. The flowers of the Indian Laburnum (aragvadha)
or minute. Similarly, the name prasārinnī are a golden-yellow in colour, so this plant
refers to a creeper that spreads on the is named suvarnnaka.
ground and vrrkssarūha refers to a plant that b. The flowers of the Cobra’s Saffron (nāgakesara)
grows on trees. At times, certain names resemble snakes in appearance, so it is named
denote the morphological characters of nāgapusspa.
the plants.
6. Seeds
A. Names denoting morphological characters a. The Horse Radish (raktasigru) is known as
krsr ns an bīja because its seeds are black in colour.
1. Root b. Since the seeds of the Castor Oil plant
a. bahupādam is a name of the Banyan tree (Ricinus communis) have various marks on
which indicates that it has numerous roots. them the plant is named citrabīja.
b. Sweet Flag is named as śataparvika. This
indicates that the rhizome of this plant has 7. Spines
a hundred or many nodes. a. The fruits of the Small Caltropis (Gokshura)
have spine-like projections that resemble the
2. Knots teeth of a dog, so the name given to this plant
a. Long Pepper, popularly known as pippalli, is śvadammssttra.
has another name granthikā which indicates
that the roots of this plant have a knotted, 8. Latex
swollen appearance. a. The latex of the roots of the Kashmiri Hirtiz
b. White birch bark is known as bhūrjagranthi (Euphorbia thomsoniana) is a golden-yellow
or that which has knots or granthi-like fungal in colour, so it is named as svarnnakesarī.
formations (bhūrja).
B. Names denoting comparisons of plant
3. Bark morphology to other familiar objects
a. Bamboo is known as tvaksāra because the
stem of the bamboo is hollow. There is no 1. Leaves of the Ipomea reniformis resemble the
heat-giving wood. Hence the name means ears of rats so the plant is named ākhukarnīn .
the bark itself is the core structure.
b. The bark tree or Betula util is named as 2. The name halinī is used for the Superb
valkadrumam because its bark is used for a Lily as its rhizomes resemble a plough in
medicinal purpose. appearance.
4. Leaves 3. Black Musale is named as musalī because its
a. Each leaf of the prar sa ns iparnnn (Urarialagopoides) tubers resemble the pestle in appearance.
is composed of three leaflets, so the name for
this plant is triparnnn. 4. Butterfly Pea, popularly known as aparājītā,
b. Biton Bark, a plant with seven leaflets is has another name, śannkhapusspī, because
named as saptaparnna. its flowers resemble a conch shell in
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