Annual monsoon beauties that are difficult to spot

Profiling miniature blooms which appear every year with rains and then disappear

The monsoon is receding this week as per the Indian Meteorological Department. In 2020, the monsoon rains were copiously resulting in lush green vegetation from Jun to September. Rains also induce flowering of seasonal flowers in herbs and shrubs.

In cities like Mumbai and Thane, you can't easily spot wild plants or flowers, but with patience, you can find quite a range of attractive blooms right beneath your feet when you walk around.

We are not too far from the world-famous Kas Pathar, a plateau that annually supports dense ground vegetation bearing colorful flowers. This UNESCO world heritage seems covered in the multi-hued carpet by the floral blooms which appear in succession. In 2020, Maharashtra's government restricted travel to Kas, and people missed seeing the profuse blooms supported by this year's plentiful precipitation. Kas and Masai, another place that also supports wild herbs that bear attractive flowers, are far from Urbania. Wildflowers grow around Urbania township, and this article explores where you can spot them and some tricks to photograph them.

Wild plants grow everywhere, including in seemingly orderly vegetation like green lawns. Wild plants disperse their seeds widely, and that sprout when rain moistens soil. Another common place you can find wild flowering plants are in the seams of tiles and along the edges of footpaths. Vegetation along roadsides also supports wild plants. I have spotted the greatest number of seasonal flowering herbs at Urbania's Festival Plaza, a manicured grass playfield.

You can find numerous flowering herbs in clumps on the edges of such grass, which makes for a pretty sight close to the ground. The bara or twelve bungalows walking path at Kopri also has wild vegetation with seasonal flowers in it.

Clicking pictures of wild plant blooms is tricky as the flower heads and buds can be very small, a few millimeters in diameter or length. Zooming in the mobile or camera lens is one way to capture tiny flowers.

This season I used a mobile phone attachment for macro photos and got good results. Even in the first week of October 2020, you can still find a miniature flower at the Festival Plaza if you are keen to see them. Here is a list of wild flowering plants I have seen and photographed in and around Urbania.

Let me share what went into my choice of these plants. All of them have flowers which are less than 1 cm. in diameter. They have flowers in different colors, including white, yellow, pink, and purple. Thane has numerous seasonal wildflowers in monsoon, but I have chosen only five here for you to identify and remember easily. Detecting plants and finding out their identity takes Sherlock Holmes type effort, which in this age is easy. Once you have the picture, then finding out the plant's name is easy. You have to have some proficiency and, more importantly, patience, and you can zero in on the name of the pretty flower you spotted.

Finding and identifying tiny plants with equally tiny flowers is like detective work. You have first to notice the plants and then click their photos carefully. After you have clear pictures, you can use Google Lens to identify the flower. As the flowers are small, sometimes you have to check different Google Lens options to zero in on the exact species.

One trick to zero in on the right species is to check whether the plant occurs in Thane.

Wildflowers start blooming with the first rains in June, and some of them continue growing right up to October. After reading this article, you still have the opportunity of stepping out and finding almost all of the five plants I have discussed here. I have avoided listing all wild flowering plants, as that would be a long list. I took as a challenge to include only tiny flowering plants, which I found difficult to photograph. Below is the list of such plants.

Golden glory or Arachis glabrata: This is a legume which is useful as a forage crop and bears tiny golden yellow flowers. You can find it at Festival Plaza. Native to South America, this plant helps soil conservation and is an ornamental plant that can provide a patch of yellow flowers when you plant it densely.

Fringed pimpernel or Bonnaya ciliata: This is a very small delicate purple and white flowering herb whose flowers resemble tiny orchids. I had a challenge focussing on these very tiny flowers. You can identify the plant through leaves that have serrated edges. Native to western Ghats and Himalayas, this plant is natural to Thane. I found this plant both at Urbania and Bara Bungalow.

Bhringaraj or Eclipta prostrata: Because This medicinal plant has white flowers, people sometimes call it false daisy, and is from the Sunflower family. You may have seen hair oil containing brhingaraj. It has many other medicinal uses, including treating skin, liver, respiratory, blood sugar, pain, dysentery, scorpion stings, snake bites, and even boost immunity. Bhringraj is a worldwide plant and very common in tropical countries.

Indian camphorweed or Pluchea indica: This shrub-like plant has pink flowers that look like a tiny bouquet. When they dry, they become white and look like in a dry flower bouquet. This plant has medicinal properties with its anti-diabetic compounds and roots, having anti-snake venom of some Indian snakes. Indian camphorweed is a very common weed, and you can easily find it walking around Urbania, even on the edges of footpaths.

Water willow or Justicia procumbens: This perennial herb bears tiny pink flowers with green hairy bracts and sepals. I found this plant during a walk at the bara bungalow area. The plant is easy to photograph, but you have to focus its tiny and delicate flowers. This plant has medicinal properties useful in coughing, asthma, backache, and rheumatism. Water willow is also useful in treating ophthalmia. You can find this plant throughout India and across several parts of Maharashtra.