MY MAGIC WORLD OF HEAVEN

We have all heard of the Great Wall of China. But have you heard about the Great wall of India, the second largest wall in the world? Kumbhalgarh fort wall   ( Image courtesy: Heman kumar meena / wikimedia commons )             It is built in 500 years ago and it guards the ancient fort of Kumbhalgarh, located 80 km north of Udaipur, Rajasthan, India. It is the second largest fort in Rajasthan after Chittorgarh fort and also the UNESCO World Heritage Site included in Hill forts of Rajasthan. The fort wall extends to the length of 36 kilometers and is popularly known as the "Great wall of India".

              Peristeria elata , the national flower of Panama is a species of orchid commonly known as dove orchid, or holy ghost orchid. Family : Orchidaceae Peristeria elata  (Image courtesy: TommyCrash / wikimedia commons ) Distribution : It is widely distributed in the American tropics from Costa Rica and Panama south to Peru and Brazil. Habitat : It is found in shaded grassland edges in tropical forests at altitudes of 100 to 700 m. Characters: They have teardrop-shaped (ovate) pseudobulbs covered with papery sheaths. The leaves are simple and lanceolate-elliptic in shape with a plicate leaf surface which arise from the apex of pseudobulbs and the inflorescence are arise from the base of the pseudobulbs may be pendulous or erect and from 6 inches to 4 feet long, bearing 4-20 flowers. The base colour of the flowers is white with some pink or red spots. The flowers are fragrant and...

Image courtesy: GT1976 / wikimedia commons            If you like birds and do not like to see them shut up in cages, you can still have the pleasure of watching them live in their natural state by setting up a bird-table for them. Bird tables are a wonderful way to feed the birds.        To make a bird-table you need a long pole which is driven into the ground near a tree or shrubbery. Next you get a small box with low sides and nail it to the top of the pole to form a flat, horizontal surface for the birds to land and perch on. Some barbed wire wound round the bottom of the pole will stop cats from climbing up to the table. Image courtesy:  Karelj / wikimedia commons          What sort of food should be put on a bird-table? Breadcrumbs are not enough. There are two menus, one for birds that eat seeds and another for birds that eat insects. For the seed-eaters you need millet, barley, rice ...

                Cedar oil is an essential oil which the ancient peoples used to embalm dead bodies. It was also once used to coat books to preserve them from insects and damp. It has a pleasing scent.                   The oil is produced by distilling it from the African cedar and is an essential oil, that is one that gives a plant, flower or fruit its distinctive odour or flavour. These oils are used for the scenting or flavouring of numerous products, such as perfumes, cosmetics and soaps. cedar of lebanon   (Image courtesy: Yhabbouche / wikimedia commons)                     The African cedar grows in the north of that continent, especially on the Atlas Mountains. It is a very imposing conifer that bears many leaves and grows to a height of more than 40 meters. It closely resembles the more famous cedar of Lebanon which wa...

Datura stramonium    (Image courtesy: TeunSpaans / wikimedia commons )             Stramonium, or the jimson weed is also known as 'the devil's grass'. The plant got this name because its poison seems to drive the victim made as if he were possessed by the devil.           The tropane alkaloids in the plant can also cause serious distortion of the eyesight. Ingestion of jimson weed induces delirium, blurred vision, drying of mouth, tachycardia, hyperthermia, mydriasis, and amnesia. Symptoms of jimson weed intoxication may last 24 to 48 hours. In small doses, however, these poisons can be used to treat certain illnesses.           Stramonium found in certain drugs is extracted from the leaves of this plant. It acts as a sedative and eases nerve and rheumatic pains. Stramonium leaves are also used to make special cigarettes for the treatment of asthma. The seeds of the plant provide an o...

                Hornbill   (Image courtesy: wikimedia commons )                    Like the toucan, the hornbill has an extremely large beak. The beak is different because it continues above the bird's head to form a sort of knob that looks like a helmet. There are forty five different species of hornbills, with loud, croaking voices and flapping wings. Their strong beaks can break the shells of the hardest nuts, but they will also eat fruits, insects and small animals.                   Most hornbills build their nests in a hollow tree. The male bird imprisons the female inside her nest by walling her in with dried mud while she hatches the eggs and cares for the young until they can fly. He leaves a small slit in the mud wa...

Sahara desert  (Image courtesy: fr:Utilisateur:Jgremillot / wikimedia commons )                 Although it is difficult to believe, there are fish living in the desert. Several important expeditions have gone to the Sahara to uncover the mystery of these fish which are sometimes found scores of meters down.                The most famous is the lungfish which lives in the larger African rivers. When these rivers overflow their waters can spread out to desert regions to form small lakes or ponds. When the lake dries up the lungfish buries itself in wet mud where it can live for months on end, especially if it goes deep enough to find an underground layer of water.               Lungfish are among the most ancient bony fishes and are very like those which lived 20...

Synonyms : Sacred Basil, Holi Basil. Family : Labiatae Ocimum sanctum  (Image courtesy: Jubinrajop /  wikimedia commons ) Geographical occurrence : It is considered to be a sacred plant by Hindus. It is cultivated throughout India in gardens of temples and houses and is worshipped as the avatar of Lakshmi.   Characters :  The plant is an annual herb of 30 to 60 cm in height. The branches are generally purplish, sub-quadrangular and covered with soft hairs.The plant bears petiolate leaves having an entire or serrate margin. The apex and base are acute. The leaves are minutely gland-dotted and contain trichomes on both the surfaces. Flowers are verticillate, in recemes, 15-20 cm long in close whorls. Odour is aromatic and taste is pungent. Nutlets are subglobose, slightly compressed, pale brown or red in colour. Seeds are reddish-black and subglobose. Constituents : The major constituent is a volatile oil (0.7%) which contains eugenol, meth...