A Beauty, A Pest, and Apollo's Tears!

This beauty is the Common Water Hyacinth. The seven species of water hyacinths comprise the genus Eichhornia of free-floating perennial aquatic plants. Erect stalks support single spikes of 8-15 conspicuously attractive flowers, mostly lavender to pinkish in colour with six petals.
One of the fastest growing plants known, water hyacinth reproduces primarily by way of runners or stolons, eventually forming daughter plants. They may also reproduce via seeds. The common water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) is a vigorous grower known to double its population in two weeks. E. crassipes is known as an important and pernicious invasive species.

This is a seasonal pest in wetlands, which outgrows and eventually chokes all other native plants, when not controlled. But, it is a very important member of wetland cycles. This photo is showcasing the untamed bloom of water hyacinths on the IIT-B side of the Powai lake.

Incidentally, Hyacinth was a spartan divine hero who was accidentally killed by Apollo's discuss and Apollo created the flower hyacinth from his spilled blood: it is said to be still bearing the tear-stains of the Sun-God Apollo who loved Hyacinth. The story can be found at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyacinth_%28mythology%29

Mozart even made an opera (his first true opera, by the way) called as "Apollo et Hyacinthus" at the tender age of 11 based on this tragedy!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_et_Hyacinthus

a crow finicky for flowers!

this is the Common Indian Crow butterfly, Euploea core. For more information on this beautiful Danaid, see this nice article in our dear Wiki :) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euploea_core

Golden Waves

Indian Charm

Bluebell Sky

bluebell:

Hyacinthoides non-scripta, syn. Endymion non-scriptus, Scilla non-scripta) is a spring-flowering bulbous perennial plant

little beauty

hi-flyer: always aiming the sky

Repose

Believe it there are no shadows in this photograph

can anybody tell me what flower is this? Megaskepasma erythrochlamys

Another fishy affair

Life goes on

Valentine bonanza … Choose one for yourself a gift

on the rocks

need to know which one of the first two snaps is looking comparatively better

can u guess which part of world is this?

Light-n-Shadow at IDC (Design Local)

fire-starter

boughs alight


mahol

light drops



light fruits

light-block

shadow tree

snake - fight

whr thr is food i ll find it --.severum

kings are no more particular about living standards

remnants existing in mumbai of bombay

bird of paradise

PHOTOshy

First post of 2007 with a resolution of posting once a week

Terrifying world

One of my friend forwarded me this quiz I found it to be really interesting
If you know all the answers and if you feel more people should know about terrorism then spread this information to the people around you

I don’t find any difference in the both the parties terrorists and so called anti-terrorist

Lets be together to fight terrorism not by terrifying world to stop terrorism

TERRORISM QUIZ



1) Which is the only country in the world to have dropped bombs on over twenty different countries since 1945



2) Which is the only country to have used nuclear weapons?



3) Which country was responsible for a car bomb which killed 80 civilians in Beirut in 1985, in a botched assassination attempt,
thereby making it the most lethal terrorist bombing in modern Middle East history?



4) Which country's illegal bombing of Libya in 1986 was described by the UN Legal Committee as a "classic case" of terrorism?



5) Which country rejected the order of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to terminate its "unlawful use of force" against Nicaragua in 1986, and then vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling on all states to observe international law?



6) Which country was accused by a UN-sponsored truth commission of providing "direct and indirect support" for "acts of genocide" against the Mayan Indians in Guatemala during the 1980s?



7) Which country unilaterally withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty in December 2001?



8) Which country renounced the efforts to negotiate a verification process for the Biological Weapons Convention and brought an international conference on the matter to a halt in July 2001?



9) Which country prevented the United Nations from curbing the gun trade at a small arms conference in July 2001?



10) Aside from Somalia, which is the only other country in the world to have refused to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child?



11) Which is the only Western country which allows the death penalty to be applied to children?



12) Which is the only G7 country to have refused to sign the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, forbidding the use of landmines?



13) Which is the only G7 country to have voted against the creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 1998?



14) Which was the only other country to join with Israel in opposing a 1987 General Assembly resolution condemning international terrorism?



15) Which country refuses to fully pay its debts to the United Nations yet reserves its right to veto United Nations resolutions?