Perks of being a wildflower
The most constant feature of the Mumbai Safari is the gridlock… absolute traffic jams that crop up out of nowhere. A colleague and I, on our nature surveys, had a dose of Maximum Mess early this week. We had no idea that work on the Ghodbunder bridge, on a most critical highway, begun some two years ago, had not yet been finished. It took us nearly an hour and a half to traverse two kilometres. And I believe this has been the norm here for the past two years!
Never one to overlook ecology in the midst of urban chaos, I soon had wildflowers staring at me, dancing in breezy joy despite the foul traffic. There were even a few glory-lilies in bloom right along the highway.
Exploring the retreating countryside north of Mumbai proper, we discovered, as expected, a feast of blooms. In vivid shades of purple, pink and yellow, the humble herbs brought us to our knees — you have to bend, actually, stoop, maybe even life flat, to admire these short-lived jewels. The most abundant monsoon flowers visible now are the rather upright Common Balsam, with its purplish-pink blooms. In some locations this herb carpets large pockets of the landscape, especially striking as you drive along the Sahyadri hills and the Expressway.
Some days ago, driving just north of Virar, my colleague Pravin and I stumbled upon a small patch of balsams that seemed to defy logic. Over a 30-sq-ft area, the herbs were crammed with flowers in four distinct shades — the usual purplish; numerous off-white; some faded pink and even a burst of vivid crimsons. Some had three shades on each plant stalk. This peculiar occurrence is possibly influenced by soil and water conditions.
Also seen in the plains and hills at this time of year are the Oriental Sesame, Devil’s Claw, Indian Sweet-pea and several species of Ipomoeas or Glories. The sesame, with its beauteous bell-like flowers, is a wild form of one of the earliest cultivated plants in India, the sesamum or til, which retains a deep connect with the people.
The Devil’s Claw has taken to degraded tracts and the edges of secondary growth, and seems to be colonising several new areas in the region.
The Indian Sweet-pea is a twiner, and would be lost amid herbage but for its vibrant flowers. The Ipomoeas are a widespread group that deserve a story of their own.
Innumerable other flowering herbs, with such captivating names as Neuracanthus or Pincushion, Cup-and-saucer, Cockscomb and Cat-ears manage to hang on wherever the inescapable urbania allows, breathing life back into the Mumbai Safari for a few weeks in the year, making the six- and eight-legged empires of life go loopy with delight.
(Sunjoy Monga is a naturalist, photographer and author of numerous books on biodiversity)