| Mahakassapa Scaly-Ball |
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| File size | 660193 |
| Original date | 3/8/21 5:06 PM |
| Resolution | x |
| Flash | Flash did not fire, auto |
| Focal length | 90.0mm |
| Exposure time | 1/160s |
| Aperture | 6.3 |
| Focus Distance | |
| Metering Mode | Multi-segment |
| Camera make | NIKON CORPORATION |
| Camera model | NIKON D7100 |
| Sensor type |
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Photo: |
Botanical name: Lepidagathis mahakassapae Family: Acanthaceae (Acanthus family)
Mahakassapa Scaly-Ball is a newly discovered (2022)
species similar to
Spiked Scaly-Ball. It is named
for Brahmana Pippali Manav, later known as Mahakassapa, a prominent
figure from ancient India and one of the principal disciples of Buddha.
It is a perennial, prostrate, sub-shrub. It differs from Spiked
Scaly-Ball in having inverted-lanceshaped leaves with tapering tip,
versus linear leaves with spiny tip. Flowers spikes are at branch-ends,
rarely in leaf-axils, velvet-hairy, 4-7 cm long, elongated spikes. In
Spiked Scaly-Ball flower-spikes are hairless, in leaf-axils, 2.0-2.8
cm long, compact, box-shaped. The plant has minutely velvet-hairy
bracts, large floral and small sterile bracts. Spiked Scaly-Ball has
hairless bracts, floral and sterile bracts alike. The plant has the
broader segment of bracteole lanceshaped versus inverted-lanceshaped
in Spiked Scaly-Ball. Mahakassapa Scaly-Ball is found on the
plateaus of Satara district and is endemic to the state of Maharashtra.
Flowering: February-May.
| Identification credit: Sushant More | Photographed in Satara, Maharashtra. |
• Is this flower misidentified? If yes,