This is to introduce a climber to you. It used to be found commonly earlier but has nearly vanished now. We usually purchase flowering climbers from nurseries, paying exorbitant amounts. When a yellow climber puts forth red flowers, the plant nurseries charge Rs 850 to Rs 900, and we buy it. Sometimes a few of them become a nuisance, and we may even chop them down. But there are certain native species, and one among them is wild jasmine. Its fragrance is overpowering, perhaps even pungent. But it is certainly a wonderful scent. It is used in medicines. Here, I wish to introduce Paper flower climber [Calycopteris floribunda].
This is a climber. I don’t know whether it is used in any major medicine but a physician who practises native medicine tells me it is an ingredient in kashayams or concoctions. This climber soaks up a great deal of water. A person walking through a forest may get up to three glasses of water from its stem and root. This is what a scientist told me.
You can see it in bloom now. For the last four or five days, as the day advances, I have been seeing large numbers of butterflies coming to these flowers. To date, I have not seen any other plant attract such large numbers of butterflies. The reason could be the sheer number of flowers. No jasmine puts out such rich bunches of blooms. The paper flowers are light green in colour. You can train this climber over your car shed or on the side of your house. Its stem will grow thick and long, and reach up to the second and the third storey. You can plant a sapling of the paper flower climber, and train it over a trellis. In fact, you won’t even have to build a car shed because this will form an excellent canopy. Besides, it will help reduce the heat too. On the terrace, it will look beautiful. More importantly, during the flowering season, hordes of butterflies will come.
There are many climbers like this one that will grow well on walls too. If your neighbour does not object or if one of your compound walls faces a road, please plant it. My reason for telling you this is that a lot of butterflies and insects will be attracted to these flowers on the climbers, they will lay eggs, new ones will emerge, and all this will help create an ecosystem.
Most people see creepers and climbers as a nuisance, and cut them down. But that is not so, and therefore we have to bring them back. That is my reason for showing you video shots of the paper flower climber.