Kodaikanal is a beautiful hill station of Tamil Nadu, fondly known as “The Gift of the Forest”, located in the southern part (Dindigul district of Tamil Nadu) of India and it is the most admired tourist attraction of south India.

Kodaikanal  or Kodai has several picturesque locations and tourist attractions like Coaker’s Walk, Pillar Rock, Pine Forest, Guna Caves, Kodaikanal Lake, etc. to it’s pride to be called as “Princess/Queen of Hill Stations” . Bryant Park is one such attraction which draws large crowds because of it’s rainbow colored array of flowers  and plant varieties. Spanning over a vast area of 20.5 acres (8.3 ha), this botanical garden is a stunning display of vibrant colored flowers and rare species of plants. Bryant park was named after a forest officer H.D.Bryant who built this park during the year 1908.

This park regularly organizes and conducts flower shows every year during summer and this park is open all around the year.

Just watching the photos of these nice flowers without knowing their names is no fun at all. As my blog is about educating and helping kids, I’m taking this opportunity to list these beautiful flowers with their names which will be helpful for kids to identify individual flowers on their own. For that purpose only, I tried to capture the flowers along with their name plate. Yet, I have missed for some I guess…So lets go and find the names…

Beautiful Flowers – Part 1

1. Hydrangea Flowers

Common Name: Hydrangea, Mophead Hydrangea

Botanical Name: Hydrangea macrophylla

Family: Hydrangeaceae (Hydrangea family)

 2.  Calendula Flowers

Common Name: Calendula, Pot Marigold, English Marigold

Botanical Name: Calendula officinalis

Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

3.  Agapanthus Flowers

Common Name: Agapanthus, African Lily, Lily of the Nile

Botanical Name: Agapanthus africanus

Family: Amaryllidaceae (Nargis family)

4.  Alstroemeria Flowers

Common Name: Alstroemeria, Peruvian Lily, Lily-of-the-Incas, Parrot Lily, Parrot Flower

Botanical Name: Alstroemeria spp

Family: Amaryllidaceae (Nargis family)

 

5.  Antirrhinum Flowers

Common Name: Antirrhinum, Dog Flower, Snapdragon

Botanical Name: Antirrhinum majus

Family: Scrophulariaceae (dog flower family)

6.  Dahlia Flowers

Common Name: Dahlia, DinnerPlate Dahlia, Decorative Dahlia

Botanical Name: Dahlia cultivars

Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

Common Name: Dahlia, Single Flowered Dahlia, Single Dahlia

Botanical Name: Dahlia coccinea

Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

7.  Phlox  Flowers

Common Name:  Phlox, Tall Phlox, Summer Phlox, Perennial Phlox

Botanical Name: Phlox paniculata

Family: Polemoniaceae (Phlox family)

8.  Red Hot Poker KniPhofia

Common Name: Torch Lily, Red Hot Poker

Botanical Name: Kniphofia spp

Family: Asphodelaceae (Aloe family)

9.  Red Salvia or Sage Flowers

Common Name: Scarlet Sage, Red Salvia, Sage, St. John’s Fire

Botanical Name: Salvia splendens

Family: Lamiaceae (Mint family)

10.  Zinnia Flowers

Common Name:  Zinnia, Common Zinnia

Botanical Name: Zinnia elegans

Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

11.  Dianthus Flowers

Common Name:  Dianthus, Sweet William

Botanical Name: Dianthus barbatus

Family: Caryophyllaceae (Carnation family)

12.  Aster Flowers

Common Name:  Italian Aster, Veilchenkönigin, European Michaelmas Daisy, Aster Violet Queen

Botanical Name:  Aster amellus

Family:  Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

Common Name:  China Aster, Annual Aster

Botanical Name:  Callistephus chinensis

Family:  Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

13.  Daisy Flowers

Common Name:  Daisy, Common Daisy, Lawn Daisy, English Daisy, Bruisewort

Botanical Name:  Bellis perennis

Family:  Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

14.  Pancy Flowers

Common Name:  Pansy, Pansy Violet

Botanical Name:  Viola x wittrockiana

Family:  Violaceae (violet family)

15. African Marigold Flowers

Common Name:  Marigold, African Marigold, Tagetes, Mexican Marigold, Aztec Marigold

Botanical Name:  Tagetes erecta 

Family:  Asteraceae (Sunflower family)

16.  Verbena Flowers

Common Name:  Verbena

Botanical Name:  Verbena hybrida

Family: Verbenaceae (Verbena family)

17.  Penstemon Flowers

Common Name:  Penstemon

Botanical Name:  Penstemon hartwegii

Family: Scrophulariaceae (dog flower family)

18. Star of Bethlehem or Ornithogalum or Wonder Flowers 

Common Name:  Star of Bethlehem, Wonder Flowers, Chincherinchee

Botanical Name:  Ornithogalum thyrsoides

Family: Asparagaceae (Asparagus family)

19. Calla Lily(White Flowers in the middle)

Common Name:  Calla, Calla lily, Arum Lily 

Botanical Name:  Zantedeschia aethiopica

Family: Araceae (arum family)

20. Lupinus or Lupin or Lupine Flowers

Common Name:   Lupin, Lupine

Botanical Name:  Lupinus spp

Family: Fabaceae (Pea family)

21. Delphinium Flowers

Common Name:   Larkspur, Rocket Larkspur, Annual Delphinium 

Botanical Name:  Consolida ajacis

Family: Ranunculaceae (buttercup family)

Apart from the above flowers, there were plenty of rose plants and bushes in the park. I couldn’t even take the pictures of all varieties…I am including some of these photos here…I couldn’t possibly ignore Rose from “The Beautiful Flowers List” just because it is known to everyone and it is available everywhere! Can I?

Below is the You tube video of this park.

There are millions and millions of beautiful flowers around the world like the ones we listed here. So lets not stop with this Kodaikanal’s Bryant Park flowers alone and we will extend this trend by identifying more flowers in the following sections. I have plenty of flower photos which I have taken during my journeys over past few years. In the next section, we will see about these flowers and also about the flowers that can be easily found near our backyard or in our neighborhood.