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Not a penny has been spent buying flowers for this ‘pookkalam’. Not a plant has been deprived of its flower in the name of a flower carpet. This unique ‘athappookkalam’ with live plants and flowers can be found in the garden of the Department of Botany on the Kariavattom campus of the University of Kerala.
Sans any flowers from the market, the ‘athappookkalam’ is not as colourful as the ones you are used to, but a little more primitive, more like the ones you find in tribal settlements, where they make flower carpets out of the available flowers and plants.
This ‘live’ ‘athappookkalam’ has over seven different types of flowers or plants planted in concentric circles. The outer ring is a cultivated variety of the plant commonly called as Aralia, said Kailas, who was involved in the making of the floral carpet.
The next is a look-alike of Diffenbachia, commonly grown for its ornamental leaves than flowers. The third row is Chlorophytum, the plant with thin ribbon-like leaves and white flowers. Inner to the Chlorophytum are the varieties of acorus and rheo, while the centre-most flowers are those of Rose. To give it height and contrast, Thuja plant has also been planted in the centre.
‘’We took some time to plan and finalise which plant should go where. It has been just a week since we got it complete,’’ said Kailas.
While all floral carpets everywhere else would wither away, a couple of days after Thiruvonam, this one at the Botany Department will lie on, not just for days, but even weeks and months, until the seasonal plants die out.
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