I am participating in the April AtoZ Blogging challenge and my theme is Plants featured on Indian Stamps. This is my eight attempt at the AtoZ and the focus is on plants.
My theme is inspired by an online talk by Daniel L Nikrent held by Maharashtra Vriksha Samvardhini about Parasitic Flowering Plants featured on Stamps. I am not a stamp collector nor a fan of stamps. Hence almost all my posts are purely based on research on the internet. I have tried to cross check the info before posting here. Please do share correct info and links to the same in case of discrepancy.
India Post has a very strong network reaching deep deep into the interiors of the country and I depended on it for news from home when we were posted in far away places. In this age of smartphones, Internet, how many of us really write letters - snail mail as they are now called? Despite this , I find that new stamps are being issued and we have stamps on diverse topics including Armed Forces, Films, Personalities, Wildlife, Handlooms, Handicrafts and so on.. It is amazing!
Ocimum sanctum or Ocimum tenuiflorum of the Lamiaceae family is the Tulsi. A plant whose leaves are integral to several Poojas, as offerings to God. (Tulsi leaves are offered to Ganesha only on the Ganesh Chaturthi day, no other) The plant has immense medicinal value as well. It grows well in pots and in the ground as well. The much branched herb is a native and leaves are very fragrant. A variety of Tulsi has reddish leaves.
Its but natural to find a stamp featuring the Tulsi. It is a part of a commemorative stamp of Indian medicinal plants set by India Post released in 1997 of denomination 2 INR.
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| Post of India, GODL-India <https://data.gov.in/sites/default/files/Gazette_Notification_OGDL.pdf>, via Wikimedia Commons |
Six commemorative stamps on Orchids were released in 2016 of different denominations.
The India Postage Stamps website has a complete catalogue of stamps. Please click the link to see many many wonderful stamps.
Colnect is a comprehensive portal for Stamp collectors. It gives detailed information about every listed stamp. Click here for detailed info about Stamps - what is a stamp, types, formats, water marks, perforations and much more.
We meet tomorrow for yet another beautiful plant and its stamp! You can catch up with my previous posts here.Till then, Take Care and Stay Happy!
6 comments:
Tulsi also has many medicinal properties I guess. I never heard the scientific name of Tulsi till now. Good day!
That's a very pretty stamp.
I was going to say I was unfamiliar with this plant, but then noticed the name more closely. Holy basil! Now I know what it's called that!
Thanks Afshan?
Thank you Danielle!
@Lisa hehe! I guess I could have written more about each of the plants. But I wrote in brief so as to not loose attention of my readers!! Thank you Lisa!!
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