Scarlet Milkweed - पिवला चित्रक

Scarlet Milkweed - पिवला चित्रक

         This is an introduced variety to India and now naturalized here. It is plant o significance for two reasons: Decorative garden plant and food-plant for common butterflies from milkweed family like crows and tigers. there are more varieties of flower with same Marathi name ' Chitrak (चित्रक)' like blue, white and red. Marathi name 'haladi Kunku' literally means turmeric-vermilion, because of its color yellow-red.  Flower appear in bunches. Buds are pinkish in color. Milky sap is other characteristics of scarlet milkweed, similar to every other milkweed (and that's the name !). It's an evergreen and annual flowering shrub. 

Photographing Scarlet Milkweed:

Buds of Scarlet Milkweed - पिवला चित्रक

Two best angles for this flower to shoot are eye-level and top-angle. In an eye-level shot following things should be taken care of

• choosing good bunch f flower
• Choosing right point of focus
• adjusting depth-of-field to get blurred background

Take a note that, Bloomed flower and buds are completely different in appearance.Top-angle is useful to get dew drops. Here photographer may need help of one more person unless the shrub is short enough to shoot from top.

Few more photography tips: 

• As this flower may grow for more than six feet, taking an eye-level shot and high-angle shot may be difficult. 
• Shoot this flower in early morning.  At this time of the day, dew drops can be captured, buds may be captured and also wind will be low. Scarlet milkweed branches are thing and long. Even a breeze can shake branches to unwanted levels as far as macro photography is concern.
• Use macro lens to capture single flower or dew-drops. Tele lens ( ~300 mm) is useful to get good blurred background.
• Try to take advantage of red-yellow combination choosing right background color. Green is good choice, specially considering the easy availability.
• Try to include caterpillar in the frame to make photo more informative and interesting. This plant is host to common butterflies.

Quick facts:

Common name      : Scarlet Milkweed, Bloodflower, Silkweed, Indian root

Marathi name        : पिवला चित्रक Pivla chitrak, Halad kunku
Botanical name      : Asclepias curassavica 

Family                   : Asclepiadaceae (Milkweed family)

Dew drops on Scarlet Milkweed - पिवला चित्रक

Reference::
http://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Scarlet%20Milkweed.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asclepias_curassavica