What do we mean by Indian Flowers?

One might wonder whether the term Indian in Indian Flowers stands for flowers originally from India or to any flower that is grown in India. Our definition of Flowers of India includes any flower that grows in India. However, we distinguish between the following three categories:

Native : Flowers found wild in India since recorded time, not known to be introduced by any human agency. These include plants like Devil's Claws (Martynia annua) whose seeds attach themselves to animal legs to transport themselves from one region to the other. This category also includes plants which have been only known to grow in cultivation, e.g. potato.

Naturalized : This category includes plants which were originally introduced from elsewhere, but are self-propagating and have become naturalized. These can also be seen
growing wild.

Introduced : This category includes plants which are known to be introduced into India by a human agency. The introduction may have been long back in time.
The three symbols mentioned above have been used in the slides of all the flowers on the site to indicate their category.