Palaash - Flame of the Forest

Palaash - Flame of the Forest

Butea monosperma

Summary

Scientific Classification

Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Genus: Butea
Species: B.monosperma
Scientific Name: Butea monosperma (Lam.) Taub.

Common Names:
English: Bastard teak, parrot tree, Flame of the forest.
Hindi: Chichra tesu, Desuka jhad, Palaash, Chalcha, Kankeri.
Kannada: Muthuga.
Marathi: Palash.

Discription:

  1. Habit and Habitat: An erect deciduous tree with young parts hairy.Terrestrial habitat.
  2. Distribution: Native to tropical and sub-tropical parts of the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, ranging across India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Camboida, Vietnam, Malaysia and western Indonesia.
    Morphology:
    Leaf: Tri-foliate, leaflets coriaceous, roundish-ovate, leathery in texture.
    Inflorescence: In big racemes.
    Flower: Orange-red, bracts and bracteoles small.Sepals arecampanulate, silky hairy outside, velvety inside.Petals equal, silky hairy, keel semicircular, beaked.
    Androceium: Stamens 10, diadelphous.
    Gynoceium: Ovary stalked, style incurred.
    Fruit: Pods thin, downy bright 1-2 seeded.
    Seeds: 3cm long, ellipsoid and flattened.
    Flowering Time: February – April.
    Fruiting Time: May –July.
  3. Propagation: By seeds.
  4. Importance:
    Used for roadside plantation. Leaves serve as plates for domestic purposes. A gum exudates from the tree and is used in medicine as powerful astringent that is given in diarrhoea and dysentery. Seeds are antihelmintic.
  5. Location: Botanical Garden.

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