ASHOKA TREE 

Botanical Name : Saraca asoca

Family : Fabaceae

The Ashoka tree, also known as Saraca asoca, is a beautiful, evergreen tree that is native to India and Sri Lanka. It is considered sacred in Hindu mythology and is often planted in temple courtyards and along roadsides.

The tree has a variety of traditional medicinal uses in Ayurveda, including the treatment of gynecological disorders, digestive problems, and skin diseases. The bark of the Ashoka tree is particularly prized for its healing properties, and is commonly used to treat uterine disorders and menstrual irregularities.

In addition to its medicinal uses, the Ashoka tree is also valued for its ornamental qualities. It has large, bright green leaves, and produces clusters of fragrant, bright orange-yellow flowers that bloom throughout the year. The tree's graceful, weeping branches and attractive foliage make it a popular choice for landscaping and garden design.

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Jungle Jalebi

 MADRAS THORN

Botanical name : Pithecellobium dulce

Family : Fabaceae

Vernacular names : Manila Tamarind, Camachile, Jungle Jalebi

The Jungle Jalebi tree (Pithecellobium dulce) is a species of flowering tree in the family Fabaceae, native to Central and South America. It is also known as Madras Thorn, Manila Tamarind, or Camachile.

The tree can grow up to 25 meters tall, and it has a spreading canopy with branches that droop downwards. The leaves are pinnate, and each leaf has 8-16 pairs of leaflets. The flowers are small and white, and they bloom in clusters. The fruit of the Jungle Jalebi tree is a pod that is 7-20 cm long and 2-3 cm wide. The pods are brown in color and have a hard, woody shell. Inside the pod, there are 6-10 seeds that are surrounded by a sweet, sticky pulp.

The pulp of the Jungle Jalebi fruit is edible and has a sweet and sour taste. It is often used to make jams, jellies, and drinks. The seeds are also edible and can be roasted and eaten like nuts. The wood of the Jungle Jalebi tree is hard and durable, and it is used for making furniture and construction materials.

The Jungle Jalebi tree is a popular ornamental tree and is often planted in parks and gardens. It is also used in landscaping to provide shade and as a windbreak. The tree is drought-tolerant and can grow in a wide range of soil types, making it an ideal tree for reforestation projects.

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THE TAMARIND TREE

 TAMARIND

Scientific name -  Tamarindus indica

Family - Fabaceae

COMMON NAMES:  

   1) The Tamarind. 

   2) Imli, Amli in Hindi.

   3) Tamarindus is from the Persian name for this tree tamar-i-Hindi, i.e., the date of India.

   4) Indica in Latin means Indian.

GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT TAMARIND TREE:

   1) A very large handsome evergreen tree with dark grey rough bark. 

   2) Leaves with 10-20 pairs of leaflets. 

   3) Flowers about 0.5 inch long, variegated yellow and red, appearing in the hot weather. 

   4) Pods 3-6 inches long, 0.5 inch thick, filled with dark brown fibrous, acid pulp, containing 3-10 seeds, ripening in the cold weather.

   5) There is a variety the pod of which has sweet pulp and another variety with a reddish pulp. 

   6) The last named is considered the best.

USES OF THE TAMRIND TREE:

   1) In suitable places the tamarind is one of the finest trees in India, growing to an enormous size (a girth of 42 feet has been recorded) and reaching a great age. 

   2) The pulp of the fruit is a favourite ingredient of curries and chutneys, it is used medicinally and also for making sherbet. 

   3) The leaves and flowers are also eaten. 

   4) The timber is durable but hard and difficult to work.  

   5) Moreover the heartwood is rather small, otherwise the tree would be much more valuable foe timber. 

   6) It is used for mallets, rice-pounders, oil presses, etc.

HABITAT OF THE TAMRIUND TREE:

   1) Believed to be indigenous to Tropical Africa. 

   2) Now cultivated everywhere in the tropics and found growing spontaneously in Asia and America.

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The Sissoo tree

                                     DALBERGIA SISSOO                            

Family- Fabaceae 

Scientific name - Dalbergia sissoo      

COMMON NAMES –

   1) It is called as Shisham, sissu or tali.

   2) Sisso is one of the vernacular names.

   3) It is also known as Indian rosewood tree.

GENERAL INFORMATION OF THE SISSOO TREE –

   1) A fairly large deciduous tree with dark grey rough bark.

   2) Leaves composed of 3-5 leaflets arranged alternately on a somewhat zigzag axis which is swollen at the base.

   3) Flowers about 0.25- inch long, yellowish-white, rather  numerous, inconspicuous but sweet-scented.

                             

   4) Stamens 9, united in a tube slit along the upper side.

   5) Fruit a thin strap-shaped pod 1.5-4 inches long by 0.3-0.5 inch wide, containing 1-4 flattened seeds.

   6) Leafless in January, February, the fresh foliage appearing in       7) March and the flowers soon after.

   8) The fruit ripens in November but remains hanging on the trees for several months.

USES OF THE SISSOO TREE –

   1) The shisham is the favourite road-side tree in upper India.

   2) For this purpose it has many advantages.

   3) It is easily grown, fairly rapid in growth, in full foliage during the hot weather and almost immune from lopping, barking and other forms of wanton damage. 

   4) The leaves are not used for fodder and the bark is not used for tanning or medicine.

   5) The timber is valuable.

   6) The sap-wood is perishable being very subject to attack by borers but the heart-wood is durable.

   7) It is hard, heavy, brown in colour with darker streaks.

   8) Though not easy to work it takes an excellent polish and is one of the main furniture woods.

   9) It is also used for spokes of wheels, carts, boats and many other purposes.

HABITAT OF THE SISSOO TREE –

   1) Indigenous along the foot of the Himalaya from the Indus to              2) Assam extending along the banks of rivers for some distance into the plains.

   3) As the result of cultivation it is now found in many places where it is not indigenous especially in irrigated tracts.

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ALBIZZIA LEBBEK

 ALBIZZIA LEBBEK

Family – Fabaceae

Scientific name – Albizzia lebbek

COMMON NAMES –

   1) It is known as the Siris.

   2) Albizzia is so named in honour of Albizzi, an Italian naturalist of the 18th century.

   3) Lebbek the name in Egypt where it is much used as a roadside tree.

   4) Another American name is Woman’s Tongue also referring to the sound of the pods in the wind.

GENERAL INFORMATION –

   1) The medium sized to large deciduous tree with dark grey rough bark.

   2) Leaves compound, the main stalk as a rule with a large gland about an inch from the base.

   3) The rachis does not bear leaflets direct but usually 2-3 pairs of lateral axes on which 3-9 pairs of asymmetrical leaflets are borne.

Flowers of the siris

The siris tree

   4) Flowers very fragrant, pale greenish-yellow, in heads on stalks 2-4 inches long.

   5) The only conspicuous part of the flower is the long silky stamens.

   6) Pods 6-12 inches long, 1-2 inches broad, thin, straw-coloured when ripe.

   7) This tree is best recognized by its large pods which are freely produced and remain long on the tree, being specially conspicuous in the hot weather when the tree is more or less leaflets.

USES OF THE ALBIZZIA LEBBEK –

   1) The siris is planted almost throughout India as a roadside tree as it is a hardy, easily raised from seed and grows rapidly.

   2) It has an excellent habit for a roadside tree but is leafless during the hot weather.

   3) Moreover it is a relatively short lived tree.

   4) Old specimens are frequently much disfigured by dead stumps of large branches badly infested with wood-boring insects which eventually lead to the destruction of the tree.

   5) The timber of the siris is exported to Europe from the Andaman’s as koko or East Indian Walnut and is used for furniture but in most parts of India the wood of the sins is not appreciated.

   6) The sapwood is broad and very subject to attack by insects.

   7) The heartwood is dark brown with lighter and darker streaks, it polishes and works well.

   8) It is used for cane-crushers, oil-presses and parts of wheels.

HABITAT –

   1) The siris has been so much planted and spread by cultivation that its original habitat is not now known.

   2) It is found almost throughout India.

   3) To the west of India it is found through Arabia and Egypt to Senegal as a planted tree.

   4) It is planted also in China and Indo-China.

   5) In tropical America it has long been cultivated and is locally known as fry wood owing to the incessant rattle of the pods  in the wind making a sound like that of frying fish.

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INTRODUCTION TO THE GOLDEN SHOWER TREE

 

THE GOLDEN SHOWER TREE

Family – Fabaceae

Scientific name – Cassia fistula

COMMON NAMES:

   1) The Indian Laburnam or Amaltas.

   2) Sometimes also called the Golden Shower, Pudding Pipe tree.

   3) Cassia was a classical name for some tree with aromatic bark, probably a species of wild cinnamon.

   4) Its present botanical use is not very appropriate.

   5) Fistula in Latin means a pipe and refers to the pods.

GENERAL INFORMATION:

   1) A small or medium-sized tree, occasionally reaching a height of 60 feet and a girth of 5 feet.

   2) The bark is smooth and grey or greenish-grey on young trees.

   3) The tree is very conspicuous in the hot weather when the flowers appear.

Flowers of the Golden Shower Tree

   4) These are large and bright yellow and occur in long pendulous bunches (racemes).

   5) At the time of flowering the tree is leafless or nearly so, the first flowers appearing as the last of the old leaves are falling and the flowering continues until the fresh foliage has been developed.

   6) The fresh leaves are often of a rich coppery colour.

   7) During the cold weather the tree is usually conspicuous from its pods which are 1—2 feet long and 0.75 to1 inch diameter and dark brown in colour.

USES OF THE GOLDEN SHOWER TREE:

   1) This tree is frequently planted for ornament.

   2) The timber is hard and durable but being available in small sizes only, it is used for posts, carts and similar purposes in villages rather than in the timber trade.

   3) To a small extent the bark is used for tanning.

   4) The pods are divided into 1-seeded cells by thin transverse partitions.

   5) The seeds are immersed in a dark-brown sweetish pulp which is much used medicinally being laxative in small doses and purgative in larger doses.

PROPOGATION OF THE GOLDEN SHOWER TREE:

   1) The pods when ripe should be broken up and the seed extracted.

   2) It is advisable to sow plenty of seed even if only a few plants are required as much of the seed lies dormant in the soil for a year or more without germinating though some usually come up in a few months after sowing.

   3) Germination may be hastened by pouring very hot water (nearly boiling) on the seed and leaving the seeds to soak for a day or two.

Fruit of The Golden Shower Tree

   4) Some of the seeds will probably be found swollen, these should be removed and sown at once (they must not be allowed to become dry).

   5) The hot water treatment can then be repeated on any unswollen seeds, if necessary two or three times.

   6) The tree transplants readily but sometimes does not appear to grow well after transplanting.

   7) Such plants as a rule eventually recover and grow well.

   8) Under favourable conditions the trees should start flowering in about five years from seed.

HABITAT OF THE GOLDEN SHOWER TREE:

   1) Throughout the greater part of India up to 4,000 feet in the Himalaya, Burma, Indo-China, Java and the Philippines.

   2) Planted for ornament in all tropical countries and naturalized in many places where it was not native.

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