Butea monosperma (Lam.) Kuntze
Vernacular name: Flame of the forest, Palash (Hindi: पलाश)
Species Name: Butea monosperma (Lam.) Kuntze
Family: Fabaceae
Habit: Medium deciduous tree
Stem: Stout trunk, grey-brown bark, young parts with orange-red hairs.
Leaf: Trifoliolate, leaflets elliptic-obovate 10-20 cm long.
Flowering: February–April
Flowers: Dense terminal racemes 15-20 cm long (racemose inflorescence – pedunculate flowers on unbranched axis); bright orange-scarlet, papilionaceous, 2-3 cm long, keel beak-shaped.
Fruit: Flat oblong pod 10-20 cm × 2-4 cm, single seed.
Uses:
- A gum exudates from the tree and is used in medicine as powerful astringent that is given in diarrhea and dysentery.
- Seeds are antihelmintic.
- Flowers yield a yellow dye and hence are also used in the festival of Holi.
- A postal stamp was issued by the Indian Postal Department in 1981 to commemorate this flower.
- Leaves serve as plates for domestic purposes.
