Fabaceae-Caesalpinioideae (Caesalpiniaceae) Week: Bauhinia variegata from Delhi

[Gurcharan Singh]

Bauhinia variegata Linn., Sp. Pl. 375. 1753.

Common names: Mountain ebony, orchidtree

Hindi & Mar: Kachnar

Beng: Raktakanchan

Tam: Segapumanchori

Kan: Kanchavala

Mal: Chuvannamandarum

Tree up to 12 m tall; leaves 7-13 cm long, 10-15 cm broad, somewhat broader than long; cleft 1/3 with rounded lobes, base cordate, petiole 2-4 cm long; flowers 10-12 cm across, in short racemes, pedicel short or absent; calyx 2-2.5 cm long, 5-toothed at apex, tomentose; petals overlapping, 5-6 cm long, white to pink with purplish veins, fifth upper darker; stamens 5; pod 15-25 cm long, 1.5-2 cm thick 

Photographed from Janak Puri, New Delhi in March, Flowers appearing generally before leaves.

--
Dr. Gurcharan Singh
Retired  Associate Professor
SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007
Res: 932 Anand Kunj, Vikas Puri, New Delhi-110018.
Phone: 011-25518297  Mob: 9810359089
http://people.du.ac.in/~singhg45/

[Balkar Singh]

Thanks Sir for Nice series on Bauhinia

--
Regards

Dr Balkar Singh
Head, Deptt. of Botany and Biotechnology
Arya P G College, Panipat
Haryana-132103
09416262964

[Satish Phadke]

Thanks for the information. I was not aware about the differences between this and B.purpurea.
Surprisingly BSI Mah flora doesn't mention this species at all.......

On Sun, Dec 4, 2011 at 11:46 PM, Gurcharan Singh <sing...@gmail.com> wrote:

--
Dr Satish Phadke

[prasad dash]

To me this is another great catch especially the 2nd image

Regards

prasad

--
Prasad Kumar Dash
Ecologist, Orissa, India
email: prasad....@gmail.com
ph. 09437444241