sal shorea robusta blossom

[kaysat tiwari]

Dear All,

Photographed today at about 0850 at Bandhavgarh Ntl Park. Sal trees are in full blossom now.

Satyendra 

--
Satyendra K.Tiwari.
Wildlife Photographer, Naturalist, Tour Leader
H.NO 139, P.O.Tala, Distt Umariya.
M.P. India 484-661
00-91-7627-265309 or 09425331209

[J.M. Garg]

Lovely picture of flowers, Satyendra ji.

I am attaching a few pictures of leaves, trunk, flower-buds etc. taken on 16/3/08 at Jayanti, Duars, West Bengal.

 

Sal (Shorea robusta) is a species of tree native to southern Asia, ranging south of the Himalaya, from Myanmar in the east to India, Bangladesh, and Nepal. In India it extends from Assam, Bengal and Jharkhand west to the Shivalik Hills in Haryana, east of the Yamuna. The range also extends through the Eastern Ghats and to the eastern Vindhya and Satpura ranges of central India. It is often the dominant tree in the forests where it occurs.

Sal is moderate to slow growing, and can attain heights of 30 to 35 m and a trunk diameter of up to 2-2.5 m. The leaves are 10-25 cm long and 5-15 cm broad. In wetter areas, it is evergreen; in drier areas, it is dry-season deciduous, shedding most of the leaves in between February to April, leafing out again in April and May.

Sal is one of the most important sources of hardwood timber in India, with hard, coarse-grained wood that is light in colour when freshly cut, and becoming dark brown with exposure. The wood is resinous and durable, and is sought after for construction, although not well suited to planing and polishing.

Sal resin is burned as incense in Hindu ceremonies, and sal seeds and fruit are a source of lamp oil and vegetable fat.

Sal is said to be the species of tree under which Siddhartha Gautama the Buddha was born.

Sal fat is a key ingredient in the green tea variety of Pocky.

The above inf. taken from Wikipedia link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sal

For my Birds, Butterflies, Trees, Lanscape pictures etc., visit  http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/J.M.Garg

[Barry Stock]

I attempted to grow Sal here (in Florida) in 2006 when some seed became available through Ashvini Gautam. I managed to get one seed germinated out of the batch (the seed is very perishable, so I wasn't surprised), but the seedling struggled -- valiantly -- for over a year, dying back and re-growing a stem several times before I recycled the soil. I'm not certain whether it was just problems with the seed or climatic conditions that caused its demise.

Barry Stock

Hollywood, Florida, USA

<Sal (Shorea robusta)- flowering canopy at Jayanti, Duars I Picture 117.jpg><Sal (Shorea robusta)- new leaves with flower buds at Jayanti, Duars I Picture 120.jpg><Sal (Shorea robusta)- old leaf at Jayanti, Duars I Picture 122.jpg><Sal (Shorea robusta)- trunk- strangulated by some ficus tree at Jayanti, Duars I Picture 119.jpg>