My Armed Jarul Tree

[Neil Soares]

Hi,
At my farm at Shahapur, on the banks of a stream, I have a 10 year old Jarul [Queen’s Flower / Lagerstroemia flos-regina / L.speciosa / Taman] tree. I have watched it grow over the years.
The peculiarity of this tree is that it is armed. The trunk and branches throw new leaves at the end of a stalk. The stalk enlarges tapering to a point. The leaves then drop off leaving behind a pointed [thorny] projection.
Dr. Almeida has no explanation for this. Any comments?
With regards,
Neil Soares.

P.S. The photographs have been taken through different seasons.

[Captain Adastra]

Very nice. Aren't these those flowering in monsoon?

I first approached to my gilrfriend with the violet flowers of Jarul, ayt that time she wasn't my girlfriend, but these flowers made her sooooooo happy, you know .....

S

[J.M. Garg]

Certainly very interesting.

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

[Neil Soares]

Hi,
Have received this interesting bit of information from my friend Mr.Amogh Ghaisas,a Chartered Accountant, who as a hobby runs a nursery at Rajmachi.

Reproduced below is his feedback:

This feature I have observed in Nana Tree [Lagerstroemia laceolata] also belonging to the same family.
In fact there is a very good such specimen of Nana with these sorts of
spines on the Rajmachi trail.
When I had inquired with a local person about this odd characteristic he had
told me that if while the tree is young, its main trunk portion is injured
or cut for any reason and then when it starts growing again this kind of
change is seen.

For the record my tree suffered no such injury/insult.
With regards,
Neil Soares.