Bauhinia purpurea

Bauhinia purpurea L., Sp. Pl. 375. 1753; Baker in Hook. f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 2: 284. 1879; Parker, For. Fl. Punj. ed.1: 178. 1918 (Reprint 1973); Ali, Fl. Pak. 54: 242. 1973; Fl. China @ eFloras.org 10: 10; Fl. Pak. @ eFloras.org; keralaplants.in

A medium sized deciduous tree, bark ashy to dark brown, nearly smooth; young parts pubescent. Leaves alternate, simple, petiolate, petiole up to 5 cm long, pulvinate at base and apex; leaf lamina stuffy, papery, 7-18 cm long, longer than broad, cleft about 1/3 to 1/2, lobes slightly acute or rounded at apex, base cuneate, (7- or) 9- or 11-nerved, midvein excurrent into a free small outgrowth, glabrous above, pubescent beneath especially on veins. Flowers zygomorphic, bisexual, pentamerous, perigynous, large, rosy-purple, in few-flowered terminal brown-tomentose panicles; flower buds fusiform, 4-5-ridged with an obtuse apex; pedicels 0.5-1.2 cm long, tomentose; bracts ca. 3 mm long, bracteoles ca. 2 mm long, both deltoid, tomentose and caducous. Hypanthium ca. 7-10 mm long. Calyx tomentose, spathaceous; tube 0.7-1.0 cm long; limb twice as long as tube, usually splitting into 2 reflexed segments, one emarginate, other 3-toothed. Petals 5, free, light pink or rosy-purple, 3.7-5 cm long, narrow, oblanceolate, long-clawed, spreading, veined. Fertile stamens 3, filaments nearly as long as petals; staminodes 5-7, 6-10 mm long, antherless or with anthers much reduced. Ovary downy, long-stalked, unilocular, ovules many, placentation marginal; style long, curved; stigma large, oblique. Legumes 12-25cm x 1.5-2.5 cm, on 1.5-2.5 cm long tomentose stipe, linear, flat, pointed, greenish tinged with purple till ripe, dehiscent; legumes persist throughout winter on trees. Seeds 12-15, suborbicular, flattened, ca. 1.2 cm in diameter, dark brown, smooth.

Flowering and Fruiting: September to March
Common Names: Butterfly Tree, Pink Butterfly Tree, Purple Bauhinia, Purple Butterfly Tree, Purple Orchid Tree; Kaniar, Khairwal (Hindi)