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Bengali/vernacular name: Kanchan, Devakanchan, Raktakanchan, Koiral. English name: Butterfly tree, Geranium tree, Orchid tree. Description of the plant: BAUHINIA PURPUREA L. is a small to medium-sized evergreen to semi-evergreen tree. Leaves rather longer than broad, shallowly cordate, two-lobed. Flowers large, rosy-purple, in few flowered terminal and axillary, brown-tomentose corymbs. Petals oblanceolate, with a long claw, twice the calyx. Pods 15-25 cm long, ligulate, flat information: The plant is used in dropsy, pain, rheumatism, thigh swelling, convulsion, delirium febris, Datura intoxication and blackness of lip or tongue. Bark acts as an astringent in diarrhoea; its decoction is used as a wash in ulcers. The roots are carminative and the flowers extract of the leaves possesses moderate antibacterial and poor antifungal properties (Taniya, 2004). Chemical constituents: The tree yields a gum (polysaccharides) and the bark contains large quantities of tannic acid, glucose and gum. Plant also contains 25.6% crude protein consisting of a large number of essential and other amino acids (Ghani, 2003). Flowers contain astragalin, isoquercitrin, quercetin, pelargonidin 3-glucoside and 3-triglucoside butein galactoside. Seeds yield alkaloids, trypsin and chymotrypsin inhibitors; also two chalcone glycosides (Asolkar et al., 1992). Distribution:Commonly planted as an ornamental name: Butterfly tree, Pink butterfly tree, Purple bauhinia, Purple butterfly tree, Purple orchid tree • Hindi: Kaniar कनियार • Tamil: நீலத்திருவத்தி Nilattiruvatti • Bengali: Koiral • Assamese: Og-yok • Marathi: Rakta chandan • Kannada: Devakanchan Botanical name: Bauhinia purpurea Family: Caesalpiniaceae (Gulmohar family) The Purple Orchid Tree is an exotic tropical tree that blooms over a long period of time. The beautiful & fragrant, classic, Orchid-like flowers of Bauhinia purpurea makes this small tree, native to India, a favourite of many plant lovers. In fall, before the leaves drop, Orchid-Tree is festooned with many showy and delightfully fragrant, five-inch-wide blossoms, the narrow purple, pink, and lavender petals arranged to closely resemble an orchid. These flowers appear on the trees from September through November and are a beautiful sight to see, creating a vivid splash of color in the autumn landscape. Curiously, the flower colors varies quite a lot. There are some trees which have white flowers with only some streaks of purple in them. Purple orchid tree can be easily distinguished from Orchid Tree (Bauhinia variegata) in that the petals of Purple orchid tree are narrower and do not overlap. On the other hand, the petals of Bauhinia variegata are broad and overlap - it never open fully flat. The flowers are followed by 12-inch-long, slender, brown, flat seedpods which usually persist on the tree throughout the winter. The foliage light green and deeply notched at the tip. Bauhinia purpurea can reach up to 20 feet tall and have a 25 foot crown. Please see more information :
