Botanical Name - Butea frondosa

----- B. frondosa, Roxb. ; F.B.I. II-194. Brandi's Ind. Trees. 230. Gamble's Ind. Timbers, 243. Vern. Palas, Dak, Hind. Modugu, Tel. Pulas, Mar.

----- A moderate-sized deciduous tree. Bark fibrous , grey exfoliating in small irregualr pieces ; exuding from cuts and fissures a red juice which hardens into a ruby - coloured gum, similar to "Kino", Leaves pinnately 3 - foliolate ; stalk 5 - 9 in. long , Leaflets hard , rigidly coriaceous, glabrescent above, silky tomentose beneath ; lateral leaflets 6-8 by 5-7 1/2 in., boliquely ovate or broad elliptic. Flowers 2-3 1/2 in. long, fascicled in rigid and terminal racemes which are 4-7 in . long ; inflorescens, bracts and calyx dark-brown-valvately ; Calyx 1/2 in. long, fleshy, grey-silky inside ; petals bright orange-red, equal, silvery-tomentose outside. Pod 4-6 by 1 1/2-2 in., strap shaped, firm, pendulous, silky-tomentose abruptly narrowed to a stalk 5-7 by 1 1/2-2 in., with only one seed near the apex, indehiscent below the seed.

----- Very common anbd abundant. It is the most common indigenous tree of the Deccan. It thrives on black-cotton soil, on salt lands and in water-logged places. It is remarkable for its brilliant scarlet-orange flowers with black seplas which appear when the tree is leafless at the beginning of the hot season, and make it recognible from a great distance away. They give a bright yellow dye, formerly used at the " Holi " festival, but now generally replaced by aniline dyes. The leaves are largely used by Hindus as food-platters, and the roots afford a strong rope-fibre. The red exudation forms one of the gum-kinos of commerce. It is slod in the bazaars as a medicine and is used also for precipitating indigo. The seeds are also used as a purgative and vermifuge. The Wood is soft and durable above ground, but is said to be much better under water. It is little used. Weight about 39 lbs. per c. ft. Flowers March and April. Fruit May and June.