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Saraca asoca
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Family:
FABACEAE/LEGUMINOSAE (Subfam.: Caesalpinioideae)
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Citation: Saraca asoca (Roxb.) de Wilde, Blumea 15: 393. 1968; Manilal & Sivar., Fl. Calicut 94. 1982; Mohanan, Fl. Quilon Dist. 164. 1984; Ramach. & V.J. Nair, Fl. Cannanore Dist. 167. 1988; Antony, Syst. Stud. Fl. Kottayam Dist. 147. 1989; Vajr., Fl. Palghat Dist. 184. 1990; Sanjappa, Legumes Ind. 35. 1992; M. Mohanan & Henry, Fl. Thiruvanthapuram 170. 1994; Subram., Fl. Thenmala Div. 119. 1995; Sasidh. & Sivar., Fl. Pl. Thrissur For. 166. 1996; Ravikumar & Ved, Illustr. Field Guide 100 Red Listed Med. Pl. 334. 2000; Anil Kumar et al., Fl. Pathanamthitta 200. 2005; Sunil & Sivadasan, Fl. Alappuzha Dist. 260. 2009; Ratheesh Narayanan, Fl. Stud. Wayanad Dist. 327. 2009.
Jonesia asoca Roxb., Asiat. Res. 4: 365. 1799.
Saraca indica sensu Bedd., Fl. Sylv. t. 57. 1870; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 2: 271. 1878, non L. 1769; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 409(289). 1919.
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Malayalam Name(s):
Ashokam, Hemapushpam, Vanjuulam
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Tamil name(s):
Ashok
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English name(s):
Asoka tree
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Description:
Trees, to 10 m high, bark 2-3 mm thick, surface brown or brownish-black, lenticellate. Leaves paripinnate, alternate; leaflets 6-12, opposite, 7-28.5 x 2-8.5 cm, narrowly oblong, oblong-ovate or ovate-lanceolate, round, cuneate or acute, apex acute or acuminate, base obtuse, margin entire, glabrous, coriaceous; stipules 7-20 mm long, intra petiolar, scarious, ovate, connate; rachis 4-25 cm long, slender, pulvinate, glabrous; petiolule 2-10 mm long, stout, glabrous; lateral nerves 10-15 pairs, pinnate, arched towards the margin, slender, faint, intercostae reticulate, faint. Flowers bisexual, yellow-orange or red, in dense sessile paniculate corymbs, axillary to leaves or leaf scars; bracts ovate, small deciduous; bracteoles 4 mm long oblong-spathulate, ciliolate, coloured, subpersistent. Calyx 4 cm long, petalloid, cylindric, enclosing a lobed disc; lobes 4, ovate-oblong, unequal, spreading, imbricate. Petals 0. Stamens 7 or 8, much exserted, free; filaments long, filiform, coloured, glabrous; anthers versatile. Ovary half inferior, stipitate, the stipe adnate below to one side of the disc, pubescent; style incurved, glabrous, filiform; stigma small, capitate; ovules many. Fruit a pod 10-5 x 2-5 cm, flat, oblong, coriaceous or almost woody, tapering at both ends; continuous within; seeds 2-8, 3.8 cm long, ovoid, slightly compressed.
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Habit:
Tree
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Flowering & Fruiting:
February-August
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District(s):
All Districts
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Medicinal:
Yes
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Habitat:
Evergreen forests, also grown as ornamental tree in the plains
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Distribution:
India and Myanmar
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Aquatic:
No
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Epiphyte(s):
No
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Saprophyte:
No
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Stem parasite:
No
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Root parasite:
No
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Flower colour(s):
Orange, Red
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Weed:
No
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Monocot/Dicot:
Dicotyledonous Plants
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Exotic:
No
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Garden:
Yes
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Edible:
No
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Vegetable:
No
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Endemic to:
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IUCN status:
Vulnerable (VU)
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Altitude:
400-1000
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Localities:
Peechi, Nelluyampathy forests, Arampa, Brahmagiri, Tirunalli, Marapalam-Pothundy, Ponmudi, Ariankavu, Chingoli
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