Beta

Nature Note From Mhow: The Beautiful Amaltas....

Mhow, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India

Nature Note From Mhow: The Beautiful Amaltas....

Taxonomic Name: Cassia fistula

Common Names:

Bengali: Bandarlati, Amaltas, Sondal

English: Indian Laburnum, Golden Shower, Pudding Pipe Tree, Purging Fistula

Hindi: Amaltas, Girmala

Kannada: Kakke

Malayalam: Kanni Konna, Vishu Konna (The State Tree of Kerala)

Marathi: Bahava

Meitei (Manipuri): Chahui

Nepali: Rajbriksya, Amaltash

Oriya: Sandari

Punjabi: Alash

Sanskrit: Aragvadha, Chaturangula, Kritamala, Suvarnuka

Tamil: Appal, Tiru Kontai, Konrai

Telugu: Relu, Aragvadhamu

Thai: Chaiyaphruek

What a beautiful tree this is. I wait for it to flower every year in the month of April. I cannot imagine the festival of Vishu in Kerala being celebrated without this flower. If I am unable to get this flower for our puja room on Vishu I make sure I get any shade of yellow as close to the colour of the Amaltas. Ezra Pound had once said, "The difference between a gun and a tree is tempo. The tree explodes every spring." An apt quotation for this tree.
It is used extensively in Ayurveda.

In his book Trees of Delhi the nature lover Pradip Krishen writes about how an Englishman named Robert Troup conducted an experiment in Dehra Dun in the early part of the last century and came to the conclusion that the Amaltas needed the help of animals like jackals, civets, monkeys, bears and even the porcupine to propagate. When these animals crack open the pods to eat the pulp they also pass the seeds through their alimentary canals and this makes the seeds more conducive to germinating. A fascinating piece of information this.