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Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Maple Leaved Bayur Tree

Very recently I was staying with my brother at Coimbatore. I spent a fortnight at his Race Course Road residence. On the very first day, after dinner, I was walking around the colony, just to have a feel. After walking down about 100 feet, I started getting a very pleasant sweet smell in the air. Soon my nostrils got filled with that fragrance. Soon I could discover the tree laden with beautiful flowers which was emanating that queer smell. I would have attempted to take a photograph to capture the bloom, though I knew the built in flash was not adequate to get a good shot. Therefore I decided to return in the morning. When I reached the tree the next day morning, I was totally disappointed for all the flowers were lying on the ground. I understood that they are nocturnal in nature. Some how I could locate one which was still clinging to the branch as if to oblige me. I lost no time and could get a reasonably good picture after zooming in.


The white flower is quite large and with which I was not acquainted with. I asked the watchman guarding the gate about its name. He said it is “Venangu” in Tamil. Thereafter I consulted with my knowledgeable friends over telephone but none could help me to augment my own knowledge. I was also lacking the facility of transmitting the photograph over the mobile (Cell) phone.

When I reached Chennai I continued my exploration. Some amount of googling (flowers of India site) helped me to resolve the problem of identification.  It was the Maple leaved Bayur Tree (Pterospermum acerifolium). Incidentally it is a native of India and Myanmar. In Hindi it is known as Kanak Champa, Muchkund or Padm Pushp. In Bengali it is Rosukunda. In Sikkim it is known as Hathipaila. The tree has red wood which is used to make planks.

15 comments:

  1. Nice information and pics.
    Thanks,...!

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  2. Though I knew the name of this beautiful flower as Kanak champa but you have described it very nicely giving lovely information. Thanks a lot for sharing this lovely post. I appreciate for the wonderful picture you have taken specially the first one.

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  3. very beautiful!! i didnt know all this! thanks for the info!

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  4. Hi PNS,

    Wonderful information. Lovely photos. You have done so much research to ferret out the details of this beautiful flower. Very interesting information. Many thanks for sharing.

    Best wishes,
    Joseph

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  5. बहुत ही अच्छी और जानकारीप्रद पोस्ट। चित्र भी बहुत ख़ूबसूरत!!

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  6. i have a tree field guide of delhi, authored by pradip krishen, a very extensive directory of all trees in delhi...im so hooked to the book that always carry it around and try to spot the trees while driving around in delhi......

    so, you post on this flower and tree is very welcome...i dont know if this tree can be found in delhi...but i will look for it...

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  7. Nice post, really well captured...
    I can imagine the sweet scent of the whiff of the flower!!!
    Have a fabulous sunday:)

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  8. The flower is very pretty .Thanks for sharing the information .Glad to be here ,loved your blog :)

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  9. It is sometimes very frustrating when we like some thing and are not able to get the correct name of the flower or the tree, and just describing it is also not enough. I can understand your eagerness in finding everything about it. Thanks for the information. It is indeed a beautiful flower.

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  10. Thank you very much for your visit. It's so wonderful to meet you. Your blog is very interesting and informative. I do enjoy flowers with scents too. How wonderful that you were able to capture that flower before it fell.

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  11. The Fragrance is what intrests me, Any idea if this grows in Bangalore? I have not come across, though the Sampige in bangalore in this of year spreads its fragrance all around. About two decades back it used to be the case all over the city, now it is confined to a few pockets

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  12. So nice to have you visit my blog and thank you for the kind words.
    Enjoyed this post and flower is very pretty.
    Nicely captured!

    Margie :)

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  13. .

    PNS Sir ,

    I'm very thankful for this beautiful and informative post. This plant is very commonly found in Thailand as well. I was not aware of it's name but its fragrance resembles very much like "Raat-rani" of our Indian shrub.

    Thanks again for providing different local names of this flower.

    Loving the post .

    .

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