Bauhinia variegata Linn.

Scientific Name: Bauhinia variegata Linn.

Family: Caesalpiniaceae

Common Name: White-Purple Orchid Tree

Hindi Name: कचनार

Description: Tree, up to 15 m tall. Bark dark brownish, nearly smooth; branches Gray puberulent when young, later glabrous. Petiole 2.5-3.5 cm; leaf blade suborbicular or broadly ovate, 5-9 × 7-11 cm, sub leathery, abaxially almost glabrous, adaxially glabrous, primary veins 9-13, secondary and higher order veins protruding, base shallowly to deeply cordate, apex bifid to 1/3, lobes rounded at apex. Inflorescence a raceme, few flowered, sometimes corymb like, axillary or terminal. Flower buds fusi­form, smooth, subsessile. Calyx opens as a spathe into 2 lobes. Petals white, or with pink or purplish spots, obovate or oblan­ceolate, 4-5 cm, clawed. Fertile stamens 5; filaments ca. as long as petals, slender. Staminodes 1-5 and small, or absent. Ovary stalked, puberulent; style curved; stigma small. Legume linear, flat, 15-25 × 1.5-2 cm; valves woody. Seeds 10-15, com­pressed, suborbicular, ca. 10 mm in diam. Fl. Feb-May, fr. Mar-Jul. 2n = 28.

Economic Importance: 

• Wood is mainly used for house construction, agricultural implements, furniture, general utensil plywood etc. It is a good fuelwood and is also converted into charcoal.

• The leaves, shoots and pods of B. variegate are used as fodder for livestock, including sheep, goats and cattle.

Medicinal Importance:

• It is believed to possess anti-tumour, anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, anti-goitrogenic, hepatoprotective and haemagglutination properties

• The root is used as an antidote to snake poison. A decoction of the root is used to treat dyspepsia.

Cultural Importance:

• Traditional kachnar curry is prepared using kachnar buds, yogurt, onions and native spices.

• Kachnar buds are also eaten as a stir-fried vegetable and used to make pickle in many parts of the Indian sub-continent.