Bauhinia Variegata

Scientific Name: Bauhinia variegata

Common Name: Camel's foot

Family: Fabaceae - Caesalpinioideae

Names: Bengali(sweet-kanchan,rakta-kanchan,rakta-kamhar);Cantonese (kanchivala);English(orchid,tree,camel's foot,mountain ebony,Napoleon's hat,paper mulberry,poor man's orchid,bauhinia)

General Information

Bauhinia variegata Linn (Mountain Ebony) is a medium-sized, deciduous tree, found all through India, climbing to a height of 1,300 m in the Himalayas. The plant is generally utilized by the tribals all through India and mainstream in different indigenous frameworks of drug like Ayurveda, Unani what's more, and Homeopathy.

Features of Bauhinia variegata that make it identifiable:

Bark: The bark is light brownish gray, smooth to slightly fissured and scaly.

Leaves have minute stipules 1-2 mm, early caducous; petiole puberulous to glabrous, 3-4 cm; lamina broadly ovate to circular, often broader than long, 6-16 cm diameter; 11-13 nerved; tips of lobes broadly rounded, base

Flower clusters (racemes) are unbranched at ends of twigs. The few flowers have short, stout stalks and a stalklike, green, narrow basal tube (hypanthium). The light green, fairly hairy calyx forms a pointed 5-angled bud and splits open on 1 side, remaining attached; petals 5, slightly unequal, wavy margined and narrowed to the base; 5 curved stamens; very slender, stalked, curved pistil, with narrow, green, 1-celled ovary, style and dotlike stigma.

Fruit: Pods dehiscent, strap-shaped, obliquely striate, 20-30 by 2-25 cm; long, hard, flat with 10-15 seeds in each; seeds brown, flat, nearly circular with coriaceus testa.

Uses

Bauhinia racemosa is not familiarly known in Asian countries due to its limited existence and lack of medicinal information. It is commonly used as a medicine, ornamental plant, fence plant, and fodder for livestock since ancient times. It is also used as a landfill tree to avoid soil erosion of the forest.