Jarul / Pride of India/ Queen’s Crape Myrtle

Lagerstroemia speciosa

A fairly common mid-sized deciduous tree with oppositely (or almost so) arranged oval leaves, glossy/smooth in both sides. In April-May looks beautiful in mauve/pink/lilac flowers in erect clusters.

Bark: smooth, greyish or cream-colored or pale brown

Leaf: 6-8’’ oppositely/or almost oppositely arranged with a short stout stalk. Turns red/purplish in winter

Flower: In large erect clusters. Individual flowers 2-3’’ wide with 6 mauve/pink/lilac crinkled petals which usually turn whitish when old. Fruits form by August and stays in the tree for many months

Fruit: woody spherical capsule slightly less than an inch which split when dry and mature

Season: Leaves turn various shades of red/copper/purple in winter and fall of gradually. In March new leaves appear and from April flowers appear that continues till the beginning of rainy season. Young trees often flower after the rains.

Range/habitat: NE India and Western Ghats within India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar and further east to Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, south China and Philippines. In its natural habitat Jarul tends to grow close to watercourse and often attain great size.

Trivia and notes: There is another closely related species called Thai crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia floribuda) with smaller leaves (which are copper colored when young) as well as flower. Flowers are more whitish than Jarul and flowering is in rains (when Jarul’s season is usually over)