Devil’s Tree / Chatim

Alstonia scholaris 

A tall evergreen tree with usually 7 glossy dark green leaves growing in whorl (Hindi/Bengali name derived from Sanskrit saptaparni, which means seven leaves. At first the leaves may appear to be compound (semul-like), but careful observation will reveal that actually it is simple leaves arranged in whorl (as there will not be any common leaf-stalk)

Leaf: Simple, 3-7’’ arranged in whorl from the branchlets. Deep green and glossy above, whitish below. Strongly scented at night. The scent is not liked by many.

Flower: Greenish white in little clusters on long stalk. Strongly scented (many people do not like/tolerate the scent)

Fruit: Slender pendulous bean-like in dense bunches

Season: The flowers appear mostly from October to December, by Jan or Feb tree is conspicuous owing to the hanging green fruits. eventually they split open to release numerous narrow, flat, hairy seeds

Range/habitat: Within India a broad sub Himalayan belt east of Yamuna. Also peninsular India, especially lower reaches of Western ghat and Eastern ghat. Prefers moister regions and can become very tall there (30 meters). Outside India it is distributed from Sri Lanka to Myanmar, South China, Malay peninsula till northern Australia.

Trivia and notes: The specific name scholaris is due to the fact that small writing tables used to be made from this tree’s wood. This tree had a special place in Tagore’s Visva Bharathi. Tagore’s father, Debendranath attained enlightenment meditating under a saptaparni tree. Also, the graduates to be presented saptaparni leaf during convocation.