Purple Bauhinia

Bauhinia purpurea

Beng: Debkanchan (?),

A small nearly evergreen tree with short crooked trunk with roundish bilobed leaves cleft about half way usually overlapping along the inner margin.

Bark: Ashy with silvery surface, not very rough

Leaf: Typical camel foot like bilobed. Cleft usually half way into the leaf and usually with some overlap along the inner margin

Flower: Rose or lilac to purple 5 petals, are rather narrow with 3 long and 2 short stamens

Fruit: A thin flat pod nearly a foot long

Season: The flowers appear among the leaves in October and the early cold weather, pods mature by March-April. The leaves fall in March and April, and the tree is almost (but not totally to get a classification as deciduous) bare of leaves for a short time

Range/habitat:  The tree is a native of the foothills of the Himalayas and is common in the Terai.  Also found in peninsular India as well as in north-east. Beyond India it is found in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, south China region. Found as a scattered tree in dry deciduous forests. Tolerates neither drought nor waterlogging.

Trivia and notes:  There are three tree species of Bauhinia in Rabindra Sarobar(other two, yellow flowered and white flowered are shrubs). Bauhinia variegata is deciduous and flowers in spring usually when the tree is leafless. To make the identification even more challenging, there is a third (hybrid) variety called Hongkong orchid (Bauhinia x blakeana), which is essentially an accidental cross between the other two. Hongkong orchid shows characteristics of both the parents (e.g. starts to flower almost with B. purpurea and ends with B. variegata). Hongkong orchid does not usually produce fruits (and never seeds, as it is sterile)

Where to Find:  In Rabindra Sarobar, Kolkata, around 50 yards from the Gate number 1 (Buddha Temple Gate) on the main road protruding from the Anderson club complex though a specially made opening the iron railings.