Badminton Ball Tree

Parkia biglandulosa

A large spreading tree from Malaysia with a huge bole and leaves very similar to familiar gulmohur tree

Bark: Grey brown, not rough

Leaf: Twice-feathered, up to 40 pairs of side stalks and up to 100 pairs of very small crowded leaflets on each side of the side stalks.

Flower: tiny, clustered on the dense head about 4 cm in diameter, on a stalk which is up to 25 cm

Fruit: A long flat pod on a very long stalk (rarely fruits in Kolkata)

Season: Flowers appear in late Jan.

Range/habitat: Originally from Malaysia, but very rare in its natural habitat.

Trivia and notes: Ball badminton is a variant of shuttle badminton originated from princely Tanjore court and is still played in South India. Instead of shuttle woolen ball is used which has some similarity with the flower head of this tree.

Where to Find: Only one sub adult tree in Rabindra Sarobar, which has started flowering in this year (2021) in the south east side of the lake in one corner of the playground 22.51018N,88.36327E. Agro Horticulture Garden in Alipur has adult trees.