Butea monosperma is a species of Butea native to tropical and sub-tropical parts of South Asia and Southeast Asia, ranging across Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and western Indonesia. Common names include flame-of-the-forest, dhak, palash, and bastard teak. Revered as sacred by Hindus, it is prized for producing an abundance of vivid blooms, and it is also cultivated elsewhere as an ornamental. Butea monosperma is stunning as a specimen tree.
Description
It is a small-sized dry-season deciduous tree, growing to tall. It is a slow-growing tree: young trees have a growth rate of a few feet per year. The leaves are pinnate, with an petiole and three leaflets, each leaflet long. The flowers are long, bright orange-red, and produced in racemes up to long. The fruit is a pod long and broad.
Flowers frequently have a spectacular late-winter bloom. Each flower features five petals, two wings, and a keel that resembles the curled beak of a parrot. If the winter season is too cold, too dry, or too rainy, trees may not blossom.
History
Historically, palash originated in Bihar and Jharkhand. Dhak forests covered much of the Doaba area between the Ganges and the Yamuna, but these were cleared for agriculture in the early 19th century as the English East India Company increased tax demands on the peasants.
Use
It is used for timber, resin, fodder, medicine, and dye. The wood is dirty white and soft. Being durable under water, it is used for well-curbs and water scoops. Spoons and ladles made of its wood are used in various Hindu rituals to pour ghee into the fire. Good charcoal can be obtained from it. Farmers typically plant trees on field bunds and use them to reduce soil erosion. Young shoots are grazed by buffaloes as fodder. The leaves were once used to serve food where plastic plates would be used today.
Lac Production
The tree serves as a crucial host in India for the lac bug (Laccifer lacca), which creates shellac. It produces the most lac sticks per hectare of any lac tree.
Leather Production
The bark produces a crimson exudate that, when dried, hardens into a substance called "Butea gum" or "Bengal kino." The gum is considered valuable by druggists because of its astringent qualities and by leather workers because of its tannin.
Culinary Use
The gum from the tree, called kamarkas in Hindi, is used in certain food dishes.
In Maharashtra state of India it is prepared as a summer beverage out of tea of the flower which is considered to have medicinal benefits
Patravali Plate
In villages of many parts of India, for example in Maharashtra, this tree provides the leaves that are used either with many pieced together or singly (only in case of a banana leaf) to make a leaf-plate for serving a meal. Up until a century ago, a would-be-son-in-law was tested on his dexterity in making this plate and bowl (used to serve daal, gravy dishes) before being declared acceptable by the father-in-law-to-be.
Dye
The flowers are used to prepare a traditional Holi colour called "Kesari". It is also used as a dye for fabric. Butein, a vibrant yellow to deep orange-red dye made from the flowers, is used mostly for dying silk and occasionally for dying cotton. Hindus ink their foreheads with this colour.
Plantation Guide
Best grown in sunny tropical locations. Best performance occurs in deep, fertile, organically rich, well-drained soils in full sun to part shade. Add surface mulch. Needs consistent moisture, but soils should begin to dry as winter approaches to encourage leaf drop by the beginning of winter. Plants should be sited in areas protected from strong winds.
Literature
The first sloka of the Sukla Yajurveda speaks about the Palasa tree. The Palasa tree branch is cut and trimmed by the Adhvaryu priest who performed the practical part of sacrifice, the day before a new moon or a full moon, and used it to drive the calves away from cows whose milk was to form a part of the offerings for the next day's special ceremony.
A History of the Sikhs Vol. 1, written by famous Punjabi writer Khushwant Singh, describes Punjab's landscape as: "While the margosa is still strewing the earth with its brittle ochre leaves, the silk cotton, the coral and the flame of the forest burst into flowers of bright crimson, red, and orange." References to this tree are often found in Punjabi literature. The Punjabi poet Harinder Singh Mehboob employed its symbolism in his poems.