Bauhinia racemosa

Scientific Classification

Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Angiospermae
Class: Equisetopsida
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Genus: Bauhinia
Species: Bauhinia racemosa
Scientific Name: Bauhinia racemosa Lam.

Common names
English: Burmese Silk Orchid

Hindi: कठमूली Katmauli

Marathi: Kanchan, अपटा Apta, सोना Sona

Sanskrit यमलपत्रक Yamalapatrakah, युग्मपत्र Yugmapatra

Description
Deciduous trees to 10 m high, bark grey to black, rough, thinly scaly, with numerous vertical cracks; blaze pinkish-red, turning brown on exposure. Leaves simple, bilobed, alternate; stipules small, cauducous; petiole 10-33 mm long, slender, pubescent, swollen at base and at tip; leaves 2-5 x 3.5-11 cm, broader than long, ovate-orbicular, base cordate, apex obtuse, bilobed and mucronate at cleft, margin entire, glabrous above, pubescent beneath, coriaceous; 7-9 nerves from the base, palmate, prominent, intercostae reticulate, prominent. Flowers bisexual, 10-12 mm across, yellowish-white, in terminal and leaf opposed few flowered racemes; bracts and bracteoles 2-3 toothed, minute, pubescent; pedicel 1-2 mm, slender; calyx spathaceous, reflexed, 5-toothed at apex, puberulous; petals 5, 1.5 x 0.2 cm, linear-oblong; stamens 10, all perfect; filaments equal, filiform, pilose at base; anthers versatile; ovary half-inferior, stalked, pubescent, ovules many; style filiform; stigma peltate. Fruit a pod 15-22 x 1.5-2 cm, oblong, blackish-brown, turgid, apex horned indehiscent; seeds 10-20, ovoid.