Oroxylum indicum

Oroxylum indicum (L.) Kurz , Forest Fl. Burma 2: 237 1877. (Syn. Arthrophyllumceylanicum Miq.; Arthrophyllumreticulatum Blume ex Miq.; Bignoniaindica L.; Bignonialugubris Salisb.; Bignoniapentandra Lour.; Bignoniaquadripinnata Blanco; Bignoniatripinnata Noronha; Bignoniatuberculata Roxb. ex DC.; Calosanthesindica (L.) Blume; Hippoxylonindica (L.) Raf.; Oroxylumflavum Rehder; Spathodeaindica (L.) Pers.);
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or-oh-ZY-lum — from the Greek oros (mountain) and xylon (wood) … Dave’s Botanary
IN-dih-kum or in-DEE-kum — of or from India … Dave’s Botanary
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commonly known as: broken bones plant, Indian calosanthes, Indian trumpet flower, midnight horror, oroxylum, tree of Damocles • Bengali: সোনা sona • Hindi: भूत वृक्ष bhut-vriksha, दीर्घवृन्त dirghavrinta, कुटन्नट kutannat, मण्डूक manduk (the flower), पत्रोर्ण patrorna, पूतिवृक्ष putivriksha, शल्लक shallaka, शूरण shuran, सोन or शोण son, वटुक vatuk • Kannada: ತಟ್ಟುನ tattuna • Konkani: davamadak • Nepalese: टटेलों tatelo • Malayalam: പലകപയ്യാനി palaqapayyani, വാശ്പ്പാതിരി vashrppathiri, വെള്ളപ്പാതിരി vellappathiri • Marathi: टायिटू tayitu, टेटु tetu • Sanskrit: अरलु aralu, श्योनक shyonaka • Tamil: சொரிகொன்றை cori-konnai, பாலையுடைச்சி palai-y-utaicci, பூதபுஷ்பம் puta-puspam • Telugu: మండూకపర్ణము manduka-parnamu, పంపెన pampena, శూకనాసము suka-nasamu, తుందిలము tundilamu
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Native to: s China, Indian subcontinent, Indo-China, Malesia
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Tree up to 10 m tall, with gray-rown bark; Leaves large, opposite, up to 1.8 m long, 2-4-pinnately compound, leaflets elliptic-ovate, up to 15 cm long, entire, subacuminate, base oblique; flowers purple-red, opening at night, in terminal up to 1.5 m long racemes; pedicel 4-7 cm long; calyx purple, campanulate, up to 4.5 cm long, hardened in fruit; corolla tube feshy, up to 9 cm long, limb 6-8 cm wide, upper lip 2-lobed, lower 3-lobed; capsule woody, up to 1 m long, flattened. brown.
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Oroxylum is pollinated by small bats hence the flowers bear foul smell of over-ripe jackfruit, the bee seen near the style (left after the corolla is fallen by bats) seems just a visitor. The colour variation from white, yellow, pink to purple can be seen on night blooming Oroxylum flowers.
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It is a Red Listed Species (the species is facing risk owing to over-harvesting and habitat loss). Though distributed across India, it is sporadic in nature and only solitary or few trees seen here and there. but only recently we, from FRLHT, found a large population (in thousands 🙂 in the central Indian region.
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We all know it is one of the ten ingredients (roots) in the ‘dasamoola arishtam’, an ayurvedic formulation. young pods are cooked and eaten as vegetable in Manipur (may be in other NE Indian states, too), and are sold in vegetable markets here…;
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Buddhists use them in various religious ceremonies in Sikkim;
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Oroxylum indicum:
Oroxylum indicum
Observed in Mulshi
31 Jul 2011. A large Bignoniaceae member.

Oroxylum flowers supposed to have 5 stamens which are nicely seen here.
Somehow when I checked my earlier collection I have a photograph of the flower taken from a tree in Pune city which is showing 8 stamens. Any idea what can the reason be?

I need information regarding the colour variation of the  flower in this sp.
During 2009, I have photographed these two flowers just 15-20 m away from each other. The differences in flower colour is very prominent. Is it due to any nutrient deficiency?

Local variation may be?  or environmental toxin induced changes?? In one tribe of these trees in northern Calcutta I found five stamens…
I am posting them separately under a different thread…. today there is another stand of these trees in a sanctuary  on southern fringes..
… will have to wait till next spring to get the flowers.. and do dissection

My trees were also flowering last Sunday. Sending a few photographs [the fallen flowers are from a previous year]. Have seen colour variations in the fallen flowers but never actually noticed [or looked for] more than 5 stamens.
Please also check this link for some of my past photographs :
group/indiantreepix/…
and also the archives of this group for my posts related to this tree [Seed dispersal & ‘Pseudo-vivipary’].

In Oroxylum the perfect stamens are 4 and the fifth stamen is shorter.
Pls look at the inflorescence of Oroxylum, the buds are very crowded. The fallen corolla that shows 8 stamens also shows 8 corolla lobes which are usually 5. In “Pune” flower 2 corollas seem to be fused to give 8 lobes/stamens and the 2 lobes/reduced stamens seem to be absent. This abnormality can be seen in some other flowers as well. 

Oroxylum is pollinated by small bats hence the flowers bear foul smell of over-ripe jackfruit, the bee seen near the style (left after the corolla is fallen by bats) seems just a visitor. The colour variation from white, yellow, pink to purple can be seen on night blooming Oroxylum flowers.

03082011 Oroxylum Flowers:
Oroxylum flowers bloom in rainy season at 9 pm. It is difficult to get flowers on the raceme since bats start visiting as soon as they open with a foul smell. I could not attach picture on the running thread hence a new post.

Is this by any chance Tetu?

DKV Request for species id 120413-1:  Location: Arunachal Pradesh.
Request for species id.
A friend has uploaded this on facebook. This is what she says: “This picture is taken in the forests of Arunachal where my mother went bird watching recently. It is the pod of some tree called elephant plant (not sure). Would welcome more information.”

This is Tetu / Ullu [Oroxylum indicum]. Please check the archives of this group for my photographs of this.

I go with …, Oroxylum indicum has such long, flat and woody pods..

Yes, looks like the sword like fruit pod of Shonyak… my submission was in august 2011
but of course pics I had were with the pods on the trees..
PS medicinal plant of great importance…

Could it be Oroxylum indicum, locally called ‘Totala’ in Nepali?
It has papery seeds well stacked in the pod.
Buddhists use them in various religious ceremonies in Sikkim.

Fabaceae tree ID from Hooghly 22/9/12 SK3:  Found this tree in a rural private land growing alongside other fruit trees like jackfruit, mangoes etc. But this tree seems to be a wild species.

Species : UNKNOWN

Habit & Habitat : tree of about 30 feet height with dense foliage, pod is about 1 foot

Date : 19/9/12, 4.21 p.m.

Place : Garalgacha (Hooghly)

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This is Oroxylum indicum. Please check the archives for my photographs of this.

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Thank you very much …, the pod misled me to fabaceae and searched a lot !

Found your post at – efi thread

Found two more posts, efi thread 1 and efi thread 2, wonderful series.

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There should be more. Here is one : efi thread

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Yes, Sir, and here is another one – efi thread

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Bignoniaceae Week :: Natives :SMP: Oroxylum indicum : Pune: Bignoniaceae Week :: Natives
Oroxylum indicum टेटू Pune

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really psychedelic looking flower innards… your pics are nice
when I was beginning to come back to medicinal botany this was the first tree… and I was really impressed with its leaf-size… overall its soooo long and big… one leaf with all those leaflets) it has remained in the memory… notwithstanding the bonelike twigs and sword like fruits pods…

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Bignoniaceae Week :: Oroxylum indicum : Broken Bones Tree : Bangalore & Mumbai : AK: Pictures taken in Lalbagh, Bangalore and Maharashtra Nature Park, Mumbai.

The fallen twigs resemble bones, hence the name.

Also known as Indian Trumpet Flower or Tetu.

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Such an astonishing resemblance! Thank you for the delightful pictures

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Nice to see the bones in a heap!!!

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Bignoniaceae Week :: : Oroxylum indicum at CBD Belapur Hills:: PKA15: Pods of Oroxylum indicum at CBD Belapur Hills, Navi Mumbai.

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Bignoniaceae Week :: DV :: DEC 07 – JUN 12 :: Oroxylum indicum in northern Western Ghats: Oroxylum indicum (L.) Kurz

or-oh-ZY-lum — from the Greek oros (mountain) and xylon (wood) … Dave’s Botanary
IN-dih-kum or in-DEE-kum — of or from India … Dave’s Botanary
commonly known as: broken bones plant, Indian calosanthes, Indian trumpet flower, midnight horror, oroxylum, tree of Damocles • Bengali: সোনা sona • Hindi: भूत वृक्ष bhut-vriksha, दीर्घवृन्त dirghavrinta, कुटन्नट kutannat, मण्डूक manduk (the flower), पत्रोर्ण patrorna, पूतिवृक्ष putivriksha, शल्लक shallaka, शूरण shuran, सोन or शोण son, वटुक vatuk • Kannada: ತಟ್ಟುನ tattuna • Konkani: davamadak • Nepalese: टटेलों tatelo • Malayalam: പലകപയ്യാനി palaqapayyani, വാശ്പ്പാതിരി vashrppathiri, വെള്ളപ്പാതിരി vellappathiri • Marathi: टायिटू tayitu, टेटु tetu • Sanskrit: अरलु aralu, श्योनक shyonaka • Tamil: சொரிகொன்றை cori-konnai, பாலையுடைச்சி palai-y-utaicci, பூதபுஷ்பம் puta-puspam • Telugu: మండూకపర్ణము manduka-parnamu, పంపెన pampena, శూకనాసము suka-nasamu, తుందిలము tundilamu
Native to: s China, Indian subcontinent, Indo-China, Malesia
References: Flowers of India • NPGS / GRIN • eFlora• Top Tropicals • Flowers of Sahyadri by Shrikant Ingalhalikar
at Yeoor Hills (part of Sanjay Gandhi National Park), Mumbai on 19 JUN 12

Extremely good photographs

Bignoniaceae :: Oroxylum indicum, (L.) Vent. <=> Broken Bones Tree – Bangalore – RA:

Thanks … for another very good upload with good set of photographs and full details.

Bignoniaceae Week :: DV :: DEC 07 – JUN 12 :: Oroxylum indicum from Kamrup District, Assam:

Bignoniaceae Week: Oroxylum indicum from Delhi.:  Oroxylum indicum (L.) Vent., gen. nov. 8. 1808.

Bignoniaceae Week: Oroxylum indicum (L.) Vent. (Hooghly):  … identified this tree, Oroxylum indicum (L.) Vent. in my earlier post (with more pictures) – efi thread.

Nice capture. It would be good if some one captures open flower at night, perhaps with flash light.

This tree is near my school, haven’t found one near my home yet. I would also love to capture its flower.

Bignoniaceae Week:: Oroxylum indicum from Paonta Sahib:  Oroxylum indicum from Paonta Sahib

oroxylum indicum plant identification :

may i know the exact photographs of oroxylum indicum.

Pl. see efi page: Oroxylum indicum

This one earlier identified by …, and i thought a fabaceae member!!!

Uploading another image.

Yes this is fine

Nice shot ! I have seen these flowers first time travelling from Guhagar to chiplun but unfortunately closed. I just asked …
regarding the fertilisation. He told me the concept. That was an eager to see the opened flowers. You, by uploading the photo, completed my
thirst.. Thank You very much Sir.

I am just wondering, if one can ask the flat-owner for their permission in advance.

So my question is a serious one. Shrikant ji, I hope, I am not hurting you and anyone else. Please excuse me. Not understanding a language, oh, I can write a book about my various experiences.

Midnight horror
Oroxylum indicum : Family Bignoniaceae
Four of these trees are flowering just now (Aug 2008) Opposite the main entrance of Tathwade Udyan Karve Nagar Pune Maharashtra.
As the flowers bloom in night it was difficult to photograph. I had to collect the fallen flowers early morning. The smell was really obnoxious.
The leaves are 3-pinnate as you can observe in the picture.
The tree is often grown as an ornamental for its strange appearance. The long, pods hang down from bear branches, looking like dangling sickles or swords in the night. The tree is also a night-bloomer and is pollinated by bats. After the large leaf stalks wither, they fall off the tree and collect near the base of the trunk, appearing to look like a pile of broken limb bones.
Native to India and Southern China.

In one of my residences there was a biggish cactus tree which had lovely white double flowers which bloomed only during the night. there was no trace of the flower the next day so far as I remember. I had takken a photograph then (about 17 years ago) but it was a print and I have now lost it. My successor in the house coolly removed the thorny bush(!). Today after seeing your mail I checked Bose’s book, but I could not match my vague memory with any.

if i am not mistaken this is called as Tetoo??
the arrangement of the seeds in that sword is also worth watching. the seeds are winged. wings are white in colour, seeds light brown. the seeds overlap one above the other in very perfect manner.

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‘Pseudo-vivipary’ in Oroxylum indicum : 26 posts by 11 authors. Attachments (7)

Though O. indicum is distributed across India, it is sporadic by nature. You can’t have a sizable population in one place. But we (FRLHT) have observed a large population only in Chhattisgarh, and proposed the site for in situ conservation.

That’s nice … Infact we still dont know many things abt our
diversity and hence we should certainly try to save whatever we are left with. Hope your conservation program worked!!

There are plenty of plants in Western Ghats. We had collected seeds and tried to germinate. We germinated the seeds of O. indicum and Stereospermum suaveolens i.e Patala. in my small nursary and planted that plants where ever I got place. We distributed to some Nature lover peoples also.
This is a need to conserve the rare species by cultivating them.

Thanks … I have observed rich population in Orissa also. Old trees in dense forest are still safe as only Traditional Healers  are aware of its presence. They discuss less about it because of fear of “Wood mafia” as well as Greedy traders.

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Thanks a lot … Thats really hell of a demand. In jharkhand
some tribes call it asti-panjar…..can be translated into RIB BONES on the basis of the structure of the fruits and it is of high demand too. But never knew that it was so badly exploited. Infact this is a very easy growing plant pollinated by Bats at night.

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Thanks … again. I was part of this workshop in IIFM, Bhopal.
Unfortunately very few ground level workers attended this workshop. Most of them were dependent on old reference materials for deciding the present status of plants. We were rememberibg the school days when one person was preparing the note and others were copying the same even word to word. Later your organisation published it as book and it came in recommendation.
I felt that in such workshops participation of Traditional Healers and forest guards with scientists can make it really useful. One herb trader from Bhopal has attended this workshop. He was having immense knowledge about rare herbs but the format was in English.  He attended first day and then after seeing the heap of books he never visited again. No doubt FRLHT took good step but practical difficultiues were there. The format shoukld be in regional languages. The researchers from Raigarh were not aware of “Pantropical” like words and they kept the sheets half filled but in publsihed book full sheets were there.
Not aware how much money it took to organise this megaevent but today I feel that such information can be gathered in one tenth cost with reliable information and honorarium to participants with the help of EFLORAIndia like groups.
In that workshop … from Sagar walked out from the venue on the issue of extracting valuable information from researchers without paying them an honorarium. When he returned back his supporters started filling wrong information which later gone in recommendations.
But I felt fortunate to meet FRLHT experts like … and …

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hehehhee…I think u r talking abt … I never knew he can be so upset at anytime. Happened to meet him twice and he is a very good taxonomist and so is his son … I will request … to be a part of this group if possible.
Another …!!!

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Yes, you are right. I met him many times and fond of his work.
Just to add. I discussed about this event with the FRLHT head … when I was with him as Research Advisory Committee Member of National Innovation Foundation, Ahmedabad.
He was shocked and not aware of all these mishaps.

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Thanks for the response, …

I am too small to comment about this. But since i have attented ten CAMP workshops conducted in various states across India, i can tell you that the response of participants in each state is different. In most of the states like Kerala, KA, TN, HP, North-eastern states, etc. the participation was quite serious with the focus to prioritize taxa for conservation in respective states. Not everybody understand the IUCN criteria and categories (best available and followed at global level today) quickly. It needs interest in the subject, dedication, cooperation, willingness to share the information for a nobel cause etc. etc.

So far only one book published by FRLHT in this line, titled “Field guide to 100 Red Listed Medicinal Plants of conservation concern in southern India”, in the year 2000. No other books published after that, on conservation aspect. So it is incorrect to say that Bhopal materials are published. They are just in report form. It is also not true what you mentioned about the data sheets. You very well know the procedure, the participants divided into groups and each group has experienced facilitator, active recorder and the informative participants. All the information were recorded by the members and if one is not knowing the botanical name or language, there will be always those experts who will translate and record properly. If someone don’t know what is ‘Pantropical’ then he/she can not be a qualified botanist. For laymen, its not a problem at all, there are experts in the group and from FRLHT to explain and clarify and technical issues this regard.

FRLHT staff never involved in maneuvering the information but only to facilitate the workshop and to provide technical support. If the information on Taxon Data Sheet is very good, it means that the team was highly knowledgeable on the plants under discussion with vast field experience, and serious about what they were doing. It also shows the participants were open enough to share the information to bring out an appropriate outcome.

There will be always criticisms for good works. I am not surprised. But the sad thing is that sometimes even very knowledgeable experts do not understand the importance of the exercise and its rigourousness. It is not like a single author assigning threat status to plants by sitting in the computer within four walls. It is a serious science. The negative mindset about this has to be changed first, then only we can understand the process. When the process initiated by FRLHT in 1995, many had wrong opinion and opposition, but they all have now realized and changed their bad mindset after seeing the science of the process.

Whatever expressed above are my personal views and opinion only and do not reflect the views of FRLHT. If anyone wants to know more detail about this process, please write to the Director, FRLHT. (www.frlht.org)

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Thanks for your comments … Good defense.
I have said everything to … and closed the chapter but your mail reminded me about the same workshop again.
I am aware that FRLHT welcomes criticism. That’s why I dare to say … “FRLHT collects information from public’s money (Funding) and then why it hides the information from common Indians. Why one has to pay for the information collected by your organisation?” Unexpectedly he welcomed this criticism.
Please invite him from my behalf to join this group. Also request Ravi Kumar ji to join.
I have written a lot on different aspects of Bhopal workshop in my online articles, so not repeating it here.

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Oroxylum indicum : 2 posts by 2 authors. Attachments (2)

Yes. Looks like Oroxylum indicum to me too.

Oroxylum indicum has many names mentioned in literature (ULLU/ SONA/ SONPATTI/ BHAT GHILA).

Thanks, …, It is always a pleasure to go through your detailed experince, wonderfully presented.

What a delightful story, … in Ayurveda its an important medicinal plant called Shonak shonyak’ etc root bark, tree bark and seeds are used for gut related needs, part od the famous Dashmul group. i also know it as tentu, kharasingha. never knew the champa name used regionally in Buddhist monastery. will add to my books notes.
i look forward to more of these stories.

Oroxylum indicum flowers: 6 images.
Found in Yelagiri hills of Eastern ghats in the month of November.

Tree for ID, Andaman NAW-FEB21-07: 2 png images.
If possible, kindly identify this tree from Andaman, the local name is “Hath Pancher“.

Oroxylum indicum

Bignoniaceae member-only, Any fruit pics other than this…

Sorry to all for putting such limited photographs on the forum, these photographs have been sent to me by someone in the Andamans and i am being greedy in eliciting your inputs. It is my usual practice to provide as complete a pictorial documentation as i can. In this case, i know i am being unreasonable. Ill try to provide a proper documentation in a month or so when i get to visit the site myself.

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Looks closure.  But closeup of leaves are needed for confirmation.

Yes it’s, Nice sir,

Oroxylum indicum (L.) Kurz: 4 high res. images.

Nepali Name : टटेलो Tatelo

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