Delonix regia 

Delonix regia (Boj. ex Hook.) Rafin.

Family : Caesalpiniaceae

Common Name     : ഗുൽമോഹർ (Mal)

      गुलमोहर (Hin)

     Flame Tree(Eng)

IUCN Status     : Least concern (LC) 

Trees, to 15 m high; branchlets puberulous. Leaves bi-pinnate, alternate; pinnae 8-20 pairs, opposite or subopposite, 3-10 cm, puberulent, with a sessile gland between each pinnae on upper side; leaflets18-50, sessile, opposite, 0.4-0.8 x 0.2-0.35 cm, oblong or linear-oblong, base oblique, apex obtuse, puberulent above and pubescent beneath; nerves and nervules obscure; rachis 15-20 cm long, pulvinate, puberulent. Flowers bisexual, crimson, in terminal or lateral corymbose panicles. Calyx tube very short; lobes 5, valvate, subequal. Petals 5, orbicular, imbricate; margins fimbriate, claws yellow, upper petal white streaked with red and yellow. Stamens 10, free, declinate, long exserted; filaments villous below; anthers uniform. Ovary subsessile; ovules many; style filiform; stigma truncate, ciliolate. Pod ca. 40 x 6 cm, flat, elongate, woody; seeds many, oblong, transverse.

Discovered in the early 19th century in its native Madagascar by botanist Wensel Bojer, Gulmohar is a flamboyant tree in flower - some say the world's most colorful tree. For several weeks in spring and summer it is covered with exuberant clusters of flame-red flowers, 4-5 in across. Even up close the individual flowers are striking: they have four spoon shaped spreading scarlet or orange-red petals about 3 in long, and one upright slightly larger petal (the standard) which is marked with yellow and white. The delicate, fern-like leaves are composed of small individual leaflets, which fold up at the onset of dusk. Gulmohar gets 30-40 ft tall, but its elegant wide-spreading umbrella-like canopy can be wider than its height. Gumohar is naturalized in India and is widely cultivated as a street tree.

Uses: Delonix regia leaves provide forage for livestock and the seed meal can be fed to farm animals. The flowers are a good and profuse source of feed for bees. The wood and the woody pods can be used as firewood. The timber can be used for light construction, fence posts or pirogues

Distribution : Native of Madagascar; now cultivated throughout the tropics

Flowering & Fruiting : February-July