Kanak Champa A Beautiful Tree

Nature Note From Mhow: Kanak Champa - A Beautiful Tree


Taxonomic Name: Pterospermum acerifolium


Common Names:

ASSAMESE: Moragos

BENGALI: Muskanda

ENGLISH: Maple-leaved Bayur tree, Dinner Plate Tree

HINDI: Kanak Champa, Muchkund

MALAYALAM: Karnikaram

MARATHI: Karnikar

ORIYA: Mushukundo

SANSKRIT: Karnikara, Kusesaya

TAMIL: Vennangu

TELUGU: Matsakanda




I have been seeing this tree in the Ambedkar Garden Mhow but I did not know its name. Thanks to Pradip Krishen's book The Trees of Delhi and to a google search I was able to extract a fair amount of information about this tree.

According to Pradip Krishen this tree is native to the moist sub-Himalayan tracts. The leaves of this tree are really huge. They can be upto 40 cms in length and almost twice as broad. No wonder that the tree is also known as the Dinnerplate Tree. The tree grows upto a height of 50-70 feet.

The flowers are enclosed within flowerbuds. These buds split into five segments and peel backwards like banana skins. Each flower lasts only a night. According to Pradip Krishen the flowers are 'deliciously fragrant' and are visited by bats. Pradip Krishen's book also tells us that the leaves and bark were used to make medicines for small pox and are still used to make medicines for wounds and itching.

The fruit is five angled. It has five sections when it opens as the photograph below shows. The sections have seeds neatly arranged in rows. Each seed has a wing on one side.

The bark is grey or grey-brown. The wood is used for planking.

BY DEV KUMAR VASUDEVAN, BROUGHT TO YOU BY SUNKAN

Sundari,

Beautiful, beautiful beautiful and beautiful flower. Very informative. kanaka