Duabanga grandiflora

Duabanga grandiflora
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Rosids
Order: Myrtales
Family: Lythraceae
Genus: Duabanga
Species: D. grandiflora
Binomial name
Duabanga grandiflora
(Roxb. ex DC.) Walpers
flowers at Jayanti in Buxa Tiger Reserve in Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal, India.

From its peculiar habit, Duabanga grandiflora (syn. D. sonneratioides) is a singular feature in its native forests. The trunk is erect, 40–80 feet high, undivided but sometimes forking from the base. The lower limbs spread drooping from the trunk; these are long, slender, sparingly branched, and the branches are four-angled, loosely covered with large spreading leaves. Since the leaves are arranged in two ranks, the slender branches resemble petioles, bearing pinnae of a compound leaf; the leaves are further often recurved, and are deep green above, and almost white beneath. The large blossoms expand in April, exhaling a rank odour reportedly resembling asafoetida when they first burst, but they become inodorous before the petals drop. The stamens are all bent inwards in bud. The fruit is a large as a small apple. The wood is white and soft.[1]

References

  1. ↑ Hooker p.56

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