Tree ashoka
See also: Ashoka (homonymy)
The tree ashoka ( Saraca indica ) is a tropical tree of pyramidal form, with dense foliage, being able to reach a height of approximately 10 meters. Its sheets are pennate with leaflets of a green shining on undulated board, long and narrow of approximately 20 cm length. The flowers oranges, very odorous, have long cheesecloths dark red. They are grouped in round bunches.
One finds it with the foot of the central and Eastern buttresses of the the Himalayas, in almost all the plains of India of north, and on the Western coast, in the area of Bombay. It flowers in April and May. It is often confused with the Faux ashoka (Polyalthia longifolia) or tree mast, also very common in India.
The ashoka (in Sanskrit: “ without sorrow ”) is regarded as crowned everywhere in India and with the Sri Lanka. Indeed, according to the tradition, it is under this tree that was born the Bouddha, with Lumbini. The lord Mahavira renonça in the world under a ashoka with Vaishali. For the hindouïstes it is the attribute of Kama Deva, God of the Amour. The Ramayana makes of it mention in the Ashoka Vatika (garden of the ashokas) where Hanuman meets for the first time Sitâ.
The tree ashoka can be indicated by the other following vernacular names:
-
Anganapriya
- Asogam
- Asokada
- Ashopalava
- Asok
- Ashok
- Asoka
- Asupala
- Gandapushpa
- Kankelli
- Kenkalimara
- Thawgabo
- Vand ichitrah.