''Cochlospermum religiosum'' is a
flowering plant
Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...
from the tropical region of
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...
and the
Indian Subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...
. It is a small
tree
In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...
growing to a height of usually found in dry
deciduous forest
In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, after flo ...
s.
The name ''religiosum'' derives from the fact that the flowers are used as temple offerings. It is also known as silk-cotton tree because the capsules containing the seeds have a fluffy cotton-like substance similar to
kapok. Another common name is buttercup tree because its yellow and bright flowers look like large-sized
buttercups.
Flowers of India - Buttercup tree
/ref>
In Theravada Buddhism, this plant is said to have used as the tree for achieved enlightenment, or Bodhi by nineteenth Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),*
*
*
was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...
called "Siddhaththa - සිද්ධත්ථ". The plant is known as කිණිහිරියා (Kinihiriyaa) in Sinhala, and කණිකාර (Kanikaara) in Sanskrit..
Gallery
Image:Yellow Silk Cotton (Cochlospermum religiosum) trunk in Kolkata W IMG 4248.jpg, Trunk in Kolkata
Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...
, West Bengal
West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...
, India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
.
Image:Yellow Silk Cotton (Cochlospermum religiosum) flowers in Kolkata W IMG 4246.jpg, Flowers
Image:Yellow Silk Cotton (Cochlospermum religiosum) flowers in Kolkata W IMG 4244.jpg, Detail of the flowers
Image:Yellow Silk Cotton (Cochlospermum religiosum) flowering tree in Kolkata W IMG 4252.jpg, Flowering tree
Image:Yellow Silk Cotton (Cochlospermum religiosum) flowering canopy in Kolkata W IMG 4250.jpg, Flowering canopy
Image:Yellow Silk Cotton (Cochlospermum religiosum) flower in Kolkata W IMG 4254.jpg, Detail of a flower
Image:Fruit and Flower Cochlospermum religiosum.JPG, Fruit and Flower
Image:Flower Cochlospermum religiosum.JPG, Flower
References
External links
religiosum
Flora of the Indian subcontinent
Flora of Myanmar
{{Malvales-stub