''Bauhinia racemosa'', commonly known as the bidi leaf tree, is a rare medicinal species of flowering shrub with religious significance. It is a small crooked tree with drooping branches that grows tall and flowers between February and May. It is native to Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent and China.

Description

The tree's leaves are relatively small and wide, with dimensions ranging from 2 to 5 cm in length and 2.5 to 6.3 cm in width. A cleft divides each leaf into two rounded globes. The flowers appear in terminal

raceme A raceme () or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate growth, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are ...

s, measuring 5 to 12.5 cm in length. The pods are stalked, smooth, and turgid, featuring a blunt apex and a tapered base. Ripe pods exhibit a dark brown color, are indehiscent, and house 12 to 20 seeds. The bark is scabrous, displaying vertical cracks, and has a bluish-black hue. The tree blossoms between March and June, and its pods mature in November-December, persisting on the tree for several additional months.

Ecology

The immature seeds of the tree are consumed by the

grizzled giant squirrel The grizzled giant squirrel (''Ratufa macroura'') is a large tree squirrel in the genus '' Ratufa'' found in the highlands of the Central and Uva provinces of Sri Lanka, and in patches of riparian forest along the Kaveri River and in the hil ...

Religious significance

In Hindu families it is customary to exchange leaves of the Aapta tree on the

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

festive day of

Dussehra Vijayadashami (), more commonly known as Dassahra in Hindi, and also known as Dashāhra or Dashain in Bhojpuri, Maithili and Nepali, is a major Hindu festival celebrated every year at the end of Durga Puja and Navarahtri. It is observed o ...

. An act known as exchanging ''Gold''—pointing to the special significance of the plant on that particular day. This is also why the tree is often referred to as ''Sonpatta'' (literal translation: ''leaves of gold'').

Other uses

The leaves are used in the production of ''beedi'', a thin Indian and Sri Lankan cigarillo.

References

External links

racemosa Flora of China Flora of the Indian subcontinent Flora of Indo-China Plants described in 1785 Taxa named by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck Plants in Hinduism {{Fabaceae-stub