Common Name: Pride Of India

General Information

Pride of India is a fast-growing, medium-sized, deciduous, sub-canopy tree with an upright, round crown[, ]. The tree, which produces suckers, usually grows 15 metres tall or more, with some specimens up to 26 metres[, ]. The bole is around 60cm in diameter[].
The tree is harvested from the wild for local use as a medicine and source of materials. The wood is of good quality, considered to be one of the best timber trees in Myanmar and Assam, and is often traded. One of the most strikingly showy of flowering trees, and a good shade tree, it is commonly cultivated in gardens or along the sides of roads for its brightly coloured mauve or pink flowers with crinkled petals[]. These are borne in large, terminal, conical panicles, 30 cm long[]. The tree is clothed with 12-inch-long, dark green, oblong, leathery leaves which turn attractively red before falling in winter[].

Known Hazards

The roots, stems and leaves contain hydrocyanic acid[].

Botanical References

Range

E. Asia - China, India, Sri lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines.

Habitat

In open vegetation types, often coastal areas, in regrowth or in swamps, also planted a lot at elevations up to 100 metres. Usually on alluvial sites and along rivers with sandy to clay soils[].

Properties

Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Deciduous Tree
Height	15.00 m
Growth Rate	Fast
Pollinators	Bees
Cultivation Status	Ornamental, Wild

Cultivation Details

A plant of the moist, lowland tropics and subtropics, where it is found at elevations up to 400 metres. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 18 - 35°c, but can tolerate 6 - 43°c[]. When dormant, the plant can survive temperatures down to about -2°c, but young growth can be severely damaged at -1°c[]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 2,000 - 3,500mm, but tolerates 1,300 - 5,000mm[].
Thrives in a position in full sun on a wide range of moist, well drained soils[, ]. Grows best on rich, deep, alluvial loams with good drainage, but can also grow in badly-draind swampy ground, though it is likely to be small and crooked[]. Tolerant of alkaline soils, but not of saline conditions[]. Prefers a pH in the range 5.5 - 6.5, tolerating 4.5 - 7.5[]. The tree has been successfully grown in urban areas where air pollution, poor drainage, compacted soil, and/or drought are common[]. Not a tree to plant and forget, it appreciates regular fertilization or the leaves become chlorotic.
Young seedlings are very slow growing for their first year, but then speed up. Three year old plants, grown on fertile, irrigated soil, reached a height of 3 metres; without irrigation they were 2.4 metres tall[].
In trials in Java, 15-year-old trees attained a mean annual increment of 9 - 11mm in diameter and 70 - 90cm in height[]. In trials at planting distances of 3 metres x 1 metre on fertile soil in Java the canopy closed after 6 years and the first thinning was necessary after 8 years[].
The tree coppices freely and is fairly resistant to fire[].
Seedlings can flower when only 2 years old[].
The tree should tolerate storms well, having hard wood with flexible branches; as long as they are well spaced along the trunk and not clumped together growing from one point on the trunk[].
The bark is thin and easily injured[].
The tree wants to grow with several trunks but can be trained to grow with a single trunk[]

Edible Uses

None known

Medicinal

The seeds are narcotic[].

The leaves are purgative[]. A preparation from dried leaves, known as banaba, is widely used in the Philippines to treat diabetes and urinary problem[, ].
A leaf poultice is used to relief malarial fever and is also applied on cracked feet[].

A decoction of the bark is used as a treatment against diarrhoea and abdominal pains[].

Agroforestry Uses:

The tree has a dense and wide spreading root system, which has made it useful in plantings for erosion control[]. It has been used in reforestation schemes for degraded hills in Java[].
The tree is also used as a support for rattan canes[].

Other Uses

The bark, fruit (14 - 17 %) and the leaves (12 - 13 %) all contain tannin[].
A yellow dye is obtained from the bark[].

The seeds yield an oil whose main constituents are linoleic (54.3%), a keto (9-ketooctadec-cis-11-enoic acid, 21.1%), oleic (10.3%), palmitic (9.7%) and stearic acid(4.6%)[].

The heartwood is variable, from pale brown, yellow-brown, greyish or reddish to red-brown; it is not clearly differentiated from the up to 8cm wide band of white or grey-white to yellow-brown sapwood. The texture is moderately fine to coarse and uneven due to ring porous formation; the grain is straight, interlocked or sometimes wavy; attractive growth rings figure on flat-sawn surfaces as a result of layers of parenchyma as well as pore rings; the surface is somewhat lustrous. The wood is moderately heavy; hard; somewhat durable, being resistant to termites, moderately resistant to fungi but susceptible to dry wood borers. It seasons somewhat slowly, with a slight risk of checking or distortion; once dry it is moderately to poorly stable in service. It works well with ordinary tools, though the wavy grain can cause problems in planing and leave fuzzy surfaces if the tools are not very sharp; nailing and screwing are good; gluing is correct. The wood is suitable for use under cover, being suitable for purposes such as interior finishing, panelling, sliced and rotary peeled veneer, high class furniture manufacture, carving and domestic flooring. It is reported to be popular for use in boat building in Thailand and some parts of the Indo-China regions[, , , , , , ].
The wood is also used for fuel[].

Propagation

Seed - germinates readily[]. Seeds should be sown in the shade, germination takes 15 - 56 days[]. After germination the small seedlings can be pricked out and transferred to containers[]. Seedlings grow slowly, often being no more than 5 - 30cm tall at the end of their first year - they usually speed up somewhat after this[]. Stumps with a shoot length of 5-10 cm, a root length of 10-20 cm and a diameter of 5-25 mm have shown 90-100 % survival[].
Seeds can store for at least 2 years in airtight containers at room temperature[].
Cuttings.
Division of root suckers.

Add a Comment:

If you have any useful information about this plant, please leave a comment. Comments have to be approved before they are shown here.

Name:

Email(Private):

Message:

Captcha: subtract 1 from 12