Malabar lacquer tree
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Blooming branch of the Malabar lacquer tree ( Butea monosperma ) |
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The Malabar lacquer tree , Palasabaum or Plossobaum also Kino tree , lacquer tree , Kesu ( Butea monosperma , Syn. : Butea frondosa . Roxb ) is a diminutive to medium-sized tree of the Indian subcontinent from the subfamily of the Pea family . It is known for its abundance of orange-red flowers, which appear very early in the year and have earned it the English name Flame of the forest . The species serves as a fodder plant for the lacquer scale insect ( Kerria lacca ), the secret of which is used to make shellac . The Malabar lacquer tree is considered sacred to the Hindus , the wood is used to feed the holy fire, flowers that have fallen to the ground are compared to kneeling monks.
description
Vegetative characteristics
The Malabar lacquer tree is a small to medium-sized tree that reaches heights of 6 to 12 meters and a trunk diameter ( BHD ) of up to 60 centimeters on nutrient-rich soils . On dry, nutrient-poor rock sites, the trunk remains short and crooked and the branches are irregularly shaped. In the poorest soils, the species grows almost like a shrub.
The bark is scaly, flaky, ash gray or brown to blackish and 1 to 1.5 centimeters thick. Deeper layers of the bark are whitish to pink in color and veined red. The phloem contains a red, sticky sap. The wood is soft and porous.
The three-fold foliage leaves with leathery, short-stalked leaflets have stems 10 to 23 centimeters long. The terminal leaflets are 13 to 20 centimeters long and 11 to 18 centimeters wide, and thus slightly larger than the lateral leaflets with lengths of 10 to 15 centimeters and widths of 8 to 10 centimeters. The leaf veins are clearly visible on the underside. The young leaves appear in April to early May. The leaves are shed between November and December, but individual trees retain leaves on the lower branches. The stipules are sloping.
Generative characteristics
The tufted, non-scented flowers are grouped in large numbers into panicose , axillary or terminal inflorescences about 15 centimeters long . The cover and front pages are sloping. The butterfly flowers are stalked 2 to 3 centimeters long. The greenish, five-lobed and bell-shaped calyx is velvety on the outside and silky hairy on the inside and is 1 to 1.5 centimeters long. Stems and calyxes contrast strongly with the flaming orange-red to the yellowish color of the petals . The crown consists of a 2.5 cm long flag, smaller wings shaped like a parrot's beak and a shuttle that surrounds the pistil and stamens . The flowering period begins with the appearance of flower buds between January and February on the branches that are still bare and lasts until the onset of high temperatures between March and April. The lifespan of a single flower is one to two days.
Immediately after flowering, the short-stalked, light green and hairy, drooping, 15 to 20 centimeters long and 3 to 5 centimeters wide, flat and relatively straight legumes develop . When ripe in May and June, the fruits are woody and light brown in color and quickly fall to the ground. A more extensive distribution by wind or in any other way was not observed. Each fruit contains only one ellipsoidal, very flat, reddish-brown seed 2 to 3 centimeters in diameter and 2 millimeters thick with a bitter taste. The seeds are nutritious and the thousand grain mass is approx. 840-1026 grams.
The germination is hypogeous and starts within the rupturing at the top of the fruit. The seedlings form an arrowroot, which after 3 months can reach a length of 60 centimeters. Particularly characteristic of the Malabar lacquer tree is the repeated death of the shoot due to frost or drought, which leads to swelling of the roots and new shoots ("dying back" phenomenon). The taproot penetrates deeply into rocky rock and is heavily branched to the side. The root bark is gray on the outside, then red and white on the inside. Fresh roots have a distinct odor.
Single flower
Fruits of butea monosperma
Blooming tree
Three-digit sheet
bark
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ecology
The flowers are visited by a number of birds who are attracted by the nectar . However, only the purple nectar bird ( Cinnyris asiaticus , synonym: Nectarinia asiatica ) contributes to pollination , which can reach the nectar with its long beak without damaging the flower. Other species such as Rußbülbül ( Pycnonotus cafer ) or the Ganges spectacled bird ( Zosterops palpebrosa ) also consume nectar, but have to damage the calyx. Pollination can also be done by the jungle palm squirrel ( Funambulus tristriatus ), as it also reaches the nectar with its pointed snout without causing damage. The giant honey bee ( Apis dorsata ) visits the flowers of the Malabar lacquer tree to absorb unused nectar on damaged flowers, but also does not contribute to pollination.
The Malabar lacquer tree is a host plant for the lacquer scale insect ( Kerria lacca ). Fertilized females prick the bark of young twigs and ingest considerable amounts of phloem sap. The secretion excreted by them sticks to the branch surfaces and forms crusts in which the heavily swollen lice are enclosed and die. A few weeks later, the new generation of lice swarms out.
But neither the lacquer scale insects nor other sucking, leaf-eating or wood-boring insects cause severe damage. The Malabar lacquer tree hardly suffers from fungal diseases. More serious are losses in young stature by rats , porcupines and pigs .
In tropical wet forests the Malabar lacquer tree can be found together with the sal tree ( Shorea robusta ) or with Mallotus philippensis , in tropical dry forests with the teak tree ( Tectona grandis ), Indian frankincense ( Boswellia serrata ) or the fragrant acacia ( Acacia nilotica ), in the tropical thorn forests of northern India with the gum arabic tree ( Acacia senegal ) or the khejri tree ( Prosopis cineraria ).
Distribution and location requirements
The Malabar lacquer tree grows in grasslands, scrub forests and sparsely forested areas of India , Burma and Sri Lanka . On the foothills of the Himalayas you can meet him at altitudes of 1200 meters, in West and South India up to 1100 meters.
In the natural range it is exposed to minimum temperatures between 3 ° C and 18 ° C, maximum temperatures between 35 ° C and 48 ° C. As a young tree, this species is sensitive to frost, but the frost hardiness increases with age. The optimal annual rainfall is 750 to 1500 millimeters. The species is particularly arid species and very undemanding in terms of location; both waterlogged and salty locations are tolerated.
Systematics
The first description under the taxon Erythrina monosperma Lam. by the French botanist Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck was published in 1786. The German botanist Paul Hermann Wilhelm Taubert referred to this Basionym in 1894 , but classified the species under the name Butea monosperma in the genus Butea . Another synonym for the species is Butea frondosa Roxb. ex Willd. .
The genus name Butea is reminiscent of John Stuart, Earl of Bute , who is honored for promoting botanical studies. The epithet monosperma is derived from the fact that each fruit contains only one seed.
There are two forms of the Malabar lacquer tree, Charka with a gray bark and Kareya with a dark bark. Kareya is better accepted by the lacquer scale insect and is therefore used more often for breeding.
use
The breeding of the lacquer scale insect to obtain the starting product for shellac is economically important . For management purposes, plantation-like stands are created, in which trees with a trunk diameter of 15 to 20 centimeters (BHD) can be used for 15 to 20 years. The trees are cut back twice a year in order to harvest the lacquer secretions from the lice and to stimulate new growth. After the harvest, the rubber lacquer is loosened from the branches, washed, melted and processed into raw shellac.
The wood (trade name: Dhak) is easy to harvest, but when exposed to the weather, it is only durable for about 5 months, but significantly longer under water. As timber, it is suitable for cheap board goods and for the construction of wells. The wood can be further processed into good quality charcoal, which is suitable for making gunpowder.
The liquid that emerges from injuries to the bark hardens into a ruby-red, glass-like substance known as "Bengali cinema ". It can be used as a dye for wool, leather, port wine or burgundy and serves as a substitute for the “Malabar Kino” obtained from Pterocarpus marsupium . Bengali cinema consists of over 70% tannin and around 20% rubber and other solubles.
The Bengali cinema is used in folk medicine as a remedy for various forms of chronic constipation or as an astringent . All other parts of the tree are also used in folk medicine, for example the ground seeds as wormers .
In various types of Hindu temple gardens , the Malabar lacquer tree symbolizes various religiously significant celestial objects. In the “star forest”, in which 27 stars or star formations are symbolized by bushes or trees and are positioned according to the position in the starry sky, the Malabar lacquer tree stands for the star Theta Leonis from the constellation Leo . Its position is roughly oriented to the north-east. In the "nine-planet temple forest" the Malabar lacquer tree represents the moon , in the "zodiac forest" it stands for the constellation Cancer .
The leaves are used as food for water buffalo and elephants . They are also used as a base for serving food.
Fibers can be extracted from the root bark for making coarse ropes or for sealing boats.
Due to the numerous and beautifully colored flowers, the Malabar lacquer tree serves as an ornamental wood.
Cultural meaning
Under the name Palasha ( पलाश palāśa ) or Kimshuka ( किंशुक kiṃśuka ) the Malabar lacquer tree often appears in Sanskrit poetry. Its bright red flowers are the subject of numerous expressive comparisons. They are often compared to fire or blood, and because of their shape with bloody tiger claws or nail paints. The blooming of the Malabar lacquer tree is often mentioned in descriptions of late winter or spring. In his mystical-erotic poem Gitagovinda (12th century) , the poet Jayadeva describes how Krishna (Hari) has fun with the Gopis (shepherdesses) in spring and describes the blossoming of the Malabar lacquer trees:
“युवजनहृदयविदारणमनसिजनखरुचिकिंशुकजाले
विहरति हरिरिह सरसवसन्ते
नृत्यति युवतिजनेन समं सखि विरहिजनस्य दुरन्ते.”
" Yuvajana-hṛdaya-vidāraṇa-manasija-nakha-ruci-kiṃśuka-jāle
viharati harir iha sarasa-vasante
nṛtyati yuvati-janena samaṃ sakhi virahi-janasya durante. "
"Where Kiṃśuka instincts to carve young people's hearts, glisten like God's claws,
Hari lingers here on the lush spring pastures,
dances with the girls, dearest, at the time, the forbidden lovers bring suffering."
literature
- Schütt, Weisgerber, Schuck, Lang, Stimm, Roloff: Trees of the tropics. Nikol, 2004, ISBN 978-3-933203-79-3 .
Web links
- Description in AgroForestryTree Database (Engl.)
- Page at www.toptropicals.com with photos
- Butea monosperma on prota4u.org.
Individual evidence
- ↑ R. T. J. Cappers, R. Neef, R. M. Bekker: Digital Atlas of Economic Plants. Volume 1, Barkhuis, 2009, ISBN 978-90-77922-59-0 , p. 129.
- ↑ Description in Flora of Pakistan
- ↑ a b c R. Tandon u. a .: Reproductivity of Butea monosperma (Fabaceae). In: Annals of Botany. 92: 1-9, 2003 pdf ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (engl.)
- ↑ NIIR Board: Handbook on Unani Medicines. Asia Pacific Business Press, 2003, ISBN 81-7833-042-3 , p. 360.
- ↑ Encycl. 2: 391. 1786.
- ↑ H. G. A. Engler & K. A. E. Prantl : In: Nat. Plant family 3 (3), 1894, p. 366, Forgotten Books, 2015, Volume 3, ISBN 978-1-333-16520-8 (Reprint), online at biodiversitylibrary.org, accessed February 11, 2017.
- ↑ Henriette's Herbal Homepage: Butea Gum (Bengal Kino) (Engl.)
- ↑ M. G. Chandrakanth et al. a .: Temple forests in India's forest development. In: Agroforestry Systems. Volume 11, Number 3, September 1990, pp. 199-211. doi : 10.1007 / BF00045899 .
- ↑ Renate Syed: The flora of ancient India in literature and art. Dissertation, Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich, 1990, pp. 204-210.
- ↑ Jayadeva: Gītagovinda. Songs to praise Govindas, translated from Sanskrit and edited by Erwin Steinbach, Frankfurt am Main / Leipzig: Verlag der Weltreligionen, 2008, p. 14.
