Saraca asoca (Roxb.) W.J. de Wilde

S. indica sensu Baker auct. non L.

CAESALPINIACEAE

                                                          

Vernacular names:

Hindi             - Asoka

Kannada        - Ashoka mara, Seethe mara

Malayalam      - Asokam

Sanskrit         - Ashoka, Hema pushpa

Tamil             - Asoka maram

Telugu           - Asokamu

 

Threat status:

Endangered (A 1 c,d) - KA

Data Deficient - KL & TN

 

Habit: Tree

 

Habitat: Moist deciduous to evergreen forests especially along shady slopes and riversides

 

Altitude: 400 - 1000 m

 

Distribution: Global: Indo-Malayan. National: Central and eastern Himalayan states, West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Planted as an ornamental in many parts of India. Regional: In Karnataka, occasional in the wet forests of Chikmagalur, Hassan, Uttara & Dakshina Kannada, Uduppi and Shimoga districts. In Kerala, sporadic in evergreen forests of Wynaad, Cannanore, Palakkad, Thrissur and Thiruvananthapuram districts. No wild population recorded in Tamil Nadu.

 

Description: Medium sized trees, 5-10 m tall and about 1 m girth. Bark thin about 3 mm thick, ashy brown, rough with raised horizontal lines of lenticels, dark red and fibrous inside. Wood white and soft. Leaves alternate, evenly paripinnate; rachis 10-25 cm long, hairless; stipules intra-petiolar, erect, egg-shaped-oblong, about 1.5 cm long, fused at base, early falling; leaflets 6-12, opposite, egg-shaped-oblong to oblong­lanceolate, 7-25 x 3-7 cm, base acute to rounded, apex acute to acuminate, margin entire, hairless, stalked, glossy. Flowers bisexual, stalked, fragrant, orange yellow turning red, 2.5-4 cm long, in compact hairless corymbose panicles; panicles about 10 cm in diameter borne in the leaf axils or on old wood. Calyx yellowish orange to scarlet, petal­like, 1-2 cm lon'g with 4 lobes; petals absent; stamens 7-8, nearly 2.5 cm long, red, Pods oblong or elliptic, 10-20 x 4-5 cm, black, flat, tapering at both ends, thick leathery, hairless, distinctly veined. Seeds 2-8, ovoid to ellipsoid, about 4 cm long, flat, shiny, hairless.

 

Phenology: Flowering: February to June; Fruiting: August to September. Stray flowers seen almost throughout the year.

 

Medicinal uses: Bark is used in treating indigestion, fever, burning sensation, ulcers, menstrual disorders, dysentery, polyuria, leucorrhoea and pimples. Leaves are used as blood purifier. Leaf juice mixed with cumin seeds used for treating stomachache. Flowers are useful in treating burning sensation, bleeding piles, dysentery and scabies. Seeds are used in treating bone fractures, strangury and vescical calculi.

 

Trade information: Local, regional and national. Pieces of stem bark are sold under the name Ashoka or Ashoka chaal at Rs.15 to 25/Kg. (Market studies, 1999-2000). Stem bark of Polyalthia longifolia is a common adulterant.

 

Mode of propagation: By seeds

 

Special cha_acters : A handsome tree with prominent, drooping branchlets; the pendulous, purplish red new flush of leaves and the brilliant orange­scarlet flowers in ball-like heads draw immediate attention. Interestingly, those colourful parts of the flowers are actually floral stalks, calyx, stamens and styles, not petals.