The Amaltas or Indian laburnum has begun blooming this summer.

Try this PYQ from CSP 2018:

Q. Why is a plant called Prosopis juliflora often mentioned in news?

(a) Its extract is widely used in cosmetics.

(b) It tends to reduce the biodiversity in the area in which it grows

(c) Its extract is used in the pesticides.

(d) None of the above

Amaltas Tree

• The Amaltas (Cassia fistula linn), native to South-East Asia is one of the most widespread trees in India and South-East Asia, with their presence both in cities as well as in moist and dry forests.
• It has drooping clusters of bright fragrant yellow flowers with five petals and characteristic cylindrical fruits.
• The Amaltas is known by so many names — Indian Laburnum, Golden Shower, Purging Fistula, Pudding-pipe tree, Girmala, Rajbrikh, Alash, Kiar, Kirwara, Ali — showing us how common and loved it is.
• It is both the national tree and the national flower of Thailand and is also the state flower of Kerala.

Features of Amaltas

• This middle-sized deciduous tree is leafless only for a brief time, between March and May.
• The new leaves are glossy, a trait that they lose on maturing, and are mostly bright green, though sometimes a rich copper too.
• It flowers from April to June, partly alongside the emergence of new leaves, but it’s not uncommon to find the Amaltas in flower as late as September.
• The bark is yellowish at first, slowly coarsens with age and turning dark grey.

Significance

• The tree is mostly known to be ornamental and few know of its benefits as a medicinal plant, and one that’s loved by some mammals, bees, and butterflies.
• The bark is used to make dye and the pulp in the fruit pod also serves as a strong purgative agent, which also helps animals that feed on it.
• A medicinal preparation with the roots of the tree is used to cure leprosy and skin diseases and the leaves are used to get rid ulcers, in traditional medicine.

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