Bauhinia purpurea L.
Family
Leguminosae
Synonyms
Bauhinia triandra Roxb., Bauhinia castrata Blanco., Phanera purpurea (L.) Benth.
Vernacular Names
| Malaysia | Tapak kuda (Peninsular), lupit (Sabah). |
| English | Orchid tree, purple bauhinia. |
| Indonesia | Aroy kupu-kupu (Sundanese), suwoto (Javanese). |
| Philippines | Alibang-bang (Tagalog). |
| Thailand | Sieo dok daeng, sieo waan (northern). |
| Vietnam | M[os]ng b[of] t[is]m. |
Geographical Distributions
Bauhinia purpurea is native to tropical Asia; cultivated throughout the tropics, including Southeast Asia and occurs occasionally as an escape from cultivation.
Description
Bauhinia purpurea is a shrub or small tree, up to 10 m tall and its young branches are nearly smooth.
The leaves are suborbicular, measuring up to 12 cm x 12 cm with bifid up to 1/3-1/2, with rounded to cordate base, apex of lobes is rounded to acute, with 9- to 13-veined, minute stipules of 1-2 mm long.
The inflorescence has 6- to 10-flowered raceme. The flower buds are club-shaped, velvety, 3-4 cm long, top-shaped hypanthium, with narrowly lance-shaped petals of 3-5 cm long, claws 0.5-1 cm long and pink to dark purple. It has 3 fertile stamens with 5-6 staminodes.
The fruit is strap-shaped and not divided. It is 20-25 cm x 1.5-2.5 cm, about 10-seeded, smooth and dehiscent.
The seeds are orbicular and up to 15 mm in diametre.
Ecology / Cultivation
Bauhinia purpurea is found in most types of vegetation ranging from evergreen lowlands, rain forests to mountain forests, up to 2000-3000 m altitude and also in savanna, scrub and dry deciduous forests to swamp forests on various soils.
Line Drawing / Photograph
References
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Plant Resources of South-East Asia No.12(3): Medicinal and poisonous plants 3. 2003.
