Scientific Name
Bauhinia purpurea L.
Synonyms
Bauhinia castrata Blanco, Bauhinia coromandeliana DC., Bauhinia platyphylla Span., Bauhinia rosea Corner, Bauhinia triandra Roxb., Bauhinia violacea Corner, Caspareopsis purpurea (L.) Pittier, Phanera purpurea (L.) Benth. [1]
Vernacular Name
| Malaysia | Tapak kuda (Peninsular); lupit (Sabah) [2] |
| English | Orchid tree, purple bauhinia [2], butterfly tree, camel foot’s tree, geranium tree, pink bauhinia, pink butterfly tree, poor man’s orchid, purple butterfly tree [3], mountain ebony, pink camel’s foot, ebony wood [4] |
| India | Acanomantarai, acanomantaraimaram, acuvacampurrappu, akilu, apta, arelu, arputaveni, ashta, atmanthi, atthi, bannne, basawanapadu, bodanta, bodanta, chettu, borodo, camarikah, chingthao, angangba, chovana-mandaru, cikkapu, mantarai, compucikam, compucikammaram, dev kanchan, deva, deva kaanchana, deva kanchan, deva-kasla, dhondar, dieng long, dundra, garial [3] |
| Indonesia | Aroy kupu-kupu (Sundanese); suwoto (Javanese) [2]; bungan glauka, daun kupu-kupu, kembang sabita, kembang kupu-kupu [3] |
| Thailand | Sieo dok daeng, sieo waan (Northern) [2] |
| Philippines | Alibang-bang (Tagalog) [2]; alibangban [3] |
| Vietnam | M[os]ng b[of] t[is]m [2] |
| Japan | Murasaki-soshin-ka [3] |
| Nepal | Khwairalo, tanki [3] |
| Sri Lanka | Kolar [3] |
Geographical Distributions
Bauhinia purpurea is native to tropical Asia. This plant 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. [2]
Botanical Description
B. purpurea is a member of the Leguminosae family [1]. It is a shrub or small tree, up to 10 m tall and its young branches are nearly smooth [2].
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. [2]
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. [2]
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. [2]
The seeds are orbicular and up to 15 mm in diametre. [2]
Cultivation
B. purpurea is cultivated throughout the tropics, including Southeast Asia and occurs occasionally as an escape from cultivation. [2]
Chemical Constituent
No documentation
Plant Part Used
No documentation
Traditional Use
No documentation
Preclinical Data
No documentation
Clinical Data
No documentation
Poisonous Management
No documentation
Line Drawing
References
- The Plant List. Ver1.1. Bauhinia purpurea L.[homepage on the Internet]. c2013 [updated 2010 Jul 14; cited 2015 Apr 15]. Available from: http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/record/ild-823
- Lemmens RHMJ, Bunyapraphatsara N, editors. Plant Resources of South-East Asia 12 (3): Medicinal and Poisonous Plants 3. Leiden, Netherlands: Backhuys Publication; 2003.
- Umberto Q. CRC World Dictionary of Medicinal and Poisonous Plants: Common Names, Scientific Names, Eponyms, Synonyms, and Etymology (5 Volume Set). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press; 2012. p. 552.
- Herbal medicine research Centre, Institute for Medical Research. Compendium of Medicinal Plants Used in Malaysia. Volume 1. Kuala Lumpur: HMRC IMR: 2002. p.106.
