Botanical Name: Saraca asoca (Roxb.) W.J. de Wilde
Family: Fabaceae
Common names: Sita Ashok
Vernacular/Local name: Ashok
Diagnostic characters: Evergreen tree up to 5 m tall with drooping branches. Bark lenticellate, grey to brown, shallowly fissured. Flowers arranged in dense corymbose, orange and scarlet, yellow when young, fragrant.
Phenology: January to April
Etymology: From Sanskrit Ashoka = “without sorrow†(linked with relief of grief).
Uses: The juice obtained from boiling the bark is a cure for some ailments of women, and a pulp of the blossoms is one of the remedies used for dysentery.
References:
- Kirtikar & Basu (Indian Medicinal Plants), CSIR – Wealth of India
- https://www.flowersofindia.net/
- https://indiabiodiversity.org/species/show/18020
