May is just behind us, but the familiar trees that lend their signature flush to this month are still in riotous flower
One reason I look forward to May, despite the sweltering heat it brings, is the blooming of Gulmohar (Delonix regia), often called ‘Mayflower’ locally. The tree is also known as Flamboyant and Royal Poinciana.
The glory of red!
All year, Gulmohar trees stay evergreen, providing ample shade with a thick canopy of branches that spread out in all directions like umbrellas. Though they do not grow very tall, their spreading canopies makes them ideal avenue trees.
The flowering season in India is April-May. It starts as a small smattering of red here and there in the beginning of April, and by May the tree the reds overpower the greens and take over completely. If flowering is a tree’s way of expressing a smile, then a Gulmohar in flower is resounding laughter.
By the time the monsoon sets in, the flowering season ends and the tree sports its green look once again.
The Gulmohar is originally a forest tree from Madagascar, though in the wild it is becoming increasingly rare. For this reason, the tree is categorized as ‘Vulnerable’ in IUCN’s Red List, despite the fact that it thrives in cities, gardens and alongside roads across the world.
And, for the uninitiated, the name Gulmoh(a)r comes from the Urdu words Gul (meaning blossom) and Mo(h)r (meaning peacock). Some inspired poet identified this tree as the peacock of flowering trees. How apt!
Text and photos: Sandeep Somasekharan
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Sandeep Somasekharan (or Sandy as friends call him) took his headlong plunge into photography with a three-megapixel Nikon point-and-shoot he purchased in 2003. The avid reader and an occasional scribbler started enjoying travel and nature more as he spent more time photographing. Meeting Beej in 2008 helped him channel his creative energies in the form of essays and nature photographs that he started publishing on the Green Ogre. Sandy loves to photograph birds and landscapes, and considers photography and writing as his meditation.
He is an engineer by education, IT professional by vocation, and a hopeless dreamer since creation.
He is an engineer by education, IT professional by vocation, and a hopeless dreamer since creation.
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