Lagerstroemia speciosa
Family: LYTHRACEAE
Malayalam Name(s): Adamboe, Cholaventekku, Manimaruthu, Nirmaruthu, Poomarathi, Poomaruthu
English name(s): Banaba, Pride of India, Queen of flowers, Queen crepe myrtle
Habit: Tree
Flowering & Fruiting: March-November
Medicinal: Yes
Habitat: Semi-evergreen and evergreen forests, mostly along banks of streams; also planted as avenue tree
Description: Deciduous trees, to 25 m high, bark 4-6 mm thick, yellowish-brown, smooth; fibrous. Leaves simple, opposite or subopposite, 7.5-25 x 3-10 cm, oblong, ovate-lanceolate, elliptic-lanceolate or elliptic-oblong, apex acute, base obtuse, round or acute, margin entire, glabrous, coriaceous; stipules intrapetiolar, deciduous; petiole 6-12 mm long, stout, glabrous; lateral nerves 11-19 pairs, parallel, prominent beneath, intercostae reticulate, prominent. Flowers bisexual, 5-7 cm across, mauve or pink, in terminal panicles; inflorescence branches puberulous; pedicel 1 cm long. Calyx tube 1 x 1.3 cm, hemispherical, puberulous, ribbed without; lobes 6, triangular, acute. Petals 6, 4 x 2.5 cm, obovate, clawed, margins crispate. Stamens many, inserted near the base of the calyx tube; filaments exserted. Ovary half inferior, sessile, glabrous, 6-celled, ovules many; style 2 cm long, curved; stigma capitate. Fruit a capsule, 18-30 mm long, ovoid, brown, woody, dehiscent; seeds 10-12 mm long, winged, pale brown.
