'Flame of the Forest'
It was all a long time about 9-10 years ago; I
packed my bag to return to University after spending vacations at home. With the new
sun rising at the crack of dawn, I was traveling in HP govt. Bus. To be
precise, the bus was crossing the protected area of Pong Bird sanctuary near the
Talwara Dam, the border area between Punjab and Himachal.
Sunlight was slowly changing its tinge from
reddish to bright yellow. That miraculous phenomenon made surrounding
vegetation striking green even more; fresh and rejuvenating new leaf buds were
arranging their pattern for opening. That day was one of the last weeks of the
March month with welcoming spring. My eyesight shifted to a far-standing medium-sized tree on a hillock. I couldn’t stick my vision over it as the bus was at the full pace without considering traffic in the early morning. Again, I saw the same
plant species. This time, on another side of the previous one. After a bus turn,
I missed that again. With the next turn, I notice there were a number of trees of the same species standing randomly and looked unique among all. These leafless
trees were looking like having sharp orange ribbons tied and appeared as
festoon overhead.
These trees were ‘Flame of the Forest’ aka Butea
monosperma (Lam.) Taub (F- Leguminosae). I saw that tree the first time but recognized it with its sole
flower dominance in that stand. Moreover, the silvicultural description of this
tree was there in my mind. Especially, it is a light demander tree of Dry
Deciduous Forest, which emerges as fire over crown when spring shifted toward
summers. Hence, named ‘Flame of the forest’. Its flower color is dedicated
to ‘shade of love’, which symbolizes beautiful springs' arrival.
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| Butea monosperma Flowering time - Jan to April PC - Rohit Kumar (Forestry Scholar) |
While all the deciduous trees were emerging
with green leaf buds. Here, Butea monosperma stand bestowed the site with
splendid orange-red ‘color of love, to welcome all new leaves of surrounding
tree communities.
Terribly, this tree is also named as ‘bastard
teak’. Whereas, in Hindi, commonly acknowledged as ‘Palash’ or ‘Dhak’. There is a proverb named ‘Dhak ke teen pat’ which describes the effortless
work which remains the same with no result as trifoliate leaves of the tree remain same
throughout the season before shedding. And very few people knew about the origin of
its Hindi name ‘Palash’. It is linked with the battlefield Plassey, where Britishers
decisively won the battle over the Bengal Nawab of that time. That area ‘Palashi’ was
believed to be covered with Dhak forest, somewhere near the Hoogli River (WB).
This tree is very closely linked to history with respect to its importance,
uses, and with its attractive flowers.
Earlier its dried flower powder was used as Holi
colors. People used to pluck flowers and soaked them in the water bucket overnight
to get colored water (yellow-orange color) to play Holi the next day. Nowadays,
these colors are being sold with exorbitant price in the name of ‘Organic Holi
Colors’ as skin-friendly. We are forgetting our Indigenous knowledge and companies
in the name of trendy innovations taking the patents and foremost profits from
natural resources without benefit-sharing to traditional users. Moreover, they
are creating the world of bio-piracy by holding authority over natural
resources.
Every part of ‘Palash’ is bound to offer different kinds of uses. Like tree pollard well and act as good fodder source for livestock. Leaves are used for making dona ‘Biodegradable serving plates/cups’ and bidi wrappers where forest dwellers generate their nominal income from it. The tree also acts as a generous host for many avian spp. for shelter and insects/bees for pollination. It is also recommended for culturing Lac insect commercially. Palash is a good coppicer; its wood is recommended for pulping and so far. Other NTFPs like gum (Bengal Kino), fibers for making strong cordages, and medicines from the bark can be extracted from it. Not only bark, other parts of trees have important medicinal values as well. All aspect like medicinal values, uses; Phytochemical constituent; Pharmacological activities can get from the given link https://www.ukessays.com/essays/biology/literature-review-butea-monosperma.
If we talk about the varietal
wealth of Palash, we will regret our livings with development. Same genera
with different varieties (with different colored flowers) were known to exist
abundantly earlier on the Indian subcontinent. Like Butea monosperma var. alba
(White Palash) has white-colored flowers; another variety has yellow-colored
flowers, are now limited and restricted to some parts of central India only. It
is hard to find these varieties in the ‘Era of Concrete’ development where we had
lost most of the rare indigenous tree varieties and still losing. To cease this
upcoming threat, we need to use our potential in the cause of conservation of natural resources.
