Devil's Tree. Lalbagh, Bengaluru

July 5, 2015
This is my second gathering at Lalbagh Botanical garden with primary school friends. The first one was Dec 27th, the day we discovered Ficus Krishnae ~ the tree which connects our world with the world of Hindu Gods. Like the last gathering, I came early, parked my car at Double Road entrance, went up the granite hillock and went exploring. As I walking from the lake bund towards Glass House, I happened to notice a tree named Devil's Tree. Wow! Last time it was a godly tree and this time its a devil's tree.. that makes it even. Here it is..

 Here'e the transcript of the board:

ಜಂತಾಲೆ ಮರ

ಮರ ನೆಟ್ಟ ಗಣ್ಯರು: ಶ್ರೀ ರಾಜೀವ್ ಗಾಂಧಿರವರು

ನೆಟ್ಟ ಅವಧಿ: ಡಿಸೆಂಬರ್ 1985

ಸಸ್ಯ ಶಾಸ್ತ್ರೀಯ ಹೆಸರು: ಅಲ್ಸ್ಟೋನಿಯಾ ಸ್ಕೊಲಾರಿಸ್

ಸಸ್ಯ ಶಾಸ್ತ್ರೀಯ ಕುಟುಂಬ: ಆಪೋಸೈನೇಸಿ

ಮೂಲ: ದಕ್ಷಿಣ ಭಾರತ ದೇಶದಿಂದ ಆಸ್ಟ್ರೇಲೀಯಾದವರೆಗೆ

ಹೂ ಬಿಡುವ ಕಾಲ: ಮಾರ್ಚ್-ಏಪ್ರಿಲ್ ಮತ್ತು ನವೆಂಬರ್-ಡಿಸೆಂಬರ್

ಈ ಮರವು ಬೃಹದಾಕಾರವಾಗಿ ಬೆಳೆಯುವ ಗುಣಹೊಂದಿರುವುದರಿಂದ ದೊಡ್ಡ ಉದ್ಯಾನವನಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಸಸ್ಯಶಾಸ್ತ್ರೀಯ ತೋಟಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಇದನ್ನು ಬೆಳೆಸುತ್ತಾರೆ. ವರ್ಷದಲ್ಲಿ ಎರೆಡು ಬಾರಿ ಹೂವು ಬಿಡುವ ಈ ಮರದ ಹೂವುಗಳು ಬಿಳಿಯ ಬಣ್ನದಾಗಿದ್ದು, ಸುವಾಸನೆ ಭರಿತವಾಗಿರುತ್ತವೆ. ಮರದ ಕಾಂಡವು ಬಿಳಿಯ ಬಣ್ನದಾಗಿದ್ದು, ಹೆಚ್ಚಿಗೆ ಬಾಳಿಕೆ ಬರುವುದಿಲ್ಲವಾದ್ದರಿಂದ ಮರದಿಂದ ಬೆಂಕಿ ಪೆಟ್ಟಿಗೆ, ಶವದ ಪೆಟ್ಟಿಗೆಗಳು, ಕಪ್ಪು ಹಲಗೆಗಳು ಮತ್ತು ಬೋಕ್ಷ್ಗಳನ್ನು ತಯಾರಿಸಲಾಗುತ್ತದೆ.

Devil's Tree

Planting Year: December 1985

Common Name: Dita Bark Tree

Botanical Name: Alstonia scholaris

Family: Apocynaceae

Origin: India and Australia

Flowering Season: March-April and November-December

It is a gigantic tree commonly grown in big parks and botanical gardens. It bears flowers twice a year. Flowers are white and fragrant. Wood is white, not durable therefore used in making boxes, coffins, blackboards and matchboxes.

Besides its name Devil's Tree it also known as Dita Bark Tree. It is said that this tree's bark is used in traditional medicine to fight toothache, malaria, rheumatism and even snake bites. Also its latex is used for treating cough, throat sore and fever.

I walked towards the gigantic silk cotton trees, they are amazing trees, never tire of seeing them. A minute's walk from these trees is West Gate that's where I meet up with my friends. Expected number was seven but only five turned up.. never mind the numbers, it was good enough to be meeting up long time friends, We walked around the lake, talking about various birds we saw in the lake.. a black slender bird which takes off like a sea plane was amazing to watch. We also saw pelicans, I could count five of them. Another memorable sight was an Indian Kite diving down towards water trying to pick out fish from the water, We covered the lake trial and reached the bridge where we saw several ducks.. sweet little birds :) They dove and stayed underwater half minutes before surfacing. I was glad to have discovered another tree and to have shared with friends. That's our group for the morning.

left to right - me, Venu, Prashant, Subbu, Prakash

Done with our walk, its time for breakfast. We head towards Roti Ghar in Gandhi Bazar. Prashant, an avid foodie made us have a heavy breakfast... burrrppp!

Adding links to our other gatherings for the benefit of my friends..

• Krishnae Ficus at Lal Bagh, Bengaluru
• Gulmohars of Krishna Rao Park

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