Herbarium JCB

Saraca asoca (Roxb.) W.J.de Wilde

Family : FABACEAE
Family (As per The Plant List) : Fabaceae (Leguminosae)
Subfamily : Caesalpinioideae
Species : Saraca asoca
Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Saraca asoca (Roxb.) W.J.de Wilde
Common name : Asoka, True Asoka, Sita Asoka
Vernacular name : Ashoka (San.); Ashoka, Ashok (Hin.); Ashokada mara, Kengali mara (Kan.)
Collection Nos : KFP 951, KFP 6917, KFP 12845
Key identification features : A medium-sized handsome evergreen tree with a short trunk and spreading canopy. Leaves are large, compound, alternate with strap-like leaflets. Flowers are 1.5 to 2 cm. long, attractive and clustered in axillary inflorescences. Fruit is a few-seeded oblong pod. Bark pink-brown, relatively smooth, lenticellate, and irregularly fissured.
Habit : Tree
Native : India, Sri Lanka
Comments : Sacred Tree; The flowers are without petals, the calyx is tubular and brightly coloured. This is true Ashoka tree.
Conservation Status : Vulnerable (VU)
Distribution Locality : Bangalore, Chikamagalur, Dakshina Kannada, Hassan, Mysore, Shimoga, Udupi, Uttara Kannada
Floras referred : Saldanha & Nicolson, 1976 - Hassan; Saldanha, 1984; Gowda, 2004 - Sringeri; Ramaswamy & Razi, 1973 - Bangalore; Rao & Razi, 1981 - Mysore; Gopalakrishna Bhat, 2003 - Udupi; Harish Bhat et al, 2013- Netrani Island Report; Gopalakrishna Bhat, 2014 - Flora of South Kanara