• Family : FABACEAE
  (Pea Or Bean Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : PALASH FAMILY (पलाश फैमिली)
• Family (as per The APG System III) : Leguminosae
• Subfamily : Faboideae
• Basionym : Erythrina monosperma Lam.
• Synonym(s) : Butea frondosa Koenig ex Roxb.; Butea monosperma var. lutea (D.O.Witt) Maheshw.
• Species Name (as per The IPNI) : Butea monosperma (Lam.) Taub.
• Common name : Flame of the Forest, Bastard teak, Bengal kino tree
• Vernacular name :
  • Dhak, Palasa (Hindi)
  • Palasha, Mutthugada mara (Kannada)
  • Purasu, Porasu (Tamil)
  • Moduga, Mathaka (Telugu)
  • Palasa (Oria)
  • Palasha (Sanskrit)
  • Palas (Marathi)
  • Brahmavriksham, Chamatha, Mukkappuyam, Plasu, Palasinsamatha (Malayalam)
• Habit : Tree
• Habitat : Tropical dry deciduous forests
• Comments / notes : Common in open deciduous forests up to 1000m. The flowers are attractive and a good source of nectar for pollinators.
• Key identification features : Leafless during flowering
• Flower, Fruit : January-July
• Collector(s) Name : T.P.Ramamoorthy; Cecil J. Saldanha; Raja K. Swamy
• Collection Date : 27-01-1971, 11-04-1969
• Collection Nos : HFP 1341, CJS 13227, SKU 40019
• Collection Locality : Byaba state forest, Hassan district; Kalasamudram, Anantapur district
• Distribution :
  • Andhra Pradesh : All districts of Andhra Pradesh
  • Telangana : Karim Nagar district, Warangal district, Nizamabad district
  • Karnataka : Bengaluru district
  • Kerala : Kasaragod district, Kannur district, Wayanad district, Kozhikode district, Malappuram district, Palakkad district, Thrissur district, Idukki district, Alappuzha district, Kollam district, Thiruvananthapuram district
  • Maharashtra : Akola district
  • Odisha : Khurda district
  • Tamil Nadu : Kanchipuram (Changalpattu-CGP) district, Coimbatore district, Dharmapuri district, The Nilgiri district, Vellore district, Tiruvannamalai district, Ramanathapuram district, Salem district, Villipuram district, Cuddalore district, Tiruchirapalli district
  • Jharkhand :
  • Madhya Pradesh : Hoshangabad district
  • Uttarakhand : Uttarakhand
  • Sikkim : Sikkim
  • West Bengal : South 24 Parganas district, Bankura, Burdwan, Darjeeling district, Hooghly, Howrah, Midnapur, Purulia, 24-Parganas
  • Himachal Pradesh : Kullu district
  • Arunachal Pradesh : Arunachal Pradesh
  • Meghalaya : Meghalaya
  • Assam : Assam
  • Nagaland : Nagaland
  • Delhi : Delhi
  • Uttar Pradesh : Uttar Pradesh
  • Punjab : Punjab
  • Rajasthan : Jaisalmer district, Barmer district, Bikaner district, Jodhpur district
  • Jammu and Kashmir : Jammu and Kashmir
  • Mizoram : Mizoram
  • Manipur : Manipur
  • Tripura : Tripura
• Native : Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Vietnam
• Exotic/Native : Native
• World Distribution : Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Vietnam
• Conservation Status : Least Concern (LC)
• Literature :
  • Pullaiah et al., 2002 - Flora of Eastern Ghats Vol. 1
  • H.O. Saxena & M. Brahmam, 1994- Flora of Orissa Vol. 1
  • R. S. Rao et al., 1986 - Flora of West Godavari District
  • R. S. Rao and S. H. Sreeramulu, 1986 - Flora of Srikakulam District
  • H. O. Saxena and M. Brahmam, 1989 - The Flora of Similipahar (Similipal), Orissa
  • N.P.Singh, 1988. Flora of Eastern Karnataka
  • Matthew, K.M., Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.3 (1). Diocesan Press, Madras. 1983
  • Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI
  • Henry, Kumari & Chithra (1983). Flora of Tamil Nadu, India vol. 1.
  • Sudhakar reddy et al. 2008. Butea monosperma (Lam.) Taub. var. lutea (Witt.): A little known taxon of India, needs immediate conservation. Proceedings of Akademi Sciences AP
  • Indigenous Plants at Biodiversity Park, Ranchi - Ranchi Afforestation Division, Forest and Environmental Department, Jharkhand
  • H J, Chowdhery, et al. Flora of Himachal Pradesh. Volume 1, Botanical Survey of India, 1984. Pg.: 190
• Read more :
  • Plants of the World Online
  • World Flora Online
  • Global Plants on JSTOR
• Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Deepak Kumar (2024). India Flora Online. http://indiafloraonline-ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Butea monosperma. Downloaded on 1 April 2025.

Botanical Description

Herbarium Specimen(s)

Line Drawings

Field Image(s)

Habitat

India Distribution

World Distribution