Butea monosperma (Dhak) fruits at Canopy W2 IMG 7498

''Butea'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s belonging to the pea family, Fabaceae. It is sometimes considered to have only two

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

, '' B. monosperma'' and '' B. superba'',Gwilym Lewis, Brian Schrire, Barbara MacKinder, and Mike Lock. 2005. ''Legumes of the World''. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew: Richmond, England. or is expanded to include four or five species. '' Butea monosperma'' is used for timber, resin, fodder, herbal medicine, and dyeing. ''Butea'' is also a host to the

lac insect ''Kerriidae'' is a family of scale insects, commonly known as lac insects or lac scales. Some members of the genera ''Metatachardia'', ''Tachardiella'', ''Austrotacharidia'', ''Afrotachardina'', ''Tachardina'', and ''Kerria'' are raised for comme ...

, which produces natural lacquer.Munivenkatappa Sanjappa. 1987. "Revision of the genera ''Butea'' Roxb. ex Willd. and ''Meizotropis'' Voigt (Fabaceae)". ''Bulletin of the Botanical Survey of India'' 29:199-225.

Taxonomy

''Butea'' is named after

John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, (; 25 May 1713 – 10 March 1792), styled Lord Mount Stuart between 1713 and 1723, was a British nobleman who served as the 7th Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1762 to 1763 under George III. He was arguabl ...

(1713-1792), member of parliament, prime minister for one year, and a

patron Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...

botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

.Umberto Quattrocchi. 2000. ''CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names'' volume I. CRC Press: Boca Raton; New York; Washington, DC; USA. London, UK.

William Roxburgh William Roxburgh FRSE FRCPE FLS (3/29 June 1751 – 18 February 1815) was a Scottish surgeon and botanist who worked extensively in India, describing species and working on economic botany. He is known as the founding father of Indian botany. ...

erected the genus ''Butea'' in 1795, but it became a

nomen invalidum This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the more specific Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary o ...

. Carl Willdenow validated the name ''Butea'' in 1802.

Uses

''Butea monosperma'', called kiṃśukha in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

, is used in Ayurvedic medicine to treat various symptoms.

Species

Forty-two names have been published in ''Butea'',''Butea''
At
IPNI
/ref> but forty of these are either synonyms or names of species that have been transferred to other genera. * '' B. braamiana'' * '' B. buteiformis'' (''Megalotropis buteiformis'', ''Meizotropis buteiformis'') * '' B. monosperma'' (syn. ''Butea frondosa'', ''Erythrina monosperma''): flame-of-the-forest, bastard teak, pâlāsh * '' B. superba'' (''Plaso superba'', ''Rudolphia superba'')

References

External links

* *
''Erythrina monosperma''
In
Encyclopédie Méthodique. Botanique
Phaseoleae Fabaceae genera {{Phaseoleae-stub