''Bauhinia acuminata'' is a species of flowering

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

native to tropical southeastern Asia. Common names include dwarf white bauhinia, white orchid-tree and snowy orchid-tree.Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk
''Bauhinia acuminata''
/ref> The exact native range is obscure due to extensive cultivation, but probably from Malaysia, Indonesia ( Java, Borneo,

Kalimantan Kalimantan () is the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo. It constitutes 73% of the island's area. The non-Indonesian parts of Borneo are Brunei and East Malaysia. In Indonesia, "Kalimantan" refers to the whole island of Borneo. In 2019, ...

Lesser Sunda Islands The Lesser Sunda Islands or nowadays known as Nusa Tenggara Islands ( id, Kepulauan Nusa Tenggara, formerly ) are an archipelago in Maritime Southeast Asia, north of Australia. Together with the Greater Sunda Islands to the west they make up t ...

), and the Philippines. It grows two to three meters tall. Like the other ''Bauhinia'' species, the

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

are bilobed, shaped like an ox hoof; they are long and broad, with the apical cleft up to deep; the petiole is long. The flowers are fragrant, in diameter, with five white petals, ten yellow-tipped

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

s and a green stigma. The fruit is a

pod Pod or POD may refer to: Biology * Pod (fruit), a type of fruit of a flowering plant * Husk or pod of a legume * Pod of whales or other marine mammals * "-pod", a suffix meaning "foot" used in taxonomy Electronics and computing * Proper ort ...

long and broad. The species occurs in deciduous forests and scrub.Huxley, A., ed. (1992). ''New RHS Dictionary of Gardening''. Macmillan . It is widely cultivated throughout the tropics as an ornamental plant. It may be found as an escape from cultivation in some areas, and has become

naturalised Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the i ...

on the Cape York Peninsula,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. The plant has a number of ethnobotanical uses around the world. The roots are used by the Javanese to treat cough and cold and in India the leaves and bark are used to treat asthma. It is also used in many culinary dishes of Odisha

Gallery

File:Bauhinia acuminata plantlet 14042014.jpg, Seedling File:Bauhinia acuminata at Kadavoor.jpg, Flower File:Bauhinia acuminata flowerbud 22052014.jpg, Young green pod File:(Bauhinia acuminata) fruits at Bhadrachalam 02.JPG, Pods File:Bauhinia acuminata 22 08 2012.JPG, Foliage File:Bauhinia acuminata 18072014 (3).jpg, Stamens, Style, Stigma, Filament File:Flower and bud of Bauhinia acuminata in West Bengal, India.jpg, Flower and bud in West Bengal, India. File:Flowers and pods of dwarf white bauhinia (Bauhinia acuminata).jpg, Flowers and pods of a shrub in India

References

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q2725413 acuminata Flora of Malesia Garden plants of Asia Shrubs Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus