''Pterolobium hexapetalum'', the Indian redwing, camp siege or bhoca,
[From the ]Irula language
Irula is a Dravidian language spoken by the Irulas who inhabit the area of the Nilgiri mountains, in the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka, India. It is closely related to Tamil. It is written in the Tamil script.
Origins
The langu ...
in the Nilgiris is a
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 ...
in the
legume
A legume () is a plant in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seed of such a plant. When used as a dry grain, the seed is also called a pulse. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consumption, for livestock f ...
family,
. It is found from
Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
,
Bhutan
Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...
and
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
to southern India, where it occurs up to 1200 m altitude. They are large scrambling or climbing shrubs that grow commonly in dry deciduous forest, or as pioneer plants in open land.
They carry pairs of thorns below the
rachis of their
bipinnate
The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular o ...
leaves, and their sprawling twigs are armed with recurved thorns. In springtime their profuse and attractive inflorescences of pinkish white flowers form a mat on tree canopies. Starting March to April, they present a major source of nectar and pollen, and are foraged on by different species of honey bee. In late summer they bear colourful
samaroid fruit, containing one seed each. The young shoots are useful as cattle fodder.
References
External links
*
*
Indian Redwing Flowers of India
P. hexapetalum Flora of Nilgiri Biosphere
Bhoca, a bee forage plant Bees for Development Journal
* Range and synonyms
Pterolobium hexapetalum LegumeWeb, from ILDIS World Database of Legumes
{{Taxonbar, from=Q7256807
hexapetalum
Flora of the Indian subcontinent
Flora of Myanmar