Baobab or Gorakhchich is also known as Monkey-bread tree or Upside down tree (when leafless it appears as if the roots are up in the sky!). Botanically it is Adansonia digitata. It is endemic in Tropical Africa and supposed to have been introduced in western India from Africa by Arabian traders. This is an ecologically important tree and there is a beautiful film titled Baobab which shows the life around this tree all around the day and night.
This is not Parijat. Parijat of Prajakt is Nyctanthes arbor-tristris, a very popular / fragrant garden plant - small tree / big shrub. The scented pretty small flowers with white petals and orange tube bloom in the evening and fall in the early morning, perfect for the believers to collect and use for pooja. The plant supposed to have emerged during the churning of the ocean by devas and danavas. The origin is recorded as East India and Sumatra, however the plant is not really seen in wilderness but mostly in gardens and plantations. The leaves are rough and used like sand paper to polish wood. Ulhas On Feb 27, 11:00 pm, Pankaj Kumar <[email protected]> wrote: > At some places, it was planted by britishers. Native of African continent. > Interestingly this is not native but still finds mention in the vedas > as Parijat tree. > Wild species of this have been reported from India. > Pankaj > >
