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Bauhinia
acuminata L.
Synonym : Bauhinia linnaei
Ali.
Family
: Caesalpinioideae
Local Names
: Veluthamantharam, White
bauhinia, Snowy Orchid
Flowering
and fruiting period:
Throughout the year
Distribution: Indo-Malaysia
Habitat: Grown as ornamental
plant
IUCN
status:
Least Concern
Endemic:
No
Uses: Ornamental. The roots are used to
treat cough and cold. In India, the decoction of leaves and bark is used to
treat asthma attack.
Key
Characters:
Bauhinia acuminata is a shrub with young stems puberulent. Leaves are
subcoriaceous, ovate to subrotund, bilobed, lobes acute to acuminate.
Inflorescences lateral, few-flowered, racemose or cymose. Calyx spathaceous.
Petals are white, elliptic and obtuse. Stamens 10, perfect, the filaments
connate at the base, otherwise free, anthers with puberulent connective. Ovary
stipitate, style glabrous; stigma peltate. Fruit linear-oblong; seeds are
compressed and brown.