When in bloom, Java cassia can be a stunning sight,
with the tree covered with crimson-pink flowers. It is a deciduous.
tree with branchlets drooping, slender, thinly greyish. Flowers are
borne in lateral racemes on short side branches. This character
distinguishes it easily from
Agnes Cassia, which has flowers borne
in panicles, at ends of young leafy shoots. inflorescence axis is
slender. Sepals are green, ovate. Petals are pinkish, ovate, 2.5-3 x
1-1.5 cm. Stamens are 10, among them 3 lower antesepalous with longer
filaments than other 7. Ovary is linear, whitish velvet-hairy. Leaves
are compound, 15-30 cm; leaflets 5-12 pairs, 2-5 × 1.2-2 cm, somewhat
leathery, below hairy, above sparsely finely velvet-hairy, base
slightly asymmetric, tip pointed or blunt. Pod is blackish brown,
cylindrical, 30-45 cm long, 1-1.5 cm wide, with prominent annular
nodes. Java Cassia is native to Indonesia (Java), Malaysia, Thailand,
widely cultivated in the tropical world.
Identification credit: Tabish
Photographed in Imphal, Manipur.
• Is this flower misidentified?
If yes,
Your name: Your email: Your comments
The flower labeled Java Cassia is ...