General Information :

• A medium sized Deciduous tree with open crown.
• Bark rough, grey to pale brown in color.
• Leaves dark green in color.
• Flowers are bright red in color.
• Single seed with thin papery reddish brown seed coat.

Distribution :

 

• Throughout the greater parts of India.

 

Habitat : Dry Deciduous forests

Soil : Common in saline soils, black cotton soil and tank bunds.

Soil pH : 7-8

Altitude :Up to 1300 m (MSL)

Rainfall :500-3800 mm

Temperature : Up to 47°C

Terrain : Plains and Hilly.

Tree Characteristics :

• It is a light demander, frost hardy and drought resistant.
• It coppices well.

Habit : Deciduous Tree

Natural Regeneration :

• Natural regeneration from seeds  and coppice. 

Artificial Regeneration :

• Seedlings can be easily propagated by Nursery raised seedlings.

Seed collection and Storage :

• The fruits ripen during May-July.
• It is not necessary to extract seed from pods, they equally germinate well.
• Seeds 9800-14800/ kg.
• Seeds can be stored in sealed containers for one year.

Seed Treatment :

• No seed treatment is required.

Nursery Technique :

• The seeds are broadcasted in mother bed of standard size during May.
• Seeds germinate within 10 days.
• Mother bed weeded and watered regularly.
• Two leaf seedlings are transplanted in polybags and raised in nursery for 6 months.

Plantation technique :

  Nursery raised Seedlings:  

• 6 months old nursery raised seedlings are selected for planting.
• Pit size of 30 cm3
• Spacing adopted  2 – 3 m in lines.

 

Care & Disease Control :

• Thinning depends on the rate of tree growth.
• For Lac cultivation, trees have to be systematically pruned and pollarded, to get flush of succulent shoots for injection.

Irrigation :

• For proper growth and survival, it is necessary to give one or two waterings after planting. This is specifically required in arid regions.
• Higher survival rate and better rate of growth is reported when soil and water conservation measures are also adopted.

Recommended Harvest :

 

• 15 – 30 years

 

Yield :

Coppice management yields roughly 100 kg/tree of air-dry fuel wood every 5 years.

Major uses :

• It is a most important host tree for Lac Cultivation in India, for which the branches are pollarded up to 4 cm dia.
• It is useful for Afforestation of saline/alkaline and water logged areas.
• The timber is mainly used as fuel and gun powder charcoal.
• The leaves are used as fodder for cattle.
• A red juice from incisions in the bark, which hardens into ruby colored gum, known as Butea gum or Bengal kino.

Other uses :

• Flowers yield ornge dye for colouring cotton dyes.
• Leaves are used for leaf plates and bidi wrapping.
• Incision of bark gives clear red gum or bengal kino.