Stereospermum colais (Buch.-Ham. ex Dillw.) D. L. Mabberley

Trees up to 15 m tall. Young shoots pubescent. Leaves imparipinnate, rachis up to 30 cm long, leaflets opposite, 7-9, lamina elliptic-ovate, 12-18 x 6-8.5 cm, acute or acuminate, oblique or cuneate, veins and undersurface lighter coloured, pubescent, densely so in young leaves, subsessile. Flowers dull purple to lilac. Capsule 20-25 x 6-12 mm, broad (immature).

Trees 15-20(-35) m tall. Trunk 15-25(-80) cm in diam. Leaves 25-50 cm; leaflets 3-6 on each side of midrib, long elliptic, 8-14 X 2.5-6 cm, pubescent or glabrous. Inflorescences paniculate, terminal, 20-40 cm; peduncle pubescent or glabrous; bract and bractlets deciduous. Pedicel 3-4 mm, pubescent or glabrous. Flowers many. Calyx campanulate, purple, pubescent or glabrous, 4-5 X 4-5 mm, 3-5-lobed. Corolla pale yellow, slightly curved, ca. 2 cm, upper lip 2-lobed, lower lip 3-lobed, tomentose at mouth, tube terete. Filaments ca. 1 cm, glabrous. Stigma 2-lobed. Capsule terete, 4-angular, slightly curved, 30-70 cm, ca. 1 cm in diam.; pericarp thick, subwoody; septum 4-7 mm in diam. Seeds ovoid, white membranous winged at apices, including wing ca. 2.8 cm, ca. 5 cm in diam. Fl. May-Jul, fr. Sep-Nov. 2n = 40.

Distribution: Reported by Parker, l.c. from the sub-himalayan tract from Rawalpindi district eastward. Not yet collected from our area but to be expected in the Punjar-Karot region of Rawalpindi.

Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Yunnan [Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Indonesia (Sumatra), Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Sikkim, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam].

Fl.Per.: May-June.

Forests, slopes; 400-1800 m.

Bignonia colais Buchanan-Hamilton ex Dillwyn, Rev. Hort. 6(26): 28. 1839; Dipterosperma personatumHasskarl; Stereospermum colais var. puberula (Dop) D. D. Tao; S. personatum (Hasskarl) Chatterjee; S. personatum var. puberula Dop; S. tetragonum de Candolle.