Fabaceae » Piliostigma thonningii


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commonly known as: camel's foot tree, monkey bread tree, Rhodesian bauhinia, wild bauhinia

at Nagla forest, Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Maharashtra  

--Last edited by dinesh valke on 2009-10-28 23:22:19 --

Thanks Dinesh! Not a common tree at all! It is up on the site now. On the web there seems to be disagreement on the current name. However, GRIN (http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?315117) , which I consider more reliable source, says that the current name is Bauhinia thonningii.

Thank you very much, Tabish.

You are right.. indeed B. thonningii is the accepted name.

I wonder from where I got to consider it otherwise. I will make change in my Flickr notes.  

--Last edited by dinesh valke on 2007-11-01 09:26:08 --

Dear friends, this plant is Bauhinia malabarica (syn. Piliostigma malabaricum), identification corrected by Shrikant Ingalhalikar.


Common names are: Malabar bauhinia • Assamese: kotra • Bengali: karmai • Garo: bakbakhol, beolphiu, migong thak • Hindi: अम्ली amli • Kannada: ಬಸವನಪಾದ basavanapaada • Konkani: korat • Malayalam: ആരമ്പുളി aarampuli • Marathi: अम्ली amli, कोरळ koral • Nepalese: टाँकी tanki • Oriya: gumbati • Sanskrit: अम्लपत्रः amlapatrah, अश्मन्तक ashmantaka • Tamil: மலையாத்தி malai-y-atti, புளியாத்தி puli-y-atti • Telugu: పులి చింత puli chinta

Dear Dinesh, these two species seem very closely similar. Thanks to Shrikant, this finally got identified correctly. It is on the site now:
http://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Malabar%20Bauhinia.html