Lagerstroemia speciosa


Lagerstroemia speciosa is a species of Lagerstroemia native to tropical southern Asia.

Etymology

The genus Lagerstroemia was first described by Carl Linnaeus. The name Lagerstroemia recognizes Magnus von Lagerstroem, a Swedish naturalist who provided specimens from the East for Linnaeus.

Names

It is a small to medium-sized tree growing to tall, with smooth, flaky bark. The leaves are deciduous, oval to elliptic, long and broad, with an acute apex. The flowers are produced in erect panicles long, each flower with six white to purple petals long. The flowers in this plant blooms only once in a year at the peak of summer.

Cultivation and uses

It is grown in South East Asia, India, Bangladesh and the Philippines. It is also widely cultivated as an ornamental plant in tropical and subtropical areas. The leaves of the banabá and other parts are used widely in the Philippines, Taiwan, and Japan as a tea preparation. Banabá herb is one of the 69 herbal plants promoted by the Philippine Department of Health. In Vietnam the plant's young leaves are consumed as vegetables, and its old leaves and mature fruit are used in traditional medicine for reducing glucose in blood.
The seeds have narcotic properties.

Chemistry

Chemical compounds that have been isolated from the extract include corosolic acid, lager-stroemin, flosin B, and reginin A.

Recognition

Pride of India or Tāmhan in Marathi is recognised as the state flower of the state of Maharashtra in India.

In Buddhism

In Theravada Buddhism, this plant is said to have been used as the tree for achieved enlightenment, or Bodhi by the eleventh Lord Buddha, and the twelfth Lord Buddha. The plant is known as මුරුත in Sinhala and Mahaasona – මහාසොණ in Sanskrit.

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