Category: B

Butea monosperma (Lam.) Taubert (PAPILIONACEAE) Common namesKannada: Muthugada mara, Paalasha.Malayalam: Palasin panatha.Tamil: Porasu.Telugu: Modugu.English: Flame of the forest. Description: Deciduous trees, 15-20 m tall with rough ash-coloured bark; young parts tomentose or downy. Leaves 3-foliolate; rachis 15-20 cm; petioles 10-15 cm long; leaflets rhomboid or broadly ovate, obtuse or retuse, terminal larger 10-20 x 10-20…

Breynia vitisidaea (Burm. f. ) C. Fischer (EUPHORBHIACEAE) Common namesKannada: Kaadu nugge.Tulu: Palli soppu. Description: Small glabrous monoecious shrubs; branches distichous, horizontal. Leaves alternate, elliptic to broadly ovate, 3-5 x 1.5 – 2.5 cm, rounded or sub-acute at base, obtuse or sub-acute at apex, pale beneath, drying black; petiole up to 3-5 mm; stipules minute.…

Bridelia scandens (Roxb.) Willd. (EUPHORBIACEAE) Description: Larger scandent shrubs; stem thorny, shoots brown pubescent. Leaves alternate, elliptic-oblong or obovate, 4.5 – 9 x 2.5 x 4.2 cm, rounded or subcordate at base, obtuse at apex, entire or undulate, fulvous-pubescent beneath; nerves 8-10 pairs. The flowers are arranged in an inflorescence of interrupted pseudospikes with leaves…

Bridelia retusa (L.) Sprengel (EUPHORBIACEAE) Common namesSanskrit: Mahavira.Kannada: Asana, Gurige, Komanji.Tamil: Mullu vengai.Malayalam: Mukkayini.Telugu: Bouthayepi, Dudhi-maddi, Kora maddi. Description: Small trees, up to 12 m tall; stem with strong conical spines. Leaves alternate, elliptic-oblong, up to 14 x 7 cm, obtuse at base, retuse at apex, brown pubescent beneath; with many parallel lateral and cross…

Bombax ceiba L. (BOMBACACEAE) Common namesSanskrit: Salmali.Booruga: Booruga.Tulu: Booruga.Tamil: Pula-maram, Ilava.Malayalam: Mullu buragamara, Mocha, Elevam, Poola.Telugu: Pula, Salmali, Mundla buraga. Description: Trees that shed their leaves, reaching heights of up to 40 meters, typically possessing buttresses; their bark is grayish and adorned with prickles. Leaves palmately compound; petioles 12-25 cm long; leaflets 5-7, lanceolate to…

Blepharistemma membranifolia (Miq.) Ding Hou (RHIZOPHORACEAE) Description: Trees, up to 9 m tall; branchlets glabrous. Leaves elliptic-oblong, up to 15 x 7 cm, acuminate,. Inflorescence of 3-4 cm long axillary cymes. Flowers white. Calyx lobes 4, triangular, erect, short. Petals 4, clawed, spathulate, lacerate at apex. Stamens 8; filaments ciliate. Ovary 3-4-locular; style slender, elongated;…

Bischofia javanica Blume (EUPHORBIACEAE) Common nameKannada: Neelimara, Nethraka. Description: Trees upto 40 m., leaves alternate, leaflets 11-18x 4-10 cm, broadly ovate-elliptic, entire or crenate, acuminate, often oblique at base. In male plants, the calyx lobes are typically white, often surrounding the stamens initially before bending backward; in female plants, they tend to be greenish. The…

Bambusa bambos (L.) Voss (GRAMINEAE) Common namesKannada: Andibidiru, Bidiru, Hebbidiru.Malayalam: Mulla.Tamil: Mungil, Periya Mungil, Peru varai mungil. Description: Large, thorny bamboo with stout root-stock. Culms erect, drooping at the top, up to 30 m tall and up to 17 cm in diam; internodes hollow. Culm-sheaths broad, triangular, up to 30 cm long, striate, orange-yellow when…

Bauhinia variegata L. (CAESALPINIACEAE) Common namesKannada: Kanchan, Kovidara, Mandara.Malayalam: Chuvanna mandaram.Sanskrit: Kanchanara, Kovidaara.Tamil: Segapu manchori, Semmandarai.Telugu: Daeva kanchanamu, Mandara. Description: Deciduous medium sized trees, up to 8 m tall. Leaves deeply cleft ¼ – ¹/3 the way down, up to 11 x 11 cm, cordate at base, acute to acuminate at apex, glabrous above, sparsely…

Bauhinia racemosa Lam. (CAESALPINIACEAE) Common namesSanskrit: Sveta Kanchan.Kannada: Mandara.Tulu: Mandara.Tamil: Archi, Arikka, Kokku mantharai.Malayalam: Kotapuli.Telugu: Pachare. Description: Deciduous trees, up to 8 m tall. Leaves alternate, broader than long, ca 4×5 cm, subcordate at base, bilobed at apex, pubescent beneath, lobes rounded. Flowers many, lax, white or fading yellow. Calyx spathaceous, toothed at apex. Petals…