Two weeks
ago I was passing through a street in our neighbourhood. I noticed these beautiful flowers in one plot
with boundary wall and a little distance away along the boundaries of another
plot. The flowers were bright yellow,
attractive and awesome. This is the
first time I have ever seen them. I
captured them with my mobile. After
coming home I did a reverse image search and came to know that it is native to
Mexico but can be found growing in diverse habitat. The plant belongs to the subfamily
caesalpinoideae and Senna alata is its botanical name. It has multiple common names - Candle bush, Emperor’s
candle stick, Ringworm shrub, Empress Candle plant, Christmas candle, Candelabra
bush or Candle tree.
The plant
grows as shrub but it can grow up to 1200m in tropics.
The plants I
seen growing wild, 1-2m shrubs, with long leaves that close in the night. The yellow flowers look like candle and are
attractive. The fruit is a straight
pod. The plant can be grown from the
seeds. The seeds are distributed by
water and/or animals. Maybe, here the seeds are dropped by the birds and plant
started growing wildly.
This plant, grown
as ornamental plant, also has medicinal properties. The paste of ground leaves mixed with
vegetable oil is used for treatment of fungal infection – ringworm. It is also used as laxative.
Do you know
where is it seen commonly in India?
