Today is Earth Day and appropriate to see this ‘Indian soap nut tree’ shed, grow leaves and flower in a week.
There is an Indian soap nut tree (Genus Sapindus) in front of my house, planted by me during the tree-planting drive in May 2004. Called ‘Boondhi Kottai’ (பூந்தி கொட்டை) tree in Tamil, it is now about 10 m (35 ft) high and has started to flower this year.
An absolute delight was the way the tree shed its leaves and re grew them in about 2 days and flower 3 days later. Here is the tree
almost bare on 4th April & on 6th April
Remarkable, isn’t it? Another aspect is that it is a night bloomer and attracts bats – or rather attracts pollinating insects which attracts bats!
And the flower on 10th April
An absolute delight was the way the tree shed its leaves and re grew them in about 2 days and flower 3 days later. Here is the tree
almost bare on 4th April & on 6th April
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Remarkable, isn’t it? Another aspect is that it is a night bloomer and attracts bats – or rather attracts pollinating insects which attracts bats!
And the flower on 10th April
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