Blooming Trees

As monsoon grows closer, India "greens up". Right now it seems that just about every tree is in bloom.

Jacarandas along Gunjan bazaar

One thing that has surprised me is how tropical trees have been spread across the world. India is full of trees from Brazil and Africa that arrived many centuries ago. The widely-planted jacaranda (above) is from Brazil.

The sausage tree is a transplant from Africa. The flowers open at night, then fall off by morning. The flower cluster above has mostly bloomed, but you can see a remaining flower bud at the left. The name of the tree comes from the large sausage-shaped fruits that hang on the tree for many months.

The dark red sausage tree flower. I picked up this one from the ground under the tree and brought it home for identification. There's no other tree with a flower even close to this!

Originally native to Madagascar, the gulmohur (also known as flame tree and poinciana) is found throughout India.

Another gulmohur blooming in Vapi.

Amaltas (also known as Indian laburnum) is a showy native tree.