The garden city may have been transformed into an IT-hub, but old Bengalureans will still remember the lovely sight of Gul Mohar trees with their striking flowers in vermilion or yellow lining the city roads. As kids we ate the sour and fleshy yellow petals too. As we walked to school, I still recall how I was mesmerised by the street which was set ablaze by the bright colours, especially in May, when the trees were in full bloom.
Native to Madagascar, these bright, flowered trees are regarded as one of the most beautiful tropical trees in the world, Gul Mohar grows to a height of about 20 to 25 feet, with its branches spreading wide and forming an umbrella like canopy. Known as Delonix regia, the tree is commonly known as Flame of the forest.
The tree is meant to flower in May, but, strangely, they are flowering across the city in July.
Caroline Martis Radhakrishnan, who lives on Mosque Road says, “The name should be changed to ‘Jul’ Mohar now and that the trees are flowering late.” Rajee Seetharam says: “Gul Mohar is always associated with romance, which was immortalised by the famous Hindi film song ‘Gul Mohar aghar tumara naam hotha’.”
Pratima Das says, “We had a tree on our road flowering in March this year. It is simply the vagaries of nature or the impact of pollution, I guess.” And, Jacqueline Colaco adds: “Late bloomers are the brightest. We did not see enough flowers in May, so hope these July beauties herald the monsoons as their May counterparts normally do.”
Amore Dodsworth, who lives in Whitefield says, “I have three giant Mayflower trees and have never seen them flowering so late. Man is destroying the planet with no fear of the repercussions.”
Though we have lost a number of these avenues of Gulmohur across the city, yet, a number of mature trees thankfully remain within large walled compounds belonging to the Army, or in educational institutions.
No one is able to give a reason for its late flowering this time, but we are all glad that the flowers have appeared in spite of all the pollution and climate change, which is being attributed to its late flowering.
The flowers, which are the most striking part of this tree, form a flamboyant splash of scarlet against the clear blue sky, making it a sight to behold.
