Design to bear heavy stress and strain, trees spread then branches all round their trunks to achieve a grace and balance unequalled by any trapeze artist. Thinner than silk strands and stronger than steel pins, their roots burrow in to crevices in search of nutrients and moisture, and pump them up to the top-most leaves through an intricate network of conduits that make an engineer gasp in disbelief. With clockwork precision, trees notice the change of seasons, come to flower, bear fruit, set seed, and heal their green leaves absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, release life giving oxygen, and synthesize food in the presence of sunlight?an abundant source of energy that man has yet to harness properly. So far, man has learnt only to put an axe to trees. To meet his growing needs he has indiscriminately cleared vast stretches of forest land, little realizing that roots perform an important function as soil-binders. Consequently, wind and water swept away millions of the world?s most productive lands into arid wastes.

FLAME-OF-THE-FOREST [Butea monosperma (Lamarck) Taubert] A slow-growing tree seldom reaching a height of 15 meters, the frost-hardy, drought-resistant Flame-of-the-forest occurs throughout India and is considered useful for reclaiming saline lands. By February, it sheds its trifoliate, hard, leathery leaves. It announces the advent of hot weather by bursting into a blaze of flowers, produced on great, stiff clusters. The flame-orange, red or vermilion petals are covered with soft hair that glimmer in sunlight, contrasting vividly with the jet-black or bottle-green velvety sepals. One of the few hosts on which the lacinsect can be reared, it also yields a ruby-coloured gum used in tanning leather. The seed is valvued as an anthelminthic.

Source : Information Folder issued by Indian Posts & Telegraph Department, Government of India