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.

BAUHINIA ( Bauhinia Variegate Linnaeus) Stocky and medium sized, with smooth trunk and thick foliage it is a beautiful ornamental tree that produces showey, fragment flowers in a range of colours?lavender, pink, mauve and purple with mottles, splashes and streaks of white and crimson. There is another variety with porcelain-white flowers, often with a mother-pearl gleam. Bauhinia variegata is often confused with the purple Bahunia (Bauhinia purpurea Linnaeus) ehich also produces variegated (though not white) flowers. The time of flowering is a distinguishing feature between the two. B. variegata is in bloom in spring while B. purpurea comes to flower in autumn.

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