Utmost Tenderness. Macro of the Rain Tree Blossom

Trees are poems the earth writes upon the sky... wrote poet Kahlil Gibran. Trees take little and give a lot. They are the heart, the limbs, the veins... more

by Jenny Rainbow

Title

Utmost Tenderness. Macro of the Rain Tree Blossom

Artist

Jenny Rainbow

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

Trees are poems the earth writes upon the sky..." wrote poet Kahlil Gibran. Trees take little and give a lot. They are the heart, the limbs, the veins and the lungs of the ecosystem. As if they didn't have enough roles to play, they are also responsible for making every scene and scape beautiful. We are nothing without trees around us
Native to Central and South America, rain trees are large to massive, evergreen, spreading, umbrella-shaped and symmetrical trees. Rain trees have been widely planted for shade in the tropics.
The Rain Tree (Samanea saman) is a wide canopied, umbrella-shaped tree that flowers through a large part of the year, from March to September. The tree is locally known as 'Male mara'. The leaflets of this tree fold close at night and open up in sunlight. One can see these trees planted by the side of broad roads all around Bangalore. It sheds moisture through the day, giving the tree its name. It is common to see 'rain drops' on cars parked.
Samanea saman is a large tropical tree growing as much as 60 m tall, with rough wrinkled bark and developing a symmetrical broad umbrella shaped crown about 80 m wide, making this species a beautiful choice for a shade tree.
The evergreen leaves are alternate, bipinnate, 25-40 cm long, with 2-6 pairs of pinnae, each of which bears 6-16 paired stalkless leaflets, with a glandular dot between each pair. Flowers are produced near the end of twigs in clusters on a green hairy stalk with many small tubular pinkish-green flowers. The fruits are flat seed pods, black, 20-30 cm long, containing several oblong reddish-brown seeds about one cm long.

Uploaded

March 31st, 2014