Peltophorum surely
ranks high among the beautiful trees. That’s why it is so common. Around Korum
Mall in Thane, they have planted more than 50 Peltophorums. If you stop on the flyover that
goes above it, you see a beautiful spread of yellow flowers.
There was a big garden around our bungalow in the Tata Colony at Chembur in Mumbai. It was
the first tree you met as you approached our bungalow. Peltophorum spreads
yellow carpet of its flowers when in bloom, and it is impossible for a
tree-lover not to look up without a smile.
I was a
school going boy when we stayed there. Peltophorum was my very favourite tree
to climb and park myself on a branch. The wood was reddish which invited me to
take out the sharp instruments from my compass box and ‘engrave’ my name on the
stem. Then I drew a circle around it to make it look like a stamp. The plant was my property!
An elderly
person [seeing me sitting on a branch I guess] mentioned that no bird makes its
nest on this tree except the crow! I confronted him the next day when he said
that no native bird ever makes its nest on a tree of which natural
habitat is not India! By implication, Peltophorum was a ‘foreign’ plant. This is not true, as Wikipedia claims, yet many people have this misconception.
Whenever I
see a Peltophorum, my eyes look for a bird nest on its branches. I have never
found any bird nest on this tree except the crow’s! A tag ['foreign' tree] is so difficult to erase!
Vivek S Patwardhan