Description

• Gulmohar is a flamboyant tree in flower – some say the world’s most colourful tree. For several weeks in spring and summer it is covered with exuberant clusters of flame-red flowers, 4-5 in across.
• Even up close the individual flowers are striking; they have four spoon shaped spreading scarlet or orange-red petals about 3 in long, and one upright slightly larger petal (the standard) which is marked with yellow and white.
• Gulmohar gets 30-40 ft tall, but its elegant wide-spreading umbrella-like canopy can be wider than its height.
• Gumohar is naturalized in India and is widely cultivated as a street tree.

Uses

• It is used as an ornamental plant.
• A leaf decoction presumably has anti-rheumatic effects.
• In eastern Nigeria the leaves are used traditionally for treating pain.