| Common Name : | Rain tree, monkey pod, Coco tamarind, etc. |
| Bengali Name : | রেইনট্রী ফুল, বিলাতি শিরিষ ফুল, মেঘশিরীষ ফুল |
| Botanical Name : | Albizia saman |
| Synonym : | Samanea saman |
| Family : | Fabaceae (Pea family) |
কোন এক সময় আমার একটা লেখায় বলেছিলাম অমার রুমের জানলার পাশে একটা বড় রেইনট্রী গাছ ছিলো... গাছ্টার একটা ডাল ছিলো আমার জানলা ঘেষা... অনেক অনেক ফুল আসতো ডালটায়, ভরে যেত হালকা গোলাপী রঙ এর ফুল দিয়ে... গরমের সময় জানলা খোলাই থাকতো... ঝরে পরা শুকনো বাদামী ফুল আর পাতা বাতাসে উড়ে এসে পরতো আমার বিছানায়... পাতায় বাতাসের ঝিরি ঝিরি শব্দের মাঝেই সবসময় ঘুমাতাম আমি... এই দিনগুলো এখন অতীত...
Though this flowering woody tree is widely known as Rain tree, but still it has several local names in our country. For example Shirish (শিরিষ), Bilati Shirish (বিলাতি শিরিষ), Kali Koroi (কালী কড়ই), Meghsirish (মেঘশিরীষ), etc. Botanical name is Albizia saman and belongs to the plant family Fabaceae. It is native to Mexico and South American region. It is unsure about how and when this tree came to our country. It suited nicely with our land and climate.
Rain tree (রেইনট্রী) is a fast growing large tree (barks are dark grey in color) that can reach up to 25 meter in height. Pinnate leafs are having a pinna comprising of 4-8 pairs of small leafs which are almost oval shaped and having no stalk. Leafs are having an interesting phenomena, they use to close during the rain or during wet weather which allows the tree to pass rains under it and the grasses can grow beneath the tree easily. Also, the raintree leafs use to close during the evening.
As it is a large tree, hence the number of flower in the tree is numerous. Lot of showy small puff like flowers use to bloom at the tree. Flowers are mainly cluster flower and each of the flowers from the cluster are having long silky stamens which are white at the base and pink/purple at the top. This combination makes the flower extraordinarily beautiful.
Timber of the Rain tree (রেইনট্রী) has a very high demand to make the furnitures. Also the shape of the tree is quite symmetrical, and branches use to produce a super shade. These benefits actually insist people to plant this fast growing plant.
Initially the photos of this article were taken from Hobiganj (হবিগঞ্জ) during the month of April 2013. It was the early morning (before sunrise) of the day and the light was very poor. I have used camera flash to prevent the photo from becoming blurry. It was down beside the road, that's why i was able to reach near the flowers standing from the footpath. Otherwise it is hard to take photo of this flower from a close distance. Later I have taken few more photos with my crazy zoom camera. It was during April 2015, and the location was Dhaka (ঢাকা).
This article has written by Lonely Traveler,
for the blog http://icwow.blogspot.com/
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