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Flame of the forest (palash)
ढाक / पलाश
A plain, crooked tree for ten months of the year that turns solid orange-scarlet in late winter.
👀 How to recognise it
Three broad leaflets on each leaf stalk — big enough that villagers still use them as plates. In February and March the tree drops its leaves entirely and covers itself in curved, beaked orange flowers.
Where to see it
Mysore
Its flowers were the traditional source of the yellow-orange colour used at Holi before synthetic powders, and its three-part leaf is used as a leaf plate.
Bandipur Tiger Reserve (in season) · Karighatta Hill (in season)
Chandigarh
The dhak flower is the state flower of Chandigarh. In February and March the Shivalik slopes behind the city turn orange with it, and the flowers were the traditional source of Holi's yellow-orange colour.
Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary (in season) · Morni Hills and Tikkar Taal (in season) · Leisure Valley (in season)
Jaipur
The flowers were the original source of yellow-orange Holi colour before synthetic powders, boiled down into the dye called tesu. In Sanskrit texts the tree is palash, the wood used for sacrificial fire. In Jhalana it grows gregariously where the valleys open out and flatten, so whole patches of the reserve catch fire at once.
Jhalana Leopard Reserve · Nahargarh Biological Park (often)