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Indian laburnum (golden shower)
अमलतास (amaltas)
A native tree that hangs itself with long chains of yellow flowers in the hottest weeks before the monsoon, then carries dark cylindrical pods up to half a metre long.
👀 How to recognise it
Bright yellow, always hanging downward in loose chains, on a tree that is mostly bare when it flowers. The old black pods stay on the tree for months and rattle.
Where to see it
Bengaluru
In Karnataka its flowering marks the last stretch of the hot season.
Lalbagh Botanical Garden (in season) · Cubbon Park (in season) · Turahalli Forest (in season)
Delhi
The amaltas flowering is Delhi's calendar marker for the hottest weeks of the year: yellow chains on leafless trees along the ring roads through May and June.
Lodhi Garden (in season) · Sunder Nursery (in season) · Garden of Five Senses (in season)
Chandigarh
Chandigarh's roads are known by the trees planted along them, and amaltas was chosen for the inner roads of Sector 34, alongside kadam and bahera. In the city it flowers from May into July.
Leisure Valley (in season) · Pinjore Gardens (in season)
Kochi
Kanikkonna is the flower arranged in the Vishukkani, the first thing a household looks at on the morning of Vishu, the Malayali new year in mid-April. Warmer springs have been pushing the flowering earlier than the festival.
Mangalavanam Bird Sanctuary (in season) · Kadamakkudy Islands (in season) · Areekal Waterfalls (in season)