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Shiuli (night-flowering jasmine)
हरसिंगार (harsingar)
A small tree whose white flowers with orange tubes open after dark and fall before sunrise, carpeting the ground beneath.
How to recognise it
You find the flowers before you find the tree — a white-and-orange scatter on the ground at first light, strongly scented. The leaves are rough as sandpaper.
Where to see it
Kolkata
The state flower of West Bengal, and the smell Kolkata associates with the approach of Durga Puja: the flowers open after dark and are gathered off the ground at first light, when they are already falling.
Agri-Horticultural Society Garden (in season) · AJC Bose Indian Botanic Garden & the Great Banyan (in season) · Eco Park (Prakriti Tirtha) (in season)
Mayapur
The state flower of West Bengal and the smell Bengalis associate with the start of Durga Puja; the orange tubes were traditionally boiled to dye cloth.