Finding a new Indian tree is like finding a forgotten flower preserved in a favourite book—something you saw before but forgot about. This spring, as I birdwatched, I spied a charming, leafless tree with small, delicate white flowers. There were so many bees in the flowers that their buzzing was the predominant sound that I could hear. The tree was Salai, a frankincense tree, and it stood like a fragrant torch, leafless, wreathed in flowers.
The Salai or Boswellia serrata is an Indian tree that flowers in March. Like most Indian trees, it is loved by native fauna. As I watched, a Purple sunbird came to sip the nectar. An Indian white-eye also appeared, as did an Ashy prinia, snapping up insects near the blossoms. The bark of the Salai is feathery, flaking and unique. The smell of the resin—used in incense—is haunting and will open the very pores of your skin. I had passed Salai many times in Central Indian flowers, when it was leafy and not in flower, but seeing the tree with blossoms was like seeing it anew.
Also in March, we have the flowering of the resplendent Dhaula bush. Also called fire-flame bush or Woodfordia fruticosa, the plant has flowers that brings splotches of the flaming red colour to the deciduous landscape. The Dhaula too is loved by birds and bees. The flowers grow in a tangle of woody stems and long, dark-green leaves.
This spring, Delhi enjoyed a tulip festival. It’s unclear why tulips are so loved. I think it’s because they have been successfully used as confidence building measures. Twenty thousand tulip bulbs were flown in from Netherlands to be planted in the national capital. “These tulips symbolise the beauty and depth of the Indo-Dutch partnership, fostering mutual cooperation and cultural exchange,” wrote the Netherlands embassy on their Instagram page. Fields of nodding tulips are a symbol of some parts of Europe, but I suspect people like the flower so much because the plant is so simple. It has straight, uncomplicated leaves and a long stem for the flower which renders the blossom as the centre of attention.
The Dhaula and the Salai are tough Indian plants with flowers that are not immediately accessible. The Dhaula flowers close to its shrubby branches and impressive leaves; trees like Salai, Palash and Chamrod have flowers growing at some height from the ground.
Yet, there is so much to enjoy in flowers that aren’t immediately in reach, and don’t nod at your knees. These are plants that don’t mind the heat and dust, that give birds shelter even when not flowering. There are many expressions of patriotism today, but the one I want to advocate for the most is ecological patriotism. Enjoy your foreign flowers, but let your head and heart move towards planting the local and the Indian. So many flowers can come ensconced with thorns, hover at impossible heights, or generally have plants that look wild and tumbling.
It’s a tough kind of love they ask for, and that’s the best kind of love there is.
Neha Sinha
Conservation biologist and author
Views expressed are personal
Posts on X (formerly known as Twitter): @nehaa_sinha