* Botanical name: Dichrostachys cinerea *
Family: Mimosaceae (Touch-me-not family)
* Location : Babhnan Basti District Uttar Pradesh India
Common name: Sickle Bush ashy babool • Hindi: खेरी kheri, कुणाली kunali, शमी shami, वेलाटी velati, वीरतरु virataru • Marathi: दुरंगी बाभूळ durangi babhul, सिगम काटी sigam kati • Rajasthani: गोया खैर goya khair • Sanskrit: बहुवारक bahuvaraka, दीर्घमूल dirghamula, महाकपित्थ mahakapittha, वीरतरु virataru, वीरवृक्ष
Botanical name: Dichrostachys cinerea Family: Mimosaceae (Touch-me-not family)
Synonyms: Cailliea glomerata, Dichrostachys glomerata, Mimosa cinerea
Sickle bush is a beautiful, small Mimosa-related tree, growing up to 8 m tall. It has bipinnate leaves, 4-8 cm long, 5 to 15 pairs of pinnae, each with 12 to 30 pairs of leaflets. It blooms with beautiful bottle-brush like flower heads which are half pink and half yellow. The rear pink part fades to white with time. The buds look like beautiful pink and yellow mulberry fruits. The fruit-pod is narrowly oblong, variously curved and/or coiled, 5-7 cm long, 0.8-1.5 cm wide, blackish, glabrous. Sickle bush is native to India, SE Asia, Africa and Northern Australia. Flowering: June-August.
By Shivam Maddhesiya
