| Type | Indigenous |
|---|---|
| Family | Bombacaceae |
| Synonym | Salmalia insignis (Wall) Schott & Endl. |
| Synonym_2 | Bombax scopularum Dunn |
| Local Name | Kallilavu |
| Local Name 2 | Poola |
| Habit | Large sized tree |
| Tree Seed | Fruit type: Capsule. Seed weight: 11,640 to 20,110 seeds/kg (Sen Gupta, 1937; FRI, 1981 from Chacko et al., 2002). Vernacular name: Kallelavu, Mullilavu (Malayalam); Kalilavu, Seem-poolai, Kattu elavam (Tamil); Semul (Hindi) (Chacko et al., 2002). Flowering season: December and continues up to February. Fruiting season: Fruits mature in March. Germination type: Epigeal (FRI, 1981 from Chacko et al., 2002). Germination percentage: 60 to 90 (FRI, 1981 from Chacko et al., 2002). |
| Botanical Features | Deciduous trees; bole buttressed, straight armed with conical prickles; bark 20-25 mm, grey to greyish-brown, smooth, fibrous; blaze pink, striated with radial triangular rays; branches whorled, branchlets prickly. Leaves digitately compound, alternate, crowded at the tip of branchlets, stipulate; stipules small, lateral; rachis 15-30 cm long, stout, pubescent, swollen at base, grooved above; leaflets 6-8, whorled; petiolule 3-8 mm long, stout, pubescent; lamina 7-23 x 2-7 cm, obovate, obovate-oblong, or elliptic-obovate; base attenuate; apex acuminate or caudate-acuminate; margin entire, glabrous, lateral veins 15-22 pairs; flowers bisexual, pale pink or creamy yellow, solitary, axillary; fruit a capsule, 5-angled, 8-10 x 4-4.5 cm, 5 valved, glabrous; seeds many, 4-5 mm across, subobovoid, brownish-black, embedded in dense creamy silky fibres. |