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Lagerstroemia speciosa
Also called Giant Crape-myrtle, Queen's Flower, Jarul, Queen's Crape Myrtle, Queen Crape Myrtle, Queen Of Flowers
In Singapore: Rose of India, Pride of India, Queen's Crape Myrtle, Crepe Myrtle, Crepe Flower, Queen Flower, Banaba, Pyinma, Bungur Raya, Bungor Raya, Bungor, 大花紫薇 (Grown in Singapore)
Pride of India is a large deciduous tree from tropical Asia, grown for its showy pink to lilac flowers and strong timber. It needs warmth, sun and regular moisture, so it suits tropical and subtropical gardens.
Lagerstroemia speciosa (giant crepe-myrtle, queen's crepe-myrtle, banabá plant, or pride of India, or "queen's flower" or "jarul") is a species of Lagerstroemia native to tropical South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Melanesia. It is a deciduous tree with bright pink to light purple flowers.
The name "queen's Flower" is derived from the specific epithet 'reginae' or 'flosreginae', which means "imperial or flower of the queen". The tree bears beautiful attractive flowers in profusion in purple, lilac or pinkish-violet colours, and lasts for many months. Its timber is next only to teak in its strength. It is called queen crepe myrtle as its flowers look like delicate crêpe paper.
It is grown in South East Asia, China India, Bangladesh and the Philippines and even extends to Australia. It is native to India particularly in the western ghats of India covering Belgaum, north and south Kanara, Malabar and Travancore and also in Assam and West Bengal. It is also widely cultivated as an ornamental plant in tropical and subtropical areas.The leaves of the banabá and other parts are used widely in the Philippines, Taiwan, and Japan as a tea preparation. Banabá herb is one of the 69 herbal plants promoted by the Philippine Department of Health (DOH). In Vietnam, the plant's young leaves are consumed as vegetables, and its old leaves and mature fruit are used in traditional medicine for reducing glucose in blood. The seeds have narcotic properties.
Chemical compounds that have been isolated from the extract include corosolic acid, lager-stroemin, flosin B, and reginin A.
Giant crepe myrtle's seeds are narcotic, bark and leaves are purgative, roots are astringent, stimulant and febrifuge (fever removing). Decoction of leaves is used in diabetes. In Manipur, its fruit is used locally applied for apathy of the mouth
Lagerstroemia × egolfii · Thai Crape Myrtle · Crapemyrtle · Lagerstroemia langkawiensis · Lagerstroemia loudonii · Lagerstroemia tomentosa · Crepe Myrtle
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Lagerstroemia speciosa by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
